He entered the French army in 1784 and two years later published his influential Essay on the Use of Machines in Warfare. He was a member of the Committee of Public Safety, was in charge of the war department, and between 1795 and 1797 was a member of the Directory. He fled to Germany, falsely accused of treason in 1797, following the royalist victory in the elections. He returned to become Minister of War (1800) and continued with his administrative reforms for a year under Napoleon I, but resigned in 1801.