Ancien Régime, but lost this position due to the French Revolution (July 14, 1789), which broke out one month before Augustin-Louis was born. The Cauchy family survived the revolution and the following Reign of Terror (1793–94) by escaping to Arcueil, where Cauchy received his first education, from his father. After the execution of Robespierre (1794), it was safe for the family to return to Paris. There Louis-François Cauchy found himself a new bureaucratic job in 1800, and quickly moved up the ranks. When Napoleon Bonaparte came to power (1799), Louis-François Cauchy was further promoted, and became Secretary-General of the Senate, working directly under Laplace (who is now better known for his work on mathematical physics). The famous mathematician Lagrange was also a friend of the Cauchy family.
