CAVAIGNAC, LOUIS EUGENE French general, born in Paris on Oct. 15, 1802, belonged to a family famous in French revolutionary annals. He was the son of JEAN BAPTISTE CAVAIGNAC (1762-1829), who was a member of the Convention, and acted as its commissioner in the repression of the opponents of the Revolution in various parts of France. At the Restoration he was proscribed as a regicide. Jean-Baptiste's brother, JACQUES MARIE, VICOMTE CAVAIGNAC (1773-1855), was one of Napoleon's generals and commanded the cavalry of the Corps in the retreat from Moscow (1812) . GODEFROY CAVAIGNAC , elder brother of Louis Eugene, took part in the Parisian risings of Oct. 1830, 1832 and 1834, and was one of the founders of the Societe des Droits de l'Homme. Very highly esteemed for his chivalrous character among the republicans, he was probably personally both the most estimable and able of the old guard of republicans. His reputation was largely, if not wholly, responsible later for the advancement of Louis Eugene, who en tered the army.
In 1831 Louis Eugene was removed from active duty in con sequence of his declared republicanism, but in 1832 he was re called to the service and sent to Algeria, where he held a series of commands during the next 16 years. In 1848, the revolution ary Government promoted him governor-general. He refused the post of minister of war because the Government would not fall in with his plan to occupy Paris by troops. Like L. A. Thiers, Cavaignac conceived the idea of drawing the "red republicans" of Paris out into open insurrection, in order that they might be crushed and the domination of the moderates secured. After the National Assembly had eliminated the Socialist members Louis Blanc and Albert (qq.v.) from the Government, Cavaignac was made minister of war. The revolt on which he had calculated broke out on June 22, 1848 (see NATIONAL WORKSHOPS) . Cavaig nac withdrew his troops from the affected parts of Paris, till, in his opinion, the revolt had gained sufficient head. He took ad vantage of the general panic, further, to insist on the resignation of the Government and the granting of dictatorial powers to him self, which was agreed on June 25. His attack on the Parisian rebels, who were exclusively working class, led to the bloodiest and most obstinate conflict that had up till then occurred in Paris; at its end, in his victory on the 26th, Cavaignac permitted, in ac cordance with his plan, the severest reprisals which decimated the ranks of the Socialists and broke their power.
Both he and his adversaries expected that after laying down his dictatorship he would be elected president. But they had not allowed for the magic of the name of "Louis Napoleon Bona parte" ; a "landslide" of peasant and proletarian votes gave to the future Napoleon III. and only 1,448,107 to Cavaignac. The disappointed general went into opposition and at the time of the coup d'etat (Dec. 2, 1851) was even imprisoned for a short while. After his release he abandoned politics and died in retirement on Oct. 28, 185 7.
His son, JACQUES MARIE EUGENE GODEFROI CAVAIGNAC (1853 1905), French politician, was born in Paris on May 21, 1853. He served as a civil engineer in Angouleme until 1881, when he be came master of requests in the Council of State. In 1882 he was elected deputy for Saint-Calais (Sarthe) in the republican inter est. In 1885-86 he was under-secretary for war in the Henri Brisson Ministry, and he served in the cabinet of Smile Loubet (1892) as minister of marine and of the colonies. He had ex changed his moderate republicanism for radical views before he became war minister in the cabinet of Leon Bourgeois (1895-96). He was again minister of war in the Brisson cabinet in July 1898, when he read in the chamber a document which definitely incrim inated Capt. Alfred Dreyfus. On Aug. 3o, however, he stated that this had been discovered to be a forgery by Col. Henry, but he refused to concur with his colleagues in a revision of the Dreyfus prosecution, which was the logical outcome of his own exposure of the forgery. Resigning his portfolio, he joined the Nationalist group in the chamber, and became an energetic supporter of the Ligue de la Patrie Francaise. In 1899 Cavaignac was an unsuccess ful candidate for the presidency of the republic. He died at his country-seat near Flee (Sarthe) on Sept. 25, 1905. He wrote an important book on the Formation de la Prusse contemporaine (1891-98), dealing with the events of 1806-13.
See J. M. Cavaignac, Les deux generaux Cavaignac (1897) ; A. Deschamps, Les deux generaux Cavaignac (1898) ; W. Arnoulim, L'Action clericale en France, Les Cavaignacs devant l'histoire (1905).