Portrait of the Marquis de Lafayette by Ary Scheffer, 1824 (United States Capitol)
Few figures in history can match the career of Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette. It spanned over half a century during the tumultuous Revolutionary era that ushered in the modern world.
At just 19 years old, Lafayette used his wealth to support the cause of the American Revolution, served under George Washington, and acquitted himself with distinction in the War for American Independence. His life was marked by both triumph and tribulation. The reforms that he had championed in France contributed to a revolution that claimed his wealth and reputation. He was forced to leave his homeland only to be arrested and imprisoned as a dangerous fomenter of popular unrest. On gaining his freedom, he found himself at odds with successive French governments but in the twilight of his life, became once more a key figure in a revolution that changed European history.
Historian Alexander Mikaberidze traces Lafayette's journey from a young nobleman to a seasoned revolutionary, from the salons of Versailles to the battlefields of the New World and back to the halls of the revolutionary assembly in Paris. He explores Lafayette’s famous farewell tour of the United States, celebrating its bicentennial this year, and what it can tell us about the man and the myth that shrouds him.
Lafayette was full of contrasts: an idealist and a glory-seeking opportunist, an ardent proponent of American republican tenets, and an eager supporter of monarchy. He is chiefly remembered for his role in the American Revolution, but he lived for more than half a century after the surrender at Yorktown, and much of what happened during those years contrasts with his reputation among his contemporaries as an “uncompromising friend of liberty.”
Mikaberidze, a professor of history at Louisiana State University in Shreveport, is the author of over two dozen books, including The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History.
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