Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor

Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor

Gabriel Jean Joseph, Count (fr. Comte ) Molitor (born March 7, 1770 in Hayingen ( Hayange ) in Lorraine , † July 28, 1849 in Paris ) was a French general, marshal and peer of France .

biography

Molitor came after the outbreak of the revolution as a captain in a volunteer battalion, commanded in the campaign of 1793 under General Hoche at Kaiserslautern and White Castle an infantry brigade, was then alternately in the Rhine, Mosel and Danube army under Pichegru , Kleber , Moreau and Jourdan active and was dangerously wounded in an attack on Mainz fortress in 1795 .

In 1799 he fought as a brigadier general under Masséna in Switzerland and seized the original cantons, which he maintained in difficult battles against Suvorov . In the campaign of 1800 he commanded the Army of the Rhine under Moreau with distinction and contributed significantly to the victory at Messkirch (May 4th). Then sent to Tyrol with a corps of 5,000 men , he took Bregenz and Feldkirch and occupied Graubünden .

Appointed division general in 1801, he followed Masséna to Italy in 1805 and distinguished himself at the head of the avant-garde at Vago , but especially at Caldiero . In Dalmatia , where he was sent as governor-general after the Peace of Pressburg , he rendered services to the new organization of the country, horrified Ragusa in 1806 and won several advantages over the Russians and Montenegrins.

In 1807 he was in command in Pomerania , luckily fought against the Swedes near Damgarten and Löbnitz and conquered Stralsund . Napoleon I then transferred the general government in Pomerania to him and awarded him the title of count and large endowments. In the campaign of 1809, Molitor's division made part of the Massénasch corps. In 1810 he commanded the occupation army in the Hanseatic cities, from 1811 to 1813 in Holland , in 1814 under Jacques MacDonald at Châlons-sur-Marne and La-Ferté-sous-Jouarre .

After Napoleon's abdication, he submitted to the Bourbons and was hired as Inspector General of the Infantry. Since he rejoined Napoleon during the reign of the Hundred Days , he lost his position during the second restoration, but received it again in 1818. In 1823 he commanded the 2nd corps of the Spanish intervention army, whereupon he received the marshal's baton and the dignity of peers.

In 1827 he became secretary of the Chamber of Peers , in which he often appeared as a speaker. He used his leisure time for literary work. The July Revolution left him in possession of his offices and dignities. In 1847 he was selected by Louis-Philippe I for governor of the Invalides , 1849 by Napoleon III. appointed Grand Chancellor of the Legion of Honor .

He died in Paris on July 28, 1849.

Honors

His name is entered on the triumphal arch in Paris in the 13th column. A statue was erected for him in Nancy .