Charles-François Dumouriez | |
|---|---|
 Portrait miniature byPierre-Louis Bouvier, 1796/7 | |
| Minister of Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 15 March 1792 – 13 June 1792 | |
| Monarch | Louis XVI |
| Preceded by | Claude Antoine de Valdec de Lessart |
| Succeeded by | Pierre-Paul de Méredieu |
| Minister of War | |
| In office 13 June 1792 – 18 June 1792 | |
| Preceded by | Joseph Marie Servan de Gerbey |
| Succeeded by | Pierre August Lajard |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1739-01-26)26 January 1739 |
| Died | 14 March 1823(1823-03-14) (aged 84) |
| Resting place | Henley-on-Thames,United Kingdom |
| Occupation |
|
| Awards | |
| Signature |  |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of France Kingdom of the French French First Republic |
| Branch/service | French Army |
| Years of service | 1758–1814 |
| Rank | Divisional general |
| Battles/wars | |
Charles-François du Périer Dumouriez (French:[ʃaʁlfʁɑ̃swadypeʁjedymuʁje]; 26 January 1739 – 14 March 1823) was a French military officer,minister of Foreign Affairs,minister of War in aGirondin cabinet and army general during theFrench Revolutionary War. Dumouriez is one of thenames inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, on Column 3.
With GeneralKellermann he shared the first French victory atValmy where the Prussian army was forced to draw back. He rapidly advanced north (tillMoerdijk); before enteringHolland he decided to return to Brussels when the French armies lost territory in the east ofBelgium and theSiege of Maastricht (1793). He disagreed with his successorPache, the radicalConvention and Jacobin deputies, like Robespierre and Marat, on the annexation of the wealthy Netherlands and the introduction ofassignats. After losing theBattle of Neerwinden (1793), he deserted theRevolutionary Army. Fearing execution, he refused to surrender himself to the recently installedRevolutionary Tribunal and instead defected to theAustrian army.[1][2]
Dumouriez was born inCambrai, on theScheldt River innorthern France, to parents of noble rank. His father, Antoine-François du Périer, served as a commissary of the royal army, and educated his son most carefully and widely. He continued his studies in Paris at theLycée Louis-le-Grand, and was then sent to his uncle in Versailles for a year. In 1757 began his military career as a volunteer and served in six campaigns of theSeven Years' War. In theBattle of Rossbach, he served as acornet in theRégiment d'Escars. He was stationed inEmden,Münster,Wesel and carried a small library with him.[3] He received a commission for good conduct in action, with distinction (receiving 22 wounds during thebattle of Corbach). In 1761 he recovered in the baths atAachen. After thepeace of Hubertusburg he retired atAbbeville as a captain, with a small pension (which was never paid), a love affair with his niece and thecross of St Louis.[4]
Dumouriez then visited Italy, Spain and Corsica, and his memoranda to theduc de Choiseul on Corsican affairs at the time of theCorsican Republic led to his re-employment on the staff of theFrench expeditionary corps sent to the island, for which he gained the rank of lieutenant-colonel.[4] In 1769 Choiseul gave Dumouriez a military command as deputy quartermaster general to the army under theMarquis de Chauvelin.[3] After two campaigns on the island, he became a member of theSecret du Roi, thesecret service underLouis XV, which gave full scope to hisdiplomatic skills. The fall of Choiseul (1770) brought about Dumouriez's recall. In 1770 he undertook amission into Poland, where, in addition to his political business, he organized a Polishmilitia for theBar Confederation.[4] There he met withJozef Miaczinsky, the commander of a regiment. His Polish soldiers were pushed back by the Russian forces of GeneralAlexander Suvorov in thefirst clash but Suvorov failed in thesecond clash. On 21 May 1771, Dumouriez' Polish soldiers were smashed in thethird clash.
In 1772, upon returning to Paris, Dumouriez sought a military position from themarquis de Monteynard,Secretary of State for War, who gave him a staff position with the regiment of Lorraine writing diplomatic and military reports. In 1773, he was arrested in Hamburg found himself imprisoned in theBastille for six months, apparently for diverting funds intended for the employment of secret agents into the payment of personal debts. During his captivity Dumouriez occupied himself with literary pursuits. He was sent toCaen, where he remained in detention until the accession ofLouis XVI in 1774. Dumouriez was then recalled to Paris and assigned to posts in Lille andBoulogne-sur-Mer by thecomte de Saint-Germain, the new king's minister of war.
Upon his release, Dumouriez married his cousin, a certainMademoiselle de Broissy. In the meantime, Dumouriez had turned his attention to the internal state of his own country, and amongst the very numerous memoranda which he sent to the government was a project on the defence ofNormandy andCherbourg navy port, which procured for him in 1778 the post of commandant ofCherbourg.[5] He administered it with much success for more than ten years.[6] The construction of the fortifications and dikes began in 1779/1782 and extended in 1786. He used a plan byVauban to create an outer port.[3] The city grew and even the King came toLa Manche see it. For his ingenuity in fortifying he became amaréchal de camp in 1788. After the Storming of the Bastille he became commander of theNational Guard in July 1789, but his ambition was not satisfied.[4] Business and trade dropped in Cherbourg.[7] He proved a neglectful and unfaithful husband, and the couple separated. Madame Dumouriez took refuge in aconvent.
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At the outbreak of theRevolution, seeing the opportunity for carving out a new career, he went to Paris, where he joined theJacobin Club. In 1790, Dumouriez was appointed French military advisor to the newly establishedUnited Belgium States and remained dedicated to the cause of an independent Belgian Republic.[8] In 1791 he was sent to the coast. The death ofMirabeau, to whose fortunes he had attached himself, proved a great blow. However, opportunity arose again when, in his capacity as a lieutenant-general and the commandant of Nantes, he offered to march to the assistance of theNational Constituent Assembly after the royal family's unsuccessfulflight to Varennes.[4] Minister of War,Louis Lebègue Duportail, promoted Dumouriez from president of the War Council to major-general in June 1791 and attached him to the Twelfth Division, which was commanded by GeneralJacques Alexis de Verteuil.
He then attached himself to theGirondist party and, on 15 March 1792, became the French minister of foreign affairs. In March 1792 selectedLebrun-Tondu as his first officer for Belgian and Liégeois affairs.[8] The relationship between the Girondists and Dumouriez was not based on ideology, but rather based on the practical benefit it gave to both parties. Dumouriez needed people in the Legislative Assembly to support him, and the Girondists needed a general to give them legitimacy in the army.[9] He played a major part in the declaration of war against Austria (20 April), and he orderedGeneral Dillon, commander of Lille, to attackTournai, and the invasion of theAustrian Netherlands. His foreign policy was greatly influenced byJean-Louis Favier.[10] Favier had called for France to break its ties with Austria.
On the king's dismissal ofRoland,Clavière and Servan (13 June 1792), he took Servan's post of minister of war, but resigned it a few days later on account ofLouis XVI's refusal to come to terms with theNational Constituent Assembly, concerning hissuspensive veto. Within a week he joined the army of the North under MarshalLuckner. After theémeute of10 August 1792 andLafayette’s flight, he gained appointment to the command of the "Army of the Centre". At the same moment, France's enemies assumed the offensive. Dumouriez acted promptly fromSedan, Ardennes.
On 24 August 1792 Dumouriez wrote to his ally GeneralFrançois Kellermann about the void in military power within France. Within this letter, Dumouriez voices his opinions adamantly that Lafayette was a "traitor"[11] to France after being arrested for mobilizing his army from the borders of France to Paris to protect the Royal family from revolutionaries who were dissatisfied with the monarchy of France at the time. Within this letter, Dumouriez's attachment to the Jacobin club is explicitly present as he tells Kellermann that the army was finally "purged of aristocrats".[12] Dumouriez's loyalty to France's military which was evident within this letter was instrumental to him ascending to his future position of Foreign Minister of France from March 1792 to June 1792, restoring thenatural borders of France. Dumouriez outmaneuvered the invading forces of theDuke of Brunswick in theforest of Argonne.His subordinate Kellermann repulsed the Prussians atValmy (20 September 1792). After these military victories, Dumouriez was ready to invade Belgium to spread revolution in theFlanders campaign.
Supported by minister Lebrun-Tondu, he declared in the National Convention on 12 October that he would liberate the Belgians and the Liège people. On 27 October 1792, he invaded theAustrian Netherlands. Dumouriez himself severely defeated the Austrians atJemappes (6 November 1792).[4] He became a military hero for this decisive victory, for which the newspaper "Révolutions de Paris" proclaimed him the liberator of the Belgians.[13] On 14 November he arrived in Brussels. Several times he received a mission of Dutch revolutionary patriots, with whom he agreed on the principles;De Kock,Daendels and his friends settled in Antwerp.[14]Cambon pointed at the empty treasury and the wealthy Dutch. Dumouriez wrote a letter to the Convention scolding it for not supplying his army to his satisfaction and for the Decree of 15 December, which allowed the French armies to loot in the territory they had won, besides the introduction of the inflation-proneassignats in the conquered areas, and to expropriate church property.[15][16] The Decree insured that any plan concerning Belgium would fail due to a lack of popular support among the Belgians.
Dumouriez wanted to establish an independent Belgian state, free of Austrian control, which would act as a buffer on France's eastern borders, but that would not worry the British. To achieve this he began negotiations with the local authorities in Belgium, but on 15 December the Convention passed a decree ordering the military commanders in the occupied territories to implement all revolutionary laws.[17]
Returning to Paris on 1 January 1793, Dumouriez encountered popular ovation, but he gained less sympathy from the revolutionary government. On 12 January he had a meeting withLebrun-Tondu; on 23 January he was sent back.[18] The Dutch were willing to pay and an invasion of the Netherlands was postponed. To the more radical elements in Paris, it became clear that Dumouriez was not a true patriot but worked during the trial of Louis XVI to save him from execution. On 29 January Dumouriez lost his negotiating mandate.[19] With the help of the Girondists, Dumouriez ensured that defaultingPache had to resign at the end of January 1793;[20] at the most critical moment of the war.[21]
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To declare war had always been aprerogative of the king. On 1 FebruaryBrissot de Warville declared war against the King of Great Britain and the stadtholder of the Dutch Republic, not the people. The next dayFrancisco de Miranda, the only general from Latin America in French service, gave the command of the French forces back to Dumouriez. Although Dumouriez advised the government simply to recognise Belgium's independence, the Jacobins sent several agents.[22] On 7 February Dumouriez appreciated the secret proposals ofVan de Spiegel andBaron Auckland: in exchange for recognition of French Republic, France would have to refrain from aggression against other countries.[23] On 15 February,Johan Valckenaer addressed Cambon, the president of the Convention, to give not the committee but Dumouriez all powers to depose regents and restore others to power.[24]Lazare Carnot proposed that annexation be undertaken on behalf of French interests whether or not the people to be annexed so wished.[25] On 17 February 1793, the French troops and theBatavian Legion crossed the Dutch border. Miranda,Stengel,Dampierre,Valence, andEustace went northeast; Dumouriez and Daendels went northwest. Breda, Klundert, and Geertruidenberg were occupied with an army ofSans-Culottes that lacked almost everything.[26] After the French lost Venlo, Aachen,Maastricht and all the supply at Liège in early March,[27] Dumouriez was ordered to return to Brussels rather than further enteringHolland.[28][29] The situation was alarming. Miranda wrote Dumouriez to continue his plan and not return to Belgium.[30]
On 11 March, Dumouriez addressed the Brussels assembly, apologizing for the actions of the French commissioners and looting soldiers.[31] On 12 March Dumouriez wrote an angry, insolent letter which is considered a "declaration of war on the Convention".[32][9] He criticized the interference of officials of the War Ministry which employed many Jacobins.[33] He attacked not onlyPache, the former minister of war, but also Marat and Robespierre.[34] Meanwhile, Danton initiated the creation of theRevolutionary Tribunal to interrogate the generals at some time. Dumouriez had long been unable to agree with the course of the Convention. He was disenchanted with the radicalization of the revolution and its politics and put an end to the annexation efforts.[35] He was liked by the Belgium population. It seems both Eustace and Miranda disagreed; on 14 March Eustace wrote a letter to Dumouriez.[36] On 18 March 1793, Dumouriez's army attacked the Governor of the Habsburg Netherlands, also the brother of the Austrian emperor,Josias of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld's army. A major defeat in theBattle of Neerwinden nearly ended the French invasion. On 20 March Danton andCharles-François Delacroix were sent toLouvain.[37] On 22 March Dumouriez opened negotiations with the AustrianGeneral Mack.[38] He allowed Dumouriez to retreat to Brussels; Dumouriez' soldiers were deserting in large numbers. The next day Dumouriez promised the Austrians he would leave Belgium (though he had no permission and was without approval of the convention.[39]) On 24 March,Francisco de Miranda, the only general fromLatin America in French service, blamed Dumouriez for the defeat in theBattle of Neerwinden (1793).
Dumouriez prevented the execution of the decrees of 15 and 27 December, according to Robespierre.[40] He did not want the Dutch Republic to come under French authority, or even to be incorporated. It was his army that liberated the south of the Netherlands, and he would not allow it to fall into the hands of commissioners of the Convention. For Robespierre, the army had already more soldiers than it needed. On 25 March Dumouriez asked Karl Mack for his support to march on Paris.[41] There he would negotiate peace, dissolve the convention, restore theFrench Constitution of 1791, plea for the restoration of aconstitutional monarchy, and free Marie-Antoinette and her children.[42][43] He urgedLouis Philippe IDuke of Chartres, though still a teenager, to join his plan. The Jacobin leaders were quite sure that France had come close to a military coup mounted by Dumouriez and supported byPétion and Brissot.
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On 25 March Robespierre became one of members of the Committee of General Defence, to coordinate the war effort.[44]By the end of the month Robespierre called for the removal of Dumouriez, who in his eyes aspired to become a Belgian dictator.[45][46][47] A body of four commissioners was sent to question and arrest him.[48][49] The commissionersCamus, Bancal-des-Issarts,Quinette, and Lamarque were accompanied by the actingMinister of War,Pierre Riel de Beurnonville. Dumouriez sensed a trap and invited them to his headquarters atSaint-Amand-les-Eaux and ordered Miaczinski to arrest them atOrchies.[a] After an hour of deliberations he refused to accept the decree by the convention to go with them to Lille and Paris.[59] Instead Dumouriez arrested the five and sent them over toGeneral Clerfayt on the next day.[b]
Robespierre was convinced Brissot and Dumouriez wanted to overthrow theFirst French Republic.[61] On 3 April Robespierre declared before the Convention that the whole war was a prepared game between Dumouriez and Brissot to overthrow the Republic.[62] The next day Philippe Égalité was arrested.
On 4 April the convention declared Dumouriez a traitor and outlaw and put a price on his head.[63]Davout's volunteer battalion tried to arrest Dumouriez.[60][64] Dumouriez unsuccessfully tried to persuade Davout to his side and made a move to save himself from his radical enemies. He attempted to persuade his troops to march on Paris and overthrow the revolutionary government. The attempt proved unfeasible because many of his soldiers were staunch republicans and several of his officers opposed him.[4] Without escort he rode on horseback toTournai,[65] along with his chief of staffPierre Thouvenot, the Duke of Chartres, and theduc de Montpensier. He arrived on 5 April 1793 at the Austrian camp atMaulde. This blow left theBrissotins vulnerable due to their association with Dumouriez. Dumouriez's defection changed the course of the events for the Brissotins. On 5 April the Convention substantially expanded the power of the Tribunal révolutionnaire. The Montagnards raised the stakes by sending out a circular from the Jacobin Club in Paris to all the sister Jacobin clubs across France, appealing for petitions demanding the recall – that is, the expulsion from the Convention – of any deputies who had tried to save the life of "the tyrant". On 6 April theCommittee of Public Safety was installed. Suspicion rose againstPhillipe Égalité, because his eldest son had fled with Dumouriez to the Austrian camp. Philippe Égalité was then put under continuous surveillance.
In Brussels Dumouriez met withMetternich and received a passport for Germany. On 10 April Robespierre accused him in a speech: "Dumouriez and his supporters have brought a fatal blow to the public fortune, preventing circulation of assignats in Belgium".[47]
The French armies took positions behind the frontier. TheArmy of Holland deployed nearLille, theArmy of the Ardennes atMaulde, theArmy of the North atSaint-Amand, and theArmy of Belgium atCondé-sur-l'Escaut andValenciennes.[66]
Following his defection on 5 April 1793, Dumouriez remained in Brussels for a short time, and then travelled toCologne, seeking a position at the elector's court. He soon learned he had become an object of suspicion among his countrymen, the royal houses, aristocracies, and clergy of Europe. In response, Dumouriez wrote and published in Hamburg (1794) a first volume of memoirs in which he offered his version of the previous year's events. He became a royalist intriguer during the reign ofNapoleon as well as an adviser to the British government. Dumouriez wrote political pamphlets and letters analyzing the coastal defence of England and Ireland.[67][68]
Dumouriez now wandered from country to country, occupied in ceaseless royalist intrigues, until 1804 when he settled in England, where the British government granted him a pension. He became a valuable adviser to theBritish War Office, and theDuke of York and Albany in his struggle againstNapoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom, and theBritish anti-invasion preparations of 1803–05.[69]
In 1808Castlereagh had been warned by Dumouriez that the best policy England could adopt with respect to colonies in Spanish America was to relinquish all ideas of military conquest byArthur Wellesley and instead support the emancipation of the territories. Furthermore, Dumouriez suggested that once emancipation was achieved, a constitutional monarchy should be established with the exiled Duke of Orleans as King.[70]
In 1814 and 1815, he endeavoured to procure fromLouis XVIII thebaton of a marshal of France, but failed to do so.[4] He died atTurville Park, nearHenley-on-Thames, on 14 March 1823.[4] An enlarged edition,La Vie et les mémoires du Général Dumouriez, appeared at Paris in 1823.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Dumouriez, Charles François".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 667.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of Foreign Affairs 12/15 March 1792 – 12 June 1792 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretaries of State for War 13 June 1792 – 18 June 1792 | Succeeded by |
