Gabriel Venance Rey
French general (1763–1836)
Gabriel Venance Rey or Antoine Gabriel Rey (24 July 1763 – 20 April 1836) was a general officer in the army of France during the French Revolutionary Wars. He led a division under Napoleon Bonaparte in the Italian campaign of 1796-1797. He later fought in Italy and retired from military service in 1820.
War of the First Coalition
Born on 24 July 1763, Rey joined the old royal army of Louis XVI and became a lieutenant in 1791.
He was promoted general of division of 17 July 1793. He fought in the War in the Vendée, taking command of the Army of the Coasts of Brest from Lazare Hoche on 10 September 1795. His tenure lasted until 23 December that year when he was replaced by Gabriel Marie Joseph, comte d'Hédouville.
In January 1797, his division covered the western side of Lake Garda during the fourth Austrian attempt to raise the Siege of Mantua. Summoned to the east by Bonaparte, some of his troops marched and others crossed the lake by boat to fight at the Battle of Rivoli on 14 January. Arriving in the afternoon, Rey's soldiers helped eliminate Franz Joseph, Marquis de Lusignan's isolated Austrian column south of the main battlefield.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Gabriel Venance Rey” is french general (1763–1836). The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Gabriel, Venance and French, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “french general (1763–1836)” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5515902. VIAF identifies the subject as 305406607. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1763, 1836, 1796 and 1797.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Gabriel Venance Rey”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Gabriel Venance Rey primary sources, Gabriel Venance Rey archive and Gabriel research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Gabriel Venance Rey”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Gabriel Venance Rey” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.