François Gédéon Bailly de Monthion

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François Gédéon Bailly de Monthion (born January 27, 1776 in Saint-Denis , Réunion , ROM-DOM , † September 7, 1850 in Paris ) was a French Général de division .

Live and act

Bailly de Monthion was the son of the engineer Alexis Bailly de Monthion and his wife Marie-Anne Marguerite Duval; on his mother's side he was a descendant of François Chatelain (1654–1730).

In 1793 he came to France and volunteered for the army. In the revolutionary wars he could make a career very quickly; in addition to repeated promotions, he served successively in the Armée de la Moselle and the Armée du Nord .

During the reign of terror , Bailly de Monthion was suspected of being a royalist and was dismissed and imprisoned by the Welfare Committee . Due to the intercession of General Louis Marie Turreau (1756–1816), he was soon released and placed at his side as an aide-de-camp . Together with Turreau he was u. a. stationed on the Île de Noirmoutier , in Tiffauges and on Belle-Isle-en-Mer .

Bailly de Monthion became a supporter of Napoleon Bonaparte at an early age and supported him in his coup in 1799 . After further promotions he already led his own command under the command of Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier in the Battle of Marengo .

On the occasion of Napoleon's imperial coronation in the Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral on December 2, 1804, Bailly de Monthion had been ordered to Paris. The following year he married Zoë Victoire de Chéret (1787–1843).

After the Battle of Austerlitz , Napoleon entrusted him with some diplomatic tasks (→ Rheinbund ). On a secret mission he visited Landgrave Ludwig I ( Landgraviate Hessen-Darmstadt ), Elector Karl Friedrich ( Electorate Baden ) and Elector Friedrich ( Duchy of Württemberg ) one after the other .

1806 was Bailly de Monthion on the staff of General Claude Marie Joseph Pannetier (1769-1843). After the Peace of Tilsit , Napoleon appointed him military governor of Tilsit . On May 22nd of the following year he was appointed général de brigade .

When Napoleon was planning his invasion of Spain , he also brought Bailly de Monthion to his staff. This fought u. a. near Vimeiro , La Coruña and Talavera .

In the fifth coalition war , Bailly de Monthion u. a. participated in battles near Eggmühl , Aspern and Wagram .

Bailly de Monthion also took part in Napoleon's war against Russia . He fought near Smolensk , Borodino , Malojaroslavetz and the Berezina . With effect from December 4, 1812 he was appointed général de division and at the same time the successor to General Louis-Alexandre Berthier .

As such he fought u. a. before Großgörschen and Bautzen . He was able to return to France and helped to restructure parts of the Grande Armée . The following year, Bailly de Monthion et al. a. in fights at Brienne , Montmirail and Paris .

After the Treaty of Fontainebleau and Napoleon's abdication , Bailly de Monthion was without any remit. He now supported the Bourbons and became a supporter of King Louis XVIII. During the reign of the Hundred Days of Napoleon, however, he immediately returned to his command. After the Battle of Waterloo he became a royalist again.

During the restoration , Bailly de Monthion was partially paid on half pay. When the monarchy was consolidated again after the July Revolution of 1830 , King Louis-Philippe I appointed Bailly de Monthion as a pair (→ Chambre des Pairs ). On April 12, 1848, he was officially adopted into retirement by the king.

Bailly de Monthion settled in Paris and died there on September 7, 1850. He found his final resting place in the cemetery of Créteil (Division J).

Honors

literature

  • David G. Chandler : The campaigns of Napoleon. Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 . (unchanged reprint of the London 1966 edition)
  • Kevin F. Kiley: Once there were titans. Napoleon's generals and their battles. 1800-1815. Greenhill, London 2007, ISBN 978-1-85367-710-6 .
  • Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850. Volume 1, Poignavant, Paris 1852.
  • Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des généraux et amiraux français de la Révolution et de l'Émpire. 1792-1814. Volume 1, Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 . (Reprint of the Paris 1934 edition)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Today the Botanical Garden of Saint-Denis.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Monthion, François Gédéon Bailly de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French general
DATE OF BIRTH January 27, 1776
PLACE OF BIRTH Saint-Denis , Reunion
DATE OF DEATH September 7, 1850
Place of death Paris