Chanzy, Antoine Eugène Alfred

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Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy (äNtwän´ özhĕn´ älfrĕd´ shäNzē´), 1823–83, French general. After service in Algeria, Italy, and Syria, he was refused a major command in the Franco-Prussian War because he was distrusted by the emperor Napoleon III. After the fall of the empire he was put in command of the Army of the Loire and opposed the Prussians with great skill. Chanzy was elected to the national assembly. Captured by the Commune of Paris in 1871, he was detained for several days. Chanzy was later governor-general of Algeria (1873–79) and ambassador to Russia (1879–81), and in 1875 he was made senator for life. Nominated for president without his approval in 1879, he received a large vote in the election.