Pierre Dominique Garnier

Pierre Dominique Garnier (born December 19, 1756 in Marseille , Bouches-du-Rhône department , † May 11, 1827 in Nantes , Loire-Atlantique department ) was a French general of the infantry .

Live and act

In 1773 Garnier volunteered in the royal army; he joined the infantry and remained loyal to this branch of service throughout his life. For some time he was stationed in Martinique ( French West Indies ) and returned to France around 1780.

Between 1784 and 1788 he was at various military locations in the Île-de-France and had no prospect of any career there. In the spring of 1788 Garnier left the army and tried - back in his hometown - as an architect to follow in his father's footsteps.

Enthusiastic about the ideas of the revolution , Garnier joined the Garde nationale in Marsaeille in 1789 and was soon able to distinguish himself there. With his battalion he marched to Paris and reached the capital on July 29, 1792. Garnier took a. a. participated in the Tuileries Tower (August 10, 1792) and was wounded in the process.

Several promotions followed, and Garnier defeated the counter-revolution in Nice with the rank of général de brigade . He fought u. a. at Mont Faron and took part in the siege of Toulon (September / December 1793).

After his promotion to the général de division (December 20, 1793), Napoleon Bonaparte transferred him to the Armée d'Italie , where he a. a. in which Saorgio (April 24/28, 1794) was again able to distinguish. The following year he joined the Armée des Alpes and fought a. a. near Loano (November 22, 1795).

At the beginning of the Second Coalition War , Napoleon sent him to the Kingdom of Naples (→ Parthenopean Republic ) where Garnier helped organize the military administration. He later also served as the military governor of Rome for some time . In 1801 he took his leave and returned to Paris.

When Napoleon planned his invasion of Spain and Portugal , he reactivated Garnier with another promotion. In Barcelona had Garnier in 1811 as a military governor, and in July of the following year, he was transferred again to retire and was able to return to their homeland.

When Napoleon was planning his war against Russia in the summer of 1812 , Garnier refused to return to the General Staff. In 1813, at Napoleon's request, he organized the withdrawal of French troops from Fiume , but without actually holding a military position.

After returning to France, Garnier was put on half pay. He did not take part in the Battle of Paris (March 30, 1814) and after Napoleon's abdication and the Treaty of Fontainebleau (April 11, 1814) he became part of the House of Bourbon . He supported King Louis XVIII. and was officially and definitively passed into retirement on March 1, 1816.

General Pierre Dominique Garnier turned down political office and withdrew into private life. He settled in Nantes and died there on May 11, 1827.

Honors

• October 5, 1814 Ordre royal et militaire de Saint-Louis
• December 31, 1814 baron de l'Émpire
• 1815 Commander of the Legion of Honor
• His name can be found on the southern pillar (25th column) of the triumphal arch on Place Charles de Gaulle (Paris)

literature

• Paul Canestrier: Le général Pierre Garnier (1756-1827) . L'Eclaireur de Nice, Nice 1938.
• David G. Chandler : The campaigns of Napoleon . Wiedenfeld, London 1993, ISBN 0-297-81367-6 (unchanged reprint of the London 1966 edition)
• Charles Mullié: Biography of the c'lébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 17898 à 1850, vol. 1 . Poignavant, Paris 1852.
• Charles Oman : A history of the peninsular war . Greenhill Books, London 2004, ISBN 1-85367-214-9 (9 vols.)
• Georges Six: Dictionnaire biographique des généraux et amiraux françde 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)
• Digby Smith : The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars data book . Greenhill Books, London 1998, ISBN 1-85367-276-9 .

Web links

• Pierre Dominique Garnier at arcdetriomphe.info

Lieutenant-général (France)