Galliffet, Gaston Alexandre Auguste, marquis de

Galliffet, Gaston Alexandre Auguste, marquis de gästôN´ älĕksäN´drə ōgüst´ märkē´ də gälēfā´ [key], 1830–1909, French general. He served in the Crimean War, in colonial campaigns, in the Mexican expedition, and in the Franco-Prussian War. His cruel suppression of the Commune of Paris in 1871 won him a reputation as a strong man and the enduring enmity of the political left. He later reorganized the French cavalry. As minister of war (1899–1900) in the crucial period of the Dreyfus Affair , Galliffet restored peace and order in the army.

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