Louis-Joseph de Montcalm
Louis Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, marquis de Saint-Véran (born February 28, 1712 at Château de Candiac, Nîmes , France ; † September 14, 1759 near Québec ) was commander of the French army in Canada during the French and Indian War and / or. Seven Years War (1756–1763).
Life
Louis Joseph de Montcalm was the son of the French nobleman Louis-Daniel de Montcalm and Marie-Thérèse de Lauris. He was born in their castle, Château de Candiac in southern France. At the age of 15 he joined the French army as an ensign. With the death of his father in 1735, he inherited his title of marquis . He was able to improve his financial situation considerably by marrying Angelique Louise Talon du Boulay, with whom he had 10 children.
Montcalm's father bought him in 1729, the officer's commission of a captain ; in the French army he served in the Polish War of Succession (1733-1738) and in the Austrian War of Succession (1741-1748). On March 1, 1743 he was appointed commandant of the Régiment d'Auxerre . In 1745 he was wounded and captured in Italy , but was released a few months later and later promoted to the Maréchal de camp .
Montcalm came to Québec in 1756 as the commander of the French troops in North America . He scored some spectacular successes against the British. In 1756 he succeeded in destroying Fort Oswego on Lake Ontario , in the following year he successfully besieged Fort William Henry and destroyed it, but could not prevent the slaughter of part of the defenders by the Indians allied with him. The Fort William Henry massacre, inflated by the British for propaganda purposes, permanently damaged his reputation. In 1758 he successfully defended Fort Carillon ( Fort Ticonderoga ) against a British army. He inflicted a heavy defeat on the attackers, but benefited greatly from the incompetence of the opposing leadership. Due to disputes with the Governor General Vaudreuil , Montcalm , who had meanwhile been appointed Lieutenant-General , asked in vain for his replacement. Instead, however, he was entrusted with the defense of Québec , which was attacked by the British in 1759. Montcalm underestimated the ability of the British Navy to navigate the Saint Lawrence River , was unprepared for a landing near Québec and was surprised by the British invasion. When the British under General James Wolfe finally managed to get to the inaccessible plateau of Québec, Montcalm attacked them immediately without waiting for reinforcements, and thus lost the battle of the Plains of Abraham on September 13th. Montcalm, like his opponent Wolfe, was mortally wounded and died the following day. With the defeat, the fate of both Québec and French Canada was sealed.
meaning
Montcalm remains a controversial figure to this day. While he is held in high esteem by the French and Canadians of French descent, he was viewed in a bad light by Anglo-American historians and novelists - including James Fenimore Cooper - mainly because of the Fort William Henry massacre .
The criticism of historians to be taken more seriously is that he ignored the orders of the Governor General Vaudreuil out of arrogance and career addiction, without knowing the specifics of warfare in the colonies. He is said to have despised his Canadian militiamen and Indian auxiliaries, for whose effective and successful guerrilla tactics in the fight against the militarily superior British he had no understanding. The arguments between him and Vaudreuil seriously affected the defense of Canada. There is also evidence that he used his command to enrich himself personally. However, there are other authors - including the US historian Francis Parkman, author of a classic account of the war - who, with good reason, hold considerable responsibility for the loss of Canada on Vaudreuil. Reference is made in this connection to the widespread embezzlement and fraud that paralyzed the finances of the colony and which Vaudreuil at least covered, even if a direct involvement of the governor could not be proven. For the conflicts between Montcalm and Vaudreuil, the jealousy, vanity and ambition of the second were responsible to a considerable extent. At least on two occasions - at Ticonderoga and most recently on the Abraham level - Vaudreuil Montcalm had refused troops that in the first case made it possible to pursue the defeated opponent, in the second case perhaps made the difference between victory and defeat.
However, Montcalm, who is undoubtedly a very capable soldier, made mistakes in the defense of Québec. He underestimated the navigational skills of the British Royal Navy , which he did not trust, not entirely wrongly, to successfully penetrate the St. Lawrence due to its shallows, neglected to fortify the southern bank opposite Québec and thus made a landing possible for the British and the siege of the city . In the end, he rushed to attack Wolfe on September 13, without waiting for reinforcements - particularly a large contingent of troops under Bougainville - that would have given him greater superiority. This haste probably caused the defeat, the loss of Québec and with it all of Canada. However, his death made him a hero and saved him from having to take responsibility for Canada's surrender.
His bust was placed in the Battle Gallery of the Palace of Versailles , which opened in 1837 .
literature
- Louis-Joseph de Montcalm . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . 24 volumes, 1966–2018. University of Toronto Press, Toronto ( English , French ). Pp. 495-507.
- Thomas Chapais: Le marquis de Montcalm . Quebec 1911.
- André Lichtenberger: Montcalm et la tragédie canadienne . Paris 1934.
- Francis Parkman: Montcalm and Wolfe. The French & Indian War . New York 1984
- Michael Ranft: New genealogical-historical news of the most distinguished events which happened at the European courts . P. 477. Obituary
Web links
- critical biography of Canada: A people's history (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Montcalm, Louis-Joseph de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Montcalm-Gozon, Louis Joseph de, marquis de Saint-Véran |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French general in the French and Indian War |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 28, 1712 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Château de Candiac, France |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 14, 1759 |
| Place of death | near Québec |