Antoine Simon Durrieu

Antoine Simon Durrieu

Antoine Simon Durrieu (born July 20, 1775 in Grenade-sur-l'Adour , Département Landes , † 7 April 1862 in Saint-Sever , Département Landes) was a French politician and Général de division .

Live and act

In 1793, at the age of 18, Durrieu volunteered for the army. He was stationed on the Spanish-French border for a short time.

With the rank of captain he fought a. a. under the generals Barthélemy-Catherine Joubert and Augustin-Daniel Belliard in Tyrol and Italy. When Napoleon was planning his invasion of Egypt , Durrieu moved to General Louis-Alexandre Berthier's staff . He was in Malta and took part in the Battle of the Pyramids (July 21, 1798).

He fell ill and was transported back to France. After his recovery, General Louis Charles Antoine Desaix brought him to his staff and Durrieu fought valiantly. a. at Marengo (June 14, 1800) and at Mincio (December 25, 1800). As chief de bataillon of General André Masséna , he took part in the battle of Wagram (July 5-6, 1809).

When Napoleon was planning his Russian campaign , Durrieu came to the general staff of Eugène de Beauharnais and fought at Borodino (September 7, 1812), Tarutino (October 18, 1812) and at the Beresina (November 26-28, 1812).

Durrieu took part in the fighting at Großgörschen (May 2, 1813) and Bautzen (May 20/21, 1813) and was awarded promotion to Brigadier General on June 3, 1813. In Torgau on the Elbe he fell ill with an "epidemic fever". He was sent to France and after his recovery he took over some tasks in the War Ministry .

In the Battle of Paris (March 30, 1814) Durrieu no longer took part and was able to remain in office after the Treaty of Fontainebleau (April 11, 1814). During Napoleon's reign of the Hundred Days , Durrieu rejoined him and fought at Ligny (June 16, 1815) and Waterloo (June 18, 1815).

When in 1823 King Louis XVIII. planned his invasion of Spain , Durrieu took part in the staff of Eugène de Beauharnais and five years later General Nicolas-Joseph Maison brought him to his staff to support the Morea expedition .

Durrieu was not interested in the domestic political events during the July monarchy . After his appointment as division general on February 22, 1829, the high point of his career came with effect from August 14, 1845: the appointment as peer of France . As such, he represented the Landes department in the National Assembly during the Second Republic in 1851/52 .

He then resigned from all his offices and retired to Saint-Sever. He died there on April 7, 1862 and was also buried there.

Honors

• Ordre de la couronne de fer
• Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis
• 1823 Grand Cross of the Order de Isabel la Católica
• June 30, 1830 baron
• 5th January 1834 Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
• August 14, 1834 Peer of France
• His name can be found on the eastern pillar (19th column) of the Triumphal Arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle ( Paris )

literature

• Philippe Boesch: Antoine Simon Durrieu. Général d'Émpire, député orléaniste . Edition Atlantica, Biaretz 2010, ISBN 978-2-7588-0316-4 .
• Raymond Horricks: In the flight with the eagle. A guide to Napoleon's elite . Costello Books, Tunbridge Wells 1988, ISBN 0-7104-3040-X .
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850, vol. 1 . Poignavat, Paris 1850.
• Robert Adolphe and Gaston Cougny (eds.): Dictionnaire des parlamentaires français, Vol. 2 . Slatkine, Geneva 2000, ISBN 2-05-101711-5 (unchanged reprint of the Paris 1890 edition).