Patrice de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta

Count Patrice de MacMahon MF, 5 LH, MM
Patrice de MacMahon during the Battle of Magenta by Unknown (1870s)
President of the French Republic
In office 24 May 1873 – 30 January 1879
Prime Minister	Albert de Broglie Ernest Courtot de Cissey Louis Buffet Jules Armand Dufaure Jules Simon Albert de Broglie Gaëtan de Rochebouët Jules Armand Dufaure
Preceded by	Adolphe Thiers
Succeeded by	Jules Grévy
General Governor of Algeria
In office 1 September 1864 – 27 July 1870
Monarch	Napoleon III
Preceded by	Édouard de Martimprey
Succeeded by	Louis Durrieu
Member of the French Senate
In office 24 June 1864 – 4 September 1870
Monarch	Napoleon III
Personal details
Born	(1808-06-13)13 June 1808 Sully, France
Died	17 October 1893(1893-10-17) (aged 85) Montcresson, France
Nationality	French
Political party	Miscellaneous Right (Legitimist)
Spouse(s)	Élisabeth de La Croix de Castries (m. 1854–93); his death
Children	Eugène Marie
Education	Special Military School of Saint-Cyr
Profession	Military officer
Religion	Roman Catholicism
Military service
Allegiance	/ Bourbon Restoration Second French Republic  Second French Empire
Service/branch	French Army
Years of service	1827–1873
Rank	Captain Commandant Lieutenant Colonel General Marshal of France
Unit	French Foreign Legion Regimental Lt.Colonel 2nd Foreign Regiment 2èmeRE (1843-1845) Commander 1st Army Corps Army of the Rhin (1870) Commander-in-Chief Army of Châlons (1870)
Battles/wars	Conquest of Algeria (1827–1857) Siege of Constantine (1837) Crimean War (1853–1856) Battle of Malakoff (1855) Franco-Austrian War (1859) Battle of Magenta (1859) Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871) Battle of Wörth (1870) Battle of Sedan (1870)

Conquest of Algeria (1827–1857)

Crimean War (1853–1856)

Franco-Austrian War (1859)

Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871)

Marshal Marie Esme Patrice Maurice, Count de MacMahon, Duke of Magenta (French pronunciation: ​[patʁis də makma.ɔ̃]; 13 June 1808 – 17 October 1893), was a French general and politician, with the distinction of Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1875 and as the second president of the Third Republic, from 1875 to 1879.

MacMahon won national renown and the presidency on the basis of his military actions in the war against the Germans. MacMahon was a devout conservative Catholic, a traditionalist who despised socialism and strongly distrusted the secular Republicans. He took very seriously his duty as the neutral guardian of the Constitution and rejected suggestions of a monarchist coup d'état. He also refused to meet with Gambetta, the leader of the Republicans. He moved for a parliamentary system in which the assembly selected the ruling government of the Third Republic, but he also insisted on an upper chamber. He later dissolved the Chamber of Deputies, resulting in public outrage and Republican electoral victory. MacMahon soon resigned and retired to private life.

Patrice de MacMahon (as he was usually known before being elevated to a ducal title in his own right) was born in Sully (near Autun), in the département of Saône-et-Loire. He was the 16th of 17 children of a family already in the French nobility (his grandfather Jean-Baptiste de MacMahon was named Marquis de MacMahon and Marquis d'Eguilly (from his wife Charlotte Le Belin, Dame d' Eguilly) by King Louis XV, and the family in France had decidedly royalist politics).