1753-1823. French general and politician. A
member of the National Convention in the
French Revolution, he organized the armies of
the republic. He was war minister 1800-01 and
minister of the interior 1815 under Napoleon.
His work on fortification, De la defense de
places fortes 1810, became a military
textbook. Minister of the interior during the
Hundred Days, he was proscribed at the
restoration of the monarchy and retired to
Germany. Carnot joined the army as an
engineer, and his transformation of French
military technique in the revolutionary
period earned him the title of `Organizer of
Victory'. After the coup d'etat of 1797 he
went abroad, but returned in 1799 when
Napoleon seized power. In 1814 as governor of
Antwerp he put up a brilliantly successful
defence.