Georges Ernest Boulanger
Boulanger, Georges Ernest
Born Apr. 29, 1837, in Rennes; died Sept. 30, 1891, in Ixelles. French general and political figure.
Boulanger fought in the war of 1859 between Austria, Italy, and France, then in the colonial wars in Indo-China (1858-62) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). He also took part in the suppression of the Paris Commune in 1871. From 1886 to 1887 he was minister of war, and from 1887 to 1889, thanks to his skillful use of nationalistic demagoguery, he was the leader of a chauvinistic movement. In 1889, after his ties with the royalists were revealed, Boulanger fled to Belgium, where he committed suicide.