Franco-German War of 1870 Athanase Charles Marie de Charette, 2nd Baron de La Contrie (French pronunciation: [atanaz ʃaʁlə maʁi ʃaʁɛt]; 18 September 1832 in Nantes - 9 October 1911 in Saint-Père-Marc-en-Poulet), was a 19th-century French général who distinguished himself in the defense of the Papal States and subsequently during the Franco-German war of 1870.

[1] His great-grandfather was Charles X, the penultimate king of France,[2] and his great-uncle, General de Charette, was shot in Nantes on 29 March 1795, during the War in the Vendée.

[1] In 1852, the Duke of Modena, the brother-in-law of Henri, Count of Chambord, appointed Charette sub-lieutenant in an Austrian regiment stationed in the duchy.

Duke Francis was a most exemplary ruler who, with his own hands, tended to and served the victims of cholera that broke out in his duchy when the Piedmontese revolutionary army invaded.

[1] After the capture of Rome by the Kingdom of Italy, Charette negotiated with Gambetta for the employment of the French Zouaves in the service of France in the Franco-Prussian War; he was permitted to organize them as "Volunteers of the West".