Louis Klein
| Louis Klein | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
29 January 1761 Blâmont Meurthe-et-Moselle |
| Died |
2 November 1845 (aged 84) Paris |
| Allegiance |  |
| Service/branch | Cavalry |
| Years of service | 1777–1787; 1790–1814 |
| Rank | General of Division |
| Battles/wars |
French Revolutionary Wars Napoleonic Wars |
| Awards | Officer's Grand Cross, Légion d'honneur Count of the Empire, 1808 Grand Cordon, Order of the Lion of Bavaria Order of Saint Louis Peer of France, 1831. |
| Other work | Senator. |
Dominique Louis Antoine Klein (19 January 1761 – 2 November 1845) served in the French military during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars as a general of cavalry.
Initially part of the house guard at the royal residences for Louis XVI, Klein left the military in 1787. During the French Revolution, he enlisted and rose rapidly from a lieutenant to a brigadier general; he participated in the French invasion of southwestern Germany in 1796, and was part of the Army of the Danube in 1799. His cavalry played critical roles in the battles of Austerlitz and Jena and Auerstadt. Following the Prussian campaign, he retired from active service, entered politics, and performed administrative duties in Paris.
Klein served in the French Senate, and voted for Napoleon Bonaparte's abdication in 1814; he did not participate in the Hundred Days and Louis XVIII of France raised him to the French peerage upon the second restoration.
Initially, Klein served in the royal house guard for the King of France, holding the prestigious position as guard of the gate. He left military service in 1787. After the French Revolution began in 1789, he rejoined the military and in 1792, he was listed as an infantry lieutenant in the Army of the North. His cavalry regiment participated in the Battle of Fleurus.
By 1795, Klein was a brigadier general in the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, where he replaced Adjutant-General Michel Ney. Klein was appointed general of division in 1799 and crossed the Rhine at Kehl in Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's Army of the Danube. He commanded the right flank of the Advance Guard, under command of François Joseph Lefebvre. His command included the 4th and 5th Hussar Regiments, the 17th Dragoons, the 1st Chasseurs à cheval, a light horse regiment, two companies of horse artillery, two of foot artillery, and a company of sappers. At the Battle of Ostrach, Klein's cavalry helped to secure the village of Hosskirch, a strategically important forward post, prior to the general engagement. After the French losses at Ostrach and the subsequent , Jourdan ordered a general withdrawal to the Black Forest. The reserve cavalry and most of Klein's division crossed the mountains and quartered near Offenburg, where their horses could find better forage. Despite the organized withdrawal and the relatively secure positions on the western side of the Black Forest, the army was in shambles. Jourdan placed his chief of staff Jean Augustin Ernouf in provisional command and went to Paris to complain about the state of his army, its equipment and its provisions. Discipline in the ranks disintegrated. Most of the divisional generals left their posts, except for Pierre Marie Barthélemy Ferino, Joseph Souham, Dominique Vandamme and Klein. In May, Andre Massena received overall command of both the Army of the Danube and the Army of Helvetia; Klein's column joined Massena near Zurich.
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