François Fournier-Sarlovèse
François Fournier-Sarlovèse , also Sarlovèze , (born September 6, 1773 in Sarlat , Dordogne , † January 18, 1827 in Paris ) was a French general of the First Empire .
Life
François Louis Fournier - he only took on the surname Sarlovèse in 1819, at the time of the second Bourbon restoration - was born in 1773 in the small town of Sarlat in the province of Périgord . In 1792, at the age of sixteen, he became a second lieutenant in a dragoon regiment; He also became lieutenant and captain in the same branch of service. When Major ( chef d'escadron ) with the hunters on horseback ( Chasseurs à cheval ) he commanded in the Battle of Fleurus (26 June 1794) was a regiment and after the campaigns of the Sambre and Meuse army in 1798, at the age not yet 23 years old, colonel ( chef de brigade ) of the 12th hussar regiment.
In May 1800 Fournier's 12th Hussar Regiment belonged to the reserve army destined for the second Italian campaign and went with the advance trot commanded by Jean Lannes over the Alps. During the attack on Châtillon in the Aosta Valley (May 18, 1800), Fournier and his hussars stood out so much that they caught the attention of Chief of Staff Berthier and Napoleons and were mentioned several times in the war report in the course of the campaign.
Despite his success as a cavalry leader, Fournier's republican sentiments, with which he did not hold back, stood in sharp contrast to the First Consul Bonaparte. The fear of the influence that the commander could have on his soldiers was probably also the reason why Napoleon had Colonel Fournier arrested and removed from France by issuing him a marching order into the Caribbean . A fleet under the command of Vice Admiral Villeneuve set out there at the end of March 1805 to lure the British fleet away from European waters.
Returned to France Fournier received with the outbreak of the Fourth Coalition War in Germany again use in the Grande Armée. On February 8, 1807 he took part in the Battle of Preussisch Eylau . After the victory over the Russian-Prussian army near Friedland (→ Battle of Friedland , June 14, 1807) he was promoted to Brigadier General and received the Cross of the Legion of Honor .
In 1808 and 1809 Fournier fought with Marshal Neys Corps in Portugal and Spain. In May 1809 he succeeded in holding the city of Lugo against a tenfold superior force until the city could be appalled by the troops of Marshal Soult . This achievement earned him the title of Count ( comte de l'empire ) and the Officer's Cross of the Legion of Honor.
In 1812 Fournier took part in Napoleon's Russian campaign. Here he stood out especially during the retreat, when he led several brilliant cavalry attacks with Hessian and Baden cavalry regiments to cover the transition of the French troops over the Beresina (→ Battle of the Beresina ) (November 28, 1812). Promoted to Division General, he fought the following year in Saxony and took in October 1813 at the Battle of Leipzig in part (16 to 19 October 1813).
Because of his bluntly critical statements against his conduct of the war, Napoleon had Fournier arrested while the French troops were retreating to the Rhine in November 1813 and taken to the Mainz fortress . When Fournier's escort was attacked by a group of Russian Cossacks, Fournier took the opportunity to escape and traveled to Mainz on his own to face the court there.
Relieved of his command and placed under guard, Fournier spent the next few months in exile at home. Only the return of the Bourbons brought him freedom and the return to active military service. King Louis XVIII appointed him Knight of the Order of St. Ludwig . Fournier was passive during the Hundred Days. After Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo, he ran as a member of the Chamber of Deputies for the Arrondissement of Sarlat and was also commissioned to dissolve the 9th Chasseurs à Cheval Regiment (1815). In 1816 he became inspector general of the cavalry in the 10th and in 1819 in the 13th military district. In 1818 he became a member of the Commission for Planning the Military Defense of France. In 1822 his name was found on the retirement list.
Count Fournier-Sarlovèse died in Paris in 1827, at the age of 54. He was buried in the cemetery of his hometown Sarlat, where his obelisk-shaped grave monument can still be found today.
Fonts
- Considérations sur la Legislation militaire. - Paris: Veuve Agasse, 1815 digitized from the French National Library
Awards
- Knight of the Legion of Honor, July 6, 1807
- Officer of the Legion of Honor, June 30, 1811
- Commander of the Legion of Honor, July 14, 1813
- Knight of the Royal and Military Order of St. Ludwig , August 13, 1814
- Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, October 29, 1826 (document dated February 17, 1827)
literature
- Marcel Dupont: Fournier-Sarlovèze le plus mauvais sujet de l'armée. - Paris: Hachette, 1936
- Jean Delpech-Laborie: Le Général Fournier-Sarlovèze: le plus mauvais sujet de Napoléon. - Paris: Productions de Paris, 1969
- Jacques Joseph Desplat: Fournier Sarlovèse, Général d'Empire, 1772–1827: un diable de hussard digne de leur légende. - Le Bugue, 2004
- Pierre-Henri Zaidman: Fournier Sarlovese: Un general d'Empire republicain. - Economica, 2011
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Courcelles, Jean Baptiste Pierre Jullien de: Dictionnaire historique et biographique des généraux français. - Paris: Auteur, 1820–1823
- ↑ cf. fr: 9th regiment de chasseurs à cheval
- ↑ a b c d http://www.culture.gouv.fr/Wave/savimage/leonore/LH075/PG/FRDAFAN83_OL1018049v001.htm
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fournier-Sarlovèse, François |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Sarlovèze, François |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French general |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 6, 1773 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sarlat , Périgord , France |
| DATE OF DEATH | January 18, 1827 |
| Place of death | Paris , France |