HOCHE, OSII, LAZA RE (1763-97). A general of the French Revolution. lie was born June 25, 1768, at Montreuil, near Versailles. In 1784 he entered the Army, but joined the National Guard at Paris in 1792 as a sergeant of grenadiers. Ow ing to his military experience and soldierly quali ties, he rapidly obtained promotion. In 1793, after distinguishing himself miller Leveneur, he was made Adjutant-General of the Army of the North. Some hasty words, caused by the arrest of his chief, Leveneur, brought about Hoche's arrest, but he was acquitted by the revolutionary tri bunal at Douai and restored to his command, and aided Souham in the defense of Dunkirk. Hav ing succeeded in repulsing the Duke of York, lloche was made a general of division and given the command of the French forces on the Moselle, and in spite of the numerical su periority of the enemy succeeded in driving the Austrians out of Alsace, after defeating them at Weissenburg (December 26, 1793). His im portant services were requited, however, by sus picion and arrest, and had it not been for the downfall of Robespierre Troche would probably have perished on the guillotine. On being set at liberty lie received the eommand of the army oper ating in the west, and completely defeated the rmigrel army of invasion near Quiberon Bay in July. 1795. He was next intrusted with the task of
supnressin;:! the royalist revolt in La Vend6e, and at the head of an army of 100,000 men succeeded in pacifying the country in less than a year. In December, 1796. lie commanded the army destined for the invasion of Ireland, but adverse condi tions of wind and weather scattered his ships and made time expedition a failure, though a part of the fleet succeeded in reaching the Irish coast. Roche was then made commander of the Army of the Sambre and and in the spring of 1797 won several victories over the Amttrians. The preliminaries of Leoben put an end to his activity. :mid on September 19. 1797, he died very suddenly at his camp at Wetzlar, though not by poison, as some have supposed. There are nu merous biographies of Roche, the best being: Decprez, ',azure Hoche, d'apres so rorrespondance (Paris, 1858) ; Dutemple, Vie politique et mili taire du gCneral Roche (Paris, 1879) ; Font 1-16aulx, Le gent'ral Haehe (Paris, 1390) ; Grif fiths, French Revolutionary Generals (London, 1391).