Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers

General Baraguey d'Hilliers

Louis-Achille, comte Baraguey d'Hilliers (born September 6, 1795 in Paris , † June 6, 1878 in Amélie-les-Bains ) was a French statesman and Marshal of France .

Life

Achille Baraguey d'Hilliers was the son of the Napoleonic general Louis Baraguey d'Hilliers . He participated in the campaign of 1812, was Marmont's adjutant in 1813 and lost his left hand at Möckern due to a cannonball. He fought at Quatre-Bras under Napoleon; In 1815 he became a captain, moved to Spain in 1823 , where he stayed until 1825, and became a colonel in 1830 after the conquest of Algiers .

Appointed sub-governor of the Saint-Cyr Military School in 1832 , he discovered a republican conspiracy among the pupils and, in 1836, was promoted to major general, the highest management of the institution. In 1841 placed at the disposition of the Governor General of Algeria , he was promoted to division general in August 1843 and became Governor of Constantine .

In 1844 he was removed from active service and reinstated as General Inspector of the Infantry in 1847. After the February Revolution of 1848 he was transferred to Besançon as Commanding General . Here he was elected to the National Assembly, in which he was one of the heads of the party of Order. He received the supreme command of the intervention army sent against the Roman Republic and in 1851 in Changarnier's place the command of the army of Paris, but resigned on December 2nd. J. back and behaved neutrally.

After the coup, however, he faced the Emperor Napoleon III. to disposal. In November 1853 he went to Constantinople as Ambassador Extraordinary ( Ambassador of France at the Sublime Porte ) , but was recalled in May 1854. He was entrusted with the supreme command of the expeditionary corps destined for the Baltic Sea in the course of the Crimean War and was appointed marshal and senator after the capture of Bomarsund (August 18). He later became Vice President of the Senate.

In the Sardinian War (1859) he commanded the 1st Corps of the Alpine Army and distinguished himself at the Battle of Solferino by taking the key to the enemy position, the village of Solferino. Thereupon he received the command of the V Army Corps in Tours .

In 1870 he became governor of Paris, but his frankness made himself unpopular with the Empress Eugénie de Montijo and the Minister of War, Count Palikao . On August 12th he was removed from his position and replaced by General Trochu . After the restoration of peace, Adolphe Thiers appointed him president of the commission of inquiry into the causes of the military accidents. He took over the chairmanship of the military tribunal in the proceedings (1873) against General Bazaine , who had surrendered the city ​​of Metz after the siege by the Prussians. In the later trial, Bazaine was sentenced to death for lack of duty and cowardice, probably also to provide the public with a scapegoat.

He died on June 6, 1878 in Amélie-les-Bains.

Web links

• Biography (french)