Sunday 16 October 2016

NAPOLEON'S INVASION OF RUSSIA IN 1812.

NAPOLEON'S INVASION OF RUSSIA IN 1812.

The REASON FOR NAPOLEON INVASION OF RUSSIA, was not ambition, it was dictated by as usual ECONOMICS; meaning the implementation of NAPOLEON'S BERLIN DECREE = Continental System.


Europe in 1811. Colors indicate (from dark blue to light blue) : Dark blue: French Empire Light blue: French satellite states and occupied zones Blue-grey: Countries forced by France into applying the Continental System.

The Continental System or Continental Blockade (known in French as Blocus continental) was the foreign policy of Napoleon I of France in his struggle against Great Britain during the Napoleonic Wars. As a response to the naval blockade of the French coasts enacted by the British government on 16 May 1806, Napoleon issued the Berlin Decree on 21 November 1806, which brought into effect a large-scale embargo against British trade. In terms of economic damage to Great Britain, the blockade was largely ineffective. As Napoleon realized that extensive trade was going through Spain and Russia, he invaded those two countries.
Tsar Alexander found Russia in an economic bind as his country had little in the way of manufacturing, yet was rich in raw materials and relied heavily on trade with Napoleon's continental system for both money and manufactured goods. Russia's withdrawal from the system was a further incentive to Napoleon to force a decision

I SHALL DISCUSS PEACE WITH CZAR ALEXANDER IN MOSCOW. “I have come once and for all to finish off these barbarians of the North,” he purportedly declared to his top military advisors. “The sword is now drawn. They must be pushed back into their ice, so that for the next 25 years they no longer come to busy themselves with the affairs of civilized Europe.” 
 


and with these words NAPOLEON (the greatest military genius of all time) crossed the NIEMAN river from Poland and started the invasion of Russia. Napoleon organized the Grande Armée of 674,000 men, the largest army assembled up to that point in European history. On June 24, 1812 almost half a million men from this multinational army crossed the river Neman and headed towards Moscow. The world had never seen such an ARMY. (Neither Attila the Hun, nor Genghis Khan ever led more than 400,000 in battle.)






NAPOLEON'S PREPARATIONS

  Napoleon put a massive amount of effort into his plans for the invasion of Russia. He studied every available book on Russia, in particular those on Charles XII of Sweden's failed invasion of 1709. Napoleon decided that he would need 500,000 men in the front line with more men in the rear and a massive stockpile of supplies. This would be far too many men for him to control in a single army, and so he split his army into three, forming what would later be known as “army groups”. (in 1941 Germany invaded USSR, also with 3 army groups: North-Center-South.)





Preparations began in 1810 when Napoleon ordered extra supplies to be stored in his German and Polish fortresses, officially to guard against any danger of Russian aggression. In 1811 he cancelled or scaled down any preparations for campaigns in Britain or in the East. One blind spot was Spain, where the Peninsula War dragged on, requiring around 200,000 of his most experienced men. (TO BE DISCUSSED AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE).

LA GRANDE Armée

MULTINATIONALITY OF THE GRAND ARMY IN 1812

Active 1805–15
County  France
SIZE At its greatest height, on 25 June 1812, before the Invasion of Russia:674,000 men:
• 550,000 Frenchmen
• 95,000 Poles
• 35,000 Austrians
• 30,000 Italians
• 24,000 Bavarians
• 20,000 Saxons
• 20,000 Prussians
• 17,000 Westphalians
• 15,000 Swiss
• 10,000 Danes and Norwegians
• 4,000 Portuguese
• 3,500 Croats


MOTTOS: VALEUR ET DISCIPLINE

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THREE ARMY GROUPS
Napoleon divided the first line of his massive army into three main 'army groups' and two flanking forces. In addition he had a second and third line of troops, partly to guard his rear and partly to provide reinforcements for the main army.
This is the order of battle of the French invasion of Russia.


Grande Armée

Napoleon organized the Grande Armée of 674,000 men, the largest army assembled up to that point in European history. On June 24, 1812 almost half a million men from this multinational army crossed the river Neman and headed towards Moscow.
Grande Armée composition.
Commander-in-Chief: Emperor Napoleon Chief of Staff: Major Général (Chief of Staff) Maréchal Louis-Alexandre Berthier, 1st Duc de Wagram, 1st Duc de Valengin, 1st Sovereign Prince de Neuchâtel
Main article: List of French commanders in the Russian 1812 Campaign
In addition National Guards had been conscripted for full military service defending the imperial frontier of the Duchy of Warsaw. With these included total French imperial forces on the Russian border and in Russia came to almost 674,000 men. This vast commitment of manpower severely strained the Empire — especially considering that there were a further 220,000 French troops fighting in Iberia and over 100,000 more in Germany and Italy.

Napoleon commanded the main army. This contained the Imperial Guard, three corps and two cavalry corps. The Guard was around 47,000 strong.


JEROME BONAPARTE
The final part of the first line was the Second Support (or Auxiliary) Army, commanded by Napoleon's brother Jérôme Bonaparte, king of Westphalia. Jerome had the most international force, with no French troops. He commanded VIII Corps (18,000 Westphalians), General Poniatowski's V Corps (36,000 Poles), General Reynier's VII Corps (17,000 Saxons) and General Latour-Maubourg's IV Cavalry Corps (8,000 Poles, Westphalians and Saxons), for a total of 79,000 men.
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In order to defend France Napoleon mobilised 80,000 men aged between 20 and 26 and formed them into 100 cohortes. There were also two regiments of the Young Guard, 24 line and 8 foreign battalions, eight squadrons of cavalry, 48 artillery batteries, 155 depot battalions and a number of National Guard and coast guard units.
The quality of this massive army was more varied than had been the case in Napoleon's earlier campaigns. Most of the senior commanders were good battlefield generals, but were less capable when given independent commands. Napoleon had tended to keep every formation under close control in earlier campaigns, but the vast expanses of Russia meant that this was no longer possible. He didn't help the situation by giving his inexperienced brother Jerome a key command.
Lower down the increase in size of the army and earlier losses had reduced the quality of the lower ranking commissioned troops while a large proportion of the troops were recent conscripts or inexperienced. However there was still a very experienced, very high quality core to the army and some elements of it would still be able to perform impressive feats towards the end of the disastrous retreat. 
 


The cavalry was impressive on the battlefield, but less so off it, and suffered massive losses of horses from the moment it crossed the border. The same was true in the artillery and the lack of horses would play a major part in the horrors of the retreat from Moscow.
Normally Napoleon expected his army to live off the land, but he realised that this wouldn't be possible in Russia, and so put a great deal of effort into creating a suitable supply system. A series of supply magazines were created and vast amounts of food, weapons, ammunition and other supplies were gathered. This aspect of the campaign did work - Napoleon was never actually short of supplies during the campaign.




Bugler of 3rd Regiment of Hussars
 










 The same can't be said of the transport 
arrangements. Twenty six transport battalions were formed - four received 600 light carts capable of carrying 600kg, four got 600 heavy wagons capable of carrying 1,000kg and the rest got 252 four-animal wagons capable of carrying 1,500kg. The French also gathered vast herds of cattle and oxen with the intention that they would follow the armies. A total of 200,000 animals accompanied the army - 80,000 cavalry horses, 30,000 artillery horses and the rest in transport or supply units. The army began the campaign with around 25,000 wagons. Each soldier was to cross the Niemen with 24 days worth of supplies - 4 in the backpack, 20 in wagons, but none of this was to be eaten before crossing into Russia. 
 

 Napoleon's Plans

Napoleon's aim at the start of the Russian campaign was to win an overwhelming victory somewhere in western Russia as quickly as possible, ideally within the first twenty days of the campaign (although his supply preparations show that he was aware that this might not be possible). He hoped that Alexander would see reason once his armies had been destroyed and agree to fully implement the Continental System.
Russia's western borderlands were split by the Pripet Marshes. Napoleon had to decide which side of the marshes to operate - the northern side offered a quicker route to Moscow and would also allow him to threaten St Petersburg, while the southern route (via Kiev) offered better weather and more fertile country, but would take longer and eliminate any threat to St Petersburg. When Napoleon first formed his plans Barclay de Tolly's army was spread out between the marshes and the Courland Coast, while Bagration Pyotr Bagration was a Georgian prince of the royal Bagrationi dynasty who rose to prominence during the Napoleonic Wars as a General of the Imperial Russian Army) was south of the marshes.


Napoleon decided to attack in the north. His armies would form up on the Vistula in Poland, quietly advance to the Niemen and then advance towards Vilna. He hoped to split Barclay de Tolly's (Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly was a Russian Field Marshal and Minister of War during Napoleon's invasion in 1812) army in half, and prevent the two main Russian armies from uniting.


Napoleon's plan involved most of his armies. While he advanced on Vilna Schwarzenberg and Reynier would mount a feint in the south in the hope that it would distract Bagration. King Jerome had an important role in the plan - he was to advance east from Warsaw and prevent Bagration from moving north. Napoleon hoped that this would pin Bagration on the River Bug. After about twelve days Jerome was to retreat back towards Prince Eugene and Davout's I Corps on the right of the main army. By this point Napoleon would have 400,000 men behind Bagration's right wing, and would be able to turn south to trap the Russians around Grodno.

Napoleon considered three possible Russian reactions. They could retreat east to try and cover St Petersburg and Moscow. In that case Napoleon would be able advance east into the gap between the two Russian armies and defeat them one at a time. The second possibility was that Barclay de Tolly would abandon Vilna and move south to join Bagration, In this case Napoleon would struggle to prevent the two Russian armies from uniting but he would be able to trap them against the Pripet Marshes, and the Rivers Bug and Narew and force the major battle he required. Finally Barclay de Tolly might retreat east in front of Napoleon while Bagration attacked Warsaw. In this case Napoleon would lead his main army against Barclay de Tolly while the French flanking armies dealt with Bagration.

 Cuirassier Officer



Polish Lancer
 PROBLEM
There were two big problems with this plan. The first was that Napoleon couldn't be everywhere at once. His subordinates lacked experience of independent command, and the distant parts of the operation rarely went as well as Napoleon had hoped. Jerome was especially poor and soon left the army. This problem was made worse by Napoleon's own performance with was sometimes rather lacklustre and lacking in energy - on more than one occasion he missed a fleeting chance to force a battle by pausing for a day.
The second problem was the plan assumed that the Russians would either attack west or at least stand and fight to protect the key cities of western Russia. When the Russians refused to fight Napoleon struggled to come up with an alternative, and his repeated attempts to trap them and force a battle only ended up dragging him ever-further east. Napoleon had hoped to win his major victory within twenty days, but the first significant fighting on the main front didn't come until 25 July, over a month into the campaign (and only involved a small Russian force).

The big problem was that the French were dramatically over-optimistic when it came to the speed with which their supply convoys could move. They were already behind schedule at the very start of the campaign and things never really got better. The wagons got bogged down on Russia's mud roads, the animal herds moved much slower than expected and the army moved far further east than anyone had planned. As the Russian army fell back, Cossacks were given the task of burning villages, towns and crops. This was intended to deny the invaders the option of living off the land. These scorched-earth tactics greatly surprised and disturbed the French, as the willingness of the Russians to destroy their own territory and harm their own people was difficult for the French to comprehend. 
 


As a result the army itself ran short of supplies almost before they reached the Niemen. As the army retreated from Moscow it came across a series of fully stocked supply depots, but those supplies never got far enough east.


BELLIGERENTS
Belligerents
 Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Strength
Grande Armée: c. 674,000
Casualties and losses
  • Deaths: 400,000
  • Deaths: 210,000


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Survivors: 120,000 men (excluding early deserters).
Of these, 50,000 were Austrians and Prussians, 20,000 Poles and 35,000 Frenchmen.
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KUTUZOV DECIDE TO LEAVE MOSCOW




NAPOLEON ENTERS MOSCOW







 NAPOLEON IN MOSCOW











THE TERRIBLE RETREAT


MOSCOW BURNING
THE ARMY RETREATS



NAPOLEON LEAVES MOSCOW









AFTERMATH






 BATTLE OF BORODINO FOLLOWED BY THE HEROIC BATTLE OF MOSKVA


 

The invasion of Russia was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars .
The campaign reduced the French and allied invasion forces to less
than 2 % percent of their initial strength ! As the Russian army fell back, Cossacks were given the task of burning villages, towns and crops.[10] This was intended to deny the invaders the option of living off the land. These scorched-earth tactics greatly surprised and disturbed the French, as the willingness of the Russians to destroy their own territory and harm their own people was difficult for the French to comprehend.



Napoleon and his marshals struggle to manage the deteriorating situation in the retreat.

"My soldiers are as brave as it is possible to be,
but they argue too much. If they had the impassible
firmness and the docility of the Russians
the world not be great enough for me."
- Napoleon

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GENIUS OF NAPOLEON

Napoleon wrote: "We need a European code, a European court of appeals, a universal currency, a uniform system of weights and measures, a code of laws. I must forge the peoples of Europe into one people."
The aristocratic Europe kept an anxious eye on the new and very strong France. The privileged classes rallied round the kings and emperors who felt their thrones menaced. England had no army but plenty of money, Russia had a huge army and no money. Both hated Napoleon and the powerful, in good order and well governed France.
The kings and Emperors of Europe were quick to see the danger to their thrones. Feudalism, system of financial and judicial privileges for the aristocracy, was common in Europe at the beginning of Napoleon's reign, and was practically non-existent at the end. Napoleon also:
create 
THE JUDICIAL CODE which he incredibly improved and altered while reading it during the retreat from Moscow REFERRED AS "THE CODE NAPOLEON". He also:
- improved educational system
- improved administration
- granted freedom of worship for all denominations
- encouraged industrialization
- encouraged and sponsored the sciences and arts
-Line the streets with trees so that soldiers would walk in the shade
- brought the smallpox vaccination to the continent
- encouraged the use of gas lighting

- serfdom was abolished even in countries allied with Napoleon, like Duchy of Warsaw
- opened careers to talented people, not caring if they were peasant or noble
- instituted the metric system, which has had a profound influence on the world
Napoleon's attitude toward blacks is explained in Napoleon's secret instructions to General Leclerc. (October 31, 1801) "Instructions on internal policy relating to the blacks and their leader: The French nation will never give irons to men it had recognized as free. Therefore all the blacks will live in St. Domingue as they are today in Guadeloupe. "

AS A MILITARY TACTICIAN AND POLITICAL STRATEGIST, HE IS UNMATCHED. PERIOD.



Wellington when asked who he thought
was the greatest general answered:
"In this age, in past ages,
in any age, Napoleon."


PENINSULAR WAR (SPAIN)
The Spanish Ulcer 1808-1814
The Peninsular War is called Napoleon's Vietnam.
This was one of the most successful partisan wars
in history and was where the word guerrilla was
first used in this context.
"The lion in the fable tormented to death by a gnat
gives a true picture of the French army in Spain."

PERSONAL REMARK
The French forces in Peninsula faced the Spanish, Spanish and Portuguese troops, and large number of Spanish guerillas. For France the war was if not a sideshow, it was of a secondary importance, with the exception of couple of years. Losing in Spain in 1812 or 1813 would have meant little if there was a decisive victory in Russia and Germany. Henri Lachoque writes: "No matter how grave affairs became in Spain Napoleon considered them of secondary importance. The principal danger lay in the east." (Lachoque - "The Anatomy of Glory" p 195)
The Peninsular War however had the greatest importance for the Spanish and Portuguese people. Without their determination to fight the French there would be no British expeditionary corps.

FRENCH MARSHALS


Napoleon elevated 26 military skilled & courageous men to the marshalate. All were French, except for the hereditary Prince Jozef Antoni Poniatowsky of Poland.


FRENCH MARSHAL UNIFORM















Here are the French Marshals who took part in the Invasion of Russia

Louis Alexandre Berthier, 20 November 1753 – 1 June 1813, 1st prince de Wagram, 1st duc de Valangin, 1st sovereign Prince of Neuchâtel. His merit as a general was completely overshadowed by the genius of his emperor, he is nevertheless renowned for his excellent organising skills and being able to understand and carry out the emperor's directions to the minutest detail. He committed suicide in 1813. Male line extinct in 1918.







François Joseph Lefebvre, Duc de Danzig 1755-1820
The son of a Hussar. Straight-speaking and honest, Francois Lefebvre was a loyal and distinguished member of the marshalate. The Russian campaign saw him back in charge of the Old Guard and he fought at Borodino, and later at Dresden and Leipzig during the 1813 Campaign. Male line extinct, his last son died in battle in 1812.









Adolphe Édouard Casimir Joseph Mortier, 13 February 1768 – 28 July 1835, 1st Duc de Trévise. In 1812 he commanded the Imperial Guard, and he rendered brilliant services in command of rearguards and covering detachments. After the second Bourbon Restoration he was for a time in disgrace, but in 1819 he was readmitted to the Chamber of Peers and in 1825 received the Order of the Holy Spirit, the kingdom's highest. In 1830–1831 he was Ambassador of France to Russia at St Petersburg, and in 1834–1835 minister of war and France's 15th Prime Minister. His great grandson 4e Duc de Trévise died in 1912. Male line extinct.



Jean Baptiste Bessières, duc d'Istrie, 1768-1813, was one of Napoleon's most loyal and popular subordinates, and spent much of his career serving with the Imperial Guard. During the advance on Moscow the Guard wasn't used, although at Borodino Napoleon was said to have decided to commit the Guard Cavalry but Bessières couldn't be found for an hour and the moment passed. Although this left the Imperial Guard intact for future battles, it prevented a decisive victory which might have successfully ended the Russian campaign. During the retreat he saved Napoleon several times by personally charging the Cossacks.On 1 May 1813 he was killed by a ricocheting ball while inspecting the enemy positions at Weissenfels near Lutzen. He was personally beloved to an extraordinary extent amongst his soldiers, and (unlike most of the French generals of the time) amongst his opponents. It is said that masses were performed for his soul by the priests of insurgent Spain, and the king of Saxony raised a monument to his memory. His eldest son died without heir. 
 

Louis-Nicolas Davout, duc d'Auerstädt, prince d'Eckmühl (1770-1823) was a member of the aristocratic d'Avout family and became one of the most capable of Napoleon's marshals, and earned the nickname of the 'Iron Marshal' because of the strict discipline he imposed on his men. Davout was given command of I Corps of the Grande Armeé, which began the campaign 70,000 strong. This was the best trained and disciplined of the corps, just behind the Imperial Guard, and kept its shape until well into the retreat. Davout even concerned himself with the packing of the soldier's knapsacks. Napoleon attempted to defeat Barclay de Tolly and Bagration before they could unite, but despite Davout's best efforts these attacks all failed. One did lead to Davout's first battle of the campaign, when he succesfuly blocked Bagration's men at Mogilev (23 July 1812), but even this success backfired - when the news reached Barclay de Tolly he abandoned plans to stand and fight and once again slipped away from Napoleon. During this period Davout argued with Napoleon's brother Jerome, whose slow movements had caused the failure of at least two manoeuvres. After this argument Jerome resigned from command of his army and returned home to Westphalia.
He commanded in the right-centre of the line at Borodino. He suggested that Napoleon should launch a wide outflanking movement around the exposed Russian left wing, but Napoleon turned down this advance, believing it to be too much of a gamble.
At the start of the retreat from Moscow his corps formed the rearguard, and at first it retained its discipline as other parts of the army began to crumble. Davout's I Corps suffered heavy losses at the battle of Fiedovoisky (3 November 1812), losing 5,000 of the 20,000 men then believed to be in his corps. After this I Corps was never the same again, and Ney had to take over the rearguard. Davout's corps suffered again at the second battle of Krasnyi (15-18 November 1812), when Davout's personal baggage and his marshal's baton were lost.
By the time the survivors of the army escaped from Russia only a few hundred of Davout's original 70,000 men were still with the colours. Of the other Marshals, Davout had the best relations with Michel Ney, Nicolas Charles Oudinot and Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr. He hated Marshal Bernadotte and offered to settle the issue in a dual, but Napoleon prevented it.
Davout whose military and administrative skills matched Napoleon's was the only Marshal who refused to serve Louis XVIII after the restoration. Upon Bonaparte's return he became Minister of War but was left behind in Paris, presumably to guard against treachery, when the French army began the 100 Days' Campaign.
If Bonaparte had Davout with him then the results at Quatre Bras and Waterloo could have been very different. His surviving son 2nd Duke of Auerstadt, 2nd and last Prince of Eckmühl died unmarried and without issue. His line became extinct.


Nicolas Charles Oudinot, 1st Comte Oudinot, 1st Duc de Reggio, 25 April 1767 in Bar-le-Duc – 13 September 1848 in Paris. He is known to have been wounded 34 times in battle (by artillery shells, bullets [at least 12], saber slashes and thrusts). From 1810 to 1812 Oudinot administered the government of the former Kingdom of Holland, and commanded the II Corps of La Grande Armée in the Russian campaign. His corps was instrumental in building the bridge over the Berezina that allowed the evacuation of troops after the defeat at the Battle of Berezina. Oudinot organized the defense and ordered the cuirassiers to counterattack. Of the 47,864 effective troops in the Second Corps which entered Russia in June, only 4,653 remained in January 1813, a casualty rate of nearly 90%. During the 100 days, when Napoleon returned from Elba, Oudinot retired to Bar-le-Duc but was summoned to Paris by Napoleon. Napoleon tried to convince him to rejoin the army for the upcoming campaign, but Oudinot refused. He told Napoleon, “Since I will not serve you, sire, I will not serve anyone.” Oudinot lived his life according to a strict code of honor and spent his whole life to the service of his country. He won his greatest fame as the commander of the Grenadiers. In many ways Oudinot was a throwback to the chivalric knights of the Middle Ages, always ready to defend his honor, the honor of the army, or of France. Napoleon introduced him to Czar Alexander at Tilsit as, "the Bayard of the French Army." He enjoyed the opera and theater, he collected clay pipes, was an amateur painter, and had a huge collection of arms, including a canon, at his home. At times he could exhibit a volcanic temper, but he also deeply enjoyed time with his family. All his 4 sons became soldiers + 2 grandsons.


Joachim-Napoléon Murat, 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815, the 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808, and King of Naples from 1808 to 1815. He received his titles in part by being Napoleon's brother-in-law through marriage to his youngest sister, Caroline Bonaparte, as well as personal merit. He was noted as a daring, brave, and charismatic cavalry officer as well as a flamboyant dresser and was known as "the Dandy King." He was unbelievably courageous, a “true Hussard laughs at death”. He charged the cossacks repeatedly at Beresina. After the fall of Napoleon, he tried to recover his kingdom of Naples, but When the fatal moment arrived, Murat walked with a firm step to the place of execution, as calm, as unmoved, as if he had been going to an ordinary review. He would not accept a chair, nor suffer his eyes to be bound. "I have braved death (said he) too often to fear it." He stood upright, proudly and undauntedly, with his countenance towards the soldiers; and when all was ready, he kissed a cameo on which the head of his wife was engraved, and gave the word — thus,

« Soldats! Faites votre devoir ! Droit au cœur mais épargnez le visage. Feu ! »
"Soldiers! Do your duty! Straight to the heart but spare the face. Fire!













Charles Pierre François Augereau, 1st Duc de Castiglione, 21 October 1757 – 12 June 1816. He fought in all of Bonaparte's battles of 1796 with great distinction. During the Napoleonic Wars, Emperor Napoleon entrusted him with important commands. For the Russian campaign of 1812, Augereau was again given a task of protecting the lines of communication and the rear of the Grande Armée. In the campaign of 1812 he guarded the rear areas. He was given command of the XI Corps in Germany and remained there throughout the campaign, ensuring the lines of communication between France and Russia. Napoleon reproached him with not being the Augereau of Castiglione; to which he replied, "Give me back the old soldiers of Italy, and I will show you that I am."Yet he led the IX Corps at Leipzig with skill and brought off his command in good order. His life ended under a cloud because of his poor timing in switching sides between Napoleon and King Louis XVIII of France. Louis XVIII, when re-restored to the royal throne, deprived him of his military title and pension. Augereau died at his estate of La Houssaye, a lonely and solitary man. Rough, eager for money and certainly possessing limited intellectual capability, Pierre Augereau was nevertheless a good military tactician. Napoleon wrote of Augereau that he "has plenty of character, courage, firmness, activity; is inured to war; is well liked by the soldiery; is fortunate in his operations”.


Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre MacDonald, 1st duke of Taranto, 17 November 1765 – 25 September 1840. Born in France to a Jacobite father. In 1812, he commanded the left wing of the Grande Armée for the invasion of Russia. He was sent to the north but did not succeed in occupying Riga. During the defensive campaign of 1814, MacDonald again distinguished himself. He was one of the marshals sent by Napoleon to take the notice of his abdication to Paris. When all were deserting Napoleon, MacDonald remained faithful. He was directed by Napoleon to give his adherence to the new régime, and was presented with the sabre of Murad Bey for his fidelity. MacDonald had none of that military genius that distinguished Davout, Masséna and Lannes, nor of that military science conspicuous in Marmont and St Cyr, but nevertheless his campaign in Switzerland gives him a rank far superior to such mere generals of division as Oudinot and Dupont. This capacity for independent command made Napoleon, in spite of his defeats at the Trebia and the Battle of Katzbach, trust him with large commands till the end of his career. As a man, his character cannot be spoken of too highly; no stain of cruelty or faithlessness rests on him. He had an only son who died without heir. His line is extinct.


Claude Victor-Perrin, First Duc de Belluno, 7 December 1764 – 1 March 1841. in 1812 to a corps command in the invasion of Russia. Here his most important service was in protecting the retreating army at the crossing of the Berezina River. Victor had mixed military talents. He was an excellent organizer and tactician. During his time in Spain he destroyed entire Spanish armies with Cannae like envelopments and even fought Wellington to a virtual tactical draw at Talavera. However he was a timid strategist often afraid of taking risks. Nevertheless he recognized new developments in warfare and implemented them throughout his career When the second restoration followed the Battle of Waterloo he was made a peer of France. In 1821 he was appointed war minister and held this office for two years. In 1830 he was major-general of the royal guard, and after the July Revolution of that year he retired altogether into private life. While on St. Helena, Napoleon remarked that “Victor was better than one might suppose”.
CLAUDE VICTOR PERRIN, DUKE OF BELLUNO, DIED ON MARCH 1, 1841, AT THE AGE OF 76. THE TITLE NO LONER EXIST AS THE AUSTRIAN EMPEROR DIDN'T RECOGNIZE IT. 

Michel Ney (French pronunciation: ​[miʃɛl ˈnɛ]), 1st Duc d'Elchingen, 1st Prince de la Moskowa (10 January 1769 – 7 December 1815), popularly known as Marshal Ney. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of the Empire created by Napoleon. He was known as Le Rougeaud ("red faced" or "ruddy") by his men and nicknamed le Brave des Braves ("the bravest of the brave") by Napoleon. Ney was given command of III Corps of the Grande Armée during the 1812 invasion of Russia. At Smolensk, Ney was wounded in the neck, but recovered enough to later fight in the central sector at Borodino. During the retreat from Moscow, Ney commanded the rearguard (and was anecdotally known as "the last Frenchman on Russian soil" because of it). After being cut off from the main army fighting the Battle of Krasnoy, Ney managed to escape in a heavy fog over the Dniepr, not without heavy losses and to rejoin it in Orsha, which delighted Napoleon. For this action Ney was given the nickname "the bravest of the brave" by Napoleon. Ney fought at Beresina and helped hold the vital bridge at Kovno (modern-day Kaunas), where legend portrays Ney as the last of the invaders to cross the bridge and exit Russia. On 25 March 1813, Ney was given the title of Prince de la Moskowa.

The Death of Marshal Ney
 (painting by Louis Antoine Jerome)


On 6 December 1815, he was condemned, and executed by firing squad in Paris near the Luxembourg Garden on 7 December 1815, an event that deeply divided the French public. He refused to wear a blindfold and was allowed the right to give the order to fire, reportedly saying:
"Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. I protest against my condemnation. I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her ... Soldiers, fire!"
With the death of the 4th Duke D'Elchingen, his male line became extinct in 1969.

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PRINCIPAL RUSSIAN ENEMY COMMANDERS
Prince Mikhail Illarionovich Golenishchev-Kutuzov (Russian: князь Михаи́л Илларио́нович Голени́щев-Куту́зов; 5 September 1745 – 16 April 1813, a Field Marshal of the Russian Empire. He served as one of the finest military officers and diplomats of Russia under the reign of three Romanov Tsars: Catherine II, Paul I and Alexander I. Kutuzov is credited most with his leadership during the French invasion of Russia. Under Kutuzov's command, the Russian army faced the Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino and later counter-attacked once Napoleon retreated from Moscow, pushing the French out of the Russian homeland.

Pyotr (Peter) Bagration (1765–1812) was a Georgian prince of the royal Bagrationi dynasty who rose to prominence during the Napoleonic Wars as a General of the Imperial Russian Army. During the French invasion of Russia, he commanded the left wing at the decisive Battle of Borodino, where he was mortally wounded. He was subsequently portrayed favorably in Tolstoy's epic novel War and Peace. Bagration was the husband of Klemens von Metternich's lover Catherine and the alleged lover of Tsar Alexander's sister Catherine.





Prince Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly16 December 1761 – 14 May 1818 was a Russian Field Marshal and Minister of War during Napoleon's invasion in 1812 and War of the Sixth Coalition. He was a German-speaking descendant of a Scottish family which had settled in Livonia in the 17th century. During Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, Barclay assumed the supreme command of the 1st Army of the West, the largest of the Russian armies facing Napoleon. He used the scorched earth strategy of drawing the enemy deep into one's own territory and retreated to the village of Tsaryovo-Zaimishche between Moscow and Smolensk. The Russians keenly opposed the appointment of a foreigner as commander in chief and Barclay was forced by his subordinates and the Tsar to engage Napoleon at Smolensk (17–18 August 1812). Napoleon forced Barclay to retreat when he threatened Barclay's only escape route. After losing the Holy City of Smolensk, the outcry of officers and civilians grew to a point where the Tsar could no longer ignore it. He appointed Kutuzov, previously a general at the battle of Austerlitz, as the over-all commander of the Russian forces. Barclay remained General of the 1st Army of the West. Barclay commanded the right flank at the Battle of Borodino (7 September 1812) with great valour and presence of mind and during the celebrated council at Fili advised Kutuzov to surrender unfortified Moscow to the enemy. His illness made itself known at that time and he was forced to leave the army soon afterwards.


Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly. Russia postage stamp, 2011
After his death, his courage and valor were officially recognized by the Tsar and by modern Russia



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THE FIVE BONAPARTE BROTHERS AND THEIR MALE DESCENDANTS


Of the 5 brothers Bonaparte, only the youngest Jerome's line has survived with male heirs.
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1. Joseph Bonaparte King of Naples, later King of Spain

the elder brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made him King of Naples and Sicily (1806–1808), and later King of Spain (1808–1813, as José I). He was talented, As a lawyer, politician, and diplomat, Joseph served in the Cinq-Cents and was the French ambassador to Rome. On 30 September 1800, as Minister Plenipotentiary, he signed a treaty of friendship and commerce between France and the United States at Morfontaine, alongside Charles Pierre Claret de Fleurieu, and Pierre Louis Roederer. He had 5 daughters and his line became extinct.



2. Napoleon I Emperor
His second wife was the 19-year old Marie Louise, Archduchess of Austria, and a great niece of Marie Antoinette; thus he had married into a German royal and imperial family. The couple had one child, Napoleon Francis Joseph Charles (1811–1832), known from birth as the King of Rome. Napoleon had no other legitimate male heir. (He did have two sons by aristocratic mistresses.)





NAPOLEON'S SON,  Duke of Reichstadt. Educated in Vienna by his grandfather the Austrian Emperor.
He became Napoleon II in 1814 and reigned for only two weeks. He was awarded the title of the Duke of Reichstadt in 1818 and died of tuberculosis aged 21, with no children. When he died (probably poisoned), all the royal houses of Europe breathed a sigh of relief.










3. Lucien Bonaparte, Prince Français, 1st Prince of Canino and Musignano (21 May 1775 – 29 June 1840), was a French statesman. As a member of the council of 500 deputies, he saved Napoleon when he the deputies wanted to arrest the young general Napoleon. He had 5 generations of descendants (1 general, 2 scientists, 1 world-renowned ornithologist), his last male descendant died of a pistol shot during a dual in 1924. His line is extinct.






4. Louis Napoléon Bonaparte (2 September 1778 – 25 July 1846), known as Lodewijk Napoleon in Dutch, was was King of Holland in 1806-1810. He the fourth surviving son. Two major tragedies occurred during the reign of Louis Bonaparte: the explosion of a cargo ship loaded with gunpowder in the heart of the city of Leiden in 1807, and a major flood in Holland in 1809. In both instances, Louis personally and effectively oversaw local relief efforts, which helped earn him the title of Louis the Good. Louis was married to Hortense de Beauharnais, the daughter of the deceased general Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and his wife Josephine Tascher de la Pagerie. Josephine was the first wife of Louis's brother Napoleon. Thus Hortense was also Louis's step-niece. 


His second son became Napoleon III
who had only one son “LE PRINCE IMPERIAL” full name: Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, prince impérial de France; 16 March 1856 – 1 June 1879) was the only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France and his Empress consort Eugénie de Montijo. After his father was dethroned in 1870, he relocated with his family to England. On his father's death in January 1873, he was proclaimed Napoleon IV, Emperor of the French by the Bonapartist faction.






Le PRINCE IMPERIAL
In England he trained as a soldier. Keen to see action, he successfully put pressure on the British to allow him to participate in the Anglo-Zulu War. In 1879, serving with British forces, he was killed in a skirmish with a group of Zulus. He had dismounted his horse, fired all six shots at the enemy before being pirced in the chest by 3 lances. The British officer and 2 riders had fled the scene (the officer was later court-martialed.)
His early death sent shockwaves throughout Europe, as he was the last serious dynastic hope for the restoration of the Bonapartes to the throne of France; thus Louis Bonaparte King of Holland line became extinct.



5. Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte, 15 November 1784 – 24 June 1860 was the youngest brother of Napoleon I and reigned as Jerome I (formally Hieronymus Napoleon), King of Westphalia, between 1807 and 1813. From 1816 onward, he bore the title of Prince of Montfort.[1] After 1848, when his nephew, became Napoleon III, he served in several official roles, including Marshal of France from 1850 onward, and President of the Senate in 1852. Jérôme was married, as arranged by Napoleon, to HRH Princess Catharina of Württemberg, the daughter of Frederick I, King of Württemberg. A marriage to a German princess was intended to boost the dynastic standing of the young French king. Despite Jerome's infidelity, Queen Catharina loved her husband.


5.1 Jérôme descendants had distinguished carriers. First, the American BUANAPARTES of New York and Los Angeles are descendants of:
a) His grandson, Charles Joseph Bonaparte served as United States Secretary of the Navy and United States Attorney General in President Theodore Roosevelt's administration, 1901-1909. In 1908, he established a Bureau of Investigation within the 38-year-old Department of Justice. The bureau grew under director J. Edgar Hoover and was renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1935. The American BUANAPARTES are descendants of this grandson.
b) Another grandson was Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II, (1829–1893). In the early 1850s, he graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point, was commissioned an officer in the United States Army, and served with the Mounted Rifles in Texas on the American southwestern frontier. He eventually resigned his commission and joined the forces of his cousin, the Emperor Napoleon III in his second French Empire.


Jérôme-Napoléon Bonaparte line is the only one still surviving and his 6th descendant is the present head of the House of Napoleon: 30 year-old, Jean Christophe, Prince Napoleon Bonaparte is the Head of the House of Napoleon
     





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(seen here, the tallest 6'4", with Belgian Royals, Grand-Duke of Luxembourg and Duke of Kent)

5.2 Jean-Christophe is the great-great-great-great-nephew of Emperor Napoleon I of France (who has no legitimate, direct descendants) through the emperor's younger brother, Jérôme, King of Westphalia. Through his mother he is a descendant of King Louis XV of France and through his great-grandmother, Princess Clémentine of Belgium he descends from Louis Philippe I, King of the French.


He is a true blue blood- seen here (again the tallest on left of first row with Belgian, Luxembourg and German royalties)

Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon (Jean Christophe Louis Ferdinand Albéric Napoléon; born 11 July 1986) is, in the views of some Bonapartists, head of the former Imperial House of France and heir of the legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Prince Jean-Christophe was born in Saint-Raphaël, Var, France. He is the son of Prince Charles Napoléon and his first wife Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, daughter of the late Prince Ferdinand of Bourbon, Duke of Castro, a claimant to headship of the former Royal House of the Two Sicilies. His parents divorced on 2 May 1989, two months before Jean-Christophe's 3rd birthday.

Title since 3 May 1997 – present: His Imperial Highness Jean-Christophe, Prince Napoléon Bonaparte

PRESENTLY

Jean-Christophe studied at Lycée Saint Dominique, Neuilly-sur-Seine, from 2001 to 2004, obtaining a baccalauréat with honours in the sciences and mathematics. From 2004 to 2006 he studied economics and mathematics at the Institut Privé de Préparation aux Études Supérieures (IPESUP) in Paris. Jean-Christophe matriculated at the HEC School of Management in Paris, graduating with an MSc in management.
Jean-Christophe has worked and lived in New York City as an investment banking analyst for Morgan Stanley and in London as a private equity associate for Advent International. He is fluent in French, English and Spanish.
He is currently enrolled as a first year at Harvard Business School in the Class of 2017.
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My PERSONAL RANKING OF FRENCH MARSHAL BASED ON LOYALTY & COMPETENCE
The ranking is based on skills as a military commander, both tactically and strategically, as well as dependability, loyalty, and overall usefulness to Napoleon and the First Empire.

My personal ranking would be:

1. Davout (who was never defeated.)
2. (tie) Massena, Lannes, and Suchet (and St. Hilaire had he lived)
3. (tie) Soult, Berthier, St. Cyr
4. (tie) Augureau, Bessieres, Grouchy, Murat, Ney, Poniatowski
5. (tie) Marmont, Victor, MacDonald, Oudinot, Jourdan, Serurier
6. (tie) Bernadotte, Brune, Kellerman, Lefebvre, Moncey, Mortier, Perignon

Incidentally, I think Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, deserves to be somewhere between rank 2 and rank 3 on the list.

If I had my choice to command an army composed of 3 army corps – 50,000 men each - before a battle, I would choose as corps commanders
  • Davout because of his brilliant tactical skill and initiative
  • Soult because he was a born artillery man who could move rapidly, in the middle of a battle, his canons where they can do the most damage
  • St. Cyr because he was an intellectual who fought his battles like a game of chess
The worst choice would be
  • Bernadotte, disloyal and shifty
  • Marmont, disloyal and overly cautious
  • Murat, supremely brave to the point of foolhardiness. Superb as Divisional (8,000) commander of Hussards but an army corps, NO.

French Hussards

        
    
 Officer of the imperial horse guard charging

















While in exile in Ste. Helena, Napoleon, as recorded by his private secretary L.A. F. de bourrienne (Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte - 4 volumes) said:









“Though Outnumbered at Waterloo, if I had Marshals Berthier and Davout, I would have won the day”
         ____________________________________

My personal choice of corps commanders

 
Louis-Nicolas Davout, duc d'Auerstädt, prince d'Eckmühl (1770-1823). The IRON MARSHAL (Refer to text above under French Marshals).
  










 
Jean-de-Dieu Soult 1st Duke of Dalmatia ; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851, Marshal of the Empire in 1804 and often called Marshal Soult. Soult was one of only six officers in French history to receive the distinction of Marshal General of France. The Duke also served three times as Prime Minister of France.
Soult's intrigues while occupying Portugal earned him the nickname, "King Nicolas," and while he was Napoleon's military governor of Andalusia, Soult looted 1.5 million francs worth of art. One historian called him "a plunderer in the world class.




 
Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, 1st Marquis of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, 13 April 1764 – 17 March 1830, Marshal of the Empire in 1813. Napoleon commented that Saint Cyr had no equal in defense. He was aloof and reserved. After every battle, he would lock himself and play the violin. On the day he received his long overdue baton, he wrote a lengthy letter to his wife and true to his character he devoted only one line to his promotion to the Marshalate. After the Bourbon were restored ( LOUIS XVIII and CHARLES X), He was appointed in June 1817 Marine Minister a pretext for him to resume the place of War Minister, which he did in September and continued to discharge till November 1819. During this time he initiated many reforms, particularly in respect of measures tending to make the army a national rather than a dynastic force. He made efforts to safeguard the rights of veteran soldiers of the Empire, organized the General Staff, and revised the code of military law and the pension regulations. He was made a Marquess in 1817. Laurent de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr died on 17 March 1830. 

Personal Note
In 1954, my father – a member-Judge of the international federation of shooting – hosted for dinner Count & Countess H. de Gouvion -Saint Cyr. The Count was then the President of the French “Fédération de Tir”. I remember him well: He was courteous, friendly and 

 
the Countess loved Middle-East pastries.


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