Louis-Alexandre Berthier

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Louis-Alexandre Berthier, Prince of Wagram, Duke of Neuchâtel
Signature Louis-Alexandre Berthier.PNG
Louis-Alexandre Berthier

Louis Alexandre Berthier (born November 20, 1753 in Versailles , † June 1, 1815 in Bamberg ) was Prince and Duke of Neuchâtel and Valangin , Prince of Wagram and Maréchal d'Empire .

Life

He was by his father Jean-Baptiste Berthier (1721-1804), architect, engineer and head of the topographers corps under Louis XVI. , raised to be a soldier. From the royal topographical office he went into active service, first as a sous lieutenant in the general staff and then as captain of the dragoons . During the American Revolutionary War he served under Lafayette . In 1789 Louis XVI promoted him. to the Général de division of the National Guard of Versailles, and on October 5th and 6th, 1789 and also on February 19th, 1791 he served the royal family well. However, he realized that the revolution offered great opportunities for military talent, and so he took turns serving as chief of the general staff under Lafayette, Luckner and Custine . During the Reign of Terror he avoided arousing suspicion by showing zeal in the war in the Vendée .

His personal courage in the defense of Saumur on June 12, 1793 secured him an honorable mention in the reports of the commissioners of the convention. After the 9th Thermidor , he was appointed chief of staff to General Kellermann and, by insisting on the occupation of the line at Borghetto by the French army, contributed to the adversary's advance coming to a standstill. His reputation as Chief of the General Staff was well established before Bonaparte chose him for this post. He also proved himself as a good general de division in the battles at Mondovi (April 22, 1796), Lodi (May 10, 1796), Codogno (May 9, 1796) and Rivoli (January 14, 1797) during the campaign from 1796 to 1796 1797.

From December 22, 1797 to April 3, 1798, he commanded the Armée d'Italie .

He was the archetype of a staff officer for a general who reserves all higher staff functions. In 1798 Bonaparte placed him at the head of the "Armée de Rome", which was to occupy Rome, proclaim the republic there and take the Pope prisoner.

After his return from Egypt he supported Napoleon in the coup d'état of 18th Brumaire VIII and was appointed Minister of War; he held this post until April 2, 1800. During the second campaign in Italy he was again Chief of the General Staff and contributed to Napoleon getting into a difficult position in the Battle of Marengo because he had false reports about the route and position believed the Austrian army. When he had concluded an armistice with General Mélas after the victory , he was entrusted with various diplomatic missions and then returned to the War Ministry, which he headed until the proclamation of the empire. From now on he was completely in the service of the emperor, who showered him with additional income, pensions and gifts and with titles and dignities, including on May 19, 1804, the appointment as Marshal of the Empire and in March 1806 as sovereign Prince of Neuchâtel and Valengin . From 1805 to 1807, as Chief of the General Staff in the rank of Général de division of the Great Army, Berthier was a constant companion of Napoleon in the wars against Austria, Russia and Prussia .

In 1808 Napoleon ordered him to marry Princess Marie Elisabeth of Bavaria-Birkenfeld , a niece of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria . In 1809 Napoleon placed him in command of the Grande Armée , which was to operate from Bavaria against Austria. On April 6, Berthier began the war, but by April 15 he had already managed to endanger the whole campaign. He divided the army into three parts. He deployed Davout with half of the French army at Regensburg , Masséna with the other half at Augsburg and between the two Bavaria at Abensberg, so that Archduke Karl could have defeated all three corps individually if he had advanced quickly. The slowness of the Austrians and the arrival of Napoleon saved the French army. But then Berthier rendered excellent services as Chief of Staff in the same campaign, and to his long list of titles was added that of Prince von Wagram.

During the campaign in Russia of 1812, he also failed as chief of the general staff. After the fire in Moscow , he even proved incapable of correctly explaining Napoleon's orders. But he remained Chief of the General Staff.

In the campaigns of 1813 and 1814, he continued to serve Napoleon as chief of staff. In this position he held the title of major-general of the Grande Armée . He approved the Pläswitz armistice on behalf of Napoleon.

After the Senate had proclaimed the ousting of Napoleon, Berthier, under false pretenses, sneaked away from his patron and sent a declaration of loyalty to the Senate and the provisional government before Napoleon's abdication; then he went to the head of the marshals of the empire to Compiègne , there to Louis XVIII. extremely submissive to greet. On June 4, 1814, Louis XVIII appointed him. as peer of France and captain-lieutenant of the re-established Garde de la porte . His principality Neuchâtel passed to the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm III. against a pension of 34,000 thalers. After Napoleon's return from Elba, he followed Louis XVIII. to Ghent .

Memorial plaque on the New Residence in Bamberg

However, when he fell out of favor with the king because of the secrecy of a letter he had received from Napoleon, he withdrew to Bamberg , where on June 1, 1815 , he looked down about 20 meters from a window on the 2nd floor of the imperial apartments of the former prince-bishop's residence Residenzstrasse fell and died ("Bamberg Window Lintel "). There is a plaque in his memory there. Berthiers end might as well an accident like a suicide have been. Berthier is rumored to have been killed by six masked men who threw him out.

His grandson Alexandre, 3rd Duke of Wagram, (born March 24, 1836 in Paris, † July 15, 1911 in Crosbois ), was the last descendant of the Berthier family, who were ennobled in 1763.

Honors

Berthier was Colonel général des Suisses under Napoleon Bonaparte.

literature

  • Karl Bleibtreu : Marshals, Generals, soldiers of Napoleon I. VRZ Verlag, Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-931482-63-4 (reprint of the Berlin 1899 edition).
  • Désiré Lacroix: The marshals of Napoleon I. Verlag Heinrich Schmidt & Carl Günther, Leipzig 1898 (translated by Oskar Marschall von Bieberstein).
  • Jürgen Sternberger: The marshals of Napoleon . Pro Business Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-86805-172-8 .

swell

  • The article is partially taken from Karl Marx , Article Berthier, The New American Cyclopædia, III, 1857, Marx-Engels Works Volume 14, Berlin 1972, pp. 91-94.

Web links

Commons : Louis-Alexandre Berthier  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ cf. the public domain article in the Encyclopædia Britannica: "Berthier, Louis Alexandre" in Encyclopædia Britannica. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 812.
  2. ↑ List of the Knights of the Royal Prussian High Order of the Black Eagle. Decker, Berlin 1851, p. 15. Digitized version (January 7, 2015).
  3. ^ Ordre Royal et Militaire de Saint-Louis (Name can be found using the search function.)
  4. ^ Marx-Engels-Werke, Karl Marx: Berthier
predecessor Office successor

Edmond Louis Alexis Dubois-Crancé
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot 		Minister of War of France
November 11, 1799 - April 2, 1800
October 8, 1800 - August 19, 1807
Lazare Nicolas Marguerite Carnot
Henri Clarke d'Hunebourg
personal data
SURNAME Berthier, Louis-Alexandre
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Prince and Duke of Neuchâtel and Valengin, Prince of Wagram
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French general and Marshal of France
DATE OF BIRTH November 20, 1753
PLACE OF BIRTH Versailles
DATE OF DEATH June 1, 1815
Place of death Bamberg