Publisher's Synopsis
Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert Du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (or Lafayette) (1757 - 1834) was a French aristocrat and military officer. Lafayette is considered a national hero in both France and the United States for his participation in the American and French revolutions. Lafayette served in the American Revolution both as a general and as a diplomat, without pay. He was a key figure in the early phases of the French Revolution, a leading figure among the Feuillants, who tried and failed to turn France into a constitutional monarchy, and founder of the French National Guard. Widely considered responsible for the "Massacre of the Champ de Mars", he lost his leading role in the Revolution, and soon thereafter spent many years variously in exile, retirement and prison, eventually returning to French politics after 1814, and making a triumphal visit to the United States on the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the American Revolution.
