Joseph Fouché, duc d’Otrante

Born

21 May 1759

Died

26 December 1820

A former Oratorian teacher and deputy to the Convention, Fouché voted for the death of Louis XVI and undertook several missions for the revolutionary government. Sent to Lyon with Collot d’Herbois after the city’s surrender, he helped direct a repression that included mass executions by firing squad and cannon fire. Recalled to Paris, he came under increasing pressure from Robespierre, was expelled from the Jacobin Club in July 1794 and joined the opposition gathering before 9 Thermidor. His conduct at Lyon was investigated after Robespierre’s fall, but the amnesty of October 1795 ended the proceedings against him. Appointed minister of general police in 1799, Fouché built extensive networks of surveillance and political intelligence that served the Directory, Consulate and Empire. Banished as a regicide in 1816, he died in Trieste four years later.

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