Bernard Gattainon (Napoleon's World)

Bernard Laurence Gattainon (born March 2, 1941) is a former French civil servant who served from 1990 to 1993 as State Minister. Gattainon served during the peak of the Siamese War in the early 1990s, and much of his attention as geared towards the conflict. His appointment, as both the youngest Foreign Minister in decades in 1987 and then as one of the youngest State Ministers in September 1990, served as an impetus for the resignation of Defense Minister Richard Aubin. Gattainon was generally viewed as a talented diplomat and his appointment reflected Albert's desire to expand the efforts to attract more European support for a decisive victory in the conflict. However, Gattainon's inexperience and the power vacuum after the retirement of the domineering Aubin caused chaos throughout the bureaucracy, exacerbated by Gattainon's deferential attitude towards career State Ministry staffers who often made decisions without consulting him. The dramatic victories by the Siamese People's Army in late 1992 and strikes in Cologne and Anvers led to his sacking shortly before Shroud Day in 1993 and Albert II's pledge of a "New Direction" after he appointed career legislator Alexander Neveshkin instead. Gattainon, only 51 years old, retired to relative obscurity with his state pension in a chalet near Albertville.