Napoleon's Marshals - the Bravest of the Brave Quiz

Answer: Michel Ney

Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen and Prince of Moskova, joined the French army just before the Revolution and soon worked his way up the ranks. He first saw real action at Valmy in 1792, and by 1799 he was divisional general with the Army of the Rhine. After victories at Jena, Eylau, and Friedland, he and Masséna were defeated in 1810 by Wellington at Bussaco.

He commanded III Corps during the invasion of Russia in 1812, but suffered horrendous losses, especially while commanding the rearguard during the retreat from Moscow. He fought during the 1813 and 1814 campaigns, but when the military situation became untenable he led the Marshals' revolt against Napoleon in April 1814. After Napoleon's abdication Ney was made a Peer of France by King Louis XVIII.

When Napoleon returned to France in March 1815, Ney led 6,000 men to stop him, promising to bring him back in an iron cage. However, when he met Napoleon at Lons-le-Saulnier, he switched sides. The monarchy realised that it had lost control of the army and the King abandoned Paris just two days later.

Launching the Hundred Days campaign, on 15 June, Napoleon appointed Ney as commander of the left wing of his army for the advance on Brussels. The next day Ney attacked Wellington at Quatre Bras, but was slow in deploying his force. Furthermore, due to his giving conflicting orders to d'Erlon, the latter's Corps spent the day marching to and fro between Quatre Bras and Ligny without participating in either action. The following day he was slower still in pursuing Wellington's army as they retreated towards Waterloo.

Still in command of the left flank of the army, at Waterloo Ney ordered a mass cavalry charge at Wellington's right wing which was a total failure. Despite having five horses killed under him, he continued to demonstrate his own personal bravery, leading on foot the doomed last attack of the Imperial Guard. Later, Napoleon blamed Ney for his defeat.

Ney was arrested in August 1815, tried for treason, and found guilty. Condemned to death by firing squad, he was executed in December. He refused to wear a blindfold and was permitted to give the order to fire.

Ney was the only Marshal to defeat Wellington in combat, at Pombal and Redinha in March 1811.

Answer: Emmanuel de Grouchy

Emmanuel de Grouchy, Marquis de Grouchy, was the last Marshal appointed by Napoleon. Despite his aristocratic background, this career soldier was a firm supporter of the Revolution. He rose to the rank of General while commanding an army in the Vendee in 1794, but then he was expelled from the army because of his noble birth; however, he remained a basic soldier in the National Guard until he was reinstated in his rank the following year.

He took part in the abortive invasion of Ireland in 1797, and then was taken prisoner at the Battle of Novi in Italy in 1799 and held for a year. As a cavalry commander, Grouchy took part in the Ulm Campaign in 1805, and then fought with distinction at Eylau and Friedland in 1807. The following year he commanded the cavalry during the invasion of Spain, and was appointed governor of Madrid.

During the 1812 campaign he commanded III Cavalry Corps at Smolensk and Borodino. During the retreat from Moscow he commanded the Sacred Squadron, a unit of picked officers responsible for the emperor's personal protection. However, because of his long-term service with the cavalry, in 1813 Napoleon decided not to put him in command of an army corps. Grouchy took umbrage at this so he went home and took no part in the Leipzig campaign. However, after the invasion of France in 1814, he returned to active service, commanding cavalry in many of that year's engagements.

In the Hundred Days campaign Grouchy commanded the reserve cavalry, but after the Prussians were defeated at Ligny, Napoleon put him in command of the right wing of his army with orders to pursue the Prussians. On 18 June, despite hearing the cannon sound from Waterloo, he decided to follow the Prussians northwards towards Wavre along the route specified in Napoleon's orders; he was unaware that the main Prussian force were heading westwards to join forces with Wellington. Grouchy won a tactical victory over the Prussian rearguard at Wavre on 18-19 June, but the time this took to accomplish allowed the main Prussian force to join Wellington at Waterloo while at the same time preventing him joining Napoleon.

At the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars he was temporarily exiled and deprived of his Marshal status. Returning to France in 1820 he remained a political outcast and his Marshal's baton was never restored. Furthermore, his name is not included as one of the 19 sections of the Boulevards des Maréchaux bearing Marshals' names that encircle Paris, as he is still regarded as responsible for the defeat at Waterloo.

"March to the sound of the guns" is of course Napoleon's famous dictum, a Standing Order to his Marshals and to indecisive commanders. It has been suggested that if Grouchy had done this - as advised to do so by General Etienne-Maurice Gerard, commander of IV Corps - then Waterloo might have had a different outcome. However, this would have meant him exposing his right flank to the enemy, and as he was a long march from Waterloo, it would have been impossible for him to get there before the end of that fight.

Answer: He'd fallen out of a window and been killed

Louis-Alexandre Berthier (1753-1815), Prince of Wagram, Sovereign Prince of Neuchâtel and Valangin, served Napoleon loyally for many years in all his campaigns apart from the Hundred Days. As Chief of Staff, his job was to translate the Emperor's often abstract or disjointed strategic plans into tactical and logistical orders that could be read and understood by all their intended readers, and Berthier was supremely good at this. Furthermore, when needed he was a good field commander; for example, he played a vital role in the victory at Marengo in 1800.

He was by Napoleon's side as the latter stepped up from First Consul to Emperor, and for a time he served as War Minister. He participated in all future campaigns, but things started to fall apart at the epic Battle of Leipzig in 1813, when Berthier's failure to act without a direct order from the Emperor led to a costly retreat.

He refused to abandon the Emperor in 1814 until the end, but thereafter it seemed as though he'd had a damascene conversion; he saw Napoleon as the greatest danger to peace in Europe. Upon the Emperor's return in 1815 he retreated to his estate at Bamburg. On 1 June he was found dead, having fallen from a third-floor window in the Bishop's Residence. It should be noted, however, that the sill of this window was 4 feet high, so perhaps the question of "did he fall or was he pushed" should be posed.

Despite owing much of his success to Berthier, Napoleon spent his years in exile on St Helena berating him and savaging his memory.

Answer: Naples

Joachim Murat, King of Naples, was born in Gascony in 1767. Twenty years later, after training for the priesthood, he joined the regular army. He came to prominence in the events of 13 Vendémiaire in 1795, when acting upon Napoleon's orders he seized some large cannons to be used against the royalist insurrection in Paris.

Rising in the ranks of the cavalry, he took part in, inter alia, the battles of the Pyramids, Ulm, Austerlitz, Jena and Eylau; during the latter he led a cavalry charge of about 11,000 men. However after the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 he abandoned Napoleon to concentrate on defending his own Kingdom of Naples. In 1815 he attacked the Austrian Empire but was defeated, eventually captured and executed for treason.

Murat owed his elevation to both Marshal and King to the fact that he'd married Napoleon's sister Caroline: the Emperor actually disliked him and didn't trust him, saying that if left alone he was "an imbecile without judgment". While being a brilliant cavalry commander, he had no idea how to use the other branches of the army and had no knowledge of strategy. His great fault was his vanity, demonstrated by the fact that he loved designing uniforms, the more flamboyant the better!

Answer: André Masséna

André Masséna, Prince of Essling and Duke of Rivoli, received no formal education but rose rapidly after joining the ranks in 1775 at the age of 17. He was created a Marshal in 1804 in recognition of his outstanding success in Italy, for example at Rivoli in 1797; his successes in that theatre of conflict led Napoleon to refer to him as "the spoilt child of victories. He also played notable roles in the victories at Aspern-Essling and Wagram in 1809.

However in the attempted invasion of Portugal in 1810 he came up against Wellington, who soundly defeated him at Bussaco. Continuing his advance, he came up against the Lines of Torres Vedras where his army starved and disintegrated. Finally, after another defeat at the hands of Wellington at Fuentes de Oñoro in 1811, he was recalled. He played very little part in the remainder of the Napoleonic Wars.

Despite this last failure, he is held to be one the best generals of the Revolution and the Empire, with undeniable talents as a strategist and tactician.

Answer: Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte

Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Prince of Pontecorvo and later King Charles XIV John of Sweden and Norway, was an extremely able commander, appointed as a Marshal in 1804. He was also one of the more politically active, achieving many of his promotions through persuasion and politicking.

Serving firstly with the Army of the Sambre and Meuse, in 1796 he was transferred to Italy to serve under Napoleon. Napoleon disliked him at first sight, and Bernadotte eventually took his bat home, asking for transfers to various other offices. A polically-driven decision to marry an "ex" of Napoleon's, Desire Clary, gained him the support of the royal family and of a spouse who also hated Napoleon. He spent the first years of the Consulate conspiring to overthrow Napoleon, who only made him a Marshal to please his brother Joseph Bonaparte and to win over the staunch Jacobins.

Amidst all the political fighting, he saw real combat at Austerlitz. He proved himself to be quick witted and alert on the battlefield, but hesitant and slow strategically. Matters came to a head when at Wagram in 1809 he openly criticised the Emperor, only to have his own Corps broken and destroyed the next day. Napoleon immediately sacked him.

His career, however, was saved when the Swedes came to Paris to offer him the position of Crown Prince of Sweden. Napoleon made out that he approved of this, but his backstage attempts to prevent the move misfired. The breakup was sealed when Bernadotte refused to promise that he would never take up arms against the Emperor.

Bernadotte spent the remainder of his life very happily in Sweden and achieved many notable successes, for example negotiating the take-over of Norway. His army did eventually come into contact with Napoleon's at Leipzig, but took little part in the action. He reigned as King from 1818 to 1844, but was regarded as a traitor in France.

It's said that he was responsible for the first bloodshed of the French Revolution when, while in charge of a section of Marines at Grenoble in 1788, he ordered his men to open fire on a group of rioters. It's also said that, because of his own personal bravery as well as his ability to inspire his men to prodigious feats of valor, he was used by Dumas as the model for the character of D'Artagnan in "The Three Musketeers". However, as he is regarded as a traitor he shares with Grouchy the distinction of his name not being included as one of the 19 sections of the Boulevards des Maréchaux that encircle Paris bearing Marshals' names.

Answer: Guillaume Brune

Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, Count Brume, studied law as a young man, but was more interested in writing poetry. Prior to the Revolution he became friendly with Mirabeau, Desmoulins and Danton, and started a newspaper. However he disliked the violence that was occurring in the Revolution's name and so joined the army. He rapidly rose in the ranks, and was commander of Paris when on 5 October 1794 Napoleon crushed a royalist insurrection in Paris with "a whiff of grapeshot".

After fighting under Massena in Italy in 1797, in 1798 he commanded the army that annexed Switzerland to France, enriching himself with some of the plunder of that operation. After more service in Italy, he was sent to oppose the English expedition in the Netherlands; his performance there was poor and lacking initiative. When sent to command the army in Italy in 1800 he failed again, being hesitant and slow. He was thus taken out of the serving army, sent for a period as ambassador to Turkey and then as a drill master for two years. When he was eventually reappointed to command he soon angered Napoleon, who deprived him of his command for the next five years.

At the start of the Hundred Days he supported the Emperor and captured Toulon, but after Waterloo he surrendered the city. On his way back to Paris he was targeted by a Royalist mob in Avignon. For many years there had been a rumour circulating that he had taken part in the September Massacres in Paris in 1792, and that he had impaled the head of the Princesse de Lamballe upon a pike and paraded it around Paris. This was totally untrue but widely believed, so the mob tracked him down and killed him. The rapidly-convened inquest opined that he'd been shot with a musket in the back and that this was suicide. His body was hastily buried, but the mob exhumed it, dragged it to the river Rhone by the feet and threw it in.

Answer: Jean-de-Dieu Soult

Jean-de-Dieu Soult, Duke of Dalmatia, joined the army at the age of 16 and rapidly rose in the ranks: his intelligence, physique and resistance to hardship impressed all his fellow-soldiers. He fought with great distinction at Fleurus in 1794 and was promoted to general. Further victories followed, and when Napoleon became First Consul he was made a Marshal.

More campaigning followed, on the Rhine and the Danube and in Switzerland and Italy, and he was eventually given the command of the army that was being put together at Boulogne in preparation for the invasion of England. Showing great attention to detail he formed a crack unit from these men, who in turn had absolute confidence in him. This was demonstrated at Austerlitz when given command of Napoleon's centre he held off from attacking the Allies' left flank until it was hopelessly compromised by its attacks on Davout. When the time came his attack punched through the Allied line; their right and centre were routed and driven from the field while their left was surrounded and annihilated.

Sadly for Soult, after rescuing Napoleon at Jena after Ney's rash advance he incurred the enmity of both Ney and Berthier, the Emperor's chief of staff. In 1808 he was sent to command the French forces in Spain, and in 1809 defeated Sir John Moore at Corunna. He then invaded Portugal, but got stuck there until driven out of the city after being caught napping by Wellington. The next three years saw a number of fierce to-and-fro actions, but in 1812 Soult was recalled to France after he had failed to attack Wellington despite having a superiority in numbers. He was sent back after the massive defeat at Vitoria, and fought Wellington at the Battle of the Pyrenees (Sorauren), Nivelle, Nive, Orthez, and Toulouse.

Declaring himself a Royalist after Napoleon's first abdication, when Napoleon returned he at once converted to being a Bonapartist. He became chief of staff to the Emperor during the Waterloo campaign, in which role he failed badly as he lacked Berthier's administrative skills. The worst example of this was his written order to Grouchy, derived from Napoleon's instructions, to position his force on the Allied army's left flank in order to prevent reinforcement by the Prussians; the wording of this order has been described as "almost impenetrable nonsense". Grouchy misinterpreted it, instead marching against the Prussian rearguard at Wavre.

After the end of these wars Soult became a Royalist again, becaming Minister of War from 1830 to 1834. During this period he created the French Foreign Legion. Furthermore, he was at the same time the President of the Council of Ministers (or Prime Minister) for the first time in 1832-1834 and again from 1839 to 1840 and from 1840 to 1847. Representing France at the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838, he received a huge welcome in London. It's said that the Duke of Wellington caught him by the arm and exclaimed "I have you at last!". Wellington served two spells as Prime Minister compared to Soult's three times.

After the French Revolution of 1848, Soult declared himself a republican!

Answer: Louis-Nicolas Davout

Louis-Nicolas Davout, Prince of Eckmühl, Duke of Auerstaedt, was a committed revolutionary who joined the army in 1788. By 1800 he had reached the rank of general having served in Italy, the Rhine and Egypt.

At Austerlitz in 1805 his III Corps on Napoleon's right wing bore the brunt of the Allied attacks until the latter's centre was so weak that Soult's attack punched through it, fatally splitting their forces. Davout achieved his greatest victory at Auerstädt in 1806. While Napoleon was fighting a separate, smaller Prussian force at Jena, Davout and his 27,000 men faced and decisively defeated the main Prussian army of over 60,000 men, earning himself the nickname of "Iron Marshal". He added to his reputation at the battles of Eylau, Friedland and Wagram, where he commanded the right wing. However, having suffered in Russia his conduct at the Siege of Hamburg (1813 to 1814) showed a different side of his personality as thousands of the city's inhabitants perished through cold and starvation.

He rejoined Napoleon for the Hundred Days and was appointed Minister of War, but he was ordered to stay in Paris. After Waterloo he prepared for a siege of the city, but the provisional government ordered him to negotiate with the enemy and to tell Napoleon to leave the capital.

Davout is ranked by many - including by Napoleon himself - as his finest commander. His record on the battlefields of Europe, Africa and Asia speaks for itself.

Answer: Three

Of the 26 Marshals appointed by Napoleon, three died directly in action or from wounds sustained in battle. They were:

Jean Lannes, who was fatally wounded by a cannonball at the Battle of Aspern-Essling on 22 May 1809 and died a week later. He was a close friend of Napoleon's, who later said of Lannes' death that "I have lost the most distinguished general in my army, my companion in arms for 16 years, and my best friend."

Józef Antoni Poniatowski, a Polish officer who was a firm supporter of Napoleon and had participated in the Invasion of Russia. Three days after being awarded his Marshals' baton he was in the rearguard at the Battle of Leipzig on 19 October 1813 and was drowned. He was the first and only Marshal of Napoleon who was not French.

Jean-Baptiste Bessières, who was shot in the chest and died instantly at the start of the Battle of Lutzen on 1 May 1813.

Four other Marshals died violently: Ney and Murat were executed, Brune was killed by a mob and Adolphe Mortier was killed in Paris in 1835 by a bomb aimed at King Louis-Philippe. It's up to the reader as to whether or not Berthier should be included in this list!