Armand-Jacques-Achille Leroy de Saint-Arnaud

Armand-Jacques-Achille Leroy de Saint-Arnaud

Armand-Jacques-Achille Leroy de Saint-Arnaud (born August 20, 1796 in Bordeaux , † September 29, 1854 in the Black Sea on board the Bertholet ) was a French statesman, Marshal of France and Commander- in -Chief in the Crimean War .

Life

Saint-Arnaud

Saint-Arnaud, born the son of a lawyer, joined the life guard of Louis XVIII in 1815 as an exalted royalist . but retired from the French army in 1822 to participate in the Greek struggle for freedom , and was not returned to French service until 1831.

As Ordonnanzoffizier Marshal Bugeauds he escorted Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Sicily , the Duchess of Berry, to Palermo in 1832 and in 1837 was transferred to the Foreign Legion in Africa . Here he acquired the reputation of a brave, circumspect and well-informed officer, who was also prone to acts of violence and extortion. In the same year he became captain , in 1840 chief de bataillon , in 1844 colonel and commander of the Orléansville subdivision and in 1847 general de brigade .

At the outbreak of the February Revolution in 1848, he happened to be on vacation in Paris and was given the command of a brigade with which he successfully fought against the barricades. After his return to Africa, he was given command of the Constantine Province in 1850 .

Adventurous and badly in debt, Saint-Arnaud hoped to get up through Prince-President Louis-Napoléon . He therefore joined this closely and in 1851 was entrusted with the command of the second division of the Army of Paris. In October 1851 Napoleon set up a cabinet, which served mainly to conceal the appointment of a devoted helper with the appointment of Saint-Arnaud. On October 26, 1851, Saint-Arnaud was therefore appointed Minister of War . With energy and great circumspection, he directed the preparations for the coup d'état of December 2, 1851, and its implementation. On December 2, 1852, Saint-Arnaud was appointed Marshal of France and later also the Emperor's Grand Equestrian ( Grand Ecuyer de l'Empereur ).

Although Saint-Arnaud had been ill for a long time, he was appointed commander in chief of the allied army in the Crimean War in 1854. He led the expedition to the Crimea and on September 14 the landing near Evpatoria . After difficulties coordinating the Allied attack between himself and the British Commander-in-Chief Lord Raglan , he was able to win a victory against the Russian army in the Battle of the Alma . On October 9th, the Allied forces began to encircle Sevastopol . Shortly after the victory at the Alma, Saint-Arnaud had to surrender command to General Canrobert because of his cholera illness . He died three days later, on September 29, 1854, on board the Bertholet that was to bring him back to France. Napoleon III had him buried in the Invalides .

The "Lettres du maréchal de Saint-Arnaud" (2nd edition, Paris 1864, 2 vol.) Published by his brother give interesting information about the events of the time.

Karl Marx , in an article for the New York Daily Tribune No. 4114 of June 24, 1854, does not paint a friendly picture of his character.

Two places in Australia and New Zealand are named after him.

literature

• Heinz Rieder: Napoleon III. Adventurer and Emperor . Katz Verlag, Gernsbach 1989, ISBN 3-925825-29-0 (reprint of the Hamburg 1956 edition).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ according to Encyclopaedia Britannica born August 20, 1798 in Paris
2. ^ Heinz Rieder: Napoleon III. 1989, p. 158.
3. ^ Heinz Rieder: Napoleon III. 1989, p. 213.
4. ^ New York Daily Tribune . Vol. 14, No. 4114, June 24, 1854, p. 6 .

Web links

Commons : Leroy de Saint-Arnaud  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Karl Marx article with a life and character description of Marshal Saint-Arnaud

predecessor	Office	successor
Jacques-Louis Randon	Minister of War of France October 26, 1851 - March 11, 1854	Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant