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
Northern flank
Central force of
220,000 under the Emperor's personal command.
-
Attached to Imperial
Guard 7,000 (Po,It,Sp) there were many multinational units e.g.
Polish Vistula
Legion, Velites of Turin and Florence, Spanish pioneer
battalion,
Grand Quartier,
Headquarter's guard, Equipages, Artillery General Park, Engineers
and other services 14,000 (Fr,Sw,Po,Pt) there were attached few
multinational units e.g. Portuguese Chasseur a Cheval, Polish
Vistula Uhlan, Neuchatel (Swiss) Battalion.
I
Corps 72,000 (Fr,Ba,Me,Ge,Du,It,Sp,Po) Maréchal Louis-Nicolas
Davout, Duc d'Auerstaedt, Prince d'Eckmühl
-
-
Reserve cavalry under
Maréchal Joachim
Murat, King of Naples, follow with central force
Corps follow behind
central force
Right flank force
under Napoleon's brother Général de division Jérôme
Bonaparte, French Prince, King of Westphalia
Southern flank
Reserve in Poland and
Prussia (several units marched to Russia in late stage of campaign
1812)
Reserve in Germany
(marched to Russia in late summer 1812)
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.
__________________________________________
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
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 Russian
Empire |
Commanders and leaders
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Strength
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Casualties and losses
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Survivors:
120,000 men (excluding early deserters).
Of these, 50,000 were Austrians and Prussians, 20,000
Poles and 35,000 Frenchmen.
__________________________________________
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
_________________________________
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.
__________________________________________
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.
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
___________________________
THE
FIVE BONAPARTE BROTHERS AND THEIR MALE DESCENDANTS
Of the 5 brothers Bonaparte, only the youngest Jerome's line has survived with male heirs.
________________________________
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.
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
________________________________
(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)
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.
_____________________________________
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.
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.
Antony and
Gellius
Publicola commanded the right wing of the Antony fleet, while
Marcus Octavius and Marcus Insteius commanded the center, with
Cleopatra's squadron positioned behind them. Gaius
Sosius launched the initial attack from the left wing of the
fleet, while Antony's chief lieutenant Publius
Canidius Crassus was in command of the triumvir's land forces.
BALISTA ON GALLEYS
