Auguste de Marmont

Marshal of the Empire Auguste de Marmont Duke ofRagusa
Portrait byAndrea Appiani,1798
Born	(1774-07-20)20 July 1774 Châtillon-sur-Seine,France
Died	22 March 1852(1852-03-22)(aged 77) Venice,Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia
Allegiance	French First Republic First French Empire Bourbon Restoration
Service/branch	Army
Rank	Marshal of the Empire
Battles/wars	French Revolutionary Wars,Napoleonic Wars
Awards	Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour

Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont(French pronunciation:[oɡystfʁedeʁiklwivjɛsdəmaʁmɔ̃];20 July 1774 – 22 March 1852) was a French general and nobleman who rose to the rank ofMarshal of the Empireand was awarded the titleDuke of Ragusa(French:duc de Raguse). In thePeninsular WarMarmont succeeded the disgracedAndré Massénain the command of the French army in northern Spain, but lost decisively at theBattle of Salamancaas France ultimately lost the war in Spain.

At the close of theWar of the Sixth Coalition,Marmont went over to theRestorationand remained loyal to the Bourbons through theHundred Days.This gave Marmont a reputation as a traitor among the remainingBonapartists,and in French society more broadly. He led the royalist Paris garrison during theJuly Revolutionin 1830, but his efforts proved incapable of quelling the revolution, leading KingCharles Xto accuse Marmont of betraying the Bourbons as he had betrayed the Bonapartes.

Marmont departed France with Charles's entourage and never returned to France. Spending his exile mostly inViennaand other lands of theAustrian Empire,he died inVenicein 1852.

Early life and career

Marmont as Marshal of the Empire, byJean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin(1837)

Marmont was born atChâtillon-sur-Seine,the son of an ex-officer in the army who belonged to thepetite noblesseand adopted the principles of theRevolution.His love of soldiering soon showed itself, and his father took him toDijonto learn mathematics before entering the artillery. There, he made the acquaintance ofNapoleon Bonaparte,which he renewed after obtaining his commission when he served inToulon.

The acquaintance ripened into intimacy; Marmont became General Bonaparte'saide-de-camp,remained with him during his disgrace and accompanied him to Italy and Egypt, winning distinction and promotion to general of brigade. In 1799, he returned to Europe with his chief. He was present at thecoup d'étatof the18th Brumaireand organized the artillery for the expedition to Italy, which he commanded with great effect atMarengo.For this, he was at once made general of division. In 1801, he became inspector-general of artillery, and in 1804, grand officer of theLegion of Honour.However, he was greatly disappointed at being omitted from the list of officers who were made marshals.

Napoleonic Wars

Equestrian portrait of Marmont

Heraldic achievement of Auguste-Frédéric-Louis Viesse de Marmont, Duke of Ragusa

In 1805, he received the command of a corps, with which he did good service atUlm.He was then directed to take possession ofDalmatiawith his army and occupied theRepublic of Ragusa.For the next five years, he was military and civil governor ofDalmatia,and traces of his beneficent régime still survive both in great public works and in the memories of the people. In 1808, he was made Duke of Ragusa.

In theWar of the Fifth Coalition,he defeated an Austrian holding force in theDalmatian Campaign of May 1809and captured the opposing commander. Breaking out of Dalmatia, he reachedLjubljana (Laibach)in early June. After he defeatedIgnaz Gyulai's corps in theBattle of Graz,Napoleon summoned the XI Corps to Vienna.Marmont arrived in time to fight in theBattle of Wagramon 5 and 6 July.In the subsequent pursuit ofArchduke Charles,Marmont's corps was in a compromising position and was rescued only by the arrival of Napoleon with heavy reinforcements.Napoleon made him aMarshal of the Empire,though he said, "Between ourselves, you have not done enough to justify entirely my choice." Of the three marshals created after Wagram, the French soldiers said,

MacDonaldis France's choice
Oudinotis the army's choice
Marmont is friendship's choice.

Marmont was appointed governor-general of all theIllyrian provincesof the empire. This region included the Venetian protectorate Croatian port city state ofRagusa.In May 1811, Marmont was hastily summoned to succeedMassénain the command of the French army in northern Spain. Despite the presence of the British army, hisrelief of Ciudad Rodrigowas a great feat. The manoeuvering which preceded theBattle of Salamancawas not successful, however, asWellingtonordered his cavalry to charge Marmont's unsuspecting left flank in the battle and inflicted a great defeat on the French. Marmont and his deputy commander ComteJean-Pierre François Bonetwere both struck by shrapnel very early in the battle. Marmont was gravely wounded in the right arm and side, and command of the battle passed toBertrand Clauzel.He retired to France to recover.

In April 1813, Napoleon again gave Marmont the command of a corps, which he led at the battles ofLützen,BautzenandDresden.He then fought throughout the great defensive campaign of 1814 until the lastbattle before Paris.Marmont's forces fought a fighting retreat back to the commanding position of Essonne, inflicting high casualties on the enemy.

Marmont then took upon himself a political role, seeking to halt what he now saw as a pointless prolonging of a war that France would now assuredly lose. Marmont contacted the Allies and reached a secret agreement with them. As the Allies closed on Montmartre, Marmont—together with marshalsMortierandMoncey—marched to a position where they were quickly surrounded by Allied troops and then surrendered their forces.

Bourbon service

Viaggio in Sicilia,1840

Marmont stayed loyal to the restoredBourbonkingLouis XVIIIduring theHundred Days,and followingWaterloo,voted in favour of the execution ofMarshal Ney.

He was made aPeer of Franceand a major-general of the royal guard, and in 1820, a knight of theOrder of the Holy Spiritand a grand officer of theOrder of St Louis.He was the major-general of the guard on duty in July 1830 during theJuly Revolutionand was ordered to put down with a strong hand any opposition to theJuly Ordinances.Himself opposed to the court policy, he nevertheless tried to do his duty and only gave up the attempt to suppress the revolution when it became clear that his troops were outmatched. This brought more obloquy upon him, andCharles Xeven ordered him arrested, saying:

Will you betray us, as you betrayed him?

Marmont accompanied the king into exile and forfeited his marshalate. His desire to return to France was never gratified and he wandered in central and eastern Europe, settling finally in Vienna, where he was well received by the Austrian government. Strangely, he was made tutor to theDuke of Reichstadt,the young man who had once for a few weeks been styledNapoleon II.Despite his long friendship with Napoleon, by this time the verb "raguser" —derived from his title, the Duke of Ragusa—was a household word in France that meant "to betray". Thirty years later, as an old man living in Venice, little children in the street would point and say, "There goes the man who betrayed Napoleon." He died in Venice in March 1852, the last living Napoleonic marshal.

Works

In his last years, Marmont spent much of his time working on hisMémoires,which are of great value to the military history of the time.

His works are:

• Voyage en Hongrie,etc. (4 vols., 1837)
• Voyage en Sicile(1838); trans. it., Milan, 1840
• Esprit des institutions militaires(1845)
• Cesar;Xenophon;andMémoires(8 vols., published after his death in 1856)

Family

Portrait of Anne-Marie-Hortense Perregaux, Duchess of Ragusa, 1818

In 1798, Marmont married Anne-Marie-Hortense Perregaux, the daughter of Jean-Frédéric Perregaux, a Swiss (and Protestant) banker, later a founder and regent of the Banque de France, and Adélaïde de Praël de Surville, herself the natural daughter of the banker to the court of Louis XV,Nicolas Beaujon.They had no children and were divorced in 1817. She outlived him by five years, dying in Paris in 1857.

Evaluation

Marmont is perhaps one of the most controversial marshals created under the Empire. His reputation, like many French generals in Spain, was tarnished by his defeats in thePeninsular War.However, on the whole, Marmont's military career was quite impressive. He was perhaps the most educated of the marshals and one of the few to write a thesis on the art of war. He was a talented strategist, understanding the art of command and the movement of troops. He performed wonderfully inDalmatiamaking what John Elting calls "a remarkable 300-mile march through frequently roadless country, scattering twoAustrianforces, but clinging to his independent status... "Perhaps even more impressive is his study and evaluation of the Spanish theater of the war. He studied Wellington's nature of war, refusing to give battle against theBritishunless the ground was of Marmont's choosing.This led to a series of manoeuvres where Marmont frequently had the upper hand. Marmont understood the importance of cooperation in the Peninsula by supporting his fellow marshals. Tactically Marmont was deadly and quick to strike, but prone to sloppiness which caused him his two defeats.

Sources

• Arnold, James R.Napoleon Conquers Austria.Westport, Conn.: Praeger Publishers, 1995.ISBN0-275-94694-0
• Chandler, DavidThe Campaigns of Napoleon.Macmillan, New York, 1966.
• Hamilton-Williams, DavidThe Fall of Napoleon.John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1994.ISBN0-471-11862-1

External links

• Works by Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de MarmontatProject Gutenberg
• Works by or about Auguste de MarmontatInternet Archive