Denis Decrès

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Denis Decrès as Minister of the Navy (1806)

Denis Decrès (born June 18, 1761 in Châteauvillain , France , † December 7, 1820 in Paris ) was a French admiral and politician of the First Empire .

Ascent

Decrès joined the French Navy at the age of 18 , became a ship's captain in 1793 and a rear admiral in 1797. As Rear Admiral, he commanded the rearguard in the naval battle of Abukir in 1798 . He escaped to Malta , where he did much to defend the island during the 17-month siege, but in March 1800 he had to surrender to the overwhelming British forces. After an exchange from English captivity, he was appointed prefect of the fourth maritime district and by Napoleon Bonaparte , whose trust he won completely, appointed vice admiral and, in 1801, minister of the navy and the colonies, which he held until Napoleon's abdication in 1814.

Napoleon's naval minister

Decrès advised Napoleon on his energetic colonial policy and, sensibly and energetically, restored the navy, which had been almost destroyed by numerous accidents. Decres was very unpopular in the Navy. He was considered tough on subordinates and was reluctant to make suggestions to the emperor for the promotion of deserving officers. Napoleon, however, valued his cautiousness and strictness towards nepotism. He also attached great importance to improving education. Shortly after the crushing defeat of Trafalgar (1805), he advocated cruises by French liners overseas. Regularly consulted by Napoleon as part of the great naval armament program of 1810, Decrès succeeded in convincing the head of state in 1813 to send almost all manned French frigates on pirate voyages in the North Atlantic and the North Sea in order to give the sailors of the fleet that had been blocked for years a realistic training. Decrès, however, refused to build the flotillas favored by Napoleon, which consisted of cannon sloops. In 1813 Napoleon made him Duke and again for the Hundred Days of 1815 as Minister of the Navy.

After Napoleon's fall

After his fall, in retrospect from Saint Helena, Napoleon passed a negative judgment on Decrès, accusing him of having tried too hard as a courtier for the imperial favor instead of rebuilding the navy in the ports. After the return of the Bourbons , he did not regain his ministry. Severely wounded by attempts by his valet to blow him up in bed, he died in 1820.

swell

  • Maurice Dupont: L'amiral Decrès et Napoléon, ou, La fidélité orageuse d'un ministre. Economica, Paris 1991, ISBN 2-7178-2106-6 .
  • Pierre Leveque: L'amiral Decrès, un ministre courtisan. In: Revue du Souvenir Napoléonia. No. 417, (1998), pp. 13-21.
  • Meyer's Large Conversation Lexicon . Fourth volume (Decrès), Leipzig / Vienna 1906, p. 575 .
  • Pierer's Universal Lexicon . Fourth volume (Decrès), Altenburg 1858, p. 788 .
  • Augustin Thomazi: Les marins de Napoleon. Tallandier, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-84734-137-4 .
  • Nicola Peter Todorov: 1812 - Moscow or London? Napoleon's landing projects on the British Isles after Trafalgar from 1806 to 1813. Hamburg 2012, ISBN 978-3-8495-0180-8 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Pierre Leveque: L'amiral Decrès, un ministre courtisan. In: Revue du Souvenir Napoléonia. No. 417, (1998), p. 13.
  2. ^ Nicola Peter Todorov: 1812 - Moscow or London? Napoleon's landing projects on the British Isles after Trafalgar from 1806 to 1813. Hamburg 2012, p. 133ff.
  3. ↑ Augustin Thomazi: Les marins de Napoleon. Tallandier, Paris, 2004, ISBN 2-84734-137-4 , p. 132.
  4. ↑ Emmanuel de LAS CASES: Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène. I, 1954, pp. 586-588.

Web links

http://www.napoleon.org/fr/salle_lecture/articles/files/amiral_Decres_ministre_courtisan1.asp

personal data
SURNAME Decres, Denis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French admiral and politician of the First Empire
DATE OF BIRTH June 18, 1761
PLACE OF BIRTH Châteauvillain , France
DATE OF DEATH December 7, 1820
Place of death Paris