Louis Alméras

Louis Alméras (1798)

Louis Alméras , occasionally Louis Almeyras (born March 15, 1768 in Vienne (Isère) , † January 7, 1828 in Bordeaux ) was a French Général de division of the infantry .

Life

Alméras was the son of the lawyer Jean-Baptiste Almeras and his wife Françoise Lherbert.

From April 1787, Alméras studied at the École nationale des ponts et chaussées and, after successfully completing it, joined the army on November 1, 1791. There he made a career very quickly and in 1793, on the occasion of the siege of Toulon , he was already acting as aide-de-camp for General Jean-François Carteaux .

In 1796/97 he took part in Napoleon's Italian campaign under the command of General Jean-Baptiste Kléber . He also fought under Kléber during the Egyptian expedition ; so also at Abukir (July 25, 1799), Alexandria and Helipolis (March 20, 1800).

Alméras spoke out against Napoleon when he became First Consul by means of a coup d'état of the 18th Brumaire VIII and thus de facto sole ruler.

In 1809 Alméras moved to the Armée d'Italie and placed himself under the command of Eugène de Beauharnais . Under General Jean Maximilien Lamarque , Alméras distinguished himself in the battles at the Piave (May 8, 1809) and at Wagram (July 5, 1809).

As a general of the infantry, Alméras took part in the Russian campaign and was seriously wounded in the Battle of Borodino (August 26, 1812). He survived his wounding and joined King Louis XVIII during the Restoration . on. When Napoleon left the island of Elba and the rule of the Hundred Days began, Alméras switched back to Napoleon.

He was serving as military governor of Bordeaux when he unexpectedly suffered a stroke . He died a few weeks before his 60th birthday on January 7, 1828 and was also buried there.

Honors

• December 11, 1803 Chevalier of the Legion of Honor
• June 14, 1804 Commander of the Legion of Honor
• September 27, 1810 Baron de l'Émpire
• September 3, 1814 Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis (Chevalier)
• August 17, 1822 Grand Officier of the Legion of Honor
• 23 May 1825 Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis (Commander)
• His name can be found on the eastern pillar (11th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles-de-Gaulle (Paris).

literature

• David Chandler: The campaigns of Napoleon . Weidenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 (reprint of the London 1966 edition)
• Kevin F. Kiley: Once there were titans. Napoleon's generals and their battles 1800–1815 . Greenhill, London 2007, ISBN 978-1-85367-710-6 .
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 . Poignavant, Paris 1852 (2 vol.):
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des géneraux & 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 : Napoleonic Wars data book . Greenhill, London 1998, ISBN 1-85367-276-9 .