MacMahon, Marie Edme Patrice Maurice, Comte de

MacMahon, Marie Edme Patrice Maurice, Comte de (1808-1893), French soldier and statesman, born in Sully, and educated at the military college of St Cyr. For his distinguished service in Algeria he was made brigadier general in 1848. He commanded a division during the Crimean War and in the Algerian campaign of 1857-1858. After the campaign of Magenta against Austria in 1859 he was created a marshal of France and Duke of Magenta. In 1864 he was made governor-general of Algeria and served in that position until 1870, when he was given command of the first army corps during the Franco-Prussian War. He was instrumental in the dissolution of the Paris Commune of 1871. Backed by the monarchists, he became second president of the Third Republic in 1873. During a struggle with the Republicans in 1877 he dissolved the Chamber of Deputies. When the Republicans won the new election, MacMahon was forced to resign (1879), and he retired from public life.