Amédée-Anatole Courbet

Amédée Courbet

Amédée Anatole Prosper Courbet (born June 26, 1827 in Abbeville , Somme department , † June 11, 1885 in front of Makung on the Pescadores Islands ) was a French admiral .

Life

Courbet attended the École polytechnique and entered the French naval service in 1849 . He became a lieutenant in 1856 , a frigate captain in 1866 , a ship captain in 1873 , a rear admiral in 1880 and a vice admiral in 1884 .

Courbet administered the penal colony on New Caledonia between 1880 and 1882 and was placed at the head of the naval department on the coast of Tongking on May 31, 1883 . After conquering the forts on the Huế River between August 16 and 19 and submitting Annam completely to French rule, he took command of the land troops in Tongking, which were in very difficult circumstances. In November he was also appointed head of administration. Between December 14th and 17th, he struck the black flags and took their fortified position at Sơn Tây . He planned an attack on the Chinese troops standing at Bắc Ninh , but in February 1884 he was relieved of supreme command and confined to the naval forces.

Courbet in Hue

Courbet thus received the supreme command of the "Fleet of the Far East", which had thirty ships and several thousand landing troops. On August 5th he occupied Keelung on Formosa , blocked this island and destroyed the arsenal of Fuzhou and the Chinese ships lying there between August 24th and 28th . He then led the fighting on Formosa and in February 1885 went to meet a Chinese squadron sent for relief , chased it away and occupied the Pescadores Islands on March 29 , whose works he destroyed. Although he was unable to block the Chinese coast, his cruisers and the occupation of one of the Miautau Islands in the Bay of Pechili (today: Bohai Bay ) prevented rice deliveries to the northern provinces. With these measures he prepared the Chinese government for a peace treaty, although it inflicted defeat on the French in Tongking and expected further successes there. On April 15, Courbet ordered the unblocking of Formosa to be lifted.

Courbet died on board the armored cruiser Bayard off Makung (Pescadores Islands). He was brought to France and buried in Abbeville at state expense.