Jourdan, Jean-Baptiste, Comte Jourdan (1762–1833)

French general who fought in the Revolutionary Wars, winning major victories over Austrian forces at the battles of Wattignies (1793) and Fleurus (1794). He also served as an administrator under Napoleon, who appointed him a marshal of France in 1804.

Jourdan was born in Limoges. After fighting in the American Revolution, he later rose to become head of the army of the north in 1793, defending the French Revolution against foreign intervention. He pursued the Austrians beyond the Rhine and besieged the city of Mainz in 1795. However, he was defeated by the Archduke Charles in 1796 at Amberg and Würzburg, and again in 1799, when he resigned his command to André Masséna.Under Napoleon he became director of affairs in Piedmont in 1800, and governor of Naples in 1806. Although he was ennobled by Louis XVIII in 1819, he supported the revolution that ousted him in 1830.