Louis-Nicolas Davout Prince ofEckmühl,Duke of Auerstedt | |
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| Minister of War of the Hundred Days Empire | |
| In office 20 March 1815 – 9 July 1815 | |
| Monarchs | Napoleon I Napoleon II |
| Preceded by | Henri Jacques Guillaume Clarke |
| Succeeded by | Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr |
| Governor-general of theDuchy of Warsaw | |
| In office 15 July 1807 – 1809 | |
| Mayor ofSavigny-sur-Orge | |
| In office 8 October 1822 – 1 June 1823 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1770-05-10)10 May 1770 |
| Died | 1 June 1823(1823-06-01) (aged 53) |
| Resting place | Père Lachaise Cemetery |
| Children | 8 |
| Awards | Legion of Honour |
| Signature |  |
| Nickname | The Iron Marshal |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Kingdom of France Kingdom of France French First Republic First French Empire |
| Branch/service | Army |
| Years of service | 1788–1815 |
| Rank | Marshal of the Empire |
| Commands |
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| Battles/wars | |
Louis-Nicolas d'Avout (French:[lwinikɔladavu]; 10 May 1770 – 1 June 1823), better known asDavout,1st Prince of Eckmühl,1st Duke of Auerstaedt, was aFrenchmilitary commander andMarshal of the Empire who served during both theFrench Revolutionary Wars and theNapoleonic Wars. His talent for war, along with his reputation as a stern disciplinarian, earned him the nickname "The Iron Marshal" (Le Maréchal de fer). He is ranked along with MarshalsAndré Masséna,Louis-Gabriel Suchet, andJean Lannes as one ofNapoleon's finest commanders, and also stands among the most outstanding military commanders of themodern era.[1][2][3] His loyalty and obedience to Napoleon were absolute. During his lifetime, Davout's name was commonly spelledDavoust - this spelling appears on theArc de Triomphe and in much of the correspondence between Napoleon and his generals.
Davout was born in the small village ofAnnoux,Yonne, as the eldest son of Jean-François d'Avout (1739–1779), a cavalry officer and his wife (married in 1768) Françoise-Adélaïde Minard de Velars (1741–1810).[4]: 4 Although a member of an impoverished minorFrench noble family, he was still educated in the nearbyBrienne-le-Chateau, which had amilitary academy also attended by Napoleon, before also transferring to theÉcole Militaire inParis on 29 September 1785.[5] He graduated on 19 February 1788 and was appointed asous-lieutenant in the Royal-ChampagneCavalry Regiment[5] ingarrison atHesdin (Pas-de-Calais).[6]: 94
On the outbreak of theFrench Revolution, Davout embraced its principles. He waschef de bataillon in a volunteer corps in the campaign of 1792, and distinguished himself at theBattle of Neerwinden the following spring. He had just been promoted to general of brigade when he was removed from the active list because of his noble birth. After he divorced his wife in 1794 he served in theRhine campaign of 1796, and accompanied GeneralLouis Desaix in theEgyptian expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte.[7]
On his return, he did not take part in theBattle of Marengo, where his friend Desaix was killed while making a decisive contribution to the victory.[4]: 65 Napoleon, who had great confidence in his abilities, finally promoted him to general of division and arranged his marriage to his sister Pauline's sister-in-law Aimée Leclerc, thus making him part of Napoleon's extended family, and gave him a command in the grenadiers of theConsular Guard.
At the ascension of Napoleon as emperor in 1804, Davout was named as one of the original 18Marshals of the Empire. Davout was the youngest and least experienced of the generals promoted to marshal, which earned him the hostility of other generals throughout his career. On 18 June 1805 he was present at theBattle of Blanc-Nez and Gris-Nez after joining a Batavianflotilla, headed for Boulogne, as an observer.
As commander of theIII Corps of theGrande Armée, Davout rendered his greatest services. At theBattle of Austerlitz, following a forced march of 48 hours to fall on the left flank of theRussian army, the III Corps bore the brunt of theallies' attack. In the subsequentWar of the Fourth Coalition, Davout, with a single corps, with the intention to fall on thePrussian left wing, fought and won theBattle of Auerstädt against the main Prussian Army,[7] under theDuke of Brunswick, which had more than twice as many soldiers at its disposal (more than 63,000, to Davout's 28,000). His actions in this battle earned him the nickname 'Iron Marshal'. Napoleon after hearing reports about the alleged battle would mock Davout, telling his aide-de-camp “your Marshal must’ve been seeing double”, mocking Davout’s spectacle wearing. Historian François-Guy Hourtoulle writes:"At Jena, Napoleon won a battle he could not lose. At Auerstädt, Davout won a battle he could not win".[8] As a reward, Napoleon let Davout and his men enter Berlin first on 25 October 1806.
Davout added to his renown in the battles ofEylau andFriedland. Napoleon left him as governor-general of the newly createdDuchy of Warsaw following theTreaties of Tilsit in 1807, and the next year awarded him with the title ofDuke of Auerstädt. During theWar of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, Davout took part in theBattle of Eckmühl, and also distinguished himself in theBattle of Wagram, where he commanded the right wing. He was later made Prince ofEckmühl following the campaign. In 1810 Davout travelled toCompiègne with Napoleon to collect the 18-year-old brideMarie-Louise of Austria.
In 1810 he was sent to Hamburg whenJean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte left for Sweden;[9] Davout was entrusted by Napoleon with the task of organizing the "corps of observation of the Elbe", which would become the gigantic army with which Napoleoninvaded Russia in 1812. In this, he commanded theI Corps, the strongest corps, numbering over 70,000. On 1 July he leftVilnius. On the order of Napoleon Davout secretly took over the command ofJérôme Bonaparte,[10] occupiedMinsk but had lost a third of his men due to sickness and desertion. Davout went very far in humiliating the 33rd regiment, which was no exception.[11] He defeated the Russians atMohilev before he joined the main army atSmolensk, with which he continued throughout the campaign.[7] During the retreat from Moscow he conducted the rear guard, which was deemed too slow by the emperor, and was replaced by MarshalMichel Ney in theBattle of Vyazma. His inability to hold out againstMikhail Miloradovich in theBattle of Krasnoi, threatened his forces with destruction,[12] until the arrival of theOld Guard led byÉdouard Mortier. Davout managed to successfully cross the Losvinka brook, albeit at the cost of his rearguard's sacrifice. Davout's jammed carriages, fell into the hands of the Cossacks.[13] Among the booty captured by the Russians were Davout's war chest, a plethora of maps of the Middle East, Central Asia and India, and Davout'sMarshal baton.[14][15] The loss of his baton led him into disgrace and he would not meet with the emperor again until his return fromElba.
In April 1813, on his return from Russia with 4,000, the remains of 70,000 men,[16] Davout commanded the military district of Hamburg andDirk van Hogendorp left.[17] (The French had initially been driven out by the Russians in March 1813.) He defended the poorly fortified and provisioned city, through the longSiege of Hamburg, only surrendering on direct order by KingLouis XVIII, who had come to the throne after Napoleon's abdication in April 1814.[7] The French restored their authority with many reprisals among the population. During the siege, he expelled up to 25,000 of Hamburg's poorest citizens out of the city into the cold winter, many of whom perished of cold and starvation.[18] Between 1806 and 1814, when the French occupation came to an end by Davout's surrender, the population decreased by nearly one-half, to 55,000.[19]
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Davout's military character has been interpreted as cruel and he had to defend himself against many attacks upon his conduct at Hamburg. He was a stern disciplinarian, who exacted rigid and precise obedience from his troops, and consequently his corps was more trustworthy and exact in the performance of its duty than any other. For example, Davout forbade his troops from plundering enemy villages, a policy he would enforce by the use of the death penalty. Thus, in the early days of theGrande Armée, the III Corps tended to be entrusted with the most difficult work. He was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the ablest of Napoleon's marshals.
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Upon thefirst restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, he retired into private life, openly displaying his hostility to theBourbons, and when Napoleonreturned from Elba, Davout rejoined him.[7] Appointed Minister of War, he reorganized the French Army insofar as time permitted, and he was so indispensable to the war department that Napoleon kept him in Paris during theWaterloo campaign. To what degree his skill and bravery would have altered the fortunes of the campaign of 1815 can only be surmised, but Napoleon has been criticized for his failure to avail himself in the field of the services of the best general he then possessed.[7]
Davout directed the gallant, but hopeless, defense of Paris after theBattle of Waterloo.[7] He received the command of the army assembled under the walls of Paris, and would have fought, had he not received the order of the provisional government to negotiate with the enemy.[20] On 24 June 1815, Davout was sent byJoseph Fouché, the president of the provisional government, to the dethroned emperor at theÉlysée Palace with a request to quit Paris, where his continued presence could lead to trouble and public danger. Napoleon received him coldly but left Paris the next day and resided atChâteau de Malmaison until 29 June when he departed for Rochfort.[21][22] In later years, Napoleon said of Davout bitterly that"he betrayed me too. He has a wife and children; he thought that all was lost; he wanted to keep what he had got,"[23] while on another occasion he remarked that,"I thought that Davout loved me, but he loved only France."[24] Subsequently, Davout retired with the army beyond theLoire and made his submission to the restored Bourbon monarchy on 14 July, and within a few days gave up his command to MarshalÉtienne MacDonald.[20]
Upon the second restoration, Davout was deprived of his titles and was exiled toLouviers on 27 December 1815. When some of his subordinate generals were proscribed, he demanded to be held responsible for their acts, as executed under his orders, and he endeavoured to prevent the condemnation of Ney. After half a year, the hostility of the Bourbons towards Davout faded and he became reconciled to the monarchy. In 1817, his rank and titles were restored and in 1819, he became a member of theChamber of Peers.[7]
In 1822, Davout was elected mayor ofSavigny-sur-Orge, an office he held for a year. His son Louis-Napoléon was also mayor of the city from 1843 to 1846. A main square bears their name in the city, as does a boulevard in Paris.[25][26]
Davout died in Paris on 1 June 1823. His remains rest in thePère Lachaise Cemetery, where an elaborate tomb marks his grave.
Davout held the following honours and awards:[27]
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Davout was known as a methodical person in both military and personal affairs. Within the army and among his social peers, he was often considered cold and distant; while respected, he was not well-liked. During times of peace, he preferred to spend time with his family and care for his home, rather than cultivate his high social standing.[citation needed]
Because of his stubborn personality and limited social skills, he developed many enemies and antagonists within the army's officer corps, notablyJean-Baptiste Bernadotte,Joachim Murat (with whom he clashed strongly during the 1812 campaign),Louis-Alexandre Berthier andBaron Thiébault (who would harshly criticize Davout in his memoirs).[citation needed]
Perhaps his fiercest anger was directed towards Bernadotte, who he perceived to have failed to come to his aid at Auerstadt, though close enough to observe the smoke and hear the cannon fire.[citation needed] His anger was so intense that Davout requested to settle the matter with a personal duel, averted only by Napoléon's personal intervention. Bernadotte was eventually sent back to Paris in disgrace after being caught by Napoleon retreating without orders at the battle of Wagram.[citation needed] Bernadotte then caught the eye of the Swedish ambassador, looking for a well-connected French officer to take on the role of heir to the Swedish throne.[29] When Sweden threw in her lot against Napoleon in theWar of the Sixth Coalition, Davout personally asked to be placed opposite Bernadotte's contingent, in order to gain retribution for the latter's betrayal. But with Davout assigned to defend Hamburg (which he did, up to and beyond Napoleon's abdication), they never did face each other in battle.[29]
Of the other Marshals, Davout had the best relations withMichel Ney,Edouard Mortier,Nicolas Charles Oudinot andLaurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr. His best friend was possiblyCharles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière, one of his subordinates, who was killed in battle in 1812.[citation needed]. Also, he was friends withLouis Desaix, who was killed at theBattle of Marengo.
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Davout was also noted for his loyalty to his long-time second wife[30] LouiseAimée Julie Davout (née Leclerc, sister ofCharles Leclerc and sister-in-law ofPauline Bonaparte) (Pontoise, 19 June 1782 – Paris, 17 December 1868), whom he married in 1801 and who remained with him until his death. Their marriage was loving and the couple seem to have been faithful to each other despite very long periods of separation. They had eight children, four of whom died in childhood:
The title of duke went to the descendants of Louis-Nicolas' brother Charles Isidor (1774–1854) by his marriage in 1824 to Claire de Cheverry (1804–1895). He also had a sister Julie (1771–1846), married in 1801 toMarc-Antoine Bonnin de La Bonninière, 1st Count de Beaumont (1763–1830), and another brother, Alexandre-Louis-Edme, 1st Baron d'Avout (1773–1820), married in 1808 to Alire Parisot (1786–1856).[31]The youngest daughter, Adelaide-Louise, marquise de Blocqueville, left provision in her will for the name of her father to be given to a lighthouse. In 1897, thePhare d'Eckmühl was opened on the headland of Penmarc'h in Brittany.
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Davout, Louis Nicolas".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 7 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 870–871. Cites as sources:
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| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Minister of War 20 March 1815 – 7 July 1815 | Succeeded by |
| French nobility | ||
| Preceded by New creation | Duke of Auerstaedt 1808-1823 | Succeeded by |
Marshals of theFirst French Empire | |||
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French government of the Hundred Days (20 March 1815 to 22 June 1815) | ||
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Head of state:Napoleon | ||
| Foreign Affairs |  Napoleon | |
| Finance | ||
| Treasury | ||
| Interior | ||
| Police | ||
| Justice | ||
| Navy and Colonies | ||
| War | ||
| Secretary of State | ||
Preceded byGovernment of the first Bourbon restoration • Followed byFrench Provisional Government of 1815 | ||
French Provisional Government of 1815 (22 June 1815 to 7 July 1815) | ||
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| Members | ||
| Foreign Affairs | ||
| Interior | ||
| Police | ||
| Justice | ||
| Finance | ||
| Treasury | ||
| Navy and Colonies | ||
| War | ||
Preceded byFrench government of the Hundred Days • Followed byMinistry of Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord | ||
