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Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally, baron de Tollendal (January 1702 – 6 May 1766) was a French General of Irish Jacobite ancestry. Lally commanded French forces, including two battalions of his own red-coated Regiment of Lally of the Irish Brigade, in India during the Seven Years' War. After a failed attempt to capture Madras he lost the Battle of Wandiwash to British forces under Eyre Coote and then was forced to surrender the remaining French post at Pondicherry. After a time spent as a prisoner of war in Britain, Lally voluntarily returned to France to face charges where he was beheaded for his alleged failures in India. Ultimately the jealousies and disloyalties of other officers, together with insufficient resources and limited naval support prevented Lally from securing India for France. In 1778, he was publicly exonerated by Louis XVI of his alleged crime. == Life == He was born at Romans-sur-Isère, Dauphiné, the son of Sir Gerald Lally, an Irish Jacobite from Tuam, County Galway, who married a French lady of noble family. His title is derived from the Lally's ancestral home, Castel Tullendally in Co. Galway where the Lally's (originally called O'Mullallys) were prominent members of the Gaelic Aristocracy who could trace their ancestry back to the second century High King of Ireland, 'Conn of the Hundred battles.' Entering the French army in 1721 he served in the war of 1734 against Austria; he was present at Dettingen (1743), and commanded the ''regiment de Lally'' in the famous Irish brigade at Fontenoy (May 1745). He was made a brigadier on the field by Louis XV. He was a staunch Jacobite and in 1745 accompanied Charles Edward to Scotland, serving as ''aide-de-camp'' at the battle of Falkirk (January 1746). Escaping to France, he served with Marshal Saxe in the Low Countries, and at the capture of Maastricht (1748) was made a ''maréchal de camp''. When war broke out with Britain in 1756 Lally was appointed governor-general of French India and commanded a French expedition, made up of four battalions, of whom two were from his own Regiment of Lally of the Irish Briggade, to India. He reached Pondicherry in April 1758, and within six weeks had pushed the British back from the coast to Madras (in modern day Chennai), the headquarters of the English East India Company. He was a man of courage and a capable general; but his pride and ferocity made him unpopular with his officers and men. He was unsuccessful in an attack on Tanjore, and as he lacked French naval support he had to retire from the Siege of Madras (1758) owing to the timely arrival of the British fleet. He was defeated by Sir Eyre Coote at the Battle of Wandiwash (1760), and besieged in Pondicherry, where he was forced to capitulate in 1761. 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「Thomas Arthur, comte de Lally」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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