Baron René Charles Reille-Soult-Dalmatie (4 February 1835 – 21 November 1898) was a French soldier, industrialist and politician. He came from a wealthy military family with mining interests in the south of France. He served in the army until 1869, then went into national politics. He aligned with the right wing Bonapartist group during the French Second Republic. Early years René Charles Reille-Soult-Dalmatie was born on 4 February 1835 in Paris, the third son of Marshal Honoré Charles Reille. His mother was Victoire Masséna, daughter of Marshal André Masséna. He enrolled in the École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr and became a second lieutenant at the Staff College on 1 January 1856. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1856 and captain in 1858. Reille served as a captain in the Second Italian War of Independence in 1859, and was aide-de-camp to Marshal Jacques Louis Randon and then to Marshal Adolphe Niel, whom he followed to the Ministry of War. Count Reille married Geneviève Soult in December 1860. She was daughter of the last Duke of Dalmatia, Napoléon Hector Soult, who died on 31 December 1857. Her grandfather was Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult. Reille was the direct heir of a family that had profited from political connections since the First French Empire, and was one of the leading capitalists of the Midi. He was one of the founders of the Comité des forges, the French iron masters' association. He was a member of the Comité des houillères, the coal mine owners' association, and president of the board of directors of the Carmaux mining company. His opponents called him the "King of the Black Mountain." Marshal Niel died on 13 August 1869, and Reille resigned from the army on 3 December 1869. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 he commanded the mobile forces of Tarn-et-Garonne. Political career While still in the army and aide to Niel, Reille became a member of the General Council of Tarn for the canton of Saint-Amans-Soult in 1867, and was elected deputy for the second district of Tarn as the government's candidate on 24 May 1869. During the Second French Empire Reille was deputy for Tarn until 4 September 1870, sitting on the center right. Under the French Third Republic Reille was made a Commander of the Legion of Honour on 7 February 1871, and was reelected to the Tarn General Council, where he was vice-president. Reille was elected