Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult (March 29, 1769 in Saint-Amans-la-Bastide, Tarn - November 26, 1851), French soldier and politician, Duke of Dalmatia, Marshal of the Empire. He was, along with Davout, Lannes and Masséna, one of Napoleon's rare marshals capable of effectively leading an army away from the Emperor.
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- Soult, John of God, Duke of Dalmatia
Birth:March 29, 1769 -
Saint-Amans-la-Bastide
Death:November 26, 1851 (aged 82)
Military rank:
Marshal of the Empire
Achievements:
1799:Battle of Zurich
1805:Battle of Austerlitz
1807:Battle of Eylau
1807:Battle of Heilsberg
1813:Battle of Bautzen
1814:Battle of Toulouse
Distinctions:Duke of Dalmatia
Grand Cross of the Order of Leopold of Belgium
Grand Cross of the Order of the Saviour
Grand Cross of the Order of the Golden Fleece
Grand Cross of the Order of Saint-Hubert
Pair of France
Marshal General of France
Other functions:
1815:Minister of War
1830-1834:Minister of War
1832-1834:Prime Minister
1839-1840:Prime Minister
1840-1847:Prime Minister
1840-1845:Minister of War
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- Weapons of Soult
First weapons
Fairly well educated, because promised a career as a lawyer, Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, who had become an orphan of his father, was nevertheless obliged to enlist, on April 16, 1785, as a simple soldier in the Royal Infantry regiment, where he joined quickly in the lower grades.
French Revolution
After six years of service he is a sergeant. At the request of his colonel, he was appointed on January 17, 1792 as an instructor in the 1st battalion of the first regiment of Haut-Rhin volunteers with the rank of second lieutenant. He was then 22 years old. The great wars that followed offered him many opportunities to stand out. Adjutant-Major on July 16, 1792, Captain in August of the following year, Provisional Adjutant at the General Staff of the Army of the Moselle on November 19, 1793, Chief of Battalion Provisional Adjutant-General on February 17 1794, then in title on April 3.
After the battle of Fleurus, where he distinguished himself by his coolness, he was promoted to brigadier general on October 11 by the representatives of the nation. For the next five years, he was constantly employed in Germany under the orders of Jourdan, Moreau, Kléber and Lefebvre.
Attached to the army of Sambre-et-Meuse, he took a brilliant part in the affairs of Altenkirchen, Friedberg and Lieptingen, where he distinguished himself as much by his military intelligence as by his intrepidity. In Stokack and in the fight fought in the forest of that name against the army of Prince Charles. The rank of general of division, conferred on him on April 21, 1799.
He joined the army of Helvetia under the orders of Masséna. It was at this time that he built the foundations of his military reputation, in particular the Battle of Zurich. When in 1800 the First Consul instructed Masséna to reorganize the Army of Italy, the latter insisted that Soult be added to him, and he entrusted him with the command of the right wing.
The defense of the country of Genoa will remain in the history of French arms, as one of the most glorious pages of General Soult's career:almost every day is marked by a brilliant action. On April 6, in a first outing, at the head of several battalions, he audaciously crossed the Austrian army and freed General Gardanne, fought several battles with the enemy, pushed him back beyond the Piotta, seized Sassello , won new successes at Ponte-Junera, attacking the Hermette, and returned to Genoa with numerous prisoners, cannons and flags. In a new outing, the general again crosses the Austrian army, removes a division at Monte-Facio. Finally, he delivers a last fight in Montecreto, where a gunshot smashes his leg. Left in the power of the enemy, he remains a prisoner.
Marshal of the Empire
Marengo's victory sets him free. Shortly after, he was given command of the southern part of the Kingdom of Naples. His energy succeeded in putting down the so-called Barbets insurrection. He even succeeds in disciplining these turbulent hordes and uses them for service.
After the Treaty of Amiens, General Soult returned to Paris where the First Consul welcomed him with the highest distinction. On March 5, 1802, he was one of the four generals called to command the Consular Guard despite having served under Moreau. He does not like Napoleon but he has the wisdom to show his allegiance to power. Shortly after, in August 1803, he received the command of the camp of Saint-Omer
On May 19, 1804 he was promoted, one of the first, to the rank of Marshal of the Empire that Napoleon had just created. As a reward for his first exploits, on February 2, 1805, he was promoted to Grand Cordon and Chief of the 4th cohort of the Legion. He also received the title of Colonel-General of the Imperial Guard and Commander-in-Chief of the Camp de Boulogne.
In September 1805, the marshal received command of the 4th corps of the German army. He forced the passage of the Rhine at Speyer, in October 1805, of the Danube at Donawerth, seized Augsburg, moved on Biberach and Memmingen, and approached Napoleon at the gates of Ulm.
He commands a corps at the Battle of Austerlitz where he leads the decisive attack on the Allied center.
In the Prussian campaign in 1806, Marshal Soult still commanded the right wing of the army. He plays a big part in almost all the famous battles of the Grande Armée.
In the Polish campaign, it contains the Russian general von Beningsen while the Emperor crushes the Russians at the Battle of Eylau. By his energetic attack on the center of the enemy year, he contributes greatly to the victory. He joins Greussen with Marshal Kalkreuth, whom he completely defeats, aggressively pursues the King of Prussia, blocks Magdeburg, and forces five squadrons of the armies of Saxony to lay down their arms at Ruthnau. He then made himself master of Lubeck and forced Blücher to capitulate at Schwartau, won new successes at Wolfersdorf, at Heilsberg and entered Königsberg.
When the peace of Tilsit is concluded, he returns to France. In 1808 he was made Duke of Dalmatia.
Iberian Peninsula War
The war has just flared up again with fury in Spain. The Emperor entrusts Soult with the command of the center left of the army. Barely arrived, the marshal won, on November 10, 1808, a victory in front of the battle of Gamona, took Burgos, Santander, overthrew the Spanish army near Reynosa, finally reached the English army in front of Corunna, to deliver a bloody battle in which the general-in-chief, Moore, is killed. He forces the remnants of the English army to embark, abandoning 6,000 prisoners, seizes Corunna and Ferrol He seizes an immense material contained in these two places.
For the next four years, Soult remained in Spain and his story intertwined with that of the war in the peninsula.
Entered Portugal on March 4, 1809 after the defeat of Moore, by order of the Emperor, the Duke of Dalmatia crossed the Minho, took Chaves and won the battle of Oporto on March 29.
But preferring to consolidate the political power of his conquests in the interest of France and, he hopes, of his own, as a candidate for the throne, he neglects to advance on Lisbon. Wellington dislodges him from Porto. For lack of reinforcements it is impossible to hold the campaign. In less than six days he drove back to Galicia the feeble remnants of his army, which he still possesses. Despite everything, he managed to defeat the Anglo-Spanish army that he found on his way to Arzobispo, but he was forced into a painful and disastrous retreat through the mountains. This retreat is considered by the tacticians as one of the Marshal's finest operations.
After the Battle of Talavera (1809), a decree from the Emperor named Marshal Soult Major-General of the French armies in Spain, with extensive powers. On November 19, he obtained a great victory at the battle of Ocaña. After seizing Seville, at the end of January 1810, he passed through Extremadura and invaded Andalusia, which he occupied entirely exception of Cadiz.
In 1811 he marched north to Extremadura. He took Olivença on January 22, 1811, won the battle of Gébora on February 11, occupied Badajoz, and when the British-Portuguese army besieged the city, he came to his aid, fighting the battle of Albufera on May 16. with forces inferior in number.
In 1812 however, after a decisive defeat at the Battle of Salamanca, he was forced to evacuate Andalusia. At the request of Joseph Bonaparte, with whom, like all the other marshals, he still disagrees, he leaves Spain
In March 1813, Napoleon I called him to give him command of the 4th Corps of the Grand Army, which he led at the Battle of Bautzen. Almost immediately he received the order to go to Bayonne to reorganize the Army of the South, which the Battle of Vittoria had completely demoralized. Although often beaten by veterans of Wellington, he who has only inexperienced conscripts, this campaign is one of the best examples of his military genius. He then turned against the enemy marching towards the French borders, supported the honor of the French armies at Orthez, Aire, Vic de Bigorre, Tarbes, Finally on April 10, 1814, he fought the battle of Toulouse, last and glorious cannon shot fired in defense of the invaded soil, the results of which only circumstances came to arrest.
Political career
After Napoleon's first abdication, he declared himself a royalist. The government of the first Restoration appointed the Duke of Dalmatia governor of the 13th military division on June 21, 1814.
He received the Order of Saint-Louis and was appointed Minister of War from December 3, 1814 to March 11, 1815, a position he held when Napoleon landed from the island of Elba.
As head of the army, he addressed a proclamation to the troops which did not prevent the Emperor from calling him to the Tuileries on March 25. He made allegiance, and was made a peer of France. On May 9, 1815, Napoleon entrusted him with the duties of major-general of the army. At the battle of Waterloo, when Napoleon, at the sight of the disaster, wanted to rush into the midst of the bayonets, Soult, who remained by his side until the last moment, managed, by seizing his horse's bridle, to drag him on the road to Charleroi.
Here ends the military career of the marshal. His role at the Battle of Waterloo is certainly his worst military role. He is responsible for Grouchy's non-arrival by not sending enough letters, as Berthier does. However, Napoleon made the mistake of not listening to him when Soult warned him about the quality of the British infantry that Napoleon never faced.
At the Second Restoration, he was exiled, included in the exile ordinance of July 24, and removed from the list of marshals on December 27, 1815. He remained in exile until 1819. Louis XVIII reinstated him in 1820 in the dignity of marshal. Once again a fervent royalist, King Charles X raised him to the Peerage in 1827.
After the Revolution of July 1830, during which Soult rendered new services to his country, he rallied to Louis Philippe, who revived for him the title of General Marshal of the King's camps and armies and took him on as Minister of War on November 17, 1830
Louis-Philippe, worried that he could only rely on the National Guard to maintain public order, instructed him to reorganize the line army without delay. Soult writes a report to the king, presented to the Chamber of Deputies on February 20, 1831, in which he criticizes the Gouvion-Saint-Cyr law of 1818 on recruitment:he demonstrates that the voluntary system combined with drawing lots and the possibility of being replaced has not made it possible to increase the number of staff sufficiently, and shows that the promotion procedures contribute to maintaining over-staffing. It proposes the main lines of a military policy aimed at increasing the number of the army, reducing over-staffing and ensuring the supply of arms and ammunition.
The guidelines are adopted in February 1831 and the means are specified:it is a question of doubling the strength of the army of the Restoration, which only had a little more than 200,000 men. The necessary reforms will be carried out during the years 1831 and 1832. The first law of this important train of military reforms is that of March 9, 1831 creating the Foreign Legion, which can only be used outside the territory of metropolitan France. This was followed by the laws of April 11, 1831 on military pensions, of March 21 and April 14, 1832 on army recruitment and promotion, and of May 19, 1834 on the status of officers.
Soult also had the work of the fortifications of Paris carried out.
In 1834, when the bloody April insurrection broke out, Marshal Soult received from Lieutenant-General Aymar, who commanded in Lyon, a telegraphic dispatch. The response of the Duke of Dalmatia is only waited for the time strictly necessary to write it down from his dictation and to take it away by telegraph. The following letter written to the general commanding the city of Lyon, about this same episode, is also significant
In 1838, the king chose him to represent him at the coronation of the Queen of England. On December 26, 1847, Louis-Philippe restored for him the honorary title of Marshal General of France.
In 1848 he became a Republican but died soon after in his castle of Soultberg, near Saint-Amans-la-Bastide where he was born. In his homage, the town was renamed Saint-Amans-Soult in 1851.
Marshal Duke of Dalmatie, Grand Cross of the Orders of Leopold of Belgium, of the Sauveur, of the Golden Fleece and of Saint-Hubert, was head of government three times:
* From October 11, 1832 to July 18, 1834
* From May 12, 1839 to March 1, 1840
* From October 29, 1840 to September 19, 1847