Pierre de Villeneuve
Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de Villeneuve (born December 31, 1763 in Valensole , † April 22, 1806 in Rennes ) was a French vice admiral . In the Battle of Trafalgar (1805) he commanded the united Franco-Spanish fleet, which was decisively defeated by the Royal Navy under Lord Nelson .
Life
In 1778 Villeneuve joined the French Navy . He took part in the war of France on the side of North America against Great Britain from 1778 to 1783. De Villeneuve served in the de Grasse ' fleet . During the revolution he was expelled from the navy as an aristocrat . After Robespierre's fall , he was reinstated. He was Chief of Staff of the Mediterranean Squadron under Admiral Martin. In 1796 he was promoted to Rear Admiral and took part in the Egyptian expedition under Admiral Brueys . On August 1, 1798, he commanded part of the French fleet in the sea battle at Abukir against the British fleet under Horatio Nelson off Egypt . Only by escaping did he manage to save the ship he commanded from being destroyed by the British.
On his return trip to France , Villeneuve in Malta was captured by the British during the conquest of the island, but he was released a little later. From 1801 to 1804 he served as commander of the Rochefort squadron. After the death of Admiral Latouche Treville , he took over command of the Toulon squadron at the suggestion of the Minister of the Navy, Decrès .
In 1805, meanwhile promoted to Vice Admiral, Villeneuve received the order to lead his fleet from Toulon to the West Indies, in order to unite with the Spanish fleet and thus lure the British fleet away from the European waters to a French invasion of the allow British Isles. After initial success - Villeneuve managed to evade the British fleet in March 1805 - Villeneuve decided, contradicting Napoléon Bonaparte's orders, to seek refuge from the British fleet in the port of Cádiz . Napoléon then refrained from his plans to invade.
Under pressure from Napoleon, the Franco-Spanish fleet under Villeneuve left the port of Cádiz on October 18, 1805 to support a French invasion of Italy . On October 21, 1805, the fleet was put to battle by the outnumbered British fleet under Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar . The battle ended in catastrophic defeat for the Franco-Spanish fleet.
Villeneuve became a British prisoner of war and lived with 200 of his soldiers in Hampshire . He attended Nelson's funeral service. In 1805 he was released to France on his word of honor . He tried to be allowed to serve in the Navy again, but this request was not answered. On April 22, 1806, he was found dead in Rennes in the Hôtel de la Patrie with several stab wounds in the chest. The cause of death was found to be suicide , justified by his disappointment and despair over the defeat. The British press tried to insinuate that Napoleon's government had murdered de Villeneuve.
Honors
His name is entered on the triumphal arch in Paris in the 13th column.
Web links
- Pierre de Villeneuve epoche-napoleon.net
- Trafalgar 1805
- Biography on napoleon.org
- Villeneuve's last days and his farewell letter
Individual evidence
- ^ AV, Mort de l'Amiral Villeneuve, Revue Française, 1835 (accessed May 21, 2009).
- ^ Villeneuve, Pierre Charles Jean Baptiste Silvestre . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 28 : Vetch - Zymotic Diseases . London 1911, p. 84 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
- ^ Roy Adkins: Trafalgar: The Biography of a Battle . Abacus 2005, ISBN 978-0-349-11632-7 , p. 323
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Villeneuve, Pierre de |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Villeneuve, Pierre-Charles-Jean-Baptiste-Silvestre de (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | French vice admiral |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 31, 1763 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Valensole |
| DATE OF DEATH | April 22, 1806 |
| Place of death | Rennes |