Kléber, Jean Baptiste [key], 1753–1800, French general, b. Strasbourg. A trained architect, he attended military school in Munich and served in the Austrian army from 1777 to 1783. In 1789 he entered the French National Guard. He fought with distinction in the French Revolutionary Wars and crushed the 1793 royalist uprising in the Vendée. He accompanied Napoleon Bonaparte to Egypt in 1798. Left in command when Napoleon returned (1799) to France, Kléber defeated (Mar., 1800) the Ottomans at Heliopolis, near Cairo, and recaptured Cairo. He was assassinated (June) at Cairo by an opponent of French rule.
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