Maréchal MacMahon, duc de Magenta

A carte-de-visite portrait of Maréchal MacMahon, duc de Magenta (1808-1893).

Marie Edmé Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, Duc de Magenta, marshal of France, who became the second president of the Third Republic. He served with distinction in Algeria, the Crimea, and in 1859 in Italy, but was defeated in the war with Prussia and surrendered at Sedan (1870). He later commanded the Versailles forces against the Commune (1871), and replaced Thiers as president (1873). At first he supported the Ordre Morale, but later he tried to dissolve the National Assembly in order to halt the rise of Republicanism and bring about the restoration of the monarchy under the comte de Chambord (1877). His failure led to his resignation in 1879.

Patrice de MacMahon, duc de Magenta, died on 16 October 1893 at Montcresson, Loiret. He was buried with national honours in the crypt of Les Invalides.

Photographed by Disdéri of Paris.