Marshal Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr Marquis of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Minister of War | |
| In office 7 July 1815 – 26 September 1815 | |
| Preceded by | Louis-Nicolas Davout |
| Succeeded by | Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke |
| In office 12 September 1817 – 19 November 1819 | |
| Preceded by | Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke |
| Succeeded by | Victor de Fay de La Tour-Maubourg |
| Minister of the Navy and Colonies | |
| In office 23 June 1817 – 12 September 1817 | |
| Preceded by | François Joseph de Gratet, Vicomte de Dubouchage |
| Succeeded by | Louis-Mathieu Molé |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Laurent Gouvion (1764-04-13)13 April 1764 |
| Died | 17 March 1830(1830-03-17) (aged 65) |
| Awards | Grand Eagle of theLegion of Honour |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  French Republic French Empire Kingdom of France |
| Branch/service | Army |
| Years of service | 1792–1819 |
| Rank | Marshal of the Empire |
| Battles/wars | |
Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, 1st Marquis of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr (French:[loʁɑ̃dəɡuvjɔ̃sɛ̃siʁ]; 13 April 1764 – 17 March 1830) was aFrenchmilitary leader of theFrench Revolutionary Wars and theNapoleonic Wars. He was a made aMarshal of the Empire in 1812 by EmperorNapoleon, who regarded him as his finest general in defensive warfare.[1]
Gouvion Saint-Cyr showed an early interest in drawing, but with the onset of theFrench Revolution, he joined theFrench Revolutionary Army in September 1792 and experienced a meteoric rise through the ranks. Promoted to general of division in June 1794, he fought theAustrians in Germany and Italy under the command of generalsMoreau andJourdan.
After a period in administrative roles, Gouvion Saint-Cyr was appointedColonel General of thecuirassiers in 1804. He served as commander-in-chief of thecamp of Boulogne from 1806 to 1808 and was then sent to Spain, where he scored a series of victories at the head of the Army of Catalonia. He took command of theVI Corps of theGrande armée during theRussian campaign, where he obtained hismarshal's baton for his victory at theFirst Battle of Polotsk. He served in theGerman campaign of 1813 and was taken prisoner at the capitulation ofDresden in November 1813.
Returning to France in June 1814, Gouvion Saint-Cyr played no role during theHundred Days and becameMinister of War thenMinister of the Navy and Colonies under theBourbon Restoration. His tenure was marked by several important reforms such as the law on recruitment. A talented commander, Gouvion Saint-Cyr's cold and taciturn character earned him the nickname "The Owl" (le Hibou) from his soldiers.
Laurent Gouvion was born inToul,Three Bishoprics (nowMeurthe-et-Moselle), on 13 April 1764.[2] He was the eldest child of Jean-Baptiste Gouvion, atanner, and his wife Anne-Marie Mercier.[3] His mother abandoned him at an early age. Gouvion went toRome when he was eighteen in order to study painting, and continued his artistic studies after his return toParis in 1784.[2] He was working as a painter in Paris when theFrench Revolution broke out.[4]
On 1 September 1792, Gouvion joined the 1st Battalion of RepublicanChasseurs, a Parisianvolunteer unit from the Quatre-Nationssection.[4] He added his mother's name, Saint-Cyr, to his own to distinguish himself from others. Elected sub-lieutenant due to his education, Gouvion Saint-Cyr became a captain in the 9th Battalion offédérés on 1 November, deputy to the adjutant-general of engineersSimon François Gay de Vernon [fr] on 1 February 1793, thenchef de bataillon and chief of staff of GeneralClaude François Ferey.[4] Serving in various staffs in theArmy of the Rhine, Gouvion Saint-Cyr quickly rose through the ranks: he was promoted to brigade general on 5 June 1794 and to general of division on 10 June 1794 by representative on missionNicolas Hentz.[4]
Gouvion Saint-Cyr commanded the French center at theBattle of Mainz (1795) under the orders ofJean-Charles Pichegru andJean-Baptiste Kléber.[4] In theRhine campaign of 1796, he successfully commanded the left and then the center of theArmy of the Rhine and Moselle under Moreau: he fought at the battles ofRastatt andEttlingen, capturedStuttgart on 18 July 1796, was victorious at theBattle of Biberach on October 2, and organized the retreat of the army across the Rhine.[4] Gouvion Saint-Cyr was entrusted with thedefense of Kehl at the end of the campaign, but could not prevent the city's capitulation in January 1797.[4]
Gouvion Saint-Cyr temporarily succeededLazare Hoche, who had died at the head of theArmy of the Rhine and Moselle, untilCharles-Pierre Augereau formally took over command.[4] He led the invasion of thePrince-Bishopric of Basel in December 1797 and occupied it until January 1798.[4] Gouvion Saint-Cyr, who refused to congratulate theDirectory after theCoup of 18 Fructidor Year V (4 September 1797), then replacedAndré Masséna as commander of the Army of Rome from 26 March until 25 July 1798.[4] He restored order and discipline and became unpopular with his soldiers. In addition, Gouvion Saint-Cyr was suspended under charges of abuse of power,[4] which, after investigation, were revealed to be false. He returned to Germany and commanded the left wing underJean-Baptiste Jourdan in theArmy of the Danube, took part in theBattle of Stockach on 25 March 1799, then moved to theArmy of Italy upon Masséna's replacement of Jourdan.[4] Gouvion Saint-Cyr was the commander of the right wing during the defeat at theBattle of Novi, during which commander-in chiefBarthélémy Catherine Joubert was killed.[4]
Unwilling to engage in politics, Gouvion Saint-Cyr refused to allow his soldiers to swear an oath to the newConsulate government, following theCoup of 18 Brumaire. However, he received from the First Consul,Napoleon Bonaparte, a sabre decorated with precious stones for his military exploits.[5] He returned to the Army of the Rhine as Moreau's deputy in late 1799.[5] Gouvion Saint-Cyr was received with enthusiasm by the soldiers, and led them to victory at theBattle of Biberach on 9 May 1800.[5] He was not, however, on good terms with his commander and retired to France after the first operations of the campaign.[2]
Gouvion Saint-Cyr was granted leave by Bonaparte and was appointedState Councillor in the war section.[5]Stendhal, then Gouvion Saint-Cyr's secretary, described him as "one of the rare military leaders who were capable of studying a dossier".[6] Gouvion Saint-Cyr was tasked with commanding the Franco-Spanish armies during theWar of the Oranges in 1801.[5] When a peace treaty was shortly afterwards concluded with Portugal, he succeededLucien Bonaparte as ambassador atMadrid.[2] Gouvion Saint-Cyr experienced certain difficulties in this assignment, being more of a soldier than a diplomat. Recalled to Paris in August 1802, he was sent to Italy on 14 May 1803, as lieutenant general of the corps of observation ofNaples under the command ofJoachim Murat.[5]
Gouvion Saint-Cyr was a stoic in an age of pragmatism and glory. His refusal to sign the proclamation of congratulation for declaring the birth of theEmpire resulted in his name not being included in the first list of Napoleonic marshals, while commanders such asJean Lannes,Jean-Baptiste Bessières andJean-de-Dieu Soult who had not had independent command experience were included. Nevertheless, he was namedColonel General of thecuirassiers on 6 July 1804 and a Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour on 2 February 1805. Still posted to Italy, Gouvion Saint-Cyr was present at Napoleon's coronation asKing of Italy inMilan in May 1805. During theWar of the Third Coalition, as commander the left wing of Masséna's army, he defeated and captured theémigréLouis Victor Meriadec de Rohan-Guéméné at theBattle of Castelfranco Veneto on 29 November 1805.[5] Placed at the head of the Army of Naples in December, he was succeeded a month later by Masséna but left his post before the latter's arrival. When he returned to Paris to protest his treatment in Naples, the emperor sent him back to his post on pain of death.
On his return and from February to August 1806, Gouvion Saint-Cyr commanded an army corps deployed toApulia andAbruzzi.[5] He wrote toBerthier, "I have endured all the disgusts of this mission".[6] He was then in command of thecamp of Boulogne from December 1806 to August 1808, a secondary role while his future marshal colleagues covered themselves with glory in theWar of the Fourth Coalition.[5] He took advantage of this time to acquire the Reverseaux estate in the commune ofRouvray-Saint-Florentin, inEure-et-Loir. He was made aCount of the Empire in May 1808 and was sent toCatalonia in August.[5]
A remarkable tactician, Gouvion Saint-Cyr, at the head of theV Corps, was victorious in several battles, notably atCardedeu on 16 December,Molins de Rei on 20 December, andValls on 25 February 1809.[5] He led the successfulSiege of Roses and lifted theblockade of Barcelona.[5] Having refused to carry out Berthier's order to simultaneously besiegeGirona,Tarragona andTortosa, he was replaced by Augereau and left his post before the latter's arrival.[5] Arrested and returned to his estate, Gouvion Saint-Cyr remained on the sidelines until 1811, when he was reinstated in the Council of State.[5] At the start of theRussian campaign, Gouvion Saint-Cyr received command of theVI Corps, and on 18 August 1812 defeated the Russians underWittgenstein at theFirst Battle of Polotsk, in recognition of which he was made a Marshal of the Empire.[5] The Russians, underBarclay de Tolly, were burning everything as they retreated towards Moscow, and had just burned nearby Smolensk. It was just before the victory at Polotsk on the banks of theDaugava river, however, that MarshalNicolas Oudinot was wounded, and thus theII Corps was added to Gouvion Saint-Cyr's sphere of command.
On 18 October, Gouvion Saint-Cyr again faced Wittgenstein at theSecond Battle of Polotsk, but had to retreat after two days of particularly bloody fighting, in which the marshal himself received a severe bullet wound to the foot.[5] During theGerman campaign of 1813, he commanded theXI Corps of Berlin in February but, suffering from typhus, he returned to France for treatment. As commander-in-chief of the 14th corps of Army of Germany, Saint-Cyr distinguished himself at theBattle of Dresden (26–27 August 1813) and in thecity's defence against theAllies, capitulating only on 11 November, when Napoleon had retreated to the Rhine after theBattle of Leipzig.[5] He became an Austrian prisoner of war, and was thus the only of Napoleon's marshals to have been taken prisoner during the Napoleonic Wars.[5] At the time, Napoleon commented, "The Allies have violated the rights of man, not in order to deprive me of 20,000 to 25,000 soldiers, but to make Saint Cyr prisoner. He is the first of us all in defensive warfare".[1]
After his return from captivity in June 1814, Gouvion Saint-Cyr retired to his estate and was made aPeer of France on 4 June by KingLouis XVIII.[5] In 1815, he rallied neither to Napoleon during theHundred Days nor to Louis XVIII'sGhent government in exile. On the king's return, Gouvion Saint-Cyr was appointed Minister of War in theTalleyrand ministry, serving from 8 July to 25 September 1815. In this capacity, he tried to assist long-time friend and fellow marshalMichel Ney by providing him a jury of four other Napoleonic marshals, but was disgraced when MarshalMoncey refused to even sit in it. Gouvion Saint-Cyr voted for Ney's deportation at his trial before theChamber of Peers.[5]
In June 1817, Gouvion Saint-Cyr was appointedMinister of the Navy and Colonies, a pretext for him to resume the office of War Minister, which he did from 12 September 1817 until 18 November 1819. During this time he initiated many reforms, particularly in respect of measures tending to make the army a national rather than adynastic force.[2] He made efforts to safeguard the rights of veteran soldiers of the Empire, organized theGeneral Staff, revised the code ofmilitary law and thepension regulations and , most notably, passed the Gouvion-Saint-Cyr Law on 10 March 1818, which organized recruitment andre-established the Revolution's policy of conscription.[2][5] He was made amarquess in 1817.[5] Gouvion Saint-Cyr retired to the countryside and devoted his final years to agriculture and the writing of his memoirs.[5] He died on 17 March 1830 inHyères, a town in the southeast of France, and was buried in thePère Lachaise Cemetery. The nameGOUVION ST CYR is engraved on theArc de Triomphe in Paris.
Gouvion Saint-Cyr married Anne Gouvion (Toul, 2 November 1775 – Paris, 18 June 1844), his first cousin, on 26 February 1795.[3] Their only child,Laurent-François de Gouvion-Saint-Cyr [fr] (30 December 1815 – 30 January 1904), married Marie Adélaïde Bachasson de Montalivet (5 November 1828 – 14 April 1880), daughter ofMarthe Camille Bachasson, Count of Montalivet, inSaint-Bouize on 17 August 1847, and had issue.[3]
Marshal Saint-Cyr is mentioned inJoseph Conrad's short story "The Duel" (as well as Ridley Scott's film adaptationThe Duellists) as the commander of Armand d'Hubert after the second and final restoration ofLouis XVIII as King of France. He is also mentioned inStendhal'sThe Red and the Black.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Laurent, Marquis de".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 12 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 292.In turn, it cites as reference Léonard Honoré Gay de Vernon'sVie de Gouvion Saint-Cyr (1857){{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister of War 7 July 1815 – 26 September 1815 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister of War 12 September 1817 – 19 November 1819 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Ministers of Marine and Colonies 23 June 1817 – 12 September 1817 | Succeeded by |
Marshals of theFirst French Empire | |||
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Ministry of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (9 July 1815 to 26 September 1815) | ||
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| President of the council and Foreign Affairs | .JPG) Talleyrand-Périgord | |
| Justice | ||
| Interior | ||
| War | ||
| Finance | ||
| Navy and Colonies | ||
| Police | Joseph Fouché (until 19 september 1815) | |
| King's household | ||
First ministry of Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis de Richelieu (26 September 1815 to 29 December 1818) | ||
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Head of state: KingLouis XVIII | ||
| President of the council and Foreign Affairs |  Richelieu | |
| Interior | ||
| Justice | ||
| War | ||
| Finance | ||
| Navy and Colonies | ||
| Police | ||
Ministry of Jean-Joseph Dessolles (29 December 1818 to 19 November 1819) | ||
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Head of State: KingLouis XVIII | ||
| President of the council and Foreign Affairs |  Dessolles | |
| Interior | ||
| Justice | ||
| War | ||
| Finance | ||
| Navy and Colonies | ||
