Jean Boudet (General)

Jean Boudet

Jean Boudet (born February 9, 1769 in Bordeaux , † September 14, 1809 in Mährisch Budweis ) was a French Général de division .

Live and act

Around 1784 Boudet joined General Jean-Baptiste Desmarets , who immediately gave him a small command of his own with the rank of sous-lieutenant . Boudet later moved to the Garde nationale , as he expected a better career there.

Boudet made the acquaintance of Napoleon early on . Boudet was able to distinguish himself several times through bravery and was also promoted very quickly. After another promotion came early June 1800 u. a. Louis François Félix Musnier on his staff.

In the Battle of Marengo , Boudet commanded a division.

When Napoleon commissioned his brother-in-law, General Charles Leclerc d'Ostin , to lead a punitive expedition against the rebels under Toussaint Louverture (→ Haitian Revolution ) in 1801 , Boudet was one of the first to volunteer. On December 11, 1801, under the command of Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse, they left Brest and sailed for Saint-Domingue ( Hispaniola ). They reached Port-au-Prince on February 5, 1802 .

Back in France, Boudet rejoined the Grande Armée .

In the fifth coalition war, Boudet u. a. in the Battle of Wagram (July 5-6, 1809) where he lost all of his artillery to the enemy. Napoleon could never forgive him for this. Shortly after another extremely humiliating conversation with the emperor on September 14th of the same year, Boudet was found dead. It has never been established beyond doubt whether it was suicide ; from the situation it seems to be quite possible.

Honors

• 1808 Baron de l'Émpire
• June 2, 1809 Grand Officier of the Legion of Honor
• 1810 Knight of the Order of the Iron Crown
• His name can be found on the eastern pillar (16th column) of the Triumphal Arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle ( Paris )

literature

• Karl Bleibtreu : Generals, soldiers of Napoleon I. VRZ-Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-931482-63-4 (reprint of the Berlin 1899 edition)
• David G. Chandler : The campaigns of Napoleon . Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 (reprint of the London 1966 edition).
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires de armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 vols.).
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des généraux & amiraux français de la Revolution et de l'Émpire. 1792-1814 . Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 (reprint of the Paris 1934 edition)