Avenue Mac-Mahon is a street in the 17th arrondissement of Paris; it starts at Place Charles-de-Gaulle (more commonly known as Place de l'Étoile) and ends at Avenue des Ternes.
It is 402 meters long and 36 meters wide. Traffic is on two lanes in the direction of Place de l'Étoile, while in the opposite direction traffic is reserved for buses and taxis.
Avenue Mac-Mahon in the direction of the Arc de Triomphe
Avenue Mac-Mahon towards Avenue de Ternes
This road was created under the name "avenue du Prince-Jérôme", in reference to the younger brother of Napoleon I. It was renamed "avenue Mac-Mahon" in 1875.
This avenue bears the name of Count Patrice de Mac Mahon (1808-1893), 1st Duke of Magenta, Marshal of the Second Empire and 3rd President of the French Republic, a position he held from 1873 to 1879.
The Mac Mahon family is of Irish origin, refugees in France in 1689.
Patrice de Mac Mahon
Patrice de Mac Mahon was born on June 13, 1808 at the château de Sully in (Saône-et-Loire) near Autun and died on October 17, 1893 at the Château de la Forêt, in Montcresson (Loiret). He was a French soldier and statesman.
He was educated at the Collège Saint-Louis in Paris, then entered the special military school of Saint-Cyr on 23 October 1825. After graduating third from the military school of Saint-Cyr, he entered the army in 1827.
He took part in the conquest of Algeria and was noted for his ability and bravery during the capture of Algiers.
Recalled to France, he took part in the Ten Days Campaign in 1832, where he again attracted attention during the siege of the citadel of Antwerp.
In 1840, he left Africa and on his arrival in France learned that he had been promoted to squadron leader.
On December 31, 1842, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in the 2nd regiment of the Foreign Legion.
In 1848 he became Brigadier General.
In 1849, he became Commander of the Legion of Honour.
He was promoted to Major General in 1852.
During the Crimean War, he was given command of the 1st Infantry Division of the 2nd Corps of the Eastern Army. The famous soldier was undoubtedly, on the French side, the most prestigious leader of the Crimean War. In September 1855, he was the one who took the Malakoff bastion in Sevastopol and pronounced the famous "I am there, I stay there" on this occasion. This victory led to the fall of Sevastopol.
For his brilliant services, he received the marshal's baton from Napoleon III, and was titled Duke of Magenta.
In 1864, he was appointed Governor General of Algeria.
He took part in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870.
He was elected President of the Republic by the royalist majority of the time, after the fall of Adolphe Thiers on May 24, 1873.
The senatorial elections of January 5, 1879 having delivered this assembly to the left, Mac Mahon, who no longer had any parliamentary support, preferred to resign on January 30, 1879.
From 1887 to 1893, he directed the Société de Secours aux Blessés Militaires (S.S.B.M.) (Aid Society for the Military Wounded), which became the French Red Cross in 1940.
Patrice de Mac Mahon died on October 17, 1893 at the Château de la Forêt, in Montcresson, near Montargis, after writing his memoirs, and was buried on October 22 at Invalides, after a national funeral and a mass at the Madeleine church.
