Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy Marquis de Grouchy | |
|---|---|
 Portrait byJean-Sébastien Rouillard, 1835 | |
| Born | 23 October 1766 (1766-10-23) Paris, France |
| Died | 29 May 1847 (1847-05-30) (aged 80) Saint-Étienne, France |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of France Kingdom of the French First French Republic First French Empire Bourbon Restoration (1814–1815)July Monarchy |
| Branch | Cavalry |
| Years of service | 1781–1815 |
| Rank | Marshal of the Empire |
| Awards | Grand Eagle of theLegion of Honour Knight of theOrder of the Iron Crown Grand Cross of theMilitary Merit Order of Bavaria[1] |
Emmanuel de Grouchy, marquis de Grouchy (French pronunciation:[ɛmanɥɛldəɡʁuʃi];[2] 23 October 1766 – 29 May 1847) was a French military leader who served during theFrench Revolutionary Wars and theNapoleonic Wars. He was the lastMarshal of the Empire to be created byNapoleon, and is best known for his actions during theWaterloo campaign.
Grouchy was born in Paris on 23 October 1766 into a family of thenoblesse d'épée, the son of François-Jacques de Grouchy, 1st Marquis de Grouchy (born 1715) and Gilberte Fréteau de Pény (died 1793).[3] He was raised at theChâteau de Villette (known as "the littleVersailles"), his family's estate inCondécourt, northwest of Paris.[3] He was the brother ofSophie de Condorcet, a salon hostess and writer.[3] Another sister, Charlotte, was the wife of physiologist and philosopherPierre Cabanis.[4]
Destined to a military career from birth, Grouchy attended the Artillery School ofStrasbourg from 1780 to 1781, graduating as lieutenant in theLa Fère Regiment.[3][4] He was later transferred to the cavalry in 1782, and was appointed captain in the Royal Foreign Regiment in 1784.[4] In 1785, Grouchy was presented to KingLouis XVI, and the next year he was appointed lieutenant colonel of the Scottish Company of the King'sLife Guards.[3]
.jpg)
Despite his aristocratic birth and his connection to the court, Grouchy was a convinced supporter of theFrench Revolution in 1789, along with his brother-in-law, theMarquis de Condorcet, and had in consequence to leave the Life Guards.[3][4] Refusing toemigrate, Grouchy remained faithful to the revolutionary cause and rejoined the army.[3] By 1791 he was lieutenant colonel of the 12th Regiment ofchasseurs à cheval.[3] In 1792 he served during the invasion ofSavoy, first as colonel of the 12th Regiment ofchasseurs à cheval then of the2nd Dragoon Regiment.[4] After the campaign of 1793, Grouchy was promoted to brigade general and was made a cavalry commander in theArmy of the Alps.[4]
In 1794, Grouchy was sent to theWar in the Vendée, where he distinguished himself defendingNantes from Royalist rebels led byFrançois de Charette, for which he received the rank of general of division.[4] Shortly afterwards, he was expelled from the army as being of noble birth, and remained as a simple soldier in theNational Guard.[4] Grouchy was reinstated to his rank the next year and returned to Western France, where he served under GeneralLazare Hoche in the defence against theQuiberon Expedition in July 1795.[4] In late 1796, he took part in the abortiveexpedition to Ireland as Hoche's second-in-command, and the next year he was assigned to theArmy of the North.[4]
Grouchy was deployed to Italy in 1798 under the orders of GeneralJean-Baptiste Jourdan.[4] By skillful measures, he was able to persuade the King of Sardinia,Charles Emmanuel IV, to renounce his rule overPiedmont, then received from theDirectory the task of organizing the conquered territory.[4] He asked to join theEgyptian campaign, but General Napoleon Bonaparte preferred GeneralLouis-Alexandre Berthier to him.[4] Remaining with theArmy of Italy, Grouchy distinguished himself greatly as a divisional commander in the 1799 campaign against the Austrians and Russians.[4] In covering the retreat of the French after the defeat at theBattle of Novi, Grouchy received fourteen wounds and was taken prisoner.[5]
During his captivity, which lasted nearly a year, Grouchy protested in a letter against Bonaparte'scoup d'état of 18 Brumaire that established theConsulate, and had this letter signed by several officers.[4] Despite this protest, upon his release he was at once re-employed by theFirst Consul, and distinguished himself again at theBattle of Hohenlinden.[5] After thePeace of Lunéville he was appointed Inspector General of the Cavalry.[4] Following theCadoudal affair, Grouchy was under Bonaparte's suspicion for some time due to his association with GeneralJean Moreau, but soon returned to favor, and in 1803 he received the mission of havingCharles Louis recognized asKing of Etruria.[4]
Grouchy took part in theUlm campaign in 1805, during theWar of the Third Coalition.[4] He later fought with distinction at the battles ofEylau andFriedland in 1807.[4] Grouchy entered Spain in 1808 commanding the twelve squadrons (2,850 men) of the Cavalry Division ofMarshal Moncey's Corps of Observation of the Ocean Coast, and was appointed governor ofMadrid.[4][6]
At the time of theWar of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, Grouchy commanded the cavalry of theArmy of Italy in ViceroyEugène de Beauharnais's advance toVienna, and contributed to the victories at the battles ofRaab andWagram.[5][4] As a reward for his services, Grouchy was madeColonel General of thechasseurs à cheval of theGrande Armée, and received the title ofcomte d'Empire.[4]
During theRussian campaign in 1812, Grouchy was appointed commander of theIII Cavalry Corps and led the corps atSmolensk andBorodino.[4] During the retreat fromMoscow, Napoleon appointed him to command theSacred Squadron, a unit composed exclusively of picked officers and responsible for the emperor's personal protection.[4] His almost continuous service with the cavalry led Napoleon to decline in 1813 to place Grouchy at the head of an army corps, and Grouchy thereupon retired to his estates, taking no part in theGerman campaign of 1813.[5]
When the allies invaded France in early 1814, Grouchy hastened to take part in thedefensive campaign and asked to return to service.[4] Napoleon gave him the command of a cavalry division, which Grouchy skillfully lead at the battles ofBrienne,La Rothière,Vauchamps, andCraonne, where he was severely wounded.[4] Upon Napoleon's abdication and theBourbon Restoration, Grouchy lost his rank of Colonel General of thechasseurs à cheval, which was given to theDuke of Berry, and was allowed to retire by KingLouis XVIII.[4][5]
In March 1815, Grouchy rallied to Napoleon on his return to power during theHundred Days.[4] He was made aMarshal of the Empire on 5 April 1815 (against the recommendation ofMarshal Davout, then Minister for War), and received the command of the 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th divisions.[4] Grouchy directed the operations against theDuke of Angoulême's Royalist army in Southern France.[4] After the Royalists were defeated, he unwillingly allowed the Duke to leave the country under the terms of theConvention of La Palud [fr], which Grouchy had initially refused to recognize.[4] He then organized the defences in theAlpine front, and was made aPeer of France on 2 June.[4]
In theWaterloo Campaign, Grouchy commanded the reserve cavalry of the army, and after theBattle of Ligny he was appointed to command the right wing to pursue the Prussians.[5] Napoleon sent Grouchy to pursue a part of the retreatingPrussian army under the command of GeneralJohann von Thielmann. On 17 June, Grouchy was unable to close with the Prussians. Despite hearing the cannon sound from the nearbyBattle of Waterloo, he decided to follow the Prussians along the route literally specified in his orders, issued by Napoleon viaMarshal Soult, while the Coalition armies attempted to combine forces to defeat Napoleon. He won a tactical victory over the Prussian army's rearguard at theBattle of Wavre on 18–19 June 1815, but the delaying action by III Corps allowed the main Prussian force to join Wellington at Waterloo while preventing Grouchy from doing the same.
So far as resistance was possible after the great disaster, Grouchy made it, gathering up the remnants of Napoleon's army and retiring, swiftly and unbroken, to Paris. After Napoleon's second abdication, he addressed a proclamation to his soldiers in support ofNapoleon II.[4] After interposing his reorganized forces between the enemy and the capital, Grouchy resigned his command into the hands of Marshal Davout.[5]
After the second restoration of the Bourbons, an attempt to have Grouchy condemned to death by acourt-martial failed; however, he was proscribed and went into exile in theUnited States, settling inPhiladelphia along with several other French officers of the Hundred Days.[5][7] He was amnestied by King Louis XVIII in November 1819 and departed for France in May 1820.[7] Upon his return Grouchy was reinstated as general, but not as marshal nor as peer of France.[5] For many years thereafter he was equally an object of aversion to the court party, as a member of their own class who had joined the Revolution and Napoleon, and to his comrades of theGrande Armée as the supposed betrayer of Napoleon.[5]
Grouchy returned to favor after the overthrow of the Bourbons in theRevolution of 1830.[4] KingLouis Philippe gave him back the marshal's baton in 1831 and restored him to the Chamber of Peers in 1832.[4] Grouchy died inSaint-Étienne while returning from a trip to Italy on 29 May 1847, aged 80.[8] He was buried in thePère Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.[8]
He was married firstly (1785) to Cécile le Doulcet de Pontécoulant (1767–1827), sister ofLouis Gustave le Doulcet, comte de Pontécoulant, by whom he had 4 children:[9]
He married secondly, in 1827, Joséphine-Fanny Hua (1802–1889) and had 1 daughter:[8]
Grouchy published the following:[5]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Grouchy, Emmanuel, Marquis de".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 624. Endnotes:Marshals of theFirst French Empire | |||
|---|---|---|---|
.svg) |  | ||
