Charles Rigault de Genouilly

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Charles Rigault de Genouilly

Charles Rigault de Genouilly (born April 12, 1807 in Rochefort (Charente-Maritime) , † May 4, 1873 in Paris ) was a French admiral and naval minister of the Second Empire .

Life

Charles Rigault de Genouilly came from a family related to marine service and was a son of the marine engineer Jean-Charles Rigault de Genouilly. He studied at the École polytechnique , went to the Navy in 1827 and became an ensign in 1830 , then in 1834 lieutenant captain . Appointed corvette captain in 1841 , he commanded the ship Victorieuse and, together with the frigate Gloire , commanded by Augustin de Lapierre, took part in the destruction of the Vietnamese fleet off the port of Tourane (today Đà Nẵng ) in April 1847 , allegedly for a French Catholic mission there to protect. In August 1847, the Victorieuse stranded off the coast of Korea , but Rigault de Genouilly was acquitted by a court martial that had been convened for this purpose. In July 1848 he was appointed ship's captain, and in 1851 he was given command of the warship Charlemagne . He joined the Navy Labor Council in November 1852.

In December 1854 Rigault de Genouilly was promoted to rear admiral and commanded part of the squadron operating in front of the city during the Crimean War during the siege of Sevastopol . On October 2, 1855, he was appointed Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor . In 1856 he took the lead in the French naval forces in the Indochinese Sea and cooperated with the British in taking Canton during the Second Opium War in December 1857 . He was awarded the rank of Vice Admiral on August 9, 1858. On the orders of Napoleon III. he led a Franco-Spanish punitive expedition against Vietnam , attacked Tourane again and conquered the city in September 1858. That part of the Allied troops that remained in the city as a garrison was then besieged by a Vietnamese army for a year and a half. Rigault de Genouilly turned meanwhile, since he could not advance across the shallow river inland towards the capital Huế , with his main forces against Saigon and stormed it on February 17th, 1859. Then he returned to Tourane, but was able to surround the Vietnamese siege ring Don't break through the city. His soldiers also struggled with disease and the climate. In October 1859 he asked for his recall.

After his return to France, Rigault de Genouilly became a senator on July 11, 1860 and voted there in March 1861 for the continuation of the pope's secular power. In January 1862 he was given command of the training squadron in the Mediterranean and served in this position first on board Brittany and then the Ville de Paris . After completing this activity, he was promoted to Admiral on January 27, 1864 and received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor on December 30, 1864. Napoleon III appointed him on January 20, 1867 as the successor to Prosper de Chasseloup-Laubat Minister of the Navy and Colonies. He suppressed unrest on Réunion and declared on January 27, 1868, when discussing this in the legislative body, that he would take full responsibility for the actions of his officials. He resigned with all cabinet members in July 1869, but retained his ministerial post by imperial decree. During the illness of Marshal Niel , he also led the War Ministry on an interim basis from 13 to 21 August 1869. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out in 1870/71, he strongly advocated the expedition of the French fleet against the north coast of Germany, but refused to be appointed commander in chief of a squadron to be sent to the Baltic Sea . He only lost his portfolio as Minister of the Navy with the fall of Napoleon III. (September 4, 1870). Details of the last three years of his life are uncertain. He died in Paris on May 4, 1873 at the age of 67.

Rigault de Genouilly obtained the second edition of Montferrier's Dictionnaire universel et raisonné de marine (1846) and also published the fourth edition of the Routier des Antilles by Chaucheprat (2 vols., Paris 1852).

literature

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Remarks

  1. ↑ So z. B. Étienne Taillemite: Un amiral-ministre polytechnicien, Rigault de Genouilly , in: Bulletin de la Société des amis de la Bibliothèque de l'École Polytechnique , 35 (2004); according to the article "Charles Rigault de Genouilly" in the Encyclopædia Britannica , he died in Barcelona .
personal data
SURNAME Rigault de Genouilly, Charles
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French admiral and Minister of the Navy
DATE OF BIRTH April 12, 1807
PLACE OF BIRTH Rochefort (Charente-Maritime)
DATE OF DEATH May 4, 1873
Place of death Paris