François-Christophe Kellermann
François-Étienne-Christophe Kellermann , also de Kellerman , 1st Duke of Valmy , (born May 28, 1735 in Strasbourg , † September 13, 1820 in Paris ) was a French general, peer and Maréchal d'Empire .
family
Kellermann came from a Saxon family that had settled in Strasbourg long before he was born and was raised to the nobility. His father was Christoph Edler von Kellermann and his mother was the Silesian-Saxon Baroness Marie Magdalene von Dyhrn . His uncle was the famous Saxon general and Minister of War, Georg Karl Freiherr von Dyhrn .
Around 1769 he married Marquise Marie Anne de Barbé-Marbois , a sister of François Barbé-Marbois . From her marriage came the only son François-Etienne de Kellermann, 2nd Duke of Valmy .
Kellermann's descendants died out in the male line in the second half of the 19th century. At the same time, further descendants in the mother line emigrate back to the Oldenburg area and subsequently to America.
Life
He joined a French hussar regiment as a volunteer in 1752 . In 1756 he became a Sous-lieutenant in the "Bataillon Volontaires d'Alsace". In the Seven Years' War he fought in Hanover and Westphalia and was able to distinguish himself in 1759 at Bergen and Friedberg. In 1763 he became captain of the Légion de Conflans , and in 1771 knight of the Order of Saint Ludwig . In Louis XV. Polish expedition of 1771 he organized the Polish cavalry, and in 1772 he returned to France as Mestre de camp lieutenant . In 1784 he became Mestre de camp in the Regiment Colonel-Général hussards , and in 1788 had already reached the rank of Maréchal de camp .
He joined the revolution and was given command of the Moselle Army in 1792 in Luckner's place. Before the attacking Prussians , he retreated to the Argonne , united with Dumouriez on September 19th and then delivered the famous cannonade at Valmy on September 20th, which remained undecided, but the Prussians nonetheless withdrew from Champagne prompted. In Goethe's words, “a new era in world history began” from Valmy . Napoleon made Kellermann Duke of Valmy in 1804.
After the end of the campaign, Kellermann was placed under Custine's command and accused of insufficient support for his operations on the Rhine. Before the Tribunal of the National Convention in Paris he was acquitted and placed at the head of the Armée des Alpes and the Armée d'Italie . In this position he proved to be a diligent commander and excellent administrator, but found little opportunity to excel.
Shortly afterwards he received instructions to put down the rebellion against the Convention in Lyon . He was arrested in 1793 and held for thirteen months on charges of not pursuing the siege of Lyons vigorously. The fall of Robespierre on July 27, 1794 brought him back his freedom. He was reinstated in his command as Commander in Chief of the Alpine Army and served well in the defense of the southeastern border against the Austrians until his army was united with that of General Bonaparte in Italy in 1797 .
With the dissolution of the Alpine Army, his active career as an army leader ended. Kellermann was now sixty-two years old. He was replaced by younger generals and went into politics as a senator. His organizational talent and his long and wide experience made him one of Napoleon's most important advisors. He was used regularly for the administration of the army, the control of the communication lines and the command of the reserve troops.
In 1797 he was given the task of organizing the gendarmerie , and in 1802 he was made an officer of the Legion of Honor and in 1803 its president. The decisive share of his son ( François-Etienne Kellermann ) in the victory of Marengo brought his father more and more into the favor of the First Consul , who awarded him the title of Senator and on May 19, 1804 the title of "Marshal of the Empire".
During the campaign of 1806 Kellermann organized the National Guard on the Upper Rhine and in 1809 he led an observation corps on the Elbe . After the Battle of Hanau (1813) he was given command of the reserve troops united at Metz .
In 1814 he joined Louis XVIII. and voted for the deposition of the emperor. Ludwig appointed him commissioner for the military division of Metz , awarded him the Grand Cross of the Order of Louis and appointed him peer of the empire. Kellermann retained this dignity as he did not hold any public office during the hundred days , even after the second restoration .
He died in Paris on September 13, 1820. According to his will, his heart was buried under the obelisk erected for him on the battlefield of Valmy. His grave is in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.
Honors
- His name is entered on the triumphal arch in Paris in the third column of the north pillar.
- Knight of the Württemberg Order of the Golden Eagle
literature
- New Plutarch. Volume 1. New completely revised edition, 3rd edition. Hartleben, Pest 1842, p. 84 f.
- Désiré Lacroix: The Marshals Napoleon I. Transferred and edited by Oskar Marschall von Bieberstein. Schmidt & Günther, Leipzig 1898.
- Carl Bleibtreu : Marshals, generals, soldiers of Napoleon I (= publications of the Association of Book Friends. Vol. 8, (No. 4), ZDB -ID 520740-X ). Schall, Berlin 1899.
- Paul Martin: Kellermann, Franz Christoph. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 11, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1977, ISBN 3-428-00192-3 , p. 471 f. ( Digitized version ).
Individual evidence
Web links
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Kellermann, François-Christophe |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Kellermann, François-Étienne-Christophe; Kellermann, François-Étienne-Christophe de |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French general, peer and marshal of France |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 28, 1735 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Strasbourg |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 12, 1820 or September 23, 1820 |
| Place of death | Paris |