Marshal Monday: 13 Vendémiaire – the Making of Marshal Murat

Today is the anniversary of 13 Vendémiaire. It has been called the day that ‘made’ Napoleon but it is also the day that set Joachim Murat on the path that would see him fight his way across the breadth of Europe, become the finest cavalryman of the age, wear the crown of Naples and end his days before a firing squad.

Marshal Monday: The Marshals’ Wives Part 5

As Women’s History Month draws to a close, so does my series on the wives of Napoleon’s Marshals. This week’s entry covers many of the lesser-known marshals’ wives and so, being limited to only publicly available information online, means that some sections of this post are sadly lacking in detail.

Marshal Monday: The Marshals’ Wives Part 4

This week’s blog looks at some of the ‘big names’ amongst the Marshals’ wives. The most infamous of them all of course is Caroline Bonaparte, Napoleon’s sister, but also here is a woman who tried everything to save her husband from execution and a woman who joined her husband on that deadly retreat from Russia.

Marshal Monday: The Marshals’ Wives Part 2

This is the second part of my series looking at the wives of Napoleon’s marshals. This week I am looking at Mesdames Davout, Gouvion St-Cyr, Grouchy, Jourdan and Kellermann. There is a real disparity in the length of the profiles this time around; while there is plenty of information on the life of Aimée Davout and I was able to find some first hand information on conversations with Anne Gouvion St-Cyr, there was a sad dearth of information on the other three women beyond their marriage and death dates. Unfortunately a good few of the marshals did not preserve any personal correspondence or domestic papers at all.

Once again I am struck by the enormous hardships some of these women faced. While being married to a marshal brought great status at Napoleon’s fledgling court, and usually substantial wealth, most of the wives were frequently left alone while their husbands fought endless campaigns across the length and breadth of Europe. A title was of small comfort when enduring bereavement, ill health or – worst of all – the loss of a child alone.

Marshal Monday: the Darker Side of the Dukedoms and Decorations.

With the obvious exception of the Bonaparte siblings, few people gained as much during Napoleon’s time in power than the 26 men he appointed to the title of Marshal of the Empire. Two became kings, six became princes and sixteen of them were awarded dukedoms. Handsome titles were generally accompanied by even more handsome endowments of money (Berthier, probably deservedly, did best here and was awarded almost 1.3 million Francs).

Marshal Monday: Napoleon and his Marshals by A.G. MacDonell

The lives of the twenty six Marshals of the Empire under Napoleon have become a real passion of mine following last year’s Marshal Monday series, so I’ve been buying up books on the subject left right and centre now that I’m getting the chance to do a little more reading again. One of these was A.G MacDonell’s Napoleon and his Marshals, which I downloaded on Kindle for about 99p before my baby arrived but have only got round to now.

Marshal Monday: Suchet and Victor

Here we are, the last of the Marshal Mondays!

Thank you very much to everyone who has engaged with this series since I started it in the summer. Whether you’ve interacted on Twitter, Instagram or here on the blog, I’m grateful that you’ve indulged my Napoleonic geekery. It has been so interesting to go through the lives of these 26 men – some of whom would never have risen above warrant officer under the Bourbons – and the part they had to play in an era that changed Europe for ever.

This week, we’re down to the final two and I’m looking at the only one of Napoleon’s marshals to win his baton in Spain, and the one who Napoleon described as “better than one might suppose”: Suchet and Victor.

Marshal Monday: Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier & Jean-de-Dieu Soult

Twenty four marshals down and now only two to go!

I’m maybe chancing my luck leaving Suchet and Victor for next week, but this was going to wind up a ridiculously long post if I’d tried to fit all of the last four marshals in! This week, I’m looking at one of Napoleon’s honorary appointments to the marshalate, along with the man who had one of the most successful careers post-Waterloo.

Marshal Monday: Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen

Another one of the real giants of the Napoleonic Wars today for #MarshalMonday. This week it’s the marshal who Napoleon called ‘the bravest of the brave’ and who would pay the ultimate price for returning to the Emperor’s side during the Waterloo campaign: Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen and Prince of Moscow.

Marshal Monday: Joachim Murat

Today’s #MarshalMonday reaches the last of the Ms and brings us to the Marshal of whom Savary said: “better if he was endowed with less courage and with rather more sense’. It’s the most vainglorious of the lot, the ‘dandy king’: Joaquim Murat.