Jean Louis Brigitte Espagne

Jean Louis Brigitte Espagne (born February 16, 1769 in Auch , Département Gers , † May 21, 1809 in Lobau near Vienna ) was a French general of the cavalry .

Live and act

Espagne came from a humble background and joined the military when he was eighteen. On July 6, 1787, he joined the royal army as a volunteer and joined the Dragoons in Verdun ( Département Meuse ). He was soon able to distinguish himself and his career led him from Capitaine (September 2, 1792), lieutenant-colonel (November 30, 1793) to général de brigade (July 10, 1799).

Espagne married Marie-Sophie Paroissien in Paris and had two sons with her: Jean-Baptiste Paul (* 1795) and Jean-Brigitte Camille (* 1799).

As an officer, Espagne u. a. under the command of Generals Nikolaus von Luckner Jean-Baptiste-Donatien de Vimeur, Comte de Rochambeau and Charles-François Dumouriez . In the second coalition war , Espagne u. a. participated in the fighting near Stockach (March 25, 1799), Meßkirch (May 4/5, 1800), Höchstädt (June 19, 1800) and Hohenlinden (December 3, 1800).

At the beginning of the third coalition war in 1805, Espagne was promoted to général de division. In the battles of Caldiero (October 29/31, 1805) and Hollabrunn and Schöngrabern (November 16, 1805) he was also able to distinguish himself through courage and bravery.

Napoleon Bonaparte sent Espagne in 1806 as a staff officer to Marshal André Masséna in the Kingdom of Naples (→ Parthenopean Republic ) and he became one of Fra Diavolo's most important opponents . In the winter of 1806/07 he was brought back to the Grande Armée and appointed to the staff of General François-Joseph Lefebvre . Espagne took part in the siege of Danzig (March / May 1807) with its own command , helped to organize the Republic of Danzig and was wounded in the battle of Heilsberg (June 10, 1807).

In the fifth coalition war, Espagne fought off Ebelsberg (May 3, 1809) and was seriously wounded in the battle of Aspern (May 21/22, 1809) right at the beginning of the fighting. He was taken to a field hospital in the flood plains of Lobau , where he succumbed to his injuries the same day.

Honors

• December 11, 1803 Knight of the Legion of Honor
• June 14, 1804 Commander of the Legion of Honor
• June 11, 1807 Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor
• April 1808 comte de l'Émpire
• The sculptor Charles Antoine Callamard (1769-1815) created an equestrian statue of General Espagnes for the Salon de Paris in 1812 , which was erected in the Musée de l'Armée ( Hôtel des Invalides ) in 1816 .

Trivia

The painter Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille created the oil painting Le général Espagne dans son uniforme de cuirassier and the writer Patrick Rambaud thematized in his novel Die Schlacht u. a. the death of General Espagnes.

literature

• David G. Chandler : The campaigns of Napoleon . Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 (unchanged reprint of the London 1966 edition)
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrité militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850, vol. 1 . Poignavant, Paris 1852.
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des généraux et amiraux français de la Révolution et de l'Émpire. 1792-1814, Vol. 1 . Saffroy, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-901541-06-2 (unchanged reprint of the Paris 1934 edition)
• Philip J. Haythornthwaite: Who was who in the Napoleonic wars . Arms & Armor, London 1998, ISBN 1-85409-391-6 .
• Jean Tulard (Ed.) Dictionnaire Napoléon . Fayard, Paris 1999, ISBN 2-213-60485-1 (2 vols.)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to other sources in his hometown, too.

Web links

• Biography General Espagnes (English)
• Jean Louis Brigitte Espagne at arcdetriomphe.info (English)