André-Joseph Lafitte-Clavé
André-Joseph Lafitte-Clavé | |
|---|---|
| Other name(s) | André-Joseph de Lafitte |
| Born | 1740 Clavé, Moncrabeau |
| Died | 1794 Perpignan |
| Allegiance | France |
| Service/ | French Army |
| Rank | Maréchal de Camp |
| Known for | French training mission in Ottoman Empire |
| Alma mater | Ecole royale du génie de Mézières |
André-Joseph Lafitte-Clavé, also André-Joseph de Lafitte (1740 in Clavé, a mansion of Moncrabeau – 1794 in Perpignan) was a French Army engineering officer. He became Colonel on 1 April 1791, and Maréchal de Camp on 25 October 1792. He was a graduate of the Ecole royale du génie de Mézières (English: Royal engineering school of Mézières).
He is especially known for his participation to a French mission in the Ottoman Empire under Louis XVI from 1784 to 1788.[1] The mission, from 1783, was sent to the Ottoman Empire to train the Turks in naval warfare and fortification building.[2] Up to the French Revolution in 1789, about 300 French artillery officers and engineers were active in the Ottoman Empire to modernize and train artillery units.[3]
From 1784, André-Joseph Lafitte-Clavé and Joseph-Monnier de Courtois instructed engineering drawings and techniques in the new Turkish engineering school Mühendishâne-i Hümâyûn established by the Grand-Vizier Halil Hamid Pasha.[4] Mostly French textbooks were used on mathematics, astronomy, engineering, weapons, war techniques and navigation.[4]
The French experts had to leave in 1788, as a condition of the peace treaty between Russia and Turkey.[1] Some returned to Constantinople, but eventually all instructors had to leave with the end of the Franco-Ottoman alliance in 1798.[1][4]
See also
References
- ^ a b c Imperialism and science: social impact and interaction by George Vlahakis p.92
- ^ From Louis XIV to Napoleon Jeremy Black p.144
- ^ Ottoman wars 1700-1870: an empire besieged by Virginia H. Aksan p.202 [1]
- ^ a b c Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire by Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan Masters p.395