Joachim Murat, born March 25, 1767 in Labastide-Fortunière, (today Labastide-Murat near Cahors in the Lot department) and died October 13, 1815 in Pizzo is a Marshal of the Empire and King of Naples from 1808 to 1815.
Under the Old Regime
Joachim Murat was born on March 25, 1767 in La Bastide-Fortunière, near Cahors. He is the last of the eleven children of an innkeeper, Pierre Murat Jordy, and his wife Jeanne Loubière.
First intended for the ecclesiastical state, we find him among the seminarians of Cahors then among the Lazarists of Toulouse. He was preparing for the priestly novitiate there and wore the little collar. His comrades at the Bastide called him Abbé Murat. The young Joachim loved pleasures, he made debts and fearing the wrath of his father, he enlisted on February 23, 1787 in the Chasseurs des Ardennes (future Champagne, then 12th), a cavalry unit which recruited daring men.
Educated, he quickly distinguished himself. However, he was dismissed for insubordination in 1789 and returned to his native region. He returned to his father for a while.
Career under the Revolution
Murat takes advantage of his return to Quercy to attend and participate in local club meetings. He was thus elected to represent the Lot department at the Fête de la Fédération on July 14, 1790 in Paris.
He rejoined the army in January 1791 and was appointed to the King's constitutional guard a year later, just like Bessières, but, a fervent supporter of new ideas, and in particular of Marat (whose name he took for some time), he resigned. after a few days, believing that the Guard is only a den of royalists. The report he sends to his department is used as evidence to justify the dismissal of the guard.
He therefore returned to his 12th Chasseurs regiment and, ambitious and talented, he became squadron leader of the 21e Chasseurs in the summer of 1793. Like Bonaparte, he was worried after the fall of Robespierre but, like Bonaparte, he distinguished himself during of the repression of the royalist insurrection of 13-Vendémiaire. The new general of the army of Italy makes him his aide-de-camp.
At the battle of Roveredo (September 4, 1796), he was charged by Bonaparte to pursue the enemy who, while fleeing, sought to rally; at the head of a squadron of chasseurs from the 10th regiment, each horseman carrying an infantryman behind him, he forded the Adige, and this unexpected attack threw the enemy's ranks into confusion. In the battle of Bassano, fought on the 22nd of the same month, he commanded a corps of cavalry whose brilliant charges against the squares of the Austro-Sardinian infantry contributed powerfully to the success of the day.
He showcases his riding skills at Dego and Mondovi and is made general. He is wounded in front of the siege of Mantua.
On March 13, 1797, he carried out the passage of the Tagliamento with his cavalry, a feat of arms which disconcerted all the plans of the Archduke Charles and which was to force Austria to sign the preliminaries of a peace treaty.
In Egypt, he displayed the greatest valor in the capture of Alexandria and the battle of the Pyramids. He is in charge of fighting against the looters in the new organization that Bonaparte gives to his conquest.
When Bonaparte laid siege to Saint-Jean-d'Acre, the inferiority of the French artillery decided the general-in-chief to attempt an assault on this place. Murat presented himself to be the first to attack; Bonaparte at first refused him this perilous honor; but Murat was so insistent that he had to be granted.
He plays a crucial role in the second battle of Aboukir where he captures the opposing army commander after having suffered a shot in the throat, which should have been fatal to him if he had not shouted and pushed aside his arms sufficiently. jaws.
He is made a general of division on the battlefield. This battle was the last fought by Bonaparte in Egypt; recalled to France by the serious events that were happening there; he brought back from Egypt only seven people, among whom was Murat.
The Consulate
He actively participated in the coup of 18 Brumaire by ordering the dissolution of the Council of Five Hundred. It was he who entered at the head of 60 grenadiers into the hall of the Five Hundred and pronounced the dissolution of this Council.
Commander of the consular guard after this day, it was then that he married Caroline Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon on January 18, 1800, with whom he had 4 children. He moved to the Tuileries and was therefore undoubtedly part of the close entourage of the new master of France.
Murat commands the cavalry of the reserve army commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte and he has, according to Louis-Alexandre Berthier, "his clothes riddled with bullets" at the Battle of Marengo, June 14, 1800.
After the campaign, he received a saber of honor and commanded a camp stationed in Beauvais and intended to defend Batavia and Belgium in the event of an English landing, then the observation corps of the South. He participated in this capacity in the continuation of the fighting in Italy in the winter of 1800-1801.
Murat thus signs the armistice which puts an end to the fighting between France and the Kingdom of Naples and orders his troops not to violate the Neapolitan people, an order which the Neapolitans will remember. On July 27, 1801, he was appointed general-in-chief of the troops stationed in the Cisalpine Republic.
He returned to France in August 1803 and was appointed in place of Junot, in disgrace, commander of the first military division of Paris, and governor of Paris, he led 60,000 men. Responsible for government security, he was in constant contact with Bonaparte. Charged, by his function, with appointing the military commission which must judge the Duke of Enghien (condemned in advance), he courageously opposes it.
The Empire
The Cadoudal-Pichegru conspiracy and the execution of the Duke of Enghien precipitated the transformation of the consular regime into a monarchical regime. On May 18, 1804, a senatus-consultum entrusted the “government of the Republic to an Emperor” in the person of Napoleon I. Murat is showered with honours:he is made Marshal of the Empire the next day. On February 1, 1805, he became Grand Admiral and Grand Eagle (Grand Cross) of the Legion of Honor on the 2nd and moved to the Élysée Palace in March. A member of the imperial family, he bears the title of Prince.
Murat once again commanded the cavalry and the vanguard of the Grande Armée in the fall of 1805.
He had dealt the first blows to Austria and obtained the first successes; after seizing the outlets of the Black Forest, he had broken through and dispersed a strong Austrian division, had taken its artillery, its colors and 4,000 prisoners. A few days later, he had forced General Werneck to capitulate, nothing resisted this formidable French cavalry
A new enemy appears; the Russians come into line. Murat reaches one of his divisions, takes five pieces of cannon and 500 men from it, pursues it, attacks it again on the heights of Amstetten and causes it to suffer a new loss of 1,800 men.
Murat enters Vienna at the head of his cavalry; he had almost surprised the Emperor of Austria in the abbey of Molk; he leaves Vienna to pursue the enemy, sabers the rearguard at Hollabrünn, but too generous, grants him an armistice which Napoleon strongly blames.
The capture of the Vienna bridges is a masterpiece of cunning:essential to the progress of the French troops, the Austrians trapped the bridges over the Danube. Murat, accompanied by Marshal Lannes, succeeded in persuading them that an armistice had been signed. The Austrians withdraw, leaving the French masters of the bridges.
To repair his fault, he takes from the Russians, at Guntersdorf, 1,800 men and 12 pieces of cannon.
He covered himself with glory at the battle of Austerlitz where he commanded the left wing of the French army. The Peace of Pressburg signed on December 27, 1805 reorganized Germany and Joachim Murat became Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves. He moved to Düsseldorf, the capital of his state.
However, war between Prussia and France broke out in the fall of 1806. The Prussian campaign tore it away from the care of its sovereignty. Murat regains his command at the head of the cavalry.
Murat, always in the vanguard, crosses the Saale, destroys two regiments which dispute his passage, fights like a lion at the battle of Jena and manages to capture the bulk of the enemy army, forces the important place d'Erfurth to capitulate, harassed with indefatigable ardor the remnants of the Prussian army, and took a whole brigade prisoner in the suburb of Prentzlaw.
A capitulation delivers to him 64 pieces of artillery, 45 flags, six regiments of cavalry, 1,600 men of infantry and the prince of Hohenlohe who commanded these troops. Attacked in Lubeck, Blücher goes to Murat with the troops and the material which he had believed to save by an unworthy subterfuge.
Meanwhile, one of Murat's divisions, commanded by General Lasalle, had capitulated a large garrison defending Stettin, one of the strongest places in Prussia
This campaign ends with his words:"Sire, the fight ceases for lack of fighters". The war continues, however, against the Russians who rush to the aid of the desperate Prussians.
The French march in front of them. Murat attacks them, drives them out of Warsaw where he enters on November 28, 1806. His entry into Warsaw is triumphant and Murat already sees himself as King of Poland.
At the Battle of Eylau, in 1807, it was again Murat who forced the enemy to retreat, after having pushed his infantry:a large part of the Russian artillery fell into the hands of the Grand Duke of Berg. He launched the largest cavalry charge in history by leading 10 to 12,000 cavalry on the Russian center to prevent it from cutting the French army in two.
He only stayed in Düsseldorf for a short time after the Peace of Tilsit which substantially enlarged his duchy, leaving management to his Minister of Finance Jean Agar, Count Mosbourg.
At the beginning of 1808, he was appointed Lieutenant-General of the Emperor and given command of the 50,000 men who made up the Army of Spain. Murat must occupy Madrid and await Napoleon's orders. He quickly realizes that the presence of the French in Spain is resented by the population.
She revolted in March and King Charles IV abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand. In Bayonne, Napoleon forces the father to reconsider his abdication. The indignant population of Madrid rises on May 2 (Dos de mayo).
The insurrection is violently suppressed by Murat the next day. This is the start of the Spanish Civil War. Charles IV abdicates in favor of Napoleon who entrusts the throne to his brother Joseph, already King of Naples, to Murat's greatest despair. He was then offered the crown of Portugal or that of Naples. He chooses the Italian city.
Joachim I, King of Naples
Arrival in Naples
On August 1, 1808, Joachim Murat became King of Naples. If he did not welcome the news with the greatest enthusiasm (he had to abandon the Grand Duchy of Berg, all his French properties as well as their luxurious furniture and his marshal's pay, of which he nevertheless retained the baton), he quickly changes his mind in front of the warm welcome reserved for him by the Neapolitans. They love this already legendary rider, his taste for panache and flamboyance. They also probably remember with gratitude its 1801 proclamation.
Upon his arrival, Murat found an institutional framework quite similar to those of the kingdoms of Italy and Spain. The constitution planned by Joseph had created a Council of State and a Parliament composed of five chambers (clergy, nobility, landowners, scholars, merchants). Neither Joseph nor Murat will summon Parliament. Within the government, Murat favored the Italians over the French, which increased his popularity.
Reforms[edit]
Immediately, he set out to pursue the reforms initiated by his brother-in-law Joseph, beginning with the completion of the abolition of feudalism. The Napoleon code is very slightly adapted but the essential ideas are adopted. The navy and the army are reorganized. It also solves the problem of Calabrian robbery. However, most of the reforms have had limited effects because of the budget deficit which, despite an improvement, will not be reduced under Murat's reign.
The reconquest of the kingdom
When French troops invaded the Kingdom of Naples to drive out Ferdinand IV and his wife Marie-Caroline, Marie-Antoinette's sister, the latter took refuge in Sicily, protected by a British fleet, a detachment of which seized island of Capri. The island, the former haunt of Emperor Tiberius, is a veritable fortress defended by British General Hudson Lowe, the future governor of Saint Helena and his 2,000 men. The capture of Capri has, for Murat, two objectives. First of all, it is a question of freeing part of its territory and thus ensuring the security of maritime trade between the north of the kingdom and the south. The other objective is symbolic:to show his subjects that he is their only sovereign and that the Bourbons of Naples have truly "ceased to reign".
See the article Capture of Capri.
From October 4, 1808, that is to say less than a month after the arrival of the new king, 2000 men commanded by General Jean-Maximilien Lamarque landed on the island which capitulated on the 17th. To celebrate this victory supposed to confirm the unity of the Neapolitans, Murat amnesty the political exiles.
When the war resumed with Austria in 1809, a British squadron crossed in front of Naples but it did not dare to attack the city whose defenses had been improved by the new king. Murat did not participate in the campaign in Austria and once again comes out of this victory and the admiration of the Neapolitan people is sincere.
The last stage is the capture of Sicily. The island part of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies is home to the fallen Bourbon dynasty of Naples. They do not recognize Joachim I as King of Naples but they quickly understood that dislodging him would not be an easy task. King Murat also knows that retaking Sicily will be much more difficult than retaking Capri, especially since Napoleon limply supports his brother-in-law in his enterprise. On September 17, 1810, Murat ordered his troops to cross the Strait of Messina. A first corps of 2,000 men achieved this without difficulty. But General Grenier refuses to continue the transhipment on the grounds that he has not received an order from Napoleon. The British pull themselves together and hunt the first troops landed. The expedition is a failure and Murat strongly complains about Grenier's conduct.
Difficult relations with Napoleon
If they are brothers-in-law, the two men do not like each other[7]. Napoleon despises Murat:contempt of the officer from the most prestigious schools for the soldier out of the ranks? the strategist's contempt for the swordsman? or does Napoleon envy the bravery of his marshal who transcends the troops? Probably a bit of all of that. He would have preferred General Moreau to marry Caroline but wanting to make his sister happy, he had favored love over reason. And since his accession to the throne of Naples, humiliations on the part of Napoleon follow one another. The decree which gives him the crown of Naples specifies that this is done in favor of Queen Caroline. The tone of Napoleon's despatches is more and more dry and vexing, bad faith is more and more frequent. Everything the king does is criticized and belittled by the emperor. Threats of dismissal appear in the correspondence. Napoleon constantly reminds him that if he is king, it is because he has decided to be. Has Napoleon forgotten that if he is emperor, it is partly thanks to Murat, who was decisive on 13 Vendémiaire, Aboukir, 18 Brumaire or Eylau? Napoleon knows that the intrigues of Talleyrand and Fouché have planned to replace him with Murat in case something bad happens to him. At the same time, the King of Naples opposed Napoleon's marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria, grand-niece of Marie-Antoinette but above all grand-daughter of Marie-Caroline. Murat increasingly wants to act as an independent king and not as a prefect. In addition, Naples suffers enormously from the Continental Blockade. He then approaches the Carbonari who court him to unify Italy. But Caroline has always known how to temper the ardor of one or the other.
The last battles for Napoleon
To force Russia to apply the provisions of the Berlin decree, Napoleon is preparing a new campaign. All of Europe is at war, France and its allies on the one hand, the United Kingdom and Russia on the other. Napoleon obviously called on Murat to lead the cavalry and the vanguard of the army. This one goes with eagerness near the emperor to prove his attachment to him:the reception of Napoleon is icy. At the head of the cavalry, he tried to fix the Russians for battle but the Russian general Barclay de Tolly continually slipped away, practicing scorched earth tactics. Once again, Murat's charges were decisive at the Battle of Moskowa on September 7, 1812. With the retreat, harassed by the cold and the Cossack horsemen, the cavalry melted. On December 5, Napoleon left the army and gave command to Murat. He must take her to Vilnius where she can reform. In Vilnius, the emperor's lieutenant-general realizes that he cannot hold the position. He evacuated the army to Poland. Arrived in Posen on January 16, 1813, he in turn left the army and appointed Eugène de Beauharnais commander-in-chief.
He hastily returned to Naples where he entered into contact with the Austrians who had left the French alliance. This rapprochement was no doubt facilitated by Caroline's liaisons with Metternich and the Austrian ambassador in Naples. A reconciliation is also made with the United Kingdom. A military convention is ready to be signed. But Murat dithers.
At the same time, the international situation has changed. Napoleon won an important victory at Bautzen. He is aware of the king's contacts with his enemies but he needs his skills as a horseman, skills which he lacked during the first part of the campaign. Murat arrived in Dresden in August 1813 and crushed the Austrian left wing there on August 26 and 27. He does wonders with his cavalry during the fall. After the defeat at Leipzig on October 19, 1813, Murat left the army one last time without it being possible to say what his true state of mind was.
When he reached Milan, the King of Naples was attacked by the Carbonari. It is necessary to unify Italy where it will find itself under the yoke of Austria. On November 8, he told the Austrian ambassador that he had chosen the Allied camp. In exchange, he asks for his maintenance in Naples. At the same time, he affirms his attachment to Napoleon. However, on January 8, 1814, a treaty of alliance between Austria and Naples was signed. This is called "Murat's betrayal".
He begins a triumphal march with his army through Italy. Everywhere he is acclaimed. After a scuffle with the troops of Italian Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais, he seemed remorseful and considered changing sides. Napoleon was convinced and promised to divide Italy with the Po as the border, Murat receiving the south. But Napoleon's abdication at Fontainebleau changed the situation and he was overtaken by the Austrians and the British and finally had to return to Naples in May 1814.
Murat is confirmed King of Naples by the Congress of Vienna. However, contacts were made with Napoleon exiled to the island of Elba. Warned of Napoleon's forthcoming departure for France, Murat sees himself as King of Italy. When he learns of the Emperor's landing in France, he declares war on Austria when Napoleon has not yet arrived at the Tuileries. In fact, it places Napoleon in a delicate situation. On March 30, 1815, he issued a proclamation in Rimini calling the Italians to insurrection. The same scenes of joy from the previous year are repeated throughout the peninsula. He is severely beaten by the Austrians in Tolentino on May 2 and sees his dream fly away. On the 19th he fled Naples and reached Cannes on the 25th.
The end
The deposed king wanders in Provence, hoping that Napoleon calls him to the army. Napoleon refuses (he will regret it in Saint Helena). When the defeat at Waterloo was announced, he fled to Corsica. Quickly surrounded by nearly 1,000 supporters, Murat begins to dream of reconquering Naples.
An expedition is hastily mounted. Leaving Ajaccio on September 28, 1815, she arrived on October 8 in front of the small Calabrian port of Pizzo. Believing to arouse the enthusiasm of the population, Murat and his supporters disembark. The crowd is hostile. Calabria was hard hit by the repression of brigandage during the reign of Joachim.
He is captured and locked up in the small port castle. He writes several letters, in particular to his family. On October 13, King Ferdinand issues a decree by which "the condemned person will only be granted half an hour to receive the help of religion".
Thus, the trial was played in advance.
Posterity
By his wife Caroline Bonaparte, Murat had 4 children:
* Achille (°1801 +1847 ) 2nd Prince Murat, married in 1826 Catherine Dudley (great niece of Washington) without posterity
* Laetizia (°1802 +1859) married in 1823 the Marquis Guido-Taddeo Pepoli
* Lucien (°1803 +1878) 3rd Prince Murat, married in 1831 Caroline Fraser (5 children will be born from this union) From him descends the current Prince Joachim Murat 8th Prince Murat born in 1944 .
* Louise (°1805 +1889), married Count Giulo Rasponi
The Rider
Like most of Napoleon's marshals, Joachim Murat did not have the military genius of the Emperor[11]. But, endowed with a powerful charisma, he is an excellent leader of men and a brilliant horseman. His men recognize in him the leader who will guide them to victory. The Cossacks, horsemen of the Russian army, had a real admiration for him. A vanguard soldier, he knows how to fix the enemy and pursue him after his defeat. He thus took 15,000 prisoners in five days after the capture of Ulm in 1805 or annihilated the proud Prussian army after the double victory of Jena and Auerstaedt. A swordsman, he leads his squadrons to attack enemy troops during the craziest charges, winning successes as incredible as they are decisive. Thus, he crushes the Turkish army at Aboukir, he avoids defeat at Eylau by taking the head of 80 squadrons which they base on the Russian troops and order the decisive charge at the battle of Moskowa.
However, he is often carried away by his enthusiasm, which has earned him a reputation as a go-getter and dizzy. At the battle of Heilsberg, in 1807, where he throws himself alone with 9,000 cavalry and a few infantry against 80,000 well entrenched Russians. It also makes him a poor general-in-chief who exhausts his cavalry in pursuit of the evading Russians, early in the Russian campaign.
Murat is also renowned for his outfits, each more extravagant than the next, which earned him the nickname "King Franconi", named after a circus rider known throughout Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. This mania reflects the vain side of the character, his desire to distinguish himself from other French generals. It is in fact easily recognizable on the paintings of the First Empire.
Nickname :King Franconi
Birth :March 25, 1767
Labastide-Fortunière, France
Death :October 13, 1815 (aged 48)
Pizzo, Italy
Nationality :France
Weapon :cavalry
Military rank :Marshal of the Empire
Service :1787 - 1815
Conflicts :
Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
Command:
Cavalry Reserve of the Grande Armée
Grande Armée
Achievements: 1st Italian Campaign
Egyptian Campaign
1800:Battle of Marengo
1805:Battle of Austerlitz
1806:Battle of Jena
1807:Battle of Eylau
1812:Battle of Moskowa
1813:Battle of Leipzig
1815:Battle of Tolentino
Distinctions :
Prince Imperial
Grand Admiral of France
Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honor
Other functions :
Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves
King of Naples