General Alexandre Dumas: Soldier of the French Revolution [Hardcover]

Professor John G. Gallaher B.A. M.A. Ph.D. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 29, 1997

Although General Alexandre Dumas was a fascinating man and a bold, distinguished Napoleonic soldier, he has been overshadowed by the literary successes of his son Alexandre Dumas (The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo) and grandson, the playwright Alexandre Dumas.

Gallaher reveals General Dumas’ extraordinary life in eighteenth-century France, providing the first biography in English of the mulatto soldier who knew both the favor and the wrath of Napoleon Bonaparte.

Born Thomas-Alexandre Davy de Ia Pailleterie in 1762 to an enslaved black woman and a white French nobleman, the young Thomas Alexandre spent his first fourteen years on the island of Saint Domingue. Following his mother’s death, Alexandre joined his father in Normandy in 1776. Later, he moved to Paris alone. In 1786, after losing financial support for his libertine Parisian life, Thomas-Alexandre enlisted as a private in the French army under his mother’s name—Dumas. From there began a distinguished military career that saw early rapid advancement, peaked with high favor from Napoleon, and ended after unjust attempts on Dumas’ life.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John G. Gallaher is a professor emeritus of history at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press; 1st edition (July 29, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0809320983
• ISBN-13: 978-0809320981
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.6 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,184,949 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Story of the Father of Alexandre Dumas, December 14, 2009

By 

Tom Reeves "www.parisinsights.com" (Paris, France) - See all my reviews

This review is from: General Alexandre Dumas: Soldier of the French Revolution (Hardcover)

Many Americans would recognize the name Alexandre Dumas as that of the prolific French writer who penned unforgettable adventure novels such as The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo. But it is a safe bet that most Americans have never heard of his father, General Alexandre Dumas--one of the great, but now forgotten, heroes of the French Revolution, whose military exploits provided a source of inspiration for the literary imagination of the son.

John G. Gallaher set out to correct this oversight with his 1997 biography of General Dumas. He gives a fascinating account of this larger-than-life figure who rose from humble beginnings as a slave on the island of Saint Domingue to become one of Napoleon's generals during the Italian and Egyptian campaigns. Gallaher chronicles Dumas' story carefully, giving a lively account of the critical stages and events of his life: slavery to young adult life in Paris; conflicts with his father leading to his entry into the French army; his breathtaking rise from private to general; and finally, his eventual downfall and disgrace due to the conflicts that he foolishly provoked with Napoleon and Napoleon's chief of staff.

Though Gallaher's biography provides a fairly good account of French Revolutionary history, readers who come to this book without prior knowledge of the subject might have some difficulty in understanding the context of the narration. Another source of difficulty is that Gallaher provides exacting detail about troop movements for some of the battles, but does not illustrate the maneuvers on the maps that are provided.

In spite of these inconveniences, readers who want to learn about the man whose heroism inspired author Alexandre Dumas to write great adventure novels will enjoy this book.