Camille Alphonse Trézel

Camille Alphonse Trézel (born January 5, 1780 in Paris , † April 11, 1860 in Paris) was a French general and defense minister during the July monarchy. He served in the French conquest of Algeria in the 1830s, where he suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Macta .

Life

Career under Napoleon and the Bourbons

In 1801 Alphonse Camille Trezel entered the French army and received the rank of lieutenant in 1803 . After the Polish campaign he became an advisor to Claude Matthieu (Count Gardane), then ambassador of France to Iran (1807-1808); In 1810 he was promoted to captain. He later fought in the defense of Mainz fortress .

During the reign of the Hundred Days , he served in the Grande Armée and showed bravery at the Battle of Ligny . He lost an eye and was promoted to brigadier general. After Napoleon's abdication, he was first demoted to colonel under the rule of the Bourbons. He fought in the Spanish Civil War from 1820-1823 and later joined the Morea Expedition . In 1829 he was promoted to field marshal .

Conquest of Algeria

In 1827 France began the embargo against Algiers and in 1830 began the conquest of the Islamic land. In 1831 he went to Algeria. Trézel commanded the Bougie expedition and was injured in the leg when it was conquered in 1833. He won several battles against the Zmalas and the Douairs. In 1835 he took to the field against Abd el-Kader and experienced a disaster in the Battle of Macta on June 28th. He took sole responsibility for the defeat.

Further career

In 1836 he fought in the Constantine Expedition . He went back to France and was raised to the status of a pair in 1846 , and in 1847 he became Minister of War under Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult . He held these positions in the government of François Guizot until the fall of the July monarchy on February 24, 1848.

In 1856 he resigned from all offices. He died four years later.

Awards

• January 13, 1837: Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor

Fonts

• Notice sur le Ghilan et le Mazenderan , in: Voyage en Arménie et en Perse, fait dans les années 1805 et 1806 by P.-Amédée Jaubert . Pélicier et Neveu, Paris 1821

literature

• Jean-Baptiste Dumas: Un fourrier de Napoléon vers l'Inde. Les papiers du Lieutenant General Trezel. Première partie: 1780-1812 . H. Charles-Lavauzelle, Paris 1915
• Narcisse Faucon: Le livre d'Or de l'Algérie . Challamel et Cie Editeurs Librairie Algérienne et Coloniale, 1889

Web links

• Literature by and about Camille Alphonse Trézel in the SUDOC catalog (Association of French University Libraries)

predecessor	Office	successor
Alexandre Pierre Chevalier Moline de Saint-Yon	Minister of War of France May 9, 1847 - February 24, 1848	Marie-Alphonse Bedeau