French infantry uniform. Andrey Ivanov daily life of the French under Napoleon

The Foreign Legion (French Legion etrangere) is a military unit that is part of the French ground forces. At certain periods of its history, the legion numbered over forty thousand personnel (the 5 marching regiments of the Foreign Legion in August 1914 numbered 42,883 volunteers, representatives of more than 52 nationalities). Currently, about seven and a half thousand people from 136 countries serve in eleven regiments of the legion.

French Foreign Legion Officer's Ring

History and everyday life of the French Foreign Legion

On March 9, 1831, King Louis Philip I signed a decree on the formation of the French Foreign Legion. Today it is one of the most famous army formations in the world. For almost two centuries, this unit has become overgrown with rumors, acquiring a flair of romance and mystery. The Legion took part in all wars and conflicts in which France was somehow involved, which allows us to consider it one of the main instruments of open and secret foreign policy Paris. Lenta writes about its history and present day.

As the Steel Was Tempered

In 1831, France was active fighting in North Africa, colonizing Algeria. Paris needed soldiers. And Louis Philippe I decided to put in the service of the crown the numerous foreigners who had settled in the country: Italians, Swiss, Spaniards. And also the French who had troubles with the law. The officers were recruited from the ranks of the former Napoleonic army. By creating the legion, the monarch killed two birds with one stone. On the one hand, he cleared the country of undesirable elements. On the other hand, he received combat-ready units consisting of daredevils who were ready to do a lot for a second chance in life. A fundamentally important nuance: no one was interested in the newcomer’s past; by serving in the legion, he could wash away any sins and return to civilian life with new documents and a cleaned up biography. It was then that the tradition was established of not asking recruits for their real names. At the same time, the royal decree initially stipulated the most important condition: the legion could only be used outside of France.

In 1847, Algeria was finally conquered, but the services of battle-hardened legionnaires remained in great demand. In 1854, the legion participated in Crimean War. Seven years later, France, Great Britain and Spain sent expeditionary forces to Mexico to force the country to resume payments on its international obligations. It was during this campaign that the legendary “Battle of Cameron” took place. 65 legionnaires under the command of Captain Danjou took on an unequal battle with two thousand Mexicans and fought back for several hours. Amazed by the tenacity of the defenders, the Mexicans invited them to lay down their arms and surrender. The legionnaires responded by offering the same to the enemy. Almost all of them died, including the commander. Captain Danju's wooden prosthetic arm is now kept in the museum and is revered as a relic. The battle took place on April 30, 1863. This is the day of military glory of the legion.

After Mexico, legionnaires defended French interests around the world: they colonized Africa and Indochina, landed on Taiwan, and participated in various conflicts in the Middle East, the First and Second World Wars. And after World War II, legionnaires had something to do, as France again entered the colonial wars, including in Vietnam. There is information that during this period the formation was replenished with former servicemen of the recently defeated Wehrmacht and SS men - well trained and with combat experience. To avoid reproaches and suspicions of harboring former Nazis, in the “nationality” column, recruiters indicated anything: Austrian, Swiss, Belgian, and so on.

Secrets of the Legion

According to some sources, there was a time when former German soldiers made up up to 65 percent of the unit's personnel. It is impossible to verify this; the Legion knows how to keep its secrets - its archives are closed. But recent resistance fighters from France, Yugoslavia, Poland, and former Soviet prisoners of war also fought in the ranks of the legion. This “international” also took part in the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu in the spring of 1954, when the Vietnamese won. It is believed that most of the former soldiers of the Third Reich lost their lives in that meat grinder. Nevertheless, it was since then that the specific French language spoken by legionnaires included the command: Plus vite, que schnell (faster than schnell - “quickly” - in German).

The uniforms of the infantry regiments of the Great Army were distinguished by their amazing diversity. Even among purely French units, one could sometimes find the most bizarre combination of the type of shako and the color of the cuffs, not to mention the peculiarities of the uniform of the armies of France's allies. However, it is possible to identify the general, most character traits and features of infantry uniforms of the French army. These are the ones we will look at in this article.

Soldier and officer of the line infantry 1808-1810. On the fusilier's shako we see a red etiquette. In 1812, this element of the uniform was officially abolished, but in practice continued to be found in many companies and battalions of the line infantry.

Line infantry uniform
Uniform- This is the main element of the uniform of any army. In the French army, the uniform was predominantly of blue color. The cut and shape of the French infantry uniform varied greatly both by branch of service and by the time of tailoring. Until the beginning of 1812, the uniforms of the French line infantry had long tails and a slit on the chest. A uniform of this type was very common in Europe and was called “French”. But since 1812, a shortened uniform without a cut on the chest was introduced. The coattails have become very short - only 32 cm, and the decorations on them are strictly regulated. On the tails of the Fusilier's uniform was embroidered the blue letter "N" topped with a crown. The coattails of the grenadiers were decorated with red grenades, and the voltigeurs were decorated with yellow hunting horns. The lapels of the line infantry were white. The lapels of the line infantry uniform were uncut and also white. The uniforms of corporals and non-commissioned officers differed from the uniforms of privates only in stripes yellow color on the sleeves.

Since 1806, line infantry soldiers were required to wear shako as a headdress. But since the headdress could only be changed when the old one was completely worn out, many soldiers continued to wear old-style hats. By the start of the 1812 campaign, all line infantry regiments wore shakos. Exceptions were some grenadier regiments, which continued to wear bear fur hats.

Light infantry 1808-1810 (Officer, huntsman and voltigeur). Voltigeurs wore a red and yellow plume on their shako and epaulets of the same color.

On the shakos of the line infantry there was an insignia - badge. It could be diamond-shaped or eagle-shaped. The badge was one of the elements of regimental distinction. As a decorative element on the shako there was an etiquette - a knot with a pigtail. By the beginning of the War of 1812, etiquettes were formally abolished in the line infantry, but many regiments retained them. The serial number of the company of any line infantry battalion was determined by the color of the pompom on the shako. The first company of the battalion had a green pom-pom, the second had a blue one, the third had an orange-yellow one, and the fourth had a purple one. On the pompom was a number indicating the number of the battalion in the regiment.

On their legs, the soldiers wore long white trousers tucked into short leggings.

The equipment of the line and light infantry did not differ from each other, and consisted of a backpack, a cartridge pouch, a cleaver worn on a belt, and a bayonet with a scabbard.

Private, sergeant and officer of the foot grenadiers. 1805-1806 Line infantry grenadiers retained their traditional headdress - fur hats.

Light Infantry Uniform
The uniform of the light infantry regiments differed from the uniform of the line infantry regiments. Main feature All French light infantry uniforms had peaked lapels.

The uniforms of the light infantry soldiers were entirely blue, with scarlet collars and cuff flaps. The edgings are white, as are the buttons. The vest is blue, as are the pants. Unlike line infantry regiments, shakos appeared in light infantry during the Directory era. The shako of the Carabinieri companies was decorated with a red plume and etiquette. In addition, the carabinieri wore red epaulettes. And also red in the carabinieri companies were grenades on the lapels of the tails, a lanyard of a cleaver or half-saber and trim on the gaiters. In the Jaeger companies, all of the above elements were green. For voltigeurs, these elements were yellow, yellow-red or yellow-green. The equipment and weapons of the light infantry were the same as those of the heavy infantry.

A sultan was placed on the shakos of light infantry soldiers. For the huntsmen it was completely green, while for the voltigeurs it was green below and yellow at the top. The uniform of the huntsman and voltigeur also differed in the shape of the badge on the shako. The huntsman's badge was diamond-shaped, and the vaulter's badge was in the form of an eagle. The trousers and gaiters of the light infantry soldiers did not differ from the uniform of the line infantry soldiers.

Line infantry 1808-1813 The fusilier pictured on the right is uniformed in strict accordance with the regulations. A shako without an etiquette, with a blue pompom, a badge on the shako in the shape of an eagle, white lapels and lapels.

Uniforms of line and light infantry officers of the French army

The uniforms of officers were even more varied than those of enlisted men. In general, officers wore uniforms similar in cut and color to those of privates, but made from higher quality cloth. The main difference of the rank were the epaulettes. The buttons of the officer's uniform were gold or silver, and the decorations on the lapels were embroidered with gold thread. Edged weapons were decorated with a gold lanyard. Instead of gaiters, officers wore short boots. Light and line infantry officers differed only in their epaulettes. In the line infantry they were gold, and in the light infantry they were silver.

In general, the uniforms of the armies of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries fashion has had a very important influence. That is why individual elements of uniforms could change almost every year. In the period from 1789 to 1814, France waged constant wars, in which compliance with regulations and instructions was completely impossible. Therefore, among the infantry units that took part in the campaign against Russia in 1812, it is impossible to identify general regulations regarding uniforms.

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Chronicle of the day: The battle at Solovyevo continues

First Western Army
On the night of August 21, the French sent mounted skirmishers to the right bank of the Dnieper, to the village of Pnevo, where part of the Russian Cossack rearguard troops were located. A skirmish ensued, during which the French tried to force the Cossacks to retreat beyond the Dnieper, but the actions of Russian artillery stopped the enemy’s advance. The battle lasted about two hours, the rearguard held its positions.

Meanwhile, the fighting near the village of Solovevo, which began the day before, continued. On the right bank of the Dnieper there were Mariupol and Sumy Hussars, as well as the Polish Uhlan regiments. At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, the French opened artillery fire and forced the Russians to retreat slightly north of the Solovyova crossing. At this position the rearguard entrenched and held the line until 6 pm, and retreated after the bridges over the river were destroyed.

Fighting also took place on the opposite, left bank near the village of Solovevo. General Rosen's rearguard cavalry operating there destroyed bridges across the river. A very important role in the battles of August 21 was played by the Russian 6th Horse Artillery Company, strategically located on the left bank of the Dnieper. After the bridges were destroyed and the rearguard began to withdraw, she stopped the French attack. As dusk fell, the fighting stopped. At 9 pm the First Western Army broke camp near the village of Umolye and headed towards Dorogobuzh.

Third Observational Army
In the town of Divina, Tormasov’s army was joined by a detachment of General Khovansky, who replaced Chaplitsa and formed a new rearguard of the army. The army was still pursued along the Kobrin road by the Schwarzenberg corps, and along the Brest-Litovsk road by the Rainier corps. The newly formed rearguard of Khovansky entered into battle with the enemy vanguard near the town of Knyazha Gura. In this battle, the 1st Combined Grenadier Battalion of the 9th Infantry Division distinguished itself.

First separate building
Wittgenstein's corps, defeated near Polotsk, retreated along the Polotsk-Sebezh road beyond the river. Driss to the village of Sivoshino. Near the town of Arteykovichi, the army organized a bivouac and was attacked by the troops of General Wrede. The Bavarian offensive was repulsed.

Person: Efim Ignatievich Chaplits

Efim Ignatievich Chaplits (1768-1825)
Efim Ignatievich has a very revealing biography, inconvenient for those who like to inflate Polish-Russian contradictions. After all, his faithful service to Russia and the unconditional authority of an honest and brave officer in Once again show that not all Poles hated the Empire.

Czaplitz came from an ancient Polish noble family and began serving in Polish army. However, back in the early 1780s. Efim Ignatievich went into Russian service, took part in the siege of Ochakov, the capture of Bendery and Izmail, and was noted by Suvorov as an extremely brave officer.

During the Polish “revolution” T. Kosciuszko, Lieutenant Colonel E.I. Chaplitz was sent to the rebels for negotiations, but the Poles attacked him and captured him, while he received a severe shell shock.

In 1796, Chaplitz participated in the Zubov brothers’ project to conquer all of Western Asia and personally delivered the keys to the captured city of Baku to Catherine II, for which he was awarded the rank of colonel. Naturally, these favors under Paul I led to Chaplitz being dismissed from the army until Alexander’s accession to the throne.

In 1801, when reinstated in the service, Efim Ignatievich received the rank of major general, and from 1803 he was a member of the sovereign's retinue. He took part in the Austrian and Prussian campaigns, where he distinguished himself in a number of battles and received the Order of St. George, 3rd degree.

Since 1806, Chaplitz was listed as the chief of the Pavlograd Hussar Regiment, at the head of which in July 1812, being part of the 3rd Reserve Observational Army, he defeated a detachment of Saxons at Kobrin, capturing many prisoners. It was Chaplitz who commanded the rearguard of Tormasov’s army, which delayed the increasingly intensified attacks of Schwarzenberg and Rainier.

During the counter-offensive of Russian troops, Efim Ignatievich was in the vanguard of Chichagov’s army, commanding an infantry corps. At the same time, he dispersed all the newly formed Lithuanian regiments, took Vilna, participated in the operation to encircle Napoleon near the Berezina and, despite a shell shock to the head, continued to fight. After the end of the campaign, he wrote a note justifying Chichagov’s actions near the Berezina.

During foreign trip Czaplitz commanded the allied Polish forces and distinguished himself in a number of battles. After the war he commanded a hussar division. In 1823, due to old age, he was appointed to serve in the cavalry.

August 8 (20), 1812
Battle at Solovyova Crossing
Person: Heinrich Brandt
Smolensk after the capture

August 7 (19), 1812
Battle at Valutina Mountain
Person: Cesar Charles Gudin
Battle at Valutina Mountain: victory no longer seemed like victory

August 6 (18), 1812
The third day of fighting for Smolensk
Person: Gouvillon Saint-Cyr
Battle of Polotsk

August 5 (17), 1812
Smolensk and Polotsk: fierce battles
Person: Ivan Petrovich Liprandi
Battle for Smolensk. Second day

August 4 (16), 1812
Defense of Smolensk. Polotsk
Person: Jozef Poniatowski (Joseph-Antoine Poniatowski, Jozef Antoni Poniatowski)
Battle of Smolensk. The first day


Only after reading “Letters of a French Officer from Smolensk” did I see the War of 1812 through the eyes of the other side for the first time. And, to be honest, I felt sorry for the French. After all, we are used to it from school: invaders, occupiers, why feel sorry for them at all. And then you read how they fought or retreated, in the cold, hunger - as soon as you go looking for food, the peasants attack, kill, Napoleon abandoned the wounded, there is nothing to treat, nothing to bandage. What this war was like through the eyes of our enemies, what sources have been preserved from the French side - he tells us about this Doctor of Historical Sciences Vladimir Zemtsov, specialist on the War of 1812.

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Letters are one of the most convincing sources

The French call the War of 1812 “La Campagne de Russie”, that is, the “Russian Campaign”. Sometimes "Napoleon's Russian Campaign" is added. Our name “Patriotic War” appeared only about 25 years after its end.

Maybe, main source, more convincing than memoirs and even diaries (published diaries most often undergo significant editorial changes before publication), which allows us to look at our war through the eyes of the French, and at their war - these are letters that were deposited as captured papers in our archives. In our country there are two main repositories where these letters are located. These are the Archive of Ancient Acts and the Archive of Foreign Policy Russian Empire, which is not easy to get to, but if a specialist wants it, and it is necessary, then you can get acquainted with these letters.

Vladimir Zemtsov/photo: hist.igni.urfu.ru

I remember my first experience with these materials. It took place many years ago, and this experience is unlikely to be repeated now. The fact is that in the same archive of ancient acts, unfortunately, these letters are now not issued in the originals. They were transferred to microfilms, and it is almost impossible to work with microfilms.

The sensations, of course, were indescribable. I held in my hands the original papers of Segur, Caulaincourt, other very important military leaders, statesmen of the times of retreat, General Lariboisière, whose family history has always interested me. And many letters from nameless participants in this campaign, which they wrote from Russia and which were later intercepted by the Russians, not necessarily by the Cossacks, but the French, of course, say that the Cossacks intercepted them.

There is another layer - letters from their relatives, loved ones, friends who went to them in Russia, but who did not reach them. I remember many private episodes that were very memorable for me when I was working with these letters. For example, letters were packed in envelopes a little differently than they are now. Often the envelopes were special, and most often they simply took a sheet of paper, wrapped it, and stamped it with a wax seal. And whoever had some kind of seal, say, “Baron of the Empire”, or “Chevalier of the Empire”, was given an imprint of this seal. And the address was written on top.

There were some letters in envelopes. There was a light hair in one wax seal. This letter was addressed to General Nansouty. He was a famous military leader, a division general, commander of the First Reserve Cavalry Corps. This letter was addressed to him in the active army from some suburb of Paris. And the interest arose, whose hair is this? A romantic picture immediately began to emerge - the young wife of General Nansouty sealed her hair, but it did not reach, the evil Russian Cossacks intercepted it. I feel so sorry for this general, well, how can that be! And I spent several days in order to finally understand whose hair it was, and turned to Nansouty’s biography. It turned out that it was a hair from his son, I don’t remember, whether he was eight or nine years old. The thing is that things didn't work out for him family life, his son was raised by his sister. And so the sister, apparently to please her brother, sealed this hair. And this hair did not reach, but, thank God, General Nansouty survived, he saw his son.

Often letters were sent from home, where small children left scribbles, signing their names at the end of the letter as best they could. Someone sent a drawing. And back, interesting drawings also came from Russia. I remember one letter where a certain French officer, I have never established who exactly (many letters are in poor condition), drew his temporary military shelter, the barn in which he lives, how he equipped this barn, where his entrance is, where are the windows, where is some kind of curtain.

That is, there was such an exchange. It cost five sous to send a letter to any point in Europe. There were cases where it was possible to send these letters for free - through the regimental mail. Or, in rare cases, they could pay extra, and then they would be delivered much faster via a special relay race, but it would cost noticeably more. And finally, those close to the administration of the Grand Army could use a special service that delivered state and military dispatches of special importance. Most often, the mail worked well, but in Russia there were several cases when these boxes with letters, including regimental mail, were intercepted. The couriers, as far as I know, have only been intercepted twice. That is, all the same, despite the most difficult conditions, this connection with the Motherland, with other European countries, worked. The army was multinational, in fact the army of the whole of Europe. There were a lot of Italians there, a huge number of Germans from different German states. There were Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, Swiss. What struck me was that they spoke in some kind of argot that then began to arise. A French letter, for example, could be accompanied by some Italian or German expressions. And, on the contrary, I often came across French words in German writing.

This correspondence was also surprising in that a united Europe was emerging, this was felt within the framework of the great army. This was Napoleon's great project; he believed that the success of the campaign in Russia would create important preconditions for pan-European unity. The model he proposed, of course, differed from the one that is being implemented now. Now the model assumes a gradual, natural process, first solving some economic and social problems, and then moving to the political and military level. Napoleon had a different model. First, a certain political subordination, and then a gradual reconstruction of European communities according to common European rules, a unified legal, monetary system, and so on. It's hard to say which of these projects is better. Of course, it seems to us that the one that is today, but, excuse me, since the crisis of 2008, this project has been bursting at the seams. Therefore, it is difficult to say definitely whether Napoleonic’s project of a united Europe could have been realized or not, but, apparently, Napoleon’s plans did not include the idea of ​​including Russia in this pan-European space. And the question arises: what did he intend to do in relation to Russia, if he manages to achieve victory, if Alexander goes to negotiations? This is a different problem, of course, but also very interesting and confusing.

Funeral in the wall of the Mozhaisk Kremlin

At one time I tried to restore one small episode of the War of 1812, and it turned out to be so interesting that for many years I have not been able to move away from this topic, I continue to search. Jean Baston de Lariboisière, commander of the artillery of the Grand Army, a man who knew Bonaparte from a young age. They also read books together. He took two sons with him on a campaign to Russia, the eldest Charles and the younger Ferdinand. The elder Charles was a captain, aide-de-camp to General Lariboisiere. And the youngest was just released from cadet corps to the carabinieri regiment. He thirsted for glory, was seriously wounded in the Battle of Borodino, was supposed to die, and yet Lariboisiere Sr. was able to take his dying son to Mozhaisk, where he died.

Then there was a funeral, unusual for that time. It was impossible to bury it in the ground, because looters would immediately come running. Either peasants or their own marauders - it was a common thing. Therefore, he was buried in the dilapidated wall of the old Mozhaisk Kremlin, which now does not exist. At night, by the light of torches, the artillerymen, whom the general left especially for the funeral of his son, knocked together a coffin from charging boxes, took several blocks out of this wall with crowbars, pushed the coffin there, and laid it. And although General Lariboisiere himself returned from Russia, he became very seriously ill and died in the arms of his son. And only one eldest son, Charles, remained. And Charles was left with a tuft of hair younger brother and a heart preserved in alcohol, which was taken out after his death.

And then I found the letters. First, the elder Lariboisiere, God bless his memory, in my opinion, he wrote from Smolensk. Then I found Charles’s letter home to his mother in Paris. I found a letter or even two from Lariboisiere’s adjutants, later a very famous memoirist. My hands trembled as I read these lines, hoping to see some mention of Ferdinand's death. But no, this adjutant wrote home only that he sympathized with his boss, that he had experienced a lot, that he had lost his son. Moreover, this young adjutant did not know that very little time would pass and the general would also die. As for Charles’ letter and the general’s letter home, they tried not to mention Ferdinand, and Charles wrote to his mother that his father was very busy, that they were in good health, and so on. This is the fate of one family in Russia through the eyes not even of memoirists, but through their own eyes, based on the letters they left for us, thanks to the Russian Cossacks.

Of course, I was interested in the question of censorship of letters, but many things that I found in letters make me think that if there was censorship, it was very superficial. Of course, these letters contain information about Russians. There are mentions, judgments, and many descriptions of Moscow.

A significant part of these intercepted letters was written in Moscow, because it was free time, opportunities have arisen. After all, writing a letter in that era meant getting somewhere an inkwell, a well-sharpened pen, you had to have paper, money to send this letter, and many other things. Therefore, it was not always possible, especially for a soldier, to write a letter home.

By the way, the social composition of the authors of these letters is striking; in my opinion, it is very different from the social composition that characterizes Russian letters. In general, very few Russian letters have survived. If Napoleon's French army still belonged to the era of early written culture, then our army, unfortunately, lagged behind to a large extent. Of course, many officers wrote letters, I won’t say all of them, but many, and the officers wrote in French. I have come across many letters written, for example, from the Tarutino camp. The letter about the Tarutino victory was written in French. This was a completely normal occurrence. But the mass of soldiers practically did not write letters, because the soldier was a recruit, he was cut off from old life, many had neither a stake nor a yard, and nowhere to write. Even if they knew how to read and write, even the most basic ones, they had no need to write letters.

Napoleon overestimated the Europeanness of the Russians

This contrast, of course, sometimes gives a historian his impression of the Russian and French armies. If we work with documents of only one origin, say, Russian, then there is one representation; with French documents, there is a different representation. When you start to put it together, the contrast catches your eye. And you begin to understand the specifics of the French view of what they saw. I would not say that this was the view of people who initially believed that they were in a country of barbarians. There is an opinion, also very simplified, often proposed by our authors, that Europeans always took us for barbarians, Napoleon believed that we were barbarians, and behaved accordingly. This is wrong. For more than one year I have been trying to understand, in fact, what Napoleon’s ideas about Russia were before the campaign of 1812, on the basis of which his ideas were formed. This was a man of the Enlightenment, a man of the eighteenth century, he actually read all the literature that a nobleman of this enlightened era read. A lot has already been written about Russia, including encyclopedias. And I, for example, was struck by one, either a monologue or a dialogue - it can be interpreted in different ways - that Napoleon conducted in the Kremlin. I can say for sure: this happened on the evening of October 16, according to the new style, 1812. Napoleon will leave the Kremlin on the morning of the 19th. Monologue on the eve of leaving Moscow. He talked about Russian history, about Peter the Great, and these discussions struck me with how well he knew the situation in Russia at the end of the 17th century, how highly he appreciated the personality of Peter. He put Peter above himself - why? Because Peter the Great, being a sovereign, first made himself a soldier and then from a soldier he rose again to the sovereign. And Napoleon admired Peter. And in my deep conviction, he believed on the eve of the campaign in Russia that Russia was in many ways already a civilized country. Thanks to Peter, the Russians have already seriously changed themselves. And, perhaps, the important mistakes that Napoleon made in Russia were that he overestimated this Europeanness of Russia.

The example is very simple. On September 14, Napoleon enters Moscow, fires start, he cannot even admit the thought that these fires were organized by the Russians themselves, he believes that they are French looters - he orders to stop these riots, to catch the looters. Days pass and another begins. Moscow is engulfed in fire, and only from this time on does Napoleon begin to realize what is happening. Moreover, even before entering Moscow, he was told, including by the Moscow French, that Rostopchin was going to set Moscow on fire. Then numerous information from French intelligence officers, mainly Poles, also proved this. Napoleon categorically rejected this possibility. He looked at everything like a European man who, by the way, was used to counting money. And then in his letters, during the Moscow fire, after the Moscow fire, in the bulletins of the great army, he directly says: “What are the Russians doing? They are destroying the wealth of many people worth millions! A huge number of people were left without homes. How can this even happen? Russia will never recover the decline of its trade. That is, he perceived all this as a bourgeois, as truly a European to the core, and could not even imagine that there was any other logic of behavior on the part of the Russians.

And I would not say that Napoleon, like many French, and, perhaps, representatives of other nations of the Great Army, went to Russia with great prejudice. Moreover, a number of memoirs and diaries indicate that they simply admired many things. For example, they admired the large high road. It really was beautiful, the road from Smolensk to Moscow, for example, or the road that led to Smolensk from Vitebsk, built in the time of Catherine. To the right and left there are two rows of birches, a huge wide space, wide road, it delighted them. We also admired some of the villages, which turned out to be quite clean and well-groomed. Moreover, it is interesting that the presence of French soldiers on the territory of Russian Poland or Russian Lithuania did not leave a very good impression, because there were a lot of dirty places, a lot of uncleanliness. While in the Russian provinces, starting from Smolensk, the French often encountered quite good noble estates and peasant houses.

There were, of course, opposite assessments, probably related to personal experience. There are, for example, letters to the wife of the chief surgeon of the French army, Larrey, a great man, a great humanist of that era. I became acquainted with letters from the period starting from the eve of Moscow and during the retreat. Moreover, these letters were not published. And he writes more than once about the truly barbaric customs of the Russians, for example, that among the Russians there are many nobles who like to keep bears for themselves, and they sleep side by side with these bears. What else can you expect from these people, these barbarians, if they sleep with bears? Then, during the fire, he wrote, in one case, that these barbarians burned their own capital, this is generally impossible to imagine. And here he describes a case when he sees how a rather large patriarchal family is carrying an elderly parent on a cart and saves him. And this is what he admires.

There are also interesting points related to how the Russians, from the French point of view, treated the dead. After the Battle of Borodino, the Russians quickly retreated and were forced to leave some of the wounded on the battlefield. And then they go to Mozhaisk. And on the road to Mozhaisk, the next day, September 8th, the French see fresh graves and wooden crosses on the right and left. They are amazed that, despite the retreat, the fact that the Russian army lost a catastrophically large number of people, was burdened with these convoys with the wounded, did not know where to put them, there were not enough convoys, there were not enough carts, and there were not enough medicines, especially since they They managed to bury their dead along the way. At the same time, when the French entered Moscow, they were struck by something else - that the Russian army left more than 10 thousand in Moscow - according to various estimates, here they differ, I believe that a maximum of 15 thousand wounded. Partially, they could not be taken out because they were seriously wounded, and partially, there were simply no supplies. They were left at the mercy of the victors, as they say. That’s how it was accepted, that’s how the war was. Although, to be honest, the experience was already sad.

Who is the true hero - Rostopchin or Tutolmin?

But the fact is that the first fires in Moscow began due to non-random circumstances; they were deliberately carried out by the Governor-General, Commander-in-Chief, as we’ll call him, Rostopchin, who left disguised policemen in the city. They began to destroy and burn wine warehouses, then a powder warehouse, and barges on the Moscow River. Then some more objects, Gostiny Dvor, the stock exchange, as the French called it. These fires provoked the great Moscow fire. About 10 thousand people from those who lived in Moscow remained in the city. In total, according to various estimates, 200 thousand lived in Moscow, a little more or less, it is very difficult to calculate. Who's left? Scum who wanted to rob. There were footmen left who were supposed to guard the master's property. The rest of the population left Moscow. Moscow is half wooden. Moreover, Rostopchin begins to burn Moscow. Of the 15 thousand Russian wounded, half died during the fire. They couldn't escape. And the French could not understand. How so?! The commander-in-chief, the head of the city, the administration is burning the property of Muscovites, and for many this is all they had. And he also burns the wounded who were left there!

If Alexander I gave Rostopchin carte blanche, then, of course, he did it in such a way that a shadow would never fall on him. Although, judging by the very character of Alexander the Blessed, he, in general, was not against what Rostopchin could do there. But only without his participation. Rostopchin, for his part, did not hide it, although he did not tell the sovereign about it. In principle, the sovereign could have known about this either through Balashov or through anyone, because Rostopchin was in active correspondence with many people, including Bagration, where he directly said that he would burn Moscow. But, apparently, Kutuzov, too, knowing about these intentions, did everything possible to prevent this. Namely: he brought the Russian army to Moscow, abandoned the battle near Moscow, and convinced Rostopchin, never tired of convincing him, that he would not leave Moscow. And he informed Rostopchin about this decision according to the Russian calendar sometime in the evening of September 1, around 8 pm, after the council in Fili had ended. Rostopchin was not invited to the council in Fili, although Kutuzov should have done so. He was informed virtually retroactively and was not given time to carry out the original plan. Rostopchin tried to do what was in his power. During the night, organize your people. Perhaps he even held a meeting twice in the morning in his house on Lubyanka, where he distributed responsibilities. The day before, he ordered the entire fire brigade to leave the city, taking with them all the fire-saving equipment, with the exception of four pumps, which were left in the orphanage.

The same paradox that the French could not understand: in Moscow, in the educational home of Ivan Akinfievich Tutolmin, there were about 1200-1300 children left. Tutolmin, the chief warden of the orphanage, was already an old man at that time, I visited his grave, which, thank God, has been preserved in the Donskoy Monastery. This amazing person. He actually took upon himself the salvation of 1300 children, he saved them! This is truly where the feat and strength of spirit are! Rostopchin is often perceived as a kind of symbol of self-sacrifice, you know, they say, he burned Moscow. But, excuse me, there is a big difference here. He left Moscow, leaving it to the mercy of fate. And before that, he brutally killed Mikhail Vereshchagin, throwing him to be torn apart by a drunken crowd in order to save himself. He left 1,300 children behind, he left 15,000 wounded to die, and he set the city on fire. Is this a Roman, is this a citizen?

Here is the contrast - Rostopchin and Tutolmin, you see, when you begin to get acquainted with the true events of the war. Not with the myths that are still being reproduced in our country. And why are they reproduced? Because they seem very patriotic. But when you start to understand, then you begin to understand who the real hero was. Tutolmin immediately went to the French and began to ask them, beg them to protect the orphanage, because there are 1,300 children there, they will burn. The French immediately provided security. Then there were cases when they supplied the orphanage with food. And Tutolmin agreed to this, to contact the enemy in order to fulfill his great civic duty.

And in contrast to this, Rostopchin, who allegedly showed himself to be a great Roman. He then burned down his Voronovo estate. But he burned it demonstratively; he was the richest man. He burned down one estate, he had many other estates. There is a very big difference between these two patriots. One patriotism is false, but which has been praised for 200 years, the other is genuine patriotism, human patriotism, about which we know little.

Activities of the Moscow municipality. These are people who were forced to be in Moscow, of course, not immediately, under the pressure of circumstances, they accepted this position as members of the municipality. It seems that, so to speak, traitors, Napoleon organized this. But, on the other hand, these were heroic deeds, considering the state in which the Muscovites were, those same Russian wounded. And, thank God, Alexander the Blessed eventually pardoned them, although not immediately, some died. For example, the merchant Nakhodkin, who headed the Moscow municipality, was a man of great heroism. He had already died in 1816 from all the suffering he had endured. Three more died in prison while the investigation was ongoing. But the rest were released. What did they not endure then?

Of course, some parallels with the Great Patriotic War. We still don’t know many circumstances, true heroism, moreover, we don’t want to know it. Let's say, our prisoners of war, who were released, and then suddenly found themselves either in camps, or in penal companies, or they were immediately shot. Because, they say, they cannot be trusted. Four and a half million were captured by Germans!.. Nothing like this happened in 1812, but a person remains a person under any circumstances, he remains a person everywhere, but we are not always true heroes we know, but we don’t want to know them. This is sad. 200 years have passed since the War of 1812, but our ideas about this are very, very approximate and very superficial.

The blood of Mikhail Vereshchagin on the altar of the Fatherland

Regarding the Vereshchagin case. Vereshchagin is an unhappy young man who read too many foreign books, very talented person, son of a merchant of the second guild. And he had the misfortune of reading a German newspaper where there was an appeal from Napoleon, and he translated this appeal. This appeal became known to the police, and he was arrested. But this is where the most important and sad things begin. The fact is that he did not want to betray his not only friend, but good acquaintance, the son of the postmaster, from whom he received this newspaper. And he took it all upon himself. He began to claim that he himself came up with this letter. And Rostopchin understood and felt that Vereshchagin was not telling much and was hiding a lot. Who is he hiding? He actually defends Klyucharyov. This postmaster, Klyucharyov, is a famous freemason, a friend of Novikov, a very educated man. His son gave Vereshchagin this newspaper. And Klyucharyov, from Rostopchin’s point of view, was an enemy, he was an agent of the French, he was a Freemason. And Rostopchin was inflamed with hatred of Vereshchagin, who did not want to testify against Klyucharyov. And therefore, on the second of September, when Rostopchin had to leave Moscow, he forced Vereshchagin to be brought from the debtors' prison to the prison on Lubyanka. A crowd of half-drunk common people crowded near Rostopchin's palace. They demanded that the master lead them to the French. The master promised, said that I would take you, etc. But he didn’t lead. And so these people came to Lubyanka and began to demand that the master, after all, lead. And what did Rostopchin do? He threw Vereshchagin to their mercy, declaring that he was a traitor, do with him what you want. He ordered his guards, two dragoons, to cut him down with broadswords right in front of the crowd. At first, the dragoons could not understand what Rostopchin wanted from them, but he forced them to do it. They hit Vereshchagin twice and he fell. Rostopchin turned around, left, got into the carriage in the backyard, shouted to the coachman, “Drive,” and out of Moscow. And at this time the crowd grabbed Vereshchagin, tied him to a horse by the legs and began dragging him, still alive, through the streets of Moscow. It's a creepy scene. Moreover, in two hours, these same people, when the French enter and move towards the Kremlin, will sit there, take weapons from the arsenal and start shooting at the French. It is patriotism that ignited Rostopchin with the blood of this young man, throwing him to the mercy of the crowd. And it was all intertwined, and that’s the tragedy.

And it wasn’t in 1812: this is good, this is bad, this is patriotism, this is not patriotism. Everything is so mixed up that for two hundred years we are simply afraid to separate the wheat from the chaff, to admit that these Muscovites who were sitting in the Kremlin were Moscow scum who were deceived by Rostopchin, the Moscow authorities abandoned them. They tore this innocent young man to pieces. I tried to find out where the body was taken. The body was thrown behind the fence of the church on the future Sofiyka Street - there is the Church of St. Sophia the Wisdom. Now there is the FSB side by side on one side and Detsky Mir on the other side. That's where this church stands on Pushechnaya Street. And in 1816, they were building a road there and found Vereshchagin’s body, which had not decomposed. And a rumor spread among Muscovites that he was a saint. And all of Moscow went there. The police got scared and ordered the body to be stolen and buried in a safe place.

I went into this church and asked if there was an icon of the Archangel Michael, it was only on the holy gates. And the woman who was selling candles suddenly remembered when I started leaving. She caught up with me and said that just recently artists here were painting one of the aisles, something like 1812. I went into this chapel and looked: something like a triptych had been made there. On the one hand, Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov is apparently being blessed near the Kazan Cathedral by the St. Petersburg Archbishop, I don’t know exactly who. On the other hand, on the right is the expulsion of French troops from Russia, and in the center is Michael the Archangel. Imagine, this is the same church where Mikhail Vereshchagin was killed. The blood of this young man was placed on the altar of the fatherland.

These Muscovites who remained in Moscow and who began to set fire to houses, they caused a large Moscow fire, which destroyed many supplies, which forced Napoleon to ultimately quickly leave Moscow. By by and large The Moscow fire made a significant contribution to the defeat of the French army. And it turns out that Mikhail’s sacrifice was not in vain.

The French in Moscow died without repentance

Many believe that one of Napoleon’s failures in Russia was, among other things, his attitude towards Orthodox faith. The way they treated the temples, what they did there, caused an additional wave of popular indignation against the French army.

The fact is that the French army of 1812 is an army that went through a revolution. I have works dedicated to the religious views of soldiers in the French army. Most, of course, were deists. They believed in some Supreme Being. But they were not inclined to perform any cultic things. And although Napoleon restored the Catholic religion as the main religion of the French, he, too, until the end of his days did not regard this as an area that must be followed. And therefore, the French actually treated their churches and the churches of other nations in exactly the same way as they treated the Russian churches. It was incomprehensible to them; for them it was a symbol not so much of barbarism, but of some kind of backwardness.

I tried to understand many things, including in relation to Russian churches, how, by the way, both Russian clergy and ordinary Russian people behaved. The picture is very contradictory. Take Moscow, for example. The church authorities actually allowed events to flow as they flow. The parish priests were given no instructions on how to behave. Although behind the scenes, unofficially, it was recommended to leave Moscow, that is, to leave the temple and lock it up.

The French enter Moscow, Moscow begins to burn. Which buildings survived the fire? - Stone churches. Often the French took refuge there. They fulfilled all their household needs there, etc. For them, so to speak, Russian icons or their own icons - there was no difference.

There was also an amazing, controversial person in Moscow, my favorite hero. This is the French abbot, rector of the Church of St. Louis, the French church that was in Moscow, Adrian Surugg. A most interesting person, a most educated, hidden Jesuit. He did not leave his post, he remained in Moscow. And all the French and Germans who were there sought salvation from him. He immediately turned to the French command with a demand to at least protect this area from fire. He managed to do this, the church remained. It was made of wood back then.

And he often came to hospitals and saw what was happening there. He hoped that someone would seek spiritual consolation from him. He wrote with surprise in his diary (he died in December 1812 under tragic circumstances, but his diary remained, and several letters too) that he was faced with the fact that it was an army of atheists. The most they went to was to baptize their children. As for the dying, they died without repentance and were buried in nearby gardens. And basically, when he came to hospitals, the French talked about physical suffering, but absolutely nothing about spiritual suffering. But he understood that, indeed, this was the army of the revolution. He was a man of the old order, the era of old France.

And at the same time, he critically assessed what was happening among the Russian clergy. He was indignant that the priests had mostly left Moscow. Meanwhile, not only the scum who robbed remained in Moscow, there were many people who simply could not leave, for example, who had sick parents in their arms. Many people were forced to stay in Moscow; no one could give them spiritual consolation in this tragic time. But there was a priest of the Life Guards Cavalry Regiment, Father Gratsiansky, who accidentally stayed in Moscow; he did not have time to take out his property, the French stopped him. And so he came to the French command and offered to resume services in Moscow churches, at least in one. And the French agreed to this, they allowed the opening of the Church of St. Euplus, it has not survived now, unfortunately, it is closer to Myasnitskaya, in the center of Moscow. He began the service, the French released both wine and flour for communion. They posted security. And huge crowds of Muscovites, hearing the church bells, began to flock there.

There are several descriptions of scenes that are shocking in their pain and tragedy, what happened then in this church. The French almost cried themselves, seeing what was happening to the Russian man. Father Gratsiansky is a hero, but then, naturally, the question arose about his cooperation with the occupiers. Ultimately, he became the confessor of Alexander the First. Alexander knew about this story; there were no reprisals against Father Gratiansky.

I know of several other cases when there was a service in one church or another. I counted up to a dozen such churches, including house churches. But the Moscow church authorities were confused. On the one hand, if a priest remains in Moscow under the occupiers, his actions cast a shadow over himself. And if he also turns to the French command, then even more so. And when the authorities, including the church ones, returned to Moscow, they did not know what to do: to punish such people or not to punish, there was confusion. The fact is that they themselves felt like criminals, that they abandoned both their flock and their fellow citizens who were entrusted to their care. This is the tragedy of this situation. Yes, the French destroyed churches, this was a common thing for them, but there was no specially conceived goal to insult the Russian people.

There was such a Michel Zadera, he lived in the Novodevichy Convent. There he saved the Russian clergy and monks, although he himself was a Pole, a Catholic. He immediately said: everything that is in your altar, church utensils, you hide it, because the looters will come, there will be nothing left. That is, the cases were very diverse. And here it is impossible to say that the French army somehow consciously acted to humiliate the Russian faith.

In the photo: a fragment of a painting in the Church of St. Sophia the Wisdom on Pushechnaya Street, Moscow

Chance, my dear friend, provides me with an excellent reason for correspondence. Today at seven o'clock in the evening I go to the banks of the Dvina. I came here to receive orders from Her Majesty the Empress. The Empress honored me with a conversation in which she asked about the route I intended to follow, the duration of the journey, etc. Leaving Her Majesty, I went to see His Highness the King of Rome. But he was asleep, and the Countess de Montesquiou had just told me that it was impossible to see him before three o'clock. So I'll have to wait about two hours. This is not particularly convenient in dress uniforms and lace. Fortunately, it occurred to me that my title of inspector would give me, perhaps, some weight in the palace; I introduced myself, and they opened a room for me, which is now unoccupied by anyone.

How green and how calmly beautiful Saint-Cloud!

Here is my route to Vilna: I will go very quickly, a special courier will go ahead of me to Konigsberg. But there the sweet consequences of the robbery begin to make themselves felt. Near Kovno they are felt twice as much. They say that in those places, within fifty miles of a distance, you will not meet a living creature. (I think that all this is very exaggerated, these are Parisian rumors, and this says everything about their absurdity.) The Prince Chancellor wished me yesterday to be happier than one of my comrades, who traveled from Paris to Vilna for twenty-eight days. It is especially difficult to move forward in these plundered deserts, and even in an ill-fated little Viennese carriage loaded with many different parcels - everyone who could give them to me to hand over.”

"We are French officers!"

Napoleon "crashed into Europe like a wild boar into a beet field," says one of Maurice Montagu's heroes. “The career of this adventurer is a resounding slap in the face to old prejudices. And then, whatever you say, he is undoubtedly a product of the revolution; he is a child of the republic, and your troops in their march across Europe are bearers of the idea of ​​freedom. The best proof of this it serves that other nations do not hate you, while kings, emperors and crown princes formed a close league in their secret enmity against you, the rebels, as they consider you and this great rebel to be..."

The emperor strengthened the army with soldiers from allied and conquered countries. These were unreliable friends who, in the turmoil of battle, could shoot in the backs of their superiors - the French officers.

France waged war on the Iberian Peninsula, but the emperor included the Spaniards in his army. What this sometimes led to can be seen from the story of Lieutenant Coignet. It happened in 1812, on the way from Vilna to Vitebsk

“One burnt forest lay to the right of our path, and when we caught up with it, I saw that part of my battalion had set off right there, into this burnt forest,” says Coignet. “I’m galloping to bring them back. What a feeling.” I was surprised when suddenly the soldiers turned to me and started shooting at me... The conspirators were from the soldiers of Joseph... (brother of Napoleon, the Spanish king), all of them, without exception, were 133 Spaniards;

The next day the Spaniards were captured by French cavalry. The colonel decided to shoot half of the criminals. They drew lots. Black tickets went to sixty-two Spaniards, and they were immediately executed.

Napoleon trusted his obstinate relative Bernadotte to command either the Bavarians, or the Poles, or the Dutch and Spaniards, or the Poles and Saxons.

And in the battle of Leipzig in 1813, the Saxon units would immediately go over to the side of the enemies of France, which would significantly change the balance of forces. By that time, Bernadotte will have time to cheat on Napoleon.

In 1808, a great war began in Spain. In previous years, Napoleon had done traditional recruitment, but now he goes further.

In each department he identifies ten families, ancient and rich, and in Paris - fifty. All these families must send boys between the ages of sixteen and eighteen to the military school of Saint-Cyr. Its graduates will become second lieutenants.

Ministerial circulars are aimed at finding eighteen- and nineteen-year-old boys in lyceums who “know military exercises,” who are immediately made non-commissioned officers and second lieutenants. The exact implementation of these circulars leads to the fact that lyceums send hundreds of their students to military service.

And it cannot be said that young people opposed this. For the most part, she was imbued with enthusiasm. “Almost everywhere,” Fourcroy said back in 1805, “I saw that young people obeyed without murmur and without reasoning the younger corporals and sergeants who had achieved a well-deserved rank thanks to their intelligence and zeal.”

Maybe he just wants to please the emperor? But here’s what one gymnasium director says: “All French youth think only about the military; scientifically one cannot expect much from them, at least under the present circumstances.”

"In the schools," says another witness, "young people refuse to study anything except mathematics and the art of war; many boys of ten or twelve begged their parents to allow them to follow Napoleon."

"Uniform, one uniform!" Military personnel are held in high esteem everywhere - in theaters they do not stand in line at ticket offices, in cafes they can snatch a newspaper from someone else if all copies have already been sorted out. And this does not cause protest!

A cadet at the Saint-Cyr military school named Gaspard Richard de Soultre wrote to his father that his senior comrades had been promoted to sub-lieutenants. This is the atmosphere in which this happened: “The school was shaken by the cry repeated a thousand times: “Long live the Emperor!” Officers!!! We are French officers!"

The Emperor of the French was also the King of Italy. His adopted son Eugene Beauharnais would lead the 4th Corps of the Grand Army, consisting of Italians, to Russia.

At the end of 1812, Napoleon ordered the Roman Prince Patrizzi to send two sons to the Flèche military school - one seventeen, the other thirteen years old, and he uses gendarmes to deliver the young men to the place of study. More than 90 other Italians of noble families study here: Doria, Pallavicini, Alfieri. He does the same with young people from the Illyrian provinces, the states of the Rhine Confederation. Boarders received 800 francs per year. Not all parents were allowed to accompany their children: Prince Patrizzi was detained on the way to Marseille and was not allowed further.

After the death of the army in Russia, Napoleon will choose 10 thousand young people from noble French families, including the sons of members of the Convention and the Vendeans. This wonderful corps was called the "Guard of Honor".

Dominic Larrey's battles

Napoleon fought 60 battles. Dominic Larrey, a famous surgeon and legend of the Napoleonic army, took part in the same number of battles. He was in Italy, Africa, Syria, under Austerlitz, Germany, Poland, Spain, Austria and Russia.

“Larrey,” said Napoleon, “was an extremely honest man and best friend the soldier I've ever known. Always awake and tireless in search of the wounded, Larrey could always be seen on the battlefield, accompanied by a group of young surgeons, trying to detect at least some signs of life in the bodies of soldiers and officers. In the most inhospitable weather, at any time of the night or day, Larrey could be found among the wounded. He hardly allowed his assistants even a minute of rest and always kept them at their posts. He gave the generals no rest and dragged them out of bed at night whenever he wanted to provide shelter and assistance to the wounded and sick. They were all afraid of him, because they knew that he would immediately go to me with a complaint against them. He bowed to none of them and was an implacable enemy of suppliers."

A professional, obsessed with his work, and a great humanist - this is how the army in Egypt and Syria recognized him. A plague epidemic broke out in the army, and Larrey reported this to Napoleon. The commander-in-chief, at the risk of his life, visited the plague hospital, encouraging the soldiers, but neither he himself nor his doctors could help the trouble.

“Before leaving Jaffa,” Napoleon told Doctor O’Mira, “and after big number the sick and wounded were taken on board the ships, I learned that there were soldiers in the hospital who were so dangerously ill that they could not be moved."

He asked medical chiefs for their views on what to do next. Doctors said that there were several hopelessly ill soldiers who were unlikely to live more than a day. Affected by the plague, they can spread the disease. Those who remained conscious understood that they were doomed and begged to be put to death.

Napoleon I Bonaparte

Emperor of France in 1804-1815, great French commander and statesman, who laid the foundations of the modern French state. Napoleon Bonaparte (as his name was pronounced around 1800) began his professional military service in 1785 with the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery; advanced during the Great Period french revolution, having reached the rank of brigade under the Directory (after the capture of Toulon on December 17, 1793, the appointment took place on January 14, 1794), and then divisional general and the position of commander of the military forces of the rear (after the defeat of the rebellion of the 13th of Vendémière, 1795), and then commander of the Italian army ( the appointment took place on February 23, 1796). The crisis of power in Paris reached its climax by 1799, when Bonaparte was with troops in Egypt. The corrupt Directory was unable to ensure the gains of the revolution. In Italy, Russian-Austrian troops under the command of Field Marshal A.V. Suvorov liquidated all of Napoleon’s acquisitions, and there was even a threat of their invasion of France. Under these conditions, the popular general who returned from Egypt, with the help of Joseph Fouche, relying on an army loyal to him, dispersed the representative bodies and the Directory and proclaimed the consulate regime (November 9, 1799). According to the new constitution, legislative power was divided between the State Council, the Tribunate, the Legislative Corps and the Senate, which made it helpless and clumsy. The executive power, on the contrary, was gathered into one fist by the first consul, that is, Bonaparte. The second and third consuls had only advisory votes. The constitution was approved by the people in a plebiscite (about 3 million votes against 1.5 thousand) (1800). Later, Napoleon passed a decree through the Senate on the lifetime of his powers (1802), and then proclaimed himself Emperor of the French (1804). Contrary to popular belief, Napoleon was not a dwarf; his height was 169 cm, above the average height of a French grenadier.

Louis-Nicolas Davout

Duke of Auerstedt, Prince of Eckmühl (French duc d "Auerstaedt, prince d" Eckmühl), Marshal of France. He had the nickname "Iron Marshal". The only marshal of Napoleon who did not lose a single battle. Born in the Burgundian town of Annu into a noble family, he was the eldest of the children of cavalry lieutenant Jean-François d'Avou.

He was educated at the Brienne military school at the same time as Napoleon. Loyal family tradition, in 1788 he enlisted in the cavalry regiment, where his grandfather, father and uncle had previously served. He commanded a battalion under Dumouriez and took part in the campaigns of 1793-1795.

During the Egyptian expedition he contributed greatly to the victory at Abukir.

In 1805, Davout was already a marshal and took an outstanding part in both the Ulm operation and the Battle of Austerlitz. In the last battle, it was Marshal Davout’s corps that withstood the main blow of the Russian troops, practically ensuring the Great Army’s victory in the battle.

In 1806, leading a corps of 26 thousand people, Davout inflicted a crushing defeat on the twice-strong army of the Duke of Brunswick at Auerstedt, for which he received the ducal title.

In 1809 he contributed to the defeat of the Austrians at Eckmühl and Wagram, for which he received the title of prince.

In 1812, Davout was wounded in the Battle of Borodino.

In 1813, after the battle of Leipzig, he locked himself in Hamburg and surrendered it only after the deposition of Napoleon.

During the first restoration, Davout remained out of work. He turned out to be the only Napoleonic marshal who did not renounce the exile. Upon Napoleon's return from the Island of Elba, he was appointed Minister of War and commanded the troops near Paris.

Nicola Charles Oudinot

(1767 — 1847)

He served in the royal army, but soon left it. The revolution made him a soldier again. In 1794 he was already a general.

As chief of staff, Massena became famous for the defense of Genoa (1800).

In the campaigns of 1805-1807 he commanded the grenadier corps; participated in the battles of Ostroleka, Danzig and Friedland. In 1809 he headed the 2nd Army Corps; for the battle of Wagram he received a marshal's baton, and soon after that the title of duke.

In 1812, at the head of the 2nd Army Corps, Oudinot fought with Russian general Count P. H. Wittgenstein; On August 17, seriously wounded in the first battle of Polotsk, he surrendered command to Gouvion Saint-Cyr, from whom he took it back 2 months later. During the crossing of the Berezina, he helped Napoleon escape, but was himself seriously wounded. Having not yet recovered from his wounds, he took command of the 12th Army Corps, fought near Bautzen and was defeated at Lukau on June 4, 1813.

After the truce, Oudinot received command of the army, which was intended to act against the capital of Prussia. Defeated on August 23 at Großbeeren, he was placed under the command of Marshal Ney and, together with the latter, was again defeated at Dennewitz (September 6). In 1814 he fought at Bar-sur-Aube, then defended Paris against Schwarzenberg and covered the emperor's retreat.

Arriving in Fontainebleau with Napoleon, Oudinot persuaded him to abdicate the throne and, when the Bourbons were restored, he joined them. He did not take any part in the events of the Hundred Days (1815). In 1823 he commanded a corps during the Spanish expedition; after the July Revolution he joined Louis Philippe.

Michelle Ney

Michel Ney was born on January 10, 1769 in the predominantly German-speaking French enclave of Saarlouis. He became the second son in the family of cooper Pierre Ney (1738-1826) and Margarete Grevelinger. After graduating from college, he worked as a scribe for a notary, then as a supervisor at a foundry.

In 1788 he joined a hussar regiment as a private, participated in the revolutionary wars of France, and was wounded during the siege of Mainz.

In August 1796 he became a brigadier general in the cavalry. On April 17, 1797, Ney was captured by the Austrians in the battle of Neuwied and in May of the same year returned to the army as a result of an exchange for an Austrian general.

In March 1799 he was promoted to the rank of division general. Later that year, sent to reinforce Massena in Switzerland, he was seriously wounded in the thigh and hand near Winterthur.

In 1800 he distinguished himself under Hohenlinden. After the Peace of Luneville, Bonaparte appointed him inspector general of cavalry. In 1802, Ney was ambassador to Switzerland, where he negotiated a peace treaty and acts of mediation on February 19, 1803.

In the Russian campaign of 1812 he commanded a corps and for the Battle of Borodino received the title of Prince of Moscow). After the occupation of Moscow, Bogorodsk was occupied, and his patrols reached the Dubna River.

During the retreat from Russia, after the battle of Vyazma, he stood at the head of the rearguard, replacing the corps of Marshal Davout. After the retreat of the main forces of the Great Army from Smolensk, he covered its retreat and directed the preparation of the fortifications of Smolensk for demolition. After delaying his retreat, he was cut off from Napoleon by Russian troops under the command of Miloradovich; he tried to break through, but, having suffered big losses, was unable to carry out his intentions, selected the best parts of the corps, numbering about 3 thousand soldiers, and with them crossed the Dnieper to the north, near the village of Syrokorenye, abandoning most of his troops (including all the artillery), who capitulated the next day. At Syrokorenye, Ney’s troops crossed the Dnieper along thin ice; to plots open water threw boards. A significant part of the soldiers drowned while crossing the river, so when Ney united with the main forces at Orsha, only about 500 people remained in his detachment. He maintained discipline with iron strictness and saved the remnants of the army when crossing the Berezina. During the retreat of the remnants of the Great Army, he led the defense of Vilna and Kovno.

During the retreat from Russia he became a hero famous case. On December 15, 1812, in Gumbinnen, a tramp in torn clothes, with matted hair, with a beard covering his face, dirty, scary, and, before he could be thrown onto the pavement, raised his hand and loudly declared, entered a restaurant where French senior officers were having lunch. : "Take your time! Don't you recognize me, gentlemen? I am the rearguard of the “great army”. I am Michel Ney!

Prince Eugene Rose (Eugene) de Beauharnais

Viceroy of Italy, general of division. Stepson of Napoleon. The only son of Napoleon's first wife Josephine Beauharnais. His father, Viscount Alexandre de Beauharnais, was a general in the revolutionary army. During the years of Terror, he was undeservedly accused of treason and executed.

Eugene became the de facto ruler of Italy (Napoleon himself held the title of king) when he was only 24 years old. But he managed to rule the country quite firmly: he introduced the Civil Code, reorganized the army, equipped the country with canals, fortifications and schools, and managed to earn the love and respect of his people.

In 1805, Eugene received the Grand Cross of the Order of the Iron Crown and the Grand Cross of the Order of St. Hubert of Bavaria. On December 23, 1805, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the corps blockading Venice, on January 3, 1806, commander-in-chief of the Italian Army, and on January 12, 1806, governor general of Venice.

The coronation ceremony of the Italian Viceroy, prepared by Count Louis-Philippe Segur, took place in Milan Cathedral on May 26, 1805. The colors chosen for the coronation robes were green and white. In portraits, the artists A. Appiani and F. Gerard captured these luxurious attire. The combination of elegant cut and virtuoso execution suggests that the costume was made in the workshop of the court embroiderer Pico, who carried out orders for the production of coronation costumes for Napoleon I, using models proposed by the artist Jean-Baptiste Isabey and approved by the Emperor himself. The stars of the Legion of Honor and the Iron Crown orders are embroidered on the cloak. (The small coronation costume is exhibited in the State Hermitage. It came to Russia as a family heirloom along with the collection of weapons that he brought younger son Eugenia Beauharnais - Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg, husband of the daughter of Emperor Nicholas I Maria Nikolaevna).

After Napoleon's first abdication, Eugene Beauharnais was seriously considered by Alexander I as a candidate for the French throne. For abandoning his Italian possessions, he received 5,000,000 francs, which he gave to his father-in-law, King Maximilian Joseph of Bavaria, for which he was “pardoned” and awarded the titles of Landgrave of Leuchtenberg and Prince of Eichstätt (according to other sources, he bought them in 1817).

Having promised not to support Napoleon anymore, he did not take part (unlike his sister Hortense) in his restoration during the “Hundred Days”, and in June 1815 he was granted the title of peer of France by Louis XVIII.

Until his death he lived in his Bavarian lands and active participation did not take part in European affairs.

Jozef Poniatowski

Polish prince and general, Marshal of France, nephew of the King of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Stanislaw August Poniatowski. Initially served in the Austrian army. From 1789, he was involved in the organization of the Polish army, and during the Russian-Polish War of 1792, he was the commander of the Polish army corps operating in Ukraine. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Zelentsy - the first victorious battle of the Polish army since the time of Jan Sobieski. The victory gave rise to the establishment of the Virtuti Militari order. The first recipients were Józef Poniatowski and Tadeusz Kościuszko.

After Poland's defeat in the war with Russia, he emigrated, then returned to his homeland and served under Kosciuszko during the Polish Uprising of 1794. After the suppression of the uprising he remained for some time in Warsaw. His estates were confiscated. Refusing to accept a place in Russian army, received orders to leave Poland and went to Vienna.

Paul I returned the estates to Poniatowski and tried to recruit him into Russian service. In 1798, Poniatowski came to St. Petersburg for his uncle’s funeral and stayed for several months to settle property and inheritance matters. From St. Petersburg he left for Warsaw, which by that time was occupied by Prussia.

In the autumn of 1806, as Prussian troops prepared to leave Warsaw, Poniatowski accepted the offer of King Frederick William III to lead the city militia.

With the arrival of Murat's troops, after negotiations with him, Poniatowski went into the service of Napoleon. In 1807 he participated in the organization of the provisional government and became Minister of War of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

In 1809, he defeated the Austrian troops that invaded the Duchy of Warsaw.

He took part in Napoleon's campaign against Russia in 1812, commanding the Polish corps.

In 1813, he distinguished himself in the Battle of Leipzig and, the only foreigner in the emperor's service, received the rank of Marshal of France. However, 3 days later, while covering the retreat of the French army from Leipzig, he was wounded and drowned in the Weisse-Elster River. His ashes were transferred to Warsaw in 1814, and in 1819 to Wawel.

On the island of St. Helena, Napoleon said that he considered Poniatowski born for the throne: “The real king of Poland was Poniatowski, he had all the titles and all the talents for this... He was a noble and brave man, a man of honor. If I had succeeded in the Russian campaign, I would have made him king of the Poles.”

A memorial plate in memory of Poniatowski was installed on the monument to the Battle of the Nations. A monument to Poniatowski (sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen) was erected in Warsaw. Among the sculptures decorating the façade of the Louvre is a statue of Poniatowski.

Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr

He entered service during the revolution, and in 1794 already had the rank of division general; participated with distinction in the revolutionary wars; in 1804 he was appointed French ambassador to the Madrid court.

In 1808, during the war on the Iberian Peninsula, he commanded a corps, but was stripped of his command for indecisiveness during the siege of Girona.

During the Russian campaign of 1812, Saint-Cyr commanded the 6th Corps (Bavarian troops) and was elevated to the rank of marshal for his actions against Wittgenstein. In 1813, he formed the 14th Corps, with which he was left in Dresden when Napoleon himself with the main army retreated from the Elbe. Having learned about the outcome of the battle near Leipzig, Saint-Cyr tried to unite with Davout's troops occupying Hamburg, but this attempt failed and he was forced to surrender.

From 1817 to 1819 he was the Minister of War of France. He had highly educated and remarkable strategic abilities. He was buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery.

Jean-Louis-Ebenezer Regnier

Born on January 14, 1771 in Lausanne in the family of a famous doctor. His father wanted to make him an architect, and therefore Rainier devoted his studies to the mathematical sciences; to improve them, he went to Paris in 1792.

Carried away by the revolutionary spirit then dominant in France, Rainier entered military service as a simple gunner and took part in the campaign in Champagne, after which Dumouriez appointed him to the general staff. The excellent abilities and service of the young Rainier with the rank of adjutant general to Pichegru in Belgium and during the conquest of Holland brought him the rank of brigadier general in 1795. In 1798 he was given command of a division in the army sent to Egypt. During the capture of Malta, he commanded the army landed on the island of Gozzo and was severely shell-shocked on this occasion. His division distinguished itself at Chebreiss, in the battle of the Pyramids and in the pursuit of Ibrahim Bey to Cairo. After the capture of this city, Rainier was entrusted with the leadership of the province of Karki. In the Syrian expedition, his division formed the vanguard; On February 9 she took El-Arish by storm, on February 13 she captured a large transport of vital supplies sent there from Saint-Champs d'Acre, and this facilitated the supply of food to the main French army, which arrived at El-Arish two days after this successful deed.

In the 1809 campaign against Austria, Rainier distinguished himself at the battle of Wagram, then arrived in Vienna and was made, instead of Marshal Bernadotte, the head of the Saxon corps located in Hungary.

He was then sent to Spain, where in 1810 he commanded the 2nd Corps of the Portuguese Army, under the leadership of Massena. He took part in the battle of Busaco on October 27 and in the movement to Torres Vedras, and in 1811, during Massena's retreat to Spain, he followed separately from the rest of the army. After many fairly successful dealings with an enemy superior in strength, especially on April 3 at Sabugal, Rainier's corps reunited with the main army, and at Fuentes de Onoro, on May 5, fought with excellent courage, but to no avail. After the battle, Rainier went to meet the Almeida garrison, who had fought their way through the British, and brought them out of a very dangerous situation.

When Massena left the main command over the army in Spain, Rainier, in order not to obey a junior general, without Napoleon’s permission, retired to France, which, however, did not have unpleasant consequences for him.

Napoleon drafted him into the army assembled against Russia and appointed him head of the 7th Corps, which consisted of 20,000 Saxon troops and Durutte's French division. The purpose of this corps in the campaign of 1812 was to hold on the extreme right wing, in Lithuania and Volhynia, the offensive actions of the Russian 3rd Western Army under the command of General Tormasov.

Immediately after the opening of hostilities, on July 15, Klengel’s Saxon brigade was captured at Kobrin; Rainier tried to come to the aid of Klengel with a forced march, but was too late and retreated to Slonim. This prompted Napoleon to reinforce the Saxons with Austrians and bring Rainier under the command of Prince Schwarzenberg. Both of them defeated Tormasov at Gorodechnya and moved to the Styr River; but when in September the arrival of Admiral Chichagov strengthened the Russian army to 60,000 people, the Austrian-Saxon corps had to retire beyond the Bug.

At the end of October, Chichagov with half of his troops went to the Berezina, pursued by Schwarzenberg; General Osten-Sacken, having taken command of the Russian army remaining in Volhynia, stopped the Austrians with a bold attack on Rainier’s corps at Volkovisk, and although he was defeated, depriving Napoleon of the assistance of numerous and fresh troops, he contributed greatly to the complete defeat of the French.

Claude-Victor Perrin

Marshal of France (1807), Duke de Belluno (1808-1841). For some unknown reason, he is known not as Marshal Perrin, but as Marshal Victor.

Son of a notary. He entered service at the age of 15, becoming a drummer in the Grenoble artillery regiment in 1781. In October he became a volunteer of the 3rd battalion of the Drome department.

He quickly made a career in the Republican Army, rising from non-commissioned officer (early 1792) to brigadier general (promoted on December 20, 1793).

He took part in the capture of Toulon (1793), where he met Napoleon (then still only a captain).

During the Italian campaign of 1796-1797 he captured Ancona.

In 1797 he was awarded the rank of division general.

In subsequent wars he contributed to victories at Montebello (1800), Marengo, Jena and Friedland. For that last battle Perrin received the marshal's baton.

In 1800-1804 he was appointed commander of the troops of the Batavian Republic. Then in the diplomatic service - Ambassador of France to Denmark.

In 1806, again in the active army, he was appointed chief of staff of the 5th Corps. Danzig was besieged.

In 1808, operating in Spain, he won victories at Ucles and Medellin.

In 1812 he took part in a campaign in Russia.

In 1813 he distinguished himself in the battles of Dresden, Leipzig and Hanau.

During the campaign of 1814 he was seriously wounded.

Due to being late for the battle of Montreux, Napoleon removed him from command of the corps and replaced him with Gerard.

After the Peace of Paris, Perrin went over to the side of the Bourbons.

During the so-called Hundred Days he followed Louis XVIII to Ghent and, on his return, was made a peer of France.

In 1821 he received the post of Minister of War, but left this post at the beginning of the Spanish campaign (1823) and followed the Duke of Angoulême to Spain.

After his death, the memoirs “Extraits des mémoires inédits du duc de Bellune” (Par., 1836) were published.

Dominique Joseph Rene Vandamme

French divisional general, participant in the Napoleonic wars. He was a brutal soldier, known for robbery and insubordination. Napoleon once said about him “If I had lost Vandamme, I don’t know what I would give to get him back; but if I had two, I would be forced to order one to be shot.”

By the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in 1793, he was a brigadier general. Soon he was convicted by a tribunal for robbery and removed from office. Having recovered, he fought at Stockach on March 25, 1799, but due to disagreement with General Moreau he was sent to the occupation forces in Holland.

At the Battle of Austerlitz, he commanded a division that broke through the center of the Allied position and captured the Pratsen Heights.

In the 1809 campaign he fought at Abensberg, Landshut, Eckmühl and Wagram, where he was wounded.

At the beginning of the campaign in Russia in 1812, Vandam was appointed deputy commander of the 8th Westphalian Corps of Jerome Bonaparte. However, since the inexperienced Jerome Bonaparte commanded a group of corps operating against Bagration, Vandam found himself to be the de facto commander of the corps. However, at the very beginning of the campaign in Grodno, Vandam was removed from command of the corps by Jerome due to sharp disagreements.

In 1813, Vandam was finally appointed commander of the corps, but near Kulm, Vandam's corps was surrounded by allies and captured. When Vandam was introduced to Alexander I, in response to accusations of robberies and requisitions, he replied: “At least I cannot be accused of murdering my father” (an allusion to the murder of Paul I).

During the Hundred Days, he commanded the 3rd Corps under Grusha. Participated in the Battle of Wavre.

After the restoration of Louis XVIII, Vandamme fled to America, but in 1819 he was allowed to return.

Etienne-Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre MacDonald

He was descended from a Scottish Jacobite family that moved to France after the Glorious Revolution.

Distinguished himself in the battle of Jemappes (November 6, 1792); in 1798 he commanded French troops in Rome and the Ecclesiastical Region; in 1799, having lost the battle on the Trebbia River (see Suvorov's Italian campaign), he was recalled to Paris.

In 1800 and 1801, Macdonald commanded in Switzerland and Grisons, from where he ousted the Austrians.

For several years he was under the disgrace of Napoleon due to the zeal with which he defended his former comrade-in-arms, General Moreau. Only in 1809 was he again called up for service in Italy, where he commanded a corps. For the battle of Wagram he was awarded a marshal.

In the wars of 1810, 1811 (in Spain), 1812-1814. he also took an outstanding part.

During Napoleon's invasion of Russia, he commanded the X Prussian-French Corps, which covered the left flank of the Grande Armée. Having occupied Courland, Macdonald stood near Riga throughout the campaign and joined the remnants of Napoleonic army during its retreat.

After Napoleon's abdication he was created a peer of France; During the Hundred Days, he retired to his estates so as not to violate the oath and not oppose Napoleon.

After the second occupation of Paris by the Allied forces, MacDonald was entrusted with the difficult task of disbanding the Napoleonic army that had retreated beyond the Loire.

Pierre-François-Charles Augereau

I received a very meager education. At the age of 17 he entered the Royal French Army as a soldier, then served in the armies of Prussia, Saxony, and Naples. In 1792 he joined the volunteer battalion of the French revolutionary army. He distinguished himself during the suppression of the counter-revolutionary uprising in the Vendée.

In June 1793 he received the rank of captain of the 11th Hussars. In the same year he received the ranks of lieutenant colonel and colonel. And on December 23, 1793, he was immediately promoted to division general.

During the Italian campaign of 1796-97, Augereau particularly distinguished himself in the battles of Loano, Montenotte, Millesimo, Lodi, Castiglione, Arcola, successfully commanding a division.

For example, at Arcola he led a column and won an almost lost battle. At the Battle of Castiglione, according to Stendhal, Pierre Augereau "was a great commander, something that never happened to him again."

In 1797, he led troops in Paris and, at the direction of the Directory, suppressed the royalist rebellion on September 4. From September 23, 1797 - commander of the Sambro-Meuse and Rhine-Mosel armies. In 1799, as a member of the Council of Five Hundred, Augereau initially opposed Bonaparte's plans, but soon became friends with him and was appointed commander of the Batavian Army (from September 28, 1799) in Holland, a position he held until 1803. Invaded southern Germany, but achieved no results. He actively opposed the signing of the concordat between France and the Pope, saying: “A beautiful ceremony. It’s only a pity that a hundred thousand people who were killed were not present so that such ceremonies would not take place.” After this, he was ordered to retire to his estate at La Houssay. On August 29, 1803, he was appointed commander of the Bayonne military camp. On May 19, 1804 he received the rank of Marshal of the Empire.

Participated in the campaigns of 1805, 1806 and 1807. On May 30, 1805, he headed the 7th Corps, which provided the right flank of the Great Army. In November of the same year, he overtook the troops of General Jelacic who had broken through from Ulm and forced him to capitulate at Feldkirch. During the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau (February 7-8, 1807), Augereau's corps lost its way and came into contact with Russian artillery, suffered huge losses and was actually defeated. And the marshal himself was wounded.

In February 1809, with his second marriage (his first wife, Gabriela Grash, died in 1806), he married Adelaide Augustine Bourlon de Chavange (1789–1869), nicknamed “The Beautiful Castiglione.” On March 30, 1809, he was appointed commander of the 8th Corps of the Grand Army units in Germany, but on June 1 he was transferred to Spain to the post of commander of the 7th Corps. Since February 8, 1810 - commander of the Catalan army. His actions in Spain were not noted for anything outstanding, and after a series of failures Augereau was replaced by Marshal MacDonald.

Augereau stood out among the generals of the Grande Armée for his bribery and desire for personal enrichment. Already during the campaign in Russia on July 4, 1812, Augereau was appointed commander of the 11th Corps, which was located in Prussia and served as the closest reserve of the Grand Army. The corps did not take part in hostilities in Russia, and Augereau never left Berlin. After Napoleon's army fled from Russia, Augereau, who barely escaped Berlin, received the 9th Corps on June 18, 1813. He took part in the battle of Leipzig, but did not show any activity. On January 5, 1814, he led the Army of the Rhone, assembled from units that came to hand in the south of France, and directed its actions in the battle of Saint-Georges. He was entrusted with the defense of Lyon; Unable to withstand enemy attacks, Augereau surrendered the city on March 21. “The name of the conqueror of Castillon may remain dear to France, but she has rejected the memory of the traitor of Lyons,” Napoleon wrote.

Augereau's slowness affected the fact that French troops were unable to take Geneva. After this, Augereau withdrew his troops to the south and withdrew from active operations. In 1814, he was one of the first to go over to the Bourbon side, sending out a declaration to the troops on April 16 welcoming the restoration of the Bourbons. 21 June 6, 1814 became governor of the 19th Military District. During the “Hundred Days” he unsuccessfully tried to earn Napoleon’s trust, but faced an extremely cold attitude towards himself, was called “the main culprit for the loss of the 1814 campaign” and on April 10, 1815 he was excluded from the list of marshals of France. After the 2nd Restoration, he did not receive any posts and was dismissed on December 12, 1815, although his peerage was retained. He died from “chest dropsy.” In 1854 he was reburied in the Père Lachaise cemetery (Paris).

Edouard Adolphe Casimir Mortier

Entered service in 1791. In 1804 he was made marshal. Until 1811, Mortier commanded a corps on the Iberian Peninsula, and in 1812 he was entrusted with command of the young guard. After occupying Moscow, he was appointed its governor, and after the French left there, he blew up part of the Kremlin walls on Napoleon’s orders.

In 1814, Mortier, commanding the Imperial Guard, participated in the defense and surrender of Paris.

After the fall of the Empire, Mortier was appointed peer of France, but in 1815 he went over to Napoleon’s side, for which, and most importantly, for declaring the verdict against Marshal Ney illegal, he was deprived of his peerage title by the Second Restoration (it was returned to him in 1819).

In 1830-1832, Mortier was ambassador to the Russian court; in 1834 he was appointed minister of war and prime minister (he lost his last post shortly before his death); in 1835 he was killed by the “infernal machine” during Fieschi’s attempt on the life of King Louis Philippe.

Joachim Murat

Napoleonic Marshal, Grand Duke of Berga in 1806-1808, King of the Kingdom of Naples in 1808-1815.

He was married to Napoleon's sister. For military successes and outstanding courage, Napoleon rewarded Murat in 1808 with the Neapolitan crown. In December 1812, Murat was appointed by Napoleon as commander-in-chief of the French troops in Germany, but left his post without permission at the beginning of 1813. In the campaign of 1813, Murat took part in a number of battles as Napoleon's marshal, after the defeat at the Battle of Leipzig, he returned to his kingdom in southern Italy, and then in January 1814 he went over to the side of Napoleon's opponents. During Napoleon's triumphant return to power in 1815, Murat wanted to return to Napoleon as an ally, but the Emperor refused his services. This attempt cost Murat his crown. In the fall of 1815, according to investigators, he tried to regain the Kingdom of Naples by force, was arrested by the authorities of Naples and shot.

Napoleon about Murat: “There was no more decisive, fearless and brilliant cavalry commander.” "He was mine right hand, but left to his own devices, he lost all his energy. In front of the enemy, Murat surpassed everyone in courage in the world, in the field he was a real knight, in the office - a braggart without intelligence and determination.”

Napoleon seized power in France as first consul, still retaining nominal co-rulers.

On January 20, 1800, Murat became related to Napoleon, marrying his 18-year-old sister Caroline.

In 1804 he served as acting governor of Paris.

Since August 1805, commander of Napoleon's reserve cavalry, an operational unit within the Grande Armée designed to carry out concentrated cavalry attacks.

In September 1805, Austria, in alliance with Russia, began a campaign against Napoleon, in the first battles of which it suffered a number of defeats. Murat distinguished himself by the daring capture of the only intact bridge across the Danube in Vienna. He personally convinced the Austrian general guarding the bridge about the beginning of a truce, then with a surprise attack he prevented the Austrians from blowing up the bridge, thanks to which French troops crossed to the left bank of the Danube in mid-November 1805 and found themselves on the line of retreat of Kutuzov’s army. However, Murat himself fell for the trick of the Russian commander, who managed to assure the marshal of the conclusion of peace. While Murat was checking the Russian message, Kutuzov only had one day to lead his army out of the trap. Later, the Russian army was defeated at the Battle of Austerlitz. However, after this serious defeat, Russia refused to sign peace.

On March 15, 1806, Napoleon awarded Murat the title of Grand Duke of the German principality of Berg and Cleves, located on the border with the Netherlands.

In October 1806, Napoleon's new war with Prussia and Russia began.

At the Battle of Preussisch-Eylau on February 8, 1807, Murat showed himself to be a brave, massive attack on Russian positions at the head of 8 thousand horsemen (“charge of 80 squadrons”), however, the battle was the first in which Napoleon did not win a decisive victory.

After the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit in July 1807, Murat returned to Paris, and not to his duchy, which he clearly neglected. At the same time, to consolidate peace, he was awarded by Alexander I the highest Russian Order of St. Andrew the First-Called.

In the spring of 1808, Murat, at the head of an 80,000-strong army, was sent to Spain. On March 23, he occupied Madrid, where on May 2 an uprising broke out against the French occupying forces, up to 700 French died. Murat decisively suppressed the uprising in the capital, dispersing the rebels with grapeshot and cavalry. He established a military tribunal under the command of General Grouchy, by the evening of May 2, 120 captured Spaniards were shot, after which Murat stopped the executions. A week later, Napoleon castled: his brother Joseph Bonaparte resigned the title of King of Naples for the sake of the crown of Spain, and Murat took Joseph’s place.

Marie Victor Nicolas de Latour-Maubourg de Fay

On January 12, 1800, Colonel Latour-Maubourg was sent to Egypt with a message to the commander of the French expeditionary army, General J.-B. Kleber. Participated in the battle of Aboukir and the battle of Cairo. From March 22, 1800 - brigade commander in the Eastern Army, from July 22 - temporarily acting commander of the 22nd Cavalry Regiment. He distinguished himself in the battle of Alexandria. On March 13, 1801, he was seriously wounded by a fragment of an exploding shell. It took a long time to heal from the wound. In July 1802 he was confirmed as regiment commander.

In 1805, Colonel L.-Maubourg was sent to Germany. He distinguished himself in the Battle of Austerlitz and was promoted to brigadier general on December 24, 1805.

On December 31, 1806, in connection with Lassalle's appointment as commander of the light cavalry division, he took command of his famous “Infernal Brigade” (French: Brigade Infernale). From June 1807 he commanded the 1st Dragoon Division under Marshal I. Murat. He distinguished himself in the battle of Heilsberg, and was seriously wounded in the battle of Friedland (June 14, 1807). On October 14, 1807 he left for treatment in France. On August 5, 1808, he returned to his division and in November of the same year, at its head, he went to Spain to take part in Napoleon’s Spanish-Portuguese campaign. He participated in the following affairs of this campaign: the battle of Medellin, the battle of Talavera, the battle of Ocaña, the battle of Badajoz, the battle of Gebor, the battle of Albuera, the battle of Campomayor. In May 1811, he replaced Marshal Mortier as commander of the 5th Corps of the Spanish Army. He won the battle of Elvas on June 23, 1811. Since July, commander of the cavalry division in Andalusia under Marshal Soult. On November 5, 1811, he led the entire reserve cavalry of Andalusia. On January 9, 1812, Brigadier General Latour-Maubourg was appointed commander of the 3rd Reserve Cavalry Corps, but after 3 weeks he was replaced by General E. Grouchy. From February 7, 1812, he commanded the 2nd Cavalry Division, and from March 24, the 4th Cavalry Corps.

As commander of the 4th Cavalry Corps, divisional general Latour-Maubourg took part in the Russian campaign of 1812. At the start of the campaign, his corps included 8,000 people. On June 30, 1812, his corps crossed to the Russian bank of the Neman near Grodno. Latour-Maubourg, commanding Napoleon's cavalry vanguard, was one of the first generals of the Grande Armée to encounter the enemy in this campaign. His units clashed with the Cossacks in the battle of the town of Mir and the battle of Romanov. Until the beginning of August 1812, Latour-Maubourg pursued Bagration in order to prevent his army from uniting with the army of Barclay de Tolly. At this time he carried out cavalry raids deep into Russian territory and reached Bobruisk. In the middle of the Battle of Borodino, together with E. Grushi's cavalry, he entered into a fierce battle with the Russian cavalry corps of F. K. Korf and K. A. Kreutz in the area of ​​​​the Goretsky ravine (behind Kurgan Heights).