Louis Nicolas d'Avout, dit Davout, Duke of Auerstaedt, Prince of Eckmühl, born May 10, 1770 in Annoux (Yonne) and died June 1, 1823 is a Marshal of the Empire, the only one to remain undefeated in 1815 He is one of the greatest military leaders in the history of France.
Military career
After studying at the Royal Military School of Auxerre and then at the Royal Military School of Paris, where Napoleon Bonaparte preceded him by a year, Davout entered the Royal-Champagne Cavalry regiment as a second lieutenant in 1788.
The French Revolution
A few years later, we see him battalion commander of the 3rd regiment of volunteers of the Yonne, in the army of the North of Dumouriez, and in the years 1793, 1794 and 1795, as brigadier general in the armies of the Moselle and the Rhine, where he stood out for his bravery and audacity.
He distinguished himself at the battle of Neerwinden where he tried to stop Dumouriez who was going over to the enemy. He served in the campaigns of 1794-1797 on the Rhine. His talents and his intrepidity made him distinguished by Moreau who entrusted him with important commands, and to whom he rendered signal services, particularly at the crossing of the Rhine, on April 20, 1797.
Egypt Campaign
He then took part in the Egyptian campaign, accompanying Desaix - one of his rare friends in the military field - in Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition to Egypt, and contributed powerfully to the victory of Aboukir.
After this battle, the general-in-chief had left to Lannes the task of reducing the fort of Aboukir; Lannes, having been wounded, ceded command to Menou[1]. On July 30, Davout, being in the trenches, made a general attack, and on August 2, the garrison surrendered at discretion.
Back in France with Desaix, Davout was appointed general of division. He married Aimée Leclerc, sister-in-law of Pauline Bonaparte, thus integrating the family circle of the First Consul. Napoleon entrusted him with the command of the grenadiers of the consular guard in 1802, then made him one of the marshals of the Empire during the first promotion of 1804.
III Corps [edit]
See articles Battle of Auerstaedt, Battle of Austerlitz and Battle of Ulm.
In 1805 he was given command of the 3rd corps of the Grande Armée, with which he took the most glorious part in the victories of Ulm and Austerlitz (1805).
He achieved a brilliant victory in the Battle of Auerstaedt (the same day as the Battle of Jena, October 14, 1806) against half the Prussian army, more than twice as numerous and led by the two main commanders of the opposing army, the Duke of Brunswick - who died during the battle - and by the King of Prussia Frederick William III himself. The victory was all the more brilliant as Bernadotte refused him the support of his own army corps. Victory which earned him the honor of entering Berlin first[3], even if the battle of Auerstaedt was eclipsed by that won by the Emperor the same day at Jena.
He took part in the Battle of Eylau (1807).
In the war of 1809, he was present at the battle of Eckmühl and at Wagram where he was in charge of the right wing. He was then made Prince of Eckmühl. His daughter later had a lighthouse built at Penmarc'h in Brittany. It's called the Eckmühl lighthouse.
Titles
He was shortly afterwards appointed Governor-General of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw[4] which included the supervision of the Hanseatic towns after the Treaty of Tilsit in 1807 and Duke of Auerstädt. In these functions, he reorganized the Polish army and denounced the fraudulent activities of Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne stationed in Hamburg.
In 1809 he became Prince of Eckmühl. Napoleon entrusted him with the task of organizing the "observation corps of the Elbe" which became the Grande Armée which invaded Russia in 1812.
1st Corps - Russian Campaign
Commanding this body of 70,000 men in 1812, he won a victory over the Russians at Mohilev but failed to surround Bagration's Russian army due to the slowness of Jérôme Bonaparte, in charge of the right wing of the Grande Armée .
His horse was killed under him during the battle of Moskowa. His plan was not retained during this battle which was a real butchery to open the road to Moscow. During the retreat he protected, Davout mourned the death of his faithful general of division, Gudin, killed in front of Smolensk. He ensured, alternately with Ney, the retreat of the imperial army during the terrible retreat from Russia.
Hamburg
In 1813, he commanded the left wing of the French army in Germany. Victorious and the only undefeated Frenchman in the campaign, he had, following the failures of his colleagues and Napoleon himself, to withdraw to the military sector of Hamburg, which he had fortified and supplied.
He established his headquarters in Hamburg (May 30, 1813); he was soon besieged there by the victorious enemy. In vain did the Russian, Prussian and Swedish armies, forming a total of 80,000 men, seek to seize the place and shake the firmness of the Prince of Eckmühl, their threats and efforts were equally useless.
It was not until April 1814 that he agreed to hand over the place not to enemy generals, but to General Gérard, bearer of the orders of Louis XVIII. He capitulated only on the order of Louis XVIII after a first refusal where he had fired the cannon on the fleur-de-lis flag of the King of France.
During the first Restoration, he retired to his lands of Savigny-sur-Orge.
The Hundred Days
After the return from the island of Elba, called by Napoleon I to the ministry of war, Davout, in concert with the Emperor, organized in three months the French army on the footing where it was before the events of 1814, and created immense military resources for the defense of the country.
All measures had been taken so that, during the month of August, 800,000 men were on foot, armed and equipped[5].
After Waterloo
He received the general command of the army under the walls of Paris after the Battle of Waterloo in which he did not participate.
See the article Battle of Rocquencourt.
On July 3, 1815, he was preparing to give battle to Wellington and Blücher, when he received orders from the provisional government to treat with the enemy. That same day, he signed the convention of Paris at Saint-Cloud, according to which the French army was to withdraw behind the Loire.
On July 6, the Prince of Eckmühl placed himself at the head of the troops which were abandoning the capital; before leaving, he had placed in the fort of Vincennes about fifty thousand guns, giving orders that this fort should not, under any circumstances, be delivered abroad.
He organized the French army on this side of the Loire by evacuating all valuables from the artillery museum[6]. When the Austrians cross the river, he only has to threaten them with a battle for them to take the opposite route, his name alone, undefeated marshal, was enough to make his opponents tremble, even after Napoleon's abdication.
The marshal made his submission to the royal government on July 14. He handed over the command of the army to Marshal Macdonald who was responsible for dismissing it.
When he learned of the ordinance of July 24, which proscribed Generals Gilly, Grouchy, Excelmans, Clausel, etc., he wrote to Marshal Gouvion-Saint-Cyr, Minister of War, to ask that his name be substituted to that of those generals, since they had only obeyed his orders.
Withdrawn to his land, he nevertheless returned to defend Ney, impeached
Deprived of his salaries, he experienced a difficult period before finally recovering his titles in 1817.
He did not appear at the court of Louis XVIII until 1818. He returned to the Chamber of Peers, May 5, 1819, and rallied completely to the cause of the Restoration.
Davout died on June 1, 1823, of pulmonary phthisis. He was buried in Paris, in the Père-Lachaise cemetery, in a tomb he had had prepared for his family.
He was elected mayor of Savigny-sur-Orge from 1822 to 1823 and his son also from 1843 to 1846. One of the main squares bears their name.
Napoleon said of him "I thought he loved me, but he only loved France".
birth :May 10, 1770
Annoux, France
Death :June 1, 1823 (aged 53)
France
Nationality :(small flag) France
Military Rank :Marshal of the Empire
Service :1780 - 1815
Conflicts :Revolutionary Wars
Napoleonic Wars
Achievements :
1793:Battle of Neerwinden
1798:Egyptian Campaign
1800:Battle of Marengo
1805:Battle of Ulm
1805:Battle of Austerlitz
1806:Battle of Auerstaedt
1807:Battle of Eylau
1807:Battle of Friedland
1809:Battle of Eckmühl
1809:Battle of Wagram
1812:Battle of Moskowa
Awards :
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor
Duke of Auerstaedt
Prince of Eckmühl
Pair of France
Other functions :
Governor-General of
Grand Duchy of Warsaw
Minister of War
Mayor from Savigny-sur-Orge