Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de

born Sept. 6, 1757, Chavaniac, France

died May 20, 1834, Paris

French military leader.

Born to an ancient noble family of great wealth, he was a courtier at the court of Louis XVI but sought glory as a soldier. In 1777 he went to America, was appointed a major general, became a close friend of George Washington, and fought with distinction at the Battle of the Brandywine. He returned to France in 1779, persuaded Louis to send a 6,000-man force to aid the colonists, and returned to America in 1780 to command an army in Virginia and help win the Siege of Yorktown. Hailed as "the Hero of Two Worlds," he returned to France in 1782, became a leader of liberal aristocrats, and was elected to the Estates General in 1789. He presented the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen to the National Assembly. Elected commander of the national guard of Paris, he sought to protect the king, favouring a constitutional monarchy. When his guards fired on a crowd of petitioners in the Champ de Mars (1791), he lost popularity and resigned his position. He commanded the army against Austria (1792), then defected to the Austrians, who held him captive until 1797. Returning to France, Lafayette became a gentleman farmer. In the Bourbon Restoration, he served in the Chamber of Deputies (1814–24) and commanded the national guard in the July Revolution (1830).

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▪ French noble

Lafayette also spelled  La Fayette  

born Sept. 6, 1757, Chavaniac, Fr.

died May 20, 1834, Paris

      French aristocrat who fought with the American colonists against the British in the American Revolution. Later, by allying himself with the revolutionary bourgeoisie, he became one of the most powerful men in France during the first few years of the French Revolution.

      Born into an ancient noble family, Lafayette had already inherited an immense fortune by the time he married the daughter of the influential duc d'Ayen in 1774. He joined the circle of young courtiers at the court of King Louis XVI but soon aspired to win glory as a soldier. Hence, in July 1777, 27 months after the outbreak of the American Revolution, he arrived in Philadelphia. Appointed a major general by the colonists, he quickly struck up a lasting friendship with the American commander in chief, George Washington. Lafayette fought with distinction at the Battle of Brandywine, Pennsylvania, on Sept. 11, 1777, and, as a division commander, he conducted a masterly retreat from Barren Hill on May 28, 1778. Returning to France early in 1779, he helped persuade the government of Louis XVI to send a 6,000-man expeditionary army to aid the colonists. Lafayette arrived back in America in April 1780 and was immediately given command of an army in Virginia. After forcing the British commander Lord Charles Cornwallis to retreat across Virginia, Lafayette entrapped him at Yorktown in late July. A French fleet and several additional American armies joined the siege, and on October 19 Cornwallis surrendered. The British cause was lost. Lafayette was hailed as “the Hero of Two Worlds,” and on returning to France in 1782 he was promoted maréchal de camp (brigadier general). He became a citizen of several states on a visit to the United States in 1784.

      During the next five years, Lafayette became a leader of the liberal aristocrats and an outspoken advocate of religious toleration and the abolition of the slave trade. Elected as a representative of the nobility to the States General that convened in May 1789, Lafayette supported the manoeuvres by which the bourgeois deputies of the Third Estate gained control of the States General and converted it into a revolutionary National Assembly. On July 11 he presented to the Assembly his draft of a Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. After extensive revisions the document was adopted on August 27. Meanwhile on July 15, the day after a crowd stormed the Bastille, Lafayette had been elected commander of the newly formed national guard of Paris. His troops saved Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette from the fury of a crowd that invaded Versailles on October 6, and he then carried the royal family to Paris, where they became hostages of the Revolution.

      For the next year, Lafayette's popularity and influence were at their height. He supported measures that transferred power from the aristocracy to the bourgeoisie, but he feared that further democratization would encourage the lower classes to attack property rights. Hence, he became alarmed as republicans began to assail the new system of constitutional monarchy. When a crowd of petitioners gathered on the Champ de Mars in Paris (July 17, 1791) to demand the abdication of the King, Lafayette's guards opened fire, killing or wounding about 50 demonstrators. The incident destroyed his popularity, and in October he resigned from the guard.

      Appointed commander of the army at Metz in December 1791, Lafayette hoped to suppress the radical democrats (and perhaps rule in the King's name) after France went to war with Austria in April 1792. His plans failed, and on Aug. 10, 1792, the monarchy was overthrown in a popular insurrection. Lafayette would have been tried for treason had he not defected (August 19) to the Austrians, who held him captive until 1797. When Napoleon Bonaparte came to power in 1799, Lafayette returned to France and settled down as a gentleman farmer. He sat in the Chamber of Deputies during most of the reign of King Louis XVIII (1814–24), and in 1824–25 he visited the United States, where he was received with wild adulation. In July 1830 he commanded the national guard that helped overthrow King Charles X and install Louis-Philippe on the throne. Lafayette retired six months later.

Additional Reading

W. Woodward, Lafayette (1939); A. Maurois, Adrienne: The Life of the Marquise de La Fayette (Eng. trans., 1961); see also the series (1935–57) of biographical works on Lafayette by Louis Gottschalk.

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