French Army Marshal. He was the commander-in-chief of the 5,500 man strong French Army expedition that was sent from France to the American colonies to assist them in defeating the British in the American Revolution. He had previously fought in the 1740 to 1748 War of the Austrian Succession and the 1756 to 1763 Seven Years War. Appointed to lead the French forces in America in 1780, he would join his army with those under the command of General George Washington, and enact a celebrated march from New York to Yorktown, Virginia, where they laid siege to the British forces under General Lord Charles Cornwallis in September 1780. Combining with the French fleet's defeat of the Royal Navy in the Battle of the Chesapeake, the subsequent Battle of Yorktown that saw combined attacked on British positions by French and American forces eventually forced General Cornwallis to surrender on October 19, 1780, effectively ending the Revolutionary War with a victory for American Independence. Greatly feted in France upon his return, he would go on to support the French Revolution, and was created a Marshal of France. Later in the Revolution he was arrested during the Reign of Terror, and came close to be executed before being released. When Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor of France, he gave a lifetime pension to Marshal Rochambeau. He passed away at age 81 in 1807.
French Army Marshal. He was the commander-in-chief of the 5,500 man strong French Army expedition that was sent from France to the American colonies to assist them in defeating the British in the American Revolution. He had previously fought in the 1740 to 1748 War of the Austrian Succession and the 1756 to 1763 Seven Years War. Appointed to lead the French forces in America in 1780, he would join his army with those under the command of General George Washington, and enact a celebrated march from New York to Yorktown, Virginia, where they laid siege to the British forces under General Lord Charles Cornwallis in September 1780. Combining with the French fleet's defeat of the Royal Navy in the Battle of the Chesapeake, the subsequent Battle of Yorktown that saw combined attacked on British positions by French and American forces eventually forced General Cornwallis to surrender on October 19, 1780, effectively ending the Revolutionary War with a victory for American Independence. Greatly feted in France upon his return, he would go on to support the French Revolution, and was created a Marshal of France. Later in the Revolution he was arrested during the Reign of Terror, and came close to be executed before being released. When Napoleon Bonaparte became Emperor of France, he gave a lifetime pension to Marshal Rochambeau. He passed away at age 81 in 1807.
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