KLEBER, JEAN BAPTISTE (1753-180o), French gen eral, the son of a builder, was born on March 9, 1753, at Stras bourg. He was trained as an architect, but obtained a nomination to the military school of Munich. Thence he obtained a corn mission in the Austrian army, but resigned it in 1783. Returning to France he was appointed inspector of public buildings at Bel fort, where he studied military science. In 1792 he enlisted in the Haut-Rhin volunteers, and soon became lieutenant-colonel. At the defence of Mainz he so distinguished himself that though imprisoned with the rest of the garrison, he was promptly rein stated, and in Aug. 1793 promoted general of brigade. He was made general of division for his services in La Vendee, where his intimacy with Marceau began, but was later recalled for ad vocating lenient measures towards the Vendeans. In 1794 he was reinstated and sent to the army of the Sambre-et-Meuse, dis tinguishing himself particularly at Fleurus and in the siege of Mainz In the offensive campaign of 1796 he was Jour dan's most active and successful lieutenant. After the retreat to the Rhine (see FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS) Kleber de clined the chief command and retired early in 1798. He accepted a division in the expedition to Egypt under Bonaparte, but, owing to a head wound which he received at Alexandria, was afterwards appointed governor of Alexandria, as he was unable to take any further part in the campaign.
In the Syrian campaign of 1799 he won the great victory of Mount Tabor on April 15, 1799. When Napoleon returned to France towards the end of 1799 he left Kleber in command of the French forces, when he was forced to make the convention of El-Arish. But when Lord Keith, the British admiral, refused to ratify the terms, he defeated the Turks at Heliopolis, with but 50,000 men against 6o,000, on March 2o, 1800. He then retook Cairo, which had revolted from the French. He was assassinated at Cairo by a fanatic on June 14, 1800. Kleber was undoubtedly one of the greatest generals of the French revolutionary epoch, though he distrusted his powers and declined the responsibility of supreme command. His conduct of affairs in Egypt at a time when the treasury was empty and the troops were discontented for want of pay, shows that his powers as an administrator were little —if at all—inferior to those he possessed as a general.
Ernouf, the grandson of Jourdan's chief of staff, published in 1867 a valuable biography of Kleber. See also Reynaud, Life of Merlin de Thionville; Ney, Memoirs; Dumas, Souvenirs; Las Casas, Memorial de Ste Helene; J. Charavaray, Les Generaux mods pour la patrie; General Pajol, Kleber; lives of Marceau and Desaix; M. F. Rousseau, Kleber et Menou en Egypte (5900).