Pierre-Augustin Hulin
Encyclopedia
Pierre-Augustin Hulin was a French general under Napoleon Bonaparte who took part in the storming of the Bastille
, the trial of the Duke d'Enghien, and the foiling of the Malet
coup
.
Pierre Augustin Hulin, the son of a Parisian draper, was born on September 6, 1758. He entered the army in 1771, serving in a Champagne
infantry regiment. In 1772 he was transferred to the Guards, in the ranks of which he rose to sergeant. In 1787 he had already retired from the guards and was a successful operator of the Royal Laundry. During the week that preceded the storming of the Bastille
Hulin was several times spotted agitating the mob against the Crown. Madame de Staël
wrote that Hulin told her: "I want to take revenge for your father
on these bastards who want to butcher us." Louis Abel Beffroy de Reigny
recorded similar inflammatory speeches addressed to the royal soldiers, Louis-Guillome Pitra dramatized Hulin's speech into "The Parisians are slaughtered like lambs, and you are not marching with us?"
On the day of the storming of the Bastille
Hulin offered his services to the Hôtel de Ville
. He assembled a company of seventy men armed with five cannons. Around 3 o'clock he led his men from Les Invalides
to the Bastille. Two hours later artillery fire and pressure from the Bastille personnel persuaded its commandant Marquis de Launay
to capitulate. By this time the attacking mob lost around a hundred men, the defenders of the Bastille had only one man killed. Hulin and his deputy Jacob Elie defended De Launay from the mob and sent him under an armed escort to the Hôtel de Ville. According to Pitra, Hulin and Elie saved De Launay from lynching at least once, when the mob attacked them near the church of St. Louis. The bloodthirsty mob finally overwhelmed the convoy on Place de Grève, when it was near its destination. A cook named Denót or Desnot killed De Launay, royalist provost
Jacques de Flesselles
was killed too, the rest of the Bastille defenders took shelter in the Hôtel de Ville. The commandant's head was severed and proudly carried around the city on a pike.
On the next day, July 15, 1789, Hulin was appointed company commander of the Volontaires de la Bastille, an armed formation paid by the city government which later evolved into the National Guard. It was staffed by the certified veterans of the Bastille Day. Hulin's own performance made him a national hero, a "herculean victor", and a staple of patriotic leaflets and magazines issued since 1790. Republican historians of the 19th century amplified popular perception and carefully downplayed the cruelty of the mob and underscored Hulin's own moderation.
As aristocrats left the army in large numbers, new officers were promoted from the enlisted ranks. Hulin, however, did not escape the excesses of the Reign of Terror
and was incarcerated for almost a year, 1793–1794. When Robespierre's radical government fell in 1794, Hulin was released. During the French Revolutionary Wars
, Hulin served in the Army of Italy and fought against the Austrians
in the defense of Genoa
and commanded troops in Milan, eventually rising to the rank of colonel
.
. In 1804 he presided over the commission that tried Duke d'Enghien. The Duke, a descendant of the Conde
family, a centuries-old aristocratic family powerful under the Bourbons, was convicted of treason and was executed by firing squad, an act that was met by horror and anger from other European nations.
Hulin fought in the Grande Armée in the campaigns of 1805 and 1806, fighting in present-day Germany. He was given command of troops in Berlin after the completion of the Prussian campaign. In 1807 he was promoted to major general and appointed governor of Paris. He held the latter title until 1814, and during the Hundred Days
in 1815. In 1808 he was styled Count of the Empire, and in 1809 was made Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor.
Hulin was the military governor of Paris in 1812, when pro-Republic General Claude François de Malet
launched a coup
while Napoleon was pursuing a disastrous campaign in Russia. Troops loyal to Malet seized many Bonapartist
officers in the city and tried to take control of the government. When Hulin attempted to arrest the rebel general, Malet shot him in the face. Hulin's resistance caused troops and military police to turn on Malet and take him into custody. Malet and other conspirators were executed, Hulin was rewarded with the command of the 1st Division.
When Napoleon abdicated, Hulin's command was taken away from him by the restored Bourbon monarchy
. However, when the former emperor returned from exile in 1815, Hulin was given back his position as divisional commander, which was again stripped from him when Napoleon was defeated. Hulin was exiled by the Bourbons, but was allowed to return to France in 1819.
Hulin died in Paris on January 9, 1841.
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
, the trial of the Duke d'Enghien, and the foiling of the Malet
Claude François de Malet
Claude François de Malet was born in Dôle to an aristocratic family on June 28, 1754. Malet was executed by a firing squad on October 29, 1812, six days after Malet staged a failed republican coup d'état as Napoléon Bonaparte returned from the disastrous Russian campaign.-Before and during the...
coup
Malet coup of 1812
The Malet coup of 1812 was an attempted coup d'etat in Paris, France, aimed at removing Napoleon I, then campaigning in Russia, from power. The coup was engineered by Republican general Claude François de Malet, who had spent time in prison because of his opposition to Napoleon...
.
Early life
Champagne, France
Champagne is a historic province in the northeast of France, now best known for the sparkling white wine that bears its name.Formerly ruled by the counts of Champagne, its western edge is about 100 miles east of Paris. The cities of Troyes, Reims, and Épernay are the commercial centers of the area...
infantry regiment. In 1772 he was transferred to the Guards, in the ranks of which he rose to sergeant. In 1787 he had already retired from the guards and was a successful operator of the Royal Laundry. During the week that preceded the storming of the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
Hulin was several times spotted agitating the mob against the Crown. Madame de Staël
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël
Anne Louise Germaine de Staël-Holstein , commonly known as Madame de Staël, was a French-speaking Swiss author living in Paris and abroad. She influenced literary tastes in Europe at the turn of the 19th century.- Childhood :...
wrote that Hulin told her: "I want to take revenge for your father
Jacques Necker
Jacques Necker was a French statesman of Swiss birth and finance minister of Louis XVI, a post he held in the lead-up to the French Revolution in 1789.-Early life:...
on these bastards who want to butcher us." Louis Abel Beffroy de Reigny
Louis Abel Beffroy de Reigny
Louis Abel Beffroy de Reigny , French dramatist and man of letters, was born at Laon, Aisne.Under the name of "Cousin Jacques" he founded a periodical called Les Lunes . The followed...
recorded similar inflammatory speeches addressed to the royal soldiers, Louis-Guillome Pitra dramatized Hulin's speech into "The Parisians are slaughtered like lambs, and you are not marching with us?"
On the day of the storming of the Bastille
Storming of the Bastille
The storming of the Bastille occurred in Paris on the morning of 14 July 1789. The medieval fortress and prison in Paris known as the Bastille represented royal authority in the centre of Paris. While the prison only contained seven inmates at the time of its storming, its fall was the flashpoint...
Hulin offered his services to the Hôtel de Ville
Hôtel de Ville, Paris
The Hôtel de Ville |City Hall]]) in :Paris, France, is the building housing the City of Paris's administration. Standing on the place de l'Hôtel de Ville in the city's IVe arrondissement, it has been the location of the municipality of Paris since 1357...
. He assembled a company of seventy men armed with five cannons. Around 3 o'clock he led his men from Les Invalides
Les Invalides
Les Invalides , officially known as L'Hôtel national des Invalides , is a complex of buildings in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, France, containing museums and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, the building's...
to the Bastille. Two hours later artillery fire and pressure from the Bastille personnel persuaded its commandant Marquis de Launay
Bernard-René de Launay
Bernard René Jourdan, marquis de Launay was the French governor of the Bastille, the son of a previous governor, and commander of its garrison when it was stormed on 14 July 1789 .-Early life:...
to capitulate. By this time the attacking mob lost around a hundred men, the defenders of the Bastille had only one man killed. Hulin and his deputy Jacob Elie defended De Launay from the mob and sent him under an armed escort to the Hôtel de Ville. According to Pitra, Hulin and Elie saved De Launay from lynching at least once, when the mob attacked them near the church of St. Louis. The bloodthirsty mob finally overwhelmed the convoy on Place de Grève, when it was near its destination. A cook named Denót or Desnot killed De Launay, royalist provost
Provost (civil)
A provost is the ceremonial head of many Scottish local authorities, and under the name prévôt was a governmental position of varying importance in Ancien Regime France.-History:...
Jacques de Flesselles
Jacques de Flesselles
Jacques de Flesselles was a French public servant and one of the first victims of the French Revolution.On 21 April 1789, after serving as Intendant of Lyon , he became the last provost of the merchants of Paris, a post roughly equivalent to mayor...
was killed too, the rest of the Bastille defenders took shelter in the Hôtel de Ville. The commandant's head was severed and proudly carried around the city on a pike.
On the next day, July 15, 1789, Hulin was appointed company commander of the Volontaires de la Bastille, an armed formation paid by the city government which later evolved into the National Guard. It was staffed by the certified veterans of the Bastille Day. Hulin's own performance made him a national hero, a "herculean victor", and a staple of patriotic leaflets and magazines issued since 1790. Republican historians of the 19th century amplified popular perception and carefully downplayed the cruelty of the mob and underscored Hulin's own moderation.
As aristocrats left the army in large numbers, new officers were promoted from the enlisted ranks. Hulin, however, did not escape the excesses of the Reign of Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
and was incarcerated for almost a year, 1793–1794. When Robespierre's radical government fell in 1794, Hulin was released. During the French Revolutionary Wars
French Revolutionary Wars
The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of major conflicts, from 1792 until 1802, fought between the French Revolutionary government and several European states...
, Hulin served in the Army of Italy and fought against the Austrians
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
in the defense of Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
and commanded troops in Milan, eventually rising to the rank of colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
.
Service under Napoleon
Hulin, under the command of self-appointed First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, served as chief of staff in several divisions and was later given command of the grenadiers of the consular guard. In August 1803 Hulin was promoted to brigadier generalBrigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
. In 1804 he presided over the commission that tried Duke d'Enghien. The Duke, a descendant of the Conde
Conde
Conde is a title of nobility in Spanish, Galician and Portuguese. In English, the title is Count or Earl. The female form is Condesa in Spanish and Galician and Condessa in Portuguese. The territory of a Conde is called a Condado, equivalent to Countship or County...
family, a centuries-old aristocratic family powerful under the Bourbons, was convicted of treason and was executed by firing squad, an act that was met by horror and anger from other European nations.
Hulin fought in the Grande Armée in the campaigns of 1805 and 1806, fighting in present-day Germany. He was given command of troops in Berlin after the completion of the Prussian campaign. In 1807 he was promoted to major general and appointed governor of Paris. He held the latter title until 1814, and during the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...
in 1815. In 1808 he was styled Count of the Empire, and in 1809 was made Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor.
Hulin was the military governor of Paris in 1812, when pro-Republic General Claude François de Malet
Claude François de Malet
Claude François de Malet was born in Dôle to an aristocratic family on June 28, 1754. Malet was executed by a firing squad on October 29, 1812, six days after Malet staged a failed republican coup d'état as Napoléon Bonaparte returned from the disastrous Russian campaign.-Before and during the...
launched a coup
Malet coup of 1812
The Malet coup of 1812 was an attempted coup d'etat in Paris, France, aimed at removing Napoleon I, then campaigning in Russia, from power. The coup was engineered by Republican general Claude François de Malet, who had spent time in prison because of his opposition to Napoleon...
while Napoleon was pursuing a disastrous campaign in Russia. Troops loyal to Malet seized many Bonapartist
Bonapartist
In French political history, Bonapartism has two meanings. In a strict sense, this term refers to people who aimed to restore the French Empire under the House of Bonaparte, the Corsican family of Napoleon Bonaparte and his nephew Louis...
officers in the city and tried to take control of the government. When Hulin attempted to arrest the rebel general, Malet shot him in the face. Hulin's resistance caused troops and military police to turn on Malet and take him into custody. Malet and other conspirators were executed, Hulin was rewarded with the command of the 1st Division.
When Napoleon abdicated, Hulin's command was taken away from him by the restored Bourbon monarchy
Louis XVIII of France
Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...
. However, when the former emperor returned from exile in 1815, Hulin was given back his position as divisional commander, which was again stripped from him when Napoleon was defeated. Hulin was exiled by the Bourbons, but was allowed to return to France in 1819.
Hulin died in Paris on January 9, 1841.
Sources
- Philip J. Haythornthwaite (2001). [Napoleon's Commanders (1) 1792-1809]. Osprey Publishing. ISBN 1841760552.
- Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink, Rolf Reichardt (1997). The Bastille: a history of a symbol of despotism and freedom. Duke University Press. ISBN 0822318946.
- Robert Warren (2000). Jacques-Louis David and Jean-Louis Prieur, revolutionary artists: the public, the populace, and images of the French Revolution. SUNY Press. ISBN 0791442888.