Jean Isidore Harispe

Général Jean Isidore Harispe

Jean Isidore Harispe (born December 7, 1768 in Saint-Étienne-de-Baïgorry , † May 26, 1855 in Lacarre ) was a French general of Basque origin.

Life

Harispe came from a wealthy family of large landowners. The revolution of 1789 did not fulfill his father's wish that Jean Isidore should become a priest. At the age of 24, Harispe joined the army in 1792 and was an officer in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port the following year .

He took part in the fighting in Spain and returned to France in 1795/96. In 1799 he fought under the command of General James McDonald in Graubünden and later switched to the Armée d'Italie under Generals Bon-Adrien-Jeannot de Moncey and Guillaume-Marie-Anne Brune .

When the third coalition war broke out, Harispe served under the Maréchal d'Empire Charles Pierre François Augereau and fought with Jacques Desjardin in 1805/06 . He was wounded in the Battle of Jena and Auerstedt (October 14, 1806) and was promoted to Général de brigade in January 1897 . As such he came to the staff of General Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult and served there a. a. together with Jean-Antoine Verdier .

Harispe was known for his bravery at Guttstadt (June 5/6, 1807), Heilsberg (June 10, 1807) and Friedland (June 14, 1807). He was wounded at Friedland's, but was able to take up his post as Chief of Staff to Marshal Moncey in December of the same year . As such he was used in the Napoleonic Wars in Spain.

Under the orders of Marshal Jean Lannes , Harispe fought in the Battle of Tudela and took part in the siege of Saragossa in 1808/09 . When the fifth coalition war broke out, Lannes returned to France and Harispe became Chief of Staff to General Louis Gabriel Suchet .

Harispe was seriously wounded in the Battle of María de Huerva (July 15, 1809). His first battle after his recovery was the Battle of Lleida (April 29, 1810). During the siege of Tarragona (November 1811 / January 1812) he was again able to distinguish himself through bravery.

After deployments at Valencia and Castalla , Harispe also took part in the Battle of Vitoria (June 21, 1813). When his army withdrew, Harispe had to burn down his own castle in his hometown in order not to have to leave it to the British troops under Field Marshal Wellington .

He fought in the Battle of Orthez and, after Napoleon had abdicated, in the Battle of Toulouse , in which he lost a leg to a cannonball.

During the Restoration , Harispe had joined the Bourbons . But when Napoleon left the island of Elba and his " rule of the hundred days " began, Harispe announced King Louis XVIII. retired and rejoined the emperor.

After the Battle of Waterloo , Harispe retired to his now rebuilt castle and stayed there until the July Revolution of 1830 . As a proponent of the July monarchy , he supported King Louis-Philippe I and was rewarded for this in 1831 with the post of MP for Basses-Pyrénées . In the Second Empire he was appointed senator .

At the age of over 86, Jean Isidore Harispe died on May 26, 1855 in Lacarre, where he found his final resting place.

Honors

• Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis
• 1835 Peer of France
• Commander of the Legion of Honor
• 1833 Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
• His name can be found on the western pillar (36th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris).
• In the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the Rue du Maréchal-Harispe was named after him.

literature

• Karl Bleibtreu : Marshals, Generals, Soldiers of Napoleon I. VRZ Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-931482-63-4 (reprint of the Berlin 1899 edition).
• David 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 des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1855 . Poignavant, Paris 1851 (2 vol.)
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des généraux & amiraux français de la révolution et de l'émpire. 1792-1814 . Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 (reprint of the Paris 1934 edition).
• Digby Smith : The Napoleonic wars data book . Greenhill, London 1998, ISBN 1-85367-276-9 .