Jean Baptiste Kléber

Divisional-General Jean-Baptiste Kléber ( French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ batist klebɛʁ]; 9 March 1753 – 14 June 1800) was a French army officer and architect who served in the War of the Bavarian Succession and French Revolutionary Wars. After serving for one year in the French Royal Army, he joined the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Emperor seven years later. However, his humble birth hindered his opportunities. Eventually, Kléber joined the French Revolutionary Army in 1792 and quickly rose through the ranks.

Serving in the Rhineland during the War of the First Coalition, he also suppressed the Vendée Revolt. Kléber retired to private life in the peaceful interim after the Treaty of Campo Formio, but returned to military service to accompany Napoleon in the French invasion of Egypt in 1798. As the invasion started to suffer setbacks, Napoleon returned to Paris in 1799 and appointed Kléber as commander of all French forces in Egypt. He was assassinated by Suleiman al-Halabi, a Syrian theology student, in Cairo in 1800. Kléber, in times of peace, designed a number of buildings.