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Jean Baptiste Charles Henri Hector, comte d'Estaing (24 November 1729 – 28 April 1794) was a French general, and admiral. He began his service as a soldier in the War of the Austrian Succession, briefly spending time as a prisoner of war of the British during the Seven Years' War. Naval exploits during the latter war prompted him to change branches of service, and he transferred to the French Navy. Following France's entry into the American War of Independence in 1778, he led a fleet to aid the American rebels. He participated in a failed Franco-American siege of Newport, Rhode Island in 1778 and the equally unsuccessful 1779 Siege of Savannah before returning to France in 1780. His difficulties working with American counterparts are cited among the reasons these operations failed. Although he sympathized with revolutionaries during the French Revolution, he held a personal loyalty to the French royal family. Because of this he came under suspicion, and was executed by guillotine in the Reign of Terror. ==Early years== He was born on 24 November 1729 at the Château de Ravel in Auvergne to Charles-François, the Marquis de Saillant and Marie-Henriette Colbert de Maulevrier, a descendant of Jean-Baptiste Colbert.〔Colman-Maison, pp. 2-3〕 His father was a lieutenant general in the French Army from a family with a long history of service to the French crown.〔Colman-Maison, p. 2〕 The young d'Estaing was educated alongside Louis, the Dauphin (father of the future Louis XVI), who was born at about the same time.〔Colman-Maison, p. 3〕 D'Estaing thus became close friends with the Dauphin and served in his retinue.〔Colman-Maison, p. 4〕 In May 1738 at the age of 9 he was nominally enrolled in the musketeers as his aristocratic family chose military service over civil for him, and rose through the ranks, eventually joining the Regiment de Rouergue as a lieutenant in 1746. That same year he married Marie-Sophie, granddaughter of the celebrated Marshal Château-Renault. His regiment was also called to serve in the War of the Austrian Succession. D'Estaing served as aide-de-camp to Marshal Saxe throughout the Flanders campaigns of 1746-48. During these years he was promoted to colonel in command of Regiment de Rouergue, and was wounded at the 1748 Siege of Maastricht.〔Colman-Maison, p. 5〕 Following the war King Louis XV embarked on a program to modernize his army on the successful model of Frederick the Great's Prussian army. D'Estaing became one of the leading reformers, and after a few years, the Regiment de Rouergue was viewed "as a model of the infantry".〔Colman-Maison, p. 6〕 Seeking to gain experience in diplomacy, he accompanied the French ambassador to England for a time.〔Colman-Maison, p. 7〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Charles Hector, comte d'Estaing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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