August Marmont. Faithful friend of Bonaparte
Auguste Frederic Louis Viesse de Marmont, Duc de Raguse
In the Christian world, the apostle Judas Iscariot, whom Dante placed on the lowest level of the hell he invented, has long been considered the embodiment and personification of a traitor. Together with Judas, according to the Florentine, there were Brutus and Cassius, the killers of Caesar, who later led the armies that fought against the troops of Octavian and Mark Antony. Few people remember Cassia now, and there were many who wanted to justify Brutus. During the French Revolution, "citizen Brutus" in this country became a hero and an example to follow. The dubious fame of Marmont, at least in France, also put this Napoleonic marshal on a par with the sinful apostle Judas. From the title of the Duke of Ragusa, once bestowed on Marmont by Bonaparte, the word “ragusada” was formed here, which became synonymous with betrayal and treason.
Napoleon himself was the first to compare Marmont with Judas. As early as March 1, 1815 (immediately after landing in Juan Bay), Bonaparte, in his proclamation sent to the army, declared two people, Marmont and Augereau, to be traitors and responsible for the defeat of France:
But on the island of St. Helena, Napoleon, in a conversation with Dr. O'Meara, already focused his attention on Marmont:
If the emperor had in mind the possible suicide of a traitor, then he was mistaken: Marmont lived a long life and died on March 3, 1852 in Venice - the last of his marshals, although not the oldest of them (he did not live up to 78 years).
The first years of Marmont's life
Auguste Frederic Louis Viesse de Marmont was born into an old noble family. One of the representatives of this genus is mentioned in the chronicles of the time of Louis XII. The ancestors of the future marshal moved to Burgundy from Holland in the 20th century. The castle of Châtillon-on-Seine became his birthplace, it happened on July 1774, XNUMX. By this time, the family was already impoverished, and the parents did not have the means to send their only son to a prestigious educational institution in the capital. Moreover, the boy, who showed a clear interest in military affairs, was assigned to a local Catholic college, since his father decided that "serving God can feed a nobleman better than serving the king."
Marmont's classmates turned out to be two very famous people. The first was Jean-Andoche Junot, the future divisional general, a close friend of Napoleon. Upon learning of his death (suicide, July 1813), the emperor said:
Vincent-Nicolas Raverat. Jean-Andoche Junot, Duc d'Abrantes
The second is Jean-Baptiste Muiron, Napoleon's adjutant, who died in 1796 on the Arcole Bridge.
The name Muiron was given to the frigate on which Napoleon arrived from Egypt to France in 1799 (this ship with Bonaparte on board entered the port of Frejus on October 9).
After the beginning of the revolution, the paths of friends parted for a while. Junot and Muiron on September 1, 1791, volunteered for the battalion of the National Guard of the Côte-d'Or department. And Auguste Marmont in 1790 received a patent from his grandfather as a junior lieutenant of the Chartres battalion. This unit carried out garrison service, and service in it did not promise any special prospects. However, a start was made, and soon the young man entered the Dijon Artillery School. In 1792 we see Marmont as the 2nd lieutenant of the 1st artillery regiment.
J. Rouget. Lieutenant Marmont in 1792
By the way, in Dijon, he meets the young Corsican Napoleone Buonaparte, who served nearby - in the garrison of Auxerre.
Henri-Felix-Emmanuel Philippoteaux. Portrait of a young Bonaparte
Thus, Marmont was the only marshal who had known the young Bonaparte since the time when this Corsican was unknown to anyone in France. He immediately fell under the spell of Napoleon's personality and, as Delderfield put it, "attached the wagon of his fate to the chariot of Bonaparte."
And at first, Marmont, indeed, was completely faithful and devoted to Napoleon, who later spoke of him as a person with whom he "shared a piece of bread." It is unlikely that Marmont would have believed if someone had told him at that time that the day would come when he would betray Bonaparte.
Near Bonaparte
Together with Napoleon, Captain Auguste Marmont found himself at the besieged Toulon in 1793. Junot and Muiron, already familiar to us, were also there at that time.
After the fall of the fortress, Bonaparte became a brigadier general and was considered the “man” of Auguste Robespierre, the brother of the all-powerful Maximilian. However, it was precisely this circumstance that nearly killed Napoleon. After the Thermidorian coup, General Bonaparte was imprisoned. Captain Marmont and Lieutenant Junot were out of work and, having practically no means, awaiting arrest, lived in some miserable Marseille hotel. However, after 2 weeks, Napoleon was free. He was not only reinstated in rank, but also placed at the head of the troops sent to Corsica captured by the British. Marmont Bonaparte was appointed commander of the transport units, and Junot became his adjutant.
Napoleon failed to distinguish himself then: the French squadron was defeated by the British fleet and ingloriously returned. The troops subordinated to Napoleon were transferred to the Italian army, and he, along with Junot and Marmont, went to Paris. On the way, they visited the castle of Marmont's parents, who did not find anything interesting in the young and nondescript General Bonaparte.
In the capital, Napoleon was offered command of an infantry brigade in the rebellious Vendée. He refused this appointment, after which he was dismissed and for some time was in great need, almost starving, mostly reading books on military topics. Marmont recalled these days:
That is, Marmont then arbitrarily left the service in order to go after Bonaparte. From a formal point of view, he could safely be called a deserter.
It was not until August 1795 that Napoleon obtained a position in the topographic department of the Committee of Public Safety, where he began to work on the plans for his first Italian campaign. Among the papers, Bonaparte saw the bold proposals of Berthier, rejected by General Scherer. Thus, for the first time, Bonaparte became aware of the existence of this not too young general, who would soon become his permanent and indispensable chief of staff. But we have already spoken about this in two articles about Marshal Berthier.
And for Bonaparte, and for Marmont, and for Junot, everything changed after the royalist rebellion of 13 Vendemière (October 5), 1795. Summoned by Barras to defend the Convention, Napoleon defeated the rebels in half a day. Then Junot said:
Marmont in the Army of the Rhine
After these events, Marmont was sent to General Pichegru's Army of the Rhine, which at that time was besieging the city of Mainz.
Here he received command of a battery of 24 guns, but it all ended with a retreat.
Now Marmont was appointed chief of artillery of the division of General Desaix, with whom he established a very good relationship.
Bonaparte's first Italian campaign
At the beginning of 1796, Marmont was summoned to Paris. Here he met Junot again. Together they introduced Napoleon to the dashing cavalryman Joachim Murat. As Napoleon's adjutant and commander of the headquarters battalion, Marmont goes with his army to Italy. Here he led several cavalry charges during the Battle of Lodi, for which he was awarded a saber. He took part in the battles against the troops of Pope Pius VI and in the siege of Mantua, then was appointed commander of the artillery units of the Augereau division, with which he fought at Loano and Castiglione (August 1796). Finally, on September 15, 1796, he carried out a successful cavalry attack at Saint-Georges, driving the Austrians back to Mantua.
Satisfied Bonaparte sent Marmont on an honorary mission to Paris: in the capital, he handed over 22 Austrian banners to the Directory and received the rank of colonel of horse artillery. Returning to Italy, he took part in the famous battle of Arcola, where Bonaparte and Augereau personally (and unsuccessfully) led attacks on the bridge over the Alpone River. Here his old acquaintance, Colonel Jean-Baptiste Muiron, died. This was discussed in the article. Charles Pierre Augereau. From marshal to traitor.
Marmont then engaged in unsuccessful negotiations with the Venetians about their participation in the war with Austria.
The year 1797 begins with the victory at Rivoli and the fall of Mantua, after which Marmont, under the command of General Victor, again fights against the army of the pope. After the victory, it was Marmont who controlled the payment of indemnities by the pontiff, and then negotiated with the Austrian Archduke Charles. Finally, he participates in the conquest of Venice, after which he goes to Bonaparte in Milan and accompanies Josephine on her trip to Italy. At the same time, Marmont introduced to Bonaparte his commander in the Army of the Rhine, Charles-Antoine Desaix, who had arrived in Italy.
After returning to Paris, Marmont in 1798 married the daughter of a wealthy Parisian banker, Anne Marie Hortense Perrego.
Egyptian expedition of Bonaparte
On May 19, 1798, about 400 French combat and transport ships put to sea and set off for the coast of Egypt. Thus began the famous Egyptian expedition of Napoleon, who received command of the 38th Eastern Army. This campaign was attended entirely by "stars of the first magnitude" - generals, whose names will soon thunder throughout Europe: Davout, Berthier, Desaix, Murat, Lannes and others. Among them was Colonel Marmont. At the head of 5 battalions, he participated in the capture of Malta, repelling the sortie of the defenders of La Valletta, for which he was promoted to brigadier general.
Then Marmont served as commander of the garrison of Alexandria and did not take an active part in the campaign. However, he became one of the closest associates of Bonaparte, whom he took with him, returning to France. But Kleber, one of the most capable French generals of that time, the commander of many future marshals, remained and on June 14, 1800 was killed by a religious fanatic. Davout and Desa (who received the curious nickname “Righteous Sultan” here) were left in Egypt - both of them were later captured by the British when they returned to their homeland. Fortunately for Bonaparte, they were exchanged.
But let's get back to Marmont, who, during the coup d'état of 18 Brumaire, of course, turned out to be on the side of Napoleon. And he received the post of commander of artillery stationed in Dijon of the Reserve Army.
Bonaparte's second Italian campaign
As head of the artillery units, Marmont also took part in Napoleon's new Italian campaign. Bonaparte himself recognized the great merits of Marmont in transporting cannons through the St. Gotthard Pass, which, of course, was a very difficult task. And he managed to get several guns past the Austrian fort Bard, which was of great importance, as it saved time. Then his subordinates built a double bridge across the Po River, through which the entire army passed.
Marmont also played an important role during the battle of Marengo. Here, at a critical moment, he was able to quickly create a new battery of 18 guns, which destroyed many enemy guns and inflicted heavy losses on the Austrian column of General Zach. And then, having ordered 4 light guns to be removed from the limbers, he supported the famous attack of the Desaix division with volleys of direct fire. For these actions, he received the rank of divisional general. Bonaparte at that time appreciated Marmont so much that he took him with him, returning to Paris, but he soon returned to Italy, becoming the chief of artillery already in the army of General Brun. With her, he took part in the Battle of Pozzolo (December 25-26, 1800).
Grievances of General Marmont
Returning to Paris in May 1801, Marmont received the post of inspector general of the French artillery. And in 1803 he was at the head of the artillery units of the Boulogne camp.
In March 1804, we see Marmont as commander of the Dutch army stationed at the Zeist camp near Utrecht. But Marmont was not among the first marshals of Bonaparte's empire, which offended him extremely. For some reason, he was especially stung by the assignment of this title to Bessieres. Marmon even stated:
On top of that, during the coronation ceremony, Marmont, as a member of the Council of State, was placed not with generals, but with high-ranking civilian officials. This also offended and offended him greatly.
In the campaign of 1805, Marmont commanded the II Corps of the Grand Army.
Marmont among other generals and marshals behind Bonaparte in the painting "Napoleon accepting the surrender of General Mack" by Charles Tevelin
He did not win special laurels then, but in the same 1805 he received the honorary and prestigious title of Colonel General of the Guards Horse Rangers.
In July 1806, Marmont lifted the siege from Ragusa, then he received Dalmatia and Styria in control, in 1808 Napoleon granted him the title of Duke of Ragusa. However, Marmont did not receive the coveted title of Marshal again.
The next article will talk about how Marmont nevertheless received the marshal's baton, about his participation in the Pyrenean War, campaigns of 1813-1814. and role in the abdication of Bonaparte. Let's talk about the last inglorious years of this marshal's life.
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