August 17, 1768 (Ayat castle, Puy-de-Dôme) - June 14, 1800 (Marengo)
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- Portrait of Desaix
Louis Charles Antoine Desaix (August 17, 1768[1] in Saint-Hilaire d'Ayat, today Ayat-sur-Sioule, † June 14, 1800 in Marengo in Italy) was a French general who distinguished himself during the revolutionary wars and under the orders of Bonaparte, notably in Egypt and Italy. According to the custom of the time, in order to distinguish himself from his brother, he took the name Louis Charles Antoine Desaix de Veygoux, and signed Desaix de Veygoux.
Born near Riom, in Auvergne, from a noble family.
He had three brothers and one sister:
* Amable, born December 10, 1759;
* Gaspard Antoine born in 1761 and died in infancy;
* Françoise Antoinette, born August 25, 1764;
* Louis Amable, born June 7, 1773.
A military education
From October 18, 1776, when he was only eight years old, he was educated at the Military School of Effiat, directed by a congregation of Oratorians. At the age of fifteen, in 1783, he was appointed second lieutenant in the Régiment de Bretagne.
The choice of the Republic
In 1791, he left the Brittany regiment to return to Auvergne where he was appointed Ordinary Commissioner of Wars in Clermont-Ferrand.
Since the Revolution, his family, noble, is afraid and emigrates in majority in 1792. He refuses to follow it and leaves to serve in the army of the Rhine, where he is named aide-de-camp of the commander-in-chief Victor de Broglie against the coalition forces.
Having shown rare bravery and great presence of mind when taking the lines of Weissembourg, he was appointed brigadier general. He became the youngest general in the French army when he was appointed at age 25 in 1793.
Moreau, a fair assessor of military merit, appointed him general of division in the army of the Rhine-et-Moselle on September 2, 1794; Desaix had the greatest share in the victories of this brilliant campaign of Year IV, which illustrated the name of Moreau. Brilliant military successes in 1794 and 1795 led to his appointment as acting Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Rhine in January 1796.
The Egyptian Campaign
When he met Napoleon Bonaparte at Passenario in Italy in 1797, the latter entrusted him with the organization of a maritime convoy for the Egyptian campaign, where he would fulfill the function of admiral. Bonaparte joined Desaix for his Egyptian expedition, the capture of Malta, the capture of Alexandria, crushed the Mamluks at Chébreiss (July 13, 1798) and during the Battle of the Pyramids (July 21, 1798).
He received the order to conquer Upper Egypt and complete the destruction of the Mamluks there. He fought various battles at Sonaguy, at Thebes, at Sienna at Gosseys; everywhere he triumphed. His administration was such that it earned him, from the vanquished themselves, the glorious title of Just Sultan.
He was able to provide the enlightened men responsible for recognizing this country with all the information he had gathered by searching himself, as an educated man, for the important ruins and monuments. It was under these circumstances that Desaix, recalled by Kléber from Upper Egypt, signed, by his orders, with the Turks and the English, a treaty by virtue of which he embarked to return to Europe. No sooner had he arrived in Livorno than the English Admiral Keith declared him a prisoner, in defiance of convention, and affected to confuse Desaix with the soldiers who were accompanying him.
Delivered by superior order from the hands of Admiral Keith, Desaix wrote from Toulon to the First Consul[6] And shortly afterwards, without even having seen his family again, he left for the Army of Italy.
The Battle of Marengo
On May 5, 1800, back in Toulon, Desaix joined Bonaparte in Italy, where the French troops were confronted by the Austrians.
Arrived in the army the day before the battle of Marengo, he commanded the reserve which changed the face of affairs. On June 14, the two armies clash at the Battle of Marengo. By mistake sent under the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte in search of the enemy army, Desaix disobeyed and retraced his steps when he heard the thunder of cannons in his rear. Indeed, the French troops were attacked and then put in difficulty by the Austrians. Arriving with around 10,000 men, Desaix took command of the 9th Light Infantry Brigade and rushed against the Austrians.
This action restores the situation and allows the victory of the French army. But, during the charge, Desaix died after being hit by a bullet in the heart at the age of 32[8]. Coincidentally, on the same day, General Kléber was assassinated in Egypt.
The First Consul had Desaix's mortal remains transported to the Convent of Grand-Saint-Bernard. He was buried on June 19, 1805 in the presence of Berthier, Minister of War, representing the Emperor.