Jacques-Laurent Gilly

Jacques-Laurent Gilly (born August 12, 1769 in Fournès , † August 5, 1829 in Aramon ) was a French Général de division .

Life

Gilly joined the royal army as a cadet and made a very rapid career there. Enthusiastic about the ideals of the revolution , he became part of Napoleon's early on .

In the first coalition war , Gilly took part in the Italian campaign (1796/97) and was promoted to Général de brigade in the following year because of his services .

After a few commands in Austria and Switzerland, he was posted to Spain in 1807, and fought there in the war on the Iberian Peninsula . Gilly then returned to France and worked for some time on the general staff in the capital.

He distinguished himself through bravery in the Battle of Paris in 1814 and went into politics after Napoleon's abdication (→ Treaty of Fontainebleau ). As a member of parliament , he represented the Gard department . He did not take part in the Battle of Waterloo (June 18, 1815) and was entrusted with various political offices and tasks until 1820.

Jacques-Lauren Gilly died a week before his 60th birthday on August 5, 1829 in Aramon, where he also found his final resting place.

Honors

Name on the Arc de Triomphe

• 1814 Comte de l'Émpire
• His name can be found on the western pillar (35th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris).

literature

• Karl Bleibtreu : Marshals, generals, soldiers of Napoleon I. VRZ-Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-931482-63-4 (reprint of the Berlin 1899 edition).
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 vol.)
• Stephen Pope: The Cassell dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars . Cassell, London 1999, ISBN 0-304-35229-2 .
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des généraux & amiraux français de la revolution et de l'émpire . Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 (reprint of the Paris 1934 edition)