Pierre François Charles Augereau, duc de Castiglione
Encyclopedia
Charles Pierre François Augereau, 1st Duc de Castiglione
(21 October 1757 – 12 June 1816) was a soldier and general and Marshal of France
. After serving in the French Revolutionary Wars
he earned rapid promotion while fighting against Spain and soon found himself a division commander under Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy. He fought in all of Bonaparte's battles of 1796 with great distinction. During the Napoleonic Wars
, Emperor Napoleon entrusted him with important commands. His life ended under a cloud because of his poor timing in switching sides between Napoleon and King Louis XVIII of France
.
ian fruit
seller (in some accounts, a servant). He enlisted in the army at the age of seventeen in the Clare Infantry Regiment, but was soon discharged. Later he joined the dragoons. He became a noted swordsman and duel
list, but he had to flee France after killing an officer in a quarrel. For the next 13 years he drifted across Europe. He claimed to have served in the Russia
n army against the Ottoman Empire
, afterwards deserting. He enlisted in the infantry regiment of Prince Henry of Prussia and said he served in the Prussian Foot Guards as well. He deserted by masterminding a mass escape and reached the border of Saxony
where he taught fencing.
In 1781, King Louis XVI of France
proclaimed an amnesty for deserters, so Augereau returned to his native land. He joined the cavalry in 1784, and after serving in the carabiniers he was sent to the Kingdom of Naples
as part of a military mission. While in Naples, he eloped with Gabrielle Grach and the two lovers traveled to Portugal
where they spent the years 1788–1791. After the French Revolution
broke out, the Portuguese jailed Augereau as a dangerous foreigner. Somehow Gabrielle persuaded the authorities to release her husband and the couple returned to France. In September 1792, Augereau joined a volunteer cavalry unit, the German Legion.But this is without proof as Augereau claims that the papers were taken away from him during the Portugese Inquisition.
in April 1793. The German Legion proved useless in battle because many of the soldiers switched sides, and the officers, including Augereau and François Marceau
found themselves in prison. Released, he served briefly in the 11th Hussars before serving as wagonmaster and as aide de camp to General Jean Antoine Rossignol
. He was assigned to train recruits for General Jean Antoine Marbot
at Toulouse
. Marbot liked his work and the Marbot family became Augereau's close friends.
It is not clear when, or if, Augereau received promotion to general of brigade, but he transferred to the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, and was promoted to general of division on 23 December 1793. When Jacques François Dugommier
became commander in January 1794, the army was thoroughly reorganized. Augereau became a division commander and played a significant role at the Battle of Boulou from 29 April to 1 May, where his feint attacks lured Luis Firmin de la Union's
Spanish army into a false position. After the victory at Boulou, the army advanced a short distance into Spain, with Augereau holding the right wing. At the Battle of San-Lorenzo de la Muga
on 13 August, he skilfully repelled the assaults of 20,000 Spaniards with his 10,000 French troops. On 17 November, Dugommier launched a major offensive against the Spanish at the Battle of the Black Mountain
. On the first day, Augereau's attack crushed the Spanish left flank while other French attacks proved unsuccessful. Dugommier was killed on the second day, but after a day's pause, the advance resumed and the Spanish were routed.
After the Peace of Basel
ended the War of the Pyrenees
in July 1795, Augereau and his division transferred to the Army of Italy
. On 23 November 1795, Augereau fought at the Battle of Loano
against the Austrian Habsburgs and Piedmontese. During the fighting, his troops attacked on the right near the coast, while André Masséna
's division pierced the Allied center. The following April, his close association with Napoleon Bonaparte began when Bonaparte took command of the army and launched the Montenotte Campaign
. Augereau fought the Battle of Millesimo
on 13 April 1796, and accepted the surrender of the castle of Cosseria
the next morning. He led his troops at the Battle of Ceva
on the 16th. He served in the Lodi
campaign in early May and fought at the Battle of Borghetto
on 30 May.
But it was at the Battle of Castiglione
on 5 August 1796 that Augereau rendered the most signal services. Jean-Baptiste-Antoine-Marcelin, Baron de Marbot
described him as encouraging even Bonaparte himself in the confused situation that prevailed before that battle, though Marbot's memoirs are hardly the most reliable source. In any case it was Bonaparte's undoubted superiority as a strategist that made the victory at Castiglione a possibility. On 3 August, while Bonaparte defeated the Austrian corps of Peter Quasdanovich
, Augereau held off the main Austrian army of Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
. With 11,000 men, he attacked Anton Lipthay's
brigade and drove it back on the Austrian main body. By the end of the day, Augereau faced 20,000 Austrians. The fighting cost the Austrians about 1,000 casualties, while French losses were also heavy and included General of Brigade Martial Beyrand killed. Augereau's bold front allowed Bonaparte to dispose of Quasdanovich, then mass his main strength to beat Wurmser at Castiglione two days later.
Shortly after Castiglione, Bonaparte tersely summed up Augereau's military qualities: "Much character, courage, steadiness, activity; is used to war, liked by the soldiers, lucky in his operations."
In 1797 Bonaparte sent Augereau to Paris to encourage the Jacobin
Directors
. Augereau and the troops led by him coerced the "moderates" in the councils and carried through the coup d'état
of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797). He was then sent to command French forces in Germany
.
Augereau took little part in the coup d'état of Brumaire
(November 1799), and did not distinguish himself in the Rhenish campaign which ensued. Nevertheless, owing to his final adhesion to Bonaparte's fortunes, he received a Marshal
's baton
at the beginning of the First French Empire
on 19 May 1804.
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Augereau commanded a camp in Brest
, Brittany
, during the preparations for the invasion of England
. When Napoleon called off the invasion because of the growing threat from Austria and Russia, the camp became the VII Corps of the Grande Armée
. With this force, Augereau fought in the War of the Third Coalition
. His corps was charged with protecting the army’s lines of communications during the Ulm Campaign
. He fought actions at Konstanz
and Bregenz
, and he tracked down and destroyed Franz Jellacic
's Austrian division at Dornbirn
in the Voralberg on 13 November 1805. This was followed by the occupation of Frankfurt am Main. His wife Gabrielle died while he was away.
In the War of the Fourth Coalition
he was again at the head of the VII Corps. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Jena
on 14 October 1806 where his corps made up the left flank. Early in 1807 he fell ill with fever, and at the Battle of Eylau
on 7 February 1807, he had to be supported on his horse. Nevertheless, he directed the movements of his corps with his usual bravery. His corps was almost annihilated and the marshal himself received a wound in the arm from grapeshot.
He became Duke of Castiglione on 19 March 1808, a hereditary victory title
(i.e. not in chief of an actual fief, but a hollow title), in honour of the 1796 victory. This title granted his heirs ducal rank till its extinction in 1915. In 1809 he married the 19-year old Adélaïde Josephine Bourlon de Chavange (1789 – 1869) whom he had become infatuated with. Adélaïde, the daughter of Gilles Bernard Bourlon de Chavange and wife Jeanne Françoise Launuy, had no children with Augereau, but his nephews became heirs of the ducal title. His wife later remarried Camille de Sainte-Aldegonde (1787 – 1853), by whom she had a daughter Valentine de Sainte-Aldegonde (1820 – 1891), who married the 3rd Duke of Dino.
When transferred to Catalonia
, where he commanded from February to May 1810, Augereau gained some successes but tarnished his name by cruelty. In the campaign of 1812 he guarded the rear areas. He sat out the spring 1813 campaign because of illness. Before the Battle of Leipzig
(October 1813), Napoleon reproached him with not being the Augereau of Castiglione; to which he replied, "Give me back the old soldiers of Italy, and I will show you that I am." Yet he led the IX Corps at Leipzig with skill and brought off his command in good order.
In 1814 Augereau had command of the army of Lyon
, and his slackness exposed him to the charge of having come to an understanding with the Austria
n invaders. Thereafter he served the restored Bourbon King Louis XVIII of France
. But, after reviling Napoleon, he went over to him during the Hundred Days
. The Emperor repulsed him and charged him with being a traitor to France in 1814.
Louis XVIII, when re-restored to the royal throne, deprived him of his military title and pension. Augereau died at his estate of La Houssaye
. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery
.
Castiglione delle Stiviere
Castiglione delle Stiviere is a town and comune in the province of Mantua, in Lombardy, Italy, 30 km northwest of Mantua by road.-History:During the War of the Spanish Succession, the French under the duc de Vendôme occupied it....
(21 October 1757 – 12 June 1816) was a soldier and general and Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...
. After serving in 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...
he earned rapid promotion while fighting against Spain and soon found himself a division commander under Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy. He fought in all of Bonaparte's battles of 1796 with great distinction. During the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, Emperor Napoleon entrusted him with important commands. His life ended under a cloud because of his poor timing in switching sides between Napoleon and King Louis XVIII of France
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...
.
Early years
Pierre Augereau was born in Faubourg Saint-Marceau, Paris, as the son of a ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
ian fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
seller (in some accounts, a servant). He enlisted in the army at the age of seventeen in the Clare Infantry Regiment, but was soon discharged. Later he joined the dragoons. He became a noted swordsman and duel
Duel
A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with agreed-upon rules.Duels in this form were chiefly practised in Early Modern Europe, with precedents in the medieval code of chivalry, and continued into the modern period especially among...
list, but he had to flee France after killing an officer in a quarrel. For the next 13 years he drifted across Europe. He claimed to have served in the Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n army against the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
, afterwards deserting. He enlisted in the infantry regiment of Prince Henry of Prussia and said he served in the Prussian Foot Guards as well. He deserted by masterminding a mass escape and reached the border of Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
where he taught fencing.
In 1781, King Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI of France
Louis XVI was a Bourbon monarch who ruled as King of France and Navarre until 1791, and then as King of the French from 1791 to 1792, before being executed in 1793....
proclaimed an amnesty for deserters, so Augereau returned to his native land. He joined the cavalry in 1784, and after serving in the carabiniers he was sent to the Kingdom of Naples
Kingdom of Naples
The Kingdom of Naples, comprising the southern part of the Italian peninsula, was the remainder of the old Kingdom of Sicily after secession of the island of Sicily as a result of the Sicilian Vespers rebellion of 1282. Known to contemporaries as the Kingdom of Sicily, it is dubbed Kingdom of...
as part of a military mission. While in Naples, he eloped with Gabrielle Grach and the two lovers traveled to Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
where they spent the years 1788–1791. After the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
broke out, the Portuguese jailed Augereau as a dangerous foreigner. Somehow Gabrielle persuaded the authorities to release her husband and the couple returned to France. In September 1792, Augereau joined a volunteer cavalry unit, the German Legion.But this is without proof as Augereau claims that the papers were taken away from him during the Portugese Inquisition.
French Revolutionary Wars
Augereau's unit was sent to put down the Revolt in the VendéeRevolt in the Vendée
The War in the Vendée was a Royalist rebellion and counterrevolution in the Vendée region of France during the French Revolution. The Vendée is a coastal region, located immediately south of the Loire River in western France. The uprising was closely tied to the Chouannerie, which took place in...
in April 1793. The German Legion proved useless in battle because many of the soldiers switched sides, and the officers, including Augereau and François Marceau
François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers
François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers was a French general of the Revolutionary Wars.-Early life:Desgraviers was born at Chartres, Eure-et-Loir. His father served as a legal officer, and Marceau received an education for a legal career, but at the age of sixteen he enlisted in the regiment of...
found themselves in prison. Released, he served briefly in the 11th Hussars before serving as wagonmaster and as aide de camp to General Jean Antoine Rossignol
Jean Antoine Rossignol
Jean Antoine Rossignol, was a general of the French Revolutionary Wars-Early life:...
. He was assigned to train recruits for General Jean Antoine Marbot
Jean Antoine Marbot
General Jean-Antoine Marbot was a French general and politician.Marbot was a member of the Garde du Corps but resigned upon the outbreak of the French Revolution. In 1791 he was elected a deputy to the Legislative Assembly. He took part in the French Revolutionary Wars in the Cerdagne against Spain...
at Toulouse
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
. Marbot liked his work and the Marbot family became Augereau's close friends.
It is not clear when, or if, Augereau received promotion to general of brigade, but he transferred to the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, and was promoted to general of division on 23 December 1793. When Jacques François Dugommier
Jacques François Dugommier
Jacques François Coquille named Dugommier was a French general....
became commander in January 1794, the army was thoroughly reorganized. Augereau became a division commander and played a significant role at the Battle of Boulou from 29 April to 1 May, where his feint attacks lured Luis Firmin de la Union's
Luis Firmin de Carvajal, Conde de la Union
Luis Firmin de Carvajal, Conde de la Union became a general officer in the army of the Kingdom of Spain. In 1794 during the French Revolutionary Wars, he commanded the Spanish Army in a mostly unsuccessful effort to hold back the army of the First French Republic...
Spanish army into a false position. After the victory at Boulou, the army advanced a short distance into Spain, with Augereau holding the right wing. At the Battle of San-Lorenzo de la Muga
Battle of San-Lorenzo de la Muga
The Battle of San Lorenzo de la Muga was fought on 13 August 1794 between an attacking Spanish–Portuguese army led by the Conde de la Unión and a French army commanded by Jacques François Dugommier. The local French defenders headed by Pierre Augereau and Dominique Pérignon repulsed the allies...
on 13 August, he skilfully repelled the assaults of 20,000 Spaniards with his 10,000 French troops. On 17 November, Dugommier launched a major offensive against the Spanish at the Battle of the Black Mountain
Battle of the Black Mountain
The Battle of the Black Mountain was fought from 17 to 20 November 1794 between the army of the First French Republic and the allied armies of the Kingdom of Spain and the Kingdom of Portugal...
. On the first day, Augereau's attack crushed the Spanish left flank while other French attacks proved unsuccessful. Dugommier was killed on the second day, but after a day's pause, the advance resumed and the Spanish were routed.
After the Peace of Basel
Peace of Basel
The Peace of Basel of 1795 consists of three peace treaties involving France .* The first of the three treaties of 1795, France made peace with Prussia on 5 April; , * The Second was with Spain on 22 July, ending the War of the Pyrenees; and*...
ended the War of the Pyrenees
War of the Pyrenees
War of the Pyrenees refers to the Pyrenees front of the First Coalition's war against the First French Republic. Also known as Great War, War of Roussillon, or War of the Convention, it pitted Revolutionary France against the kingdoms of Spain and Portugal from March 1793 to July 1795 during the...
in July 1795, Augereau and his division transferred to the Army of Italy
Army of Italy (France)
The Army of Italy was a Field army of the French Army stationed on the Italian border and used for operations in Italy itself. Though it existed in some form in the 16th century through to the present, it is best known for its role during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic...
. On 23 November 1795, Augereau fought at the Battle of Loano
Battle of Loano
The Battle of Loano occurred on 23-24 November 1795 during the War of the First Coalition. The French Army of Italy led by Barthélemy Schérer defeated the combined Austrian and Sardinian forces under Olivier, Count of Wallis. -Context:...
against the Austrian Habsburgs and Piedmontese. During the fighting, his troops attacked on the right near the coast, while André Masséna
André Masséna
André Masséna 1st Duc de Rivoli, 1st Prince d'Essling was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....
's division pierced the Allied center. The following April, his close association with Napoleon Bonaparte began when Bonaparte took command of the army and launched the Montenotte Campaign
Montenotte Campaign
The Montenotte Campaign began on 10 April 1796 with an action at Voltri and ended with the Armistice of Cherasco on 28 April. In his first army command, Napoleon Bonaparte's French army separated the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont under Michelangelo Alessandro Colli-Marchi from the allied...
. Augereau fought the Battle of Millesimo
Battle of Millesimo
The Battle of Millesimo, fought on 13 and 14 April 1796, was the name that Napoleon Bonaparte gave in his correspondence to one of a series of small battles that were fought in Piedmont, Northern Italy between the armies of France and the allied armies of Austria and of the Kingdom of...
on 13 April 1796, and accepted the surrender of the castle of Cosseria
Cosseria
Cosseria is a comune in the Province of Savona in the Italian region Liguria, located about 60 km west of Genoa and about 20 km northwest of Savona...
the next morning. He led his troops at the Battle of Ceva
Battle of Ceva
In the Battle of Ceva on 16 April 1796, troops of the First French Republic under Pierre Augereau fought against part of the army of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont led by General Giuseppe Felice, Count Vital. Augereau assaulted the strong defensive position without success...
on the 16th. He served in the Lodi
Battle of Lodi
The Battle of Lodi was fought on May 10, 1796 between French forces under General Napoleon Bonaparte and an Austrian rear guard led by Karl Philipp Sebottendorf at Lodi, Lombardy...
campaign in early May and fought at the Battle of Borghetto
Battle of Borghetto
The Battle of Borghetto, near Valeggio sul Mincio in the Veneto of northern Italy, occurred during the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars. On 30 May 1796, a French army led by General Napoleon Bonaparte forced a crossing of the Mincio River in the face of opposition...
on 30 May.
But it was at the Battle of Castiglione
Battle of Castiglione
The Battle of Castiglione saw the French Army of Italy under General Napoleon Bonaparte attack an army of Habsburg Austria led by Feldmarschall Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser on 5 August 1796. The outnumbered Austrians were defeated and driven back along a line of hills to the river crossing at...
on 5 August 1796 that Augereau rendered the most signal services. Jean-Baptiste-Antoine-Marcelin, Baron de Marbot
Jean-Baptiste-Antoine-Marcelin, Baron de Marbot
Jean Baptiste Antoine Marcellin Marbot , French soldier, son of General Jean Antoine Marbot , who died in the defence of Genoa under Masséna, was born at La Riviere ....
described him as encouraging even Bonaparte himself in the confused situation that prevailed before that battle, though Marbot's memoirs are hardly the most reliable source. In any case it was Bonaparte's undoubted superiority as a strategist that made the victory at Castiglione a possibility. On 3 August, while Bonaparte defeated the Austrian corps of Peter Quasdanovich
Peter Quasdanovich
Peter Vitus Freiherr von Quosdanovich was a general of the Austrian Empire. Feldmarschall-Lieutenant and Commander of the Order of Maria Theresa...
, Augereau held off the main Austrian army of Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser
Dagobert Sigismund, Count Wurmser was an Austrian field marshal during the French Revolutionary Wars. Although he fought in the Seven Years War, the War of the Bavarian Succession, and mounted several successful campaigns in the Rhineland in the initial years of the French Revolutionary Wars, he...
. With 11,000 men, he attacked Anton Lipthay's
Anton Lipthay de Kisfalud
Anton Lipthay de Kisfalud , also Anton Liptai or Anton Liptay, served in the Austrian army, attained general officer rank, and fought in several battles against the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars.-Early career:Born in Nógrád, Hungary in 1745, Lipthay joined...
brigade and drove it back on the Austrian main body. By the end of the day, Augereau faced 20,000 Austrians. The fighting cost the Austrians about 1,000 casualties, while French losses were also heavy and included General of Brigade Martial Beyrand killed. Augereau's bold front allowed Bonaparte to dispose of Quasdanovich, then mass his main strength to beat Wurmser at Castiglione two days later.
Shortly after Castiglione, Bonaparte tersely summed up Augereau's military qualities: "Much character, courage, steadiness, activity; is used to war, liked by the soldiers, lucky in his operations."
In 1797 Bonaparte sent Augereau to Paris to encourage the Jacobin
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
Directors
French Directory
The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...
. Augereau and the troops led by him coerced the "moderates" in the councils and carried through the coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...
of 18 Fructidor (4 September 1797). He was then sent to command French forces in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
Augereau took little part in the coup d'état of Brumaire
Brumaire
Brumaire was the second month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the French word brume which occurs frequently in France at that time of the year....
(November 1799), and did not distinguish himself in the Rhenish campaign which ensued. Nevertheless, owing to his final adhesion to Bonaparte's fortunes, he received a Marshal
Marshal
Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...
's baton
Baton (symbol)
The ceremonial baton is a short, thick stick, carried by select high-ranking military officers as a uniform article. The baton is distinguished from the swagger stick in being thicker and less functional . Unlike a staff of office, a baton is not rested on the ground...
at the beginning of the First French Empire
First French Empire
The First French Empire , also known as the Greater French Empire or Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France...
on 19 May 1804.
Napoleonic Wars
Brest, France
Brest is a city in the Finistère department in Brittany in northwestern France. Located in a sheltered position not far from the western tip of the Breton peninsula, and the western extremity of metropolitan France, Brest is an important harbour and the second French military port after Toulon...
, Brittany
Brittany
Brittany is a cultural and administrative region in the north-west of France. Previously a kingdom and then a duchy, Brittany was united to the Kingdom of France in 1532 as a province. Brittany has also been referred to as Less, Lesser or Little Britain...
, during the preparations for the invasion of England
Napoleon's invasion of England
Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom at the start of the War of the Third Coalition, although never carried out, was a major influence on British naval strategy and the fortification of the coast of south-east England. French attempts to invade Ireland in order to destabilise the...
. When Napoleon called off the invasion because of the growing threat from Austria and Russia, the camp became the VII Corps of the Grande Armée
La Grande Armée
The Grande Armée first entered the annals of history when, in 1805, Napoleon I renamed the army that he had assembled on the French coast of the English Channel for the proposed invasion of Britain...
. With this force, Augereau fought in the War of the Third Coalition
Third Coalition
The War of the Third Coalition was a conflict which spanned from 1803 to 1806. It saw the defeat of an alliance of Austria, Portugal, Russia, and others by France and its client states under Napoleon I...
. His corps was charged with protecting the army’s lines of communications during the Ulm Campaign
Ulm Campaign
The Ulm Campaign consisted of a series of French and Bavarian military maneuvers and battles to outflank and capture an Austrian army in 1805 during the War of the Third Coalition. It took place in the vicinity of and inside the Swabian city of Ulm...
. He fought actions at Konstanz
Konstanz
Konstanz is a university city with approximately 80,000 inhabitants located at the western end of Lake Constance in the south-west corner of Germany, bordering Switzerland. The city houses the University of Konstanz.-Location:...
and Bregenz
Bregenz
-Culture:The annual summer music festival Bregenzer Festspiele is a world-famous festival which takes place on and around a stage on Lake Constance, where a different opera is performed every second year.-Sport:* A1 Bregenz HB is a handball team....
, and he tracked down and destroyed Franz Jellacic
Franz Jellacic
Baron Franjo Jelačić Bužimski , born 14 April 1746 – died 4 February 1810, was a Croatian nobleman, a member of the House of Jelačić...
's Austrian division at Dornbirn
Dornbirn
Dornbirn is a city in Vorarlberg, Austria. It is the administrative center of the district Dornbirn, which also includes the city of Hohenems, and the market town Lustenau....
in the Voralberg on 13 November 1805. This was followed by the occupation of Frankfurt am Main. His wife Gabrielle died while he was away.
In the War of the Fourth Coalition
War of the Fourth Coalition
The Fourth Coalition against Napoleon's French Empire was defeated in a war spanning 1806–1807. Coalition partners included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and the United Kingdom....
he was again at the head of the VII Corps. He distinguished himself at the Battle of Jena
Battle of Jena-Auerstedt
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia...
on 14 October 1806 where his corps made up the left flank. Early in 1807 he fell ill with fever, and at the Battle of Eylau
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...
on 7 February 1807, he had to be supported on his horse. Nevertheless, he directed the movements of his corps with his usual bravery. His corps was almost annihilated and the marshal himself received a wound in the arm from grapeshot.
He became Duke of Castiglione on 19 March 1808, a hereditary victory title
Victory title
A victory title is an honorific title adopted by a successful military commander to commemorate his defeat of an enemy nation. This practice was first used by Ancient Rome and is still most commonly associated with the Romans, but it has also been adopted as a practice by many modern empires,...
(i.e. not in chief of an actual fief, but a hollow title), in honour of the 1796 victory. This title granted his heirs ducal rank till its extinction in 1915. In 1809 he married the 19-year old Adélaïde Josephine Bourlon de Chavange (1789 – 1869) whom he had become infatuated with. Adélaïde, the daughter of Gilles Bernard Bourlon de Chavange and wife Jeanne Françoise Launuy, had no children with Augereau, but his nephews became heirs of the ducal title. His wife later remarried Camille de Sainte-Aldegonde (1787 – 1853), by whom she had a daughter Valentine de Sainte-Aldegonde (1820 – 1891), who married the 3rd Duke of Dino.
When transferred to Catalonia
Catalonia
Catalonia is an autonomous community in northeastern Spain, with the official status of a "nationality" of Spain. Catalonia comprises four provinces: Barcelona, Girona, Lleida, and Tarragona. Its capital and largest city is Barcelona. Catalonia covers an area of 32,114 km² and has an...
, where he commanded from February to May 1810, Augereau gained some successes but tarnished his name by cruelty. In the campaign of 1812 he guarded the rear areas. He sat out the spring 1813 campaign because of illness. Before the Battle of Leipzig
Battle of Leipzig
The Battle of Leipzig or Battle of the Nations, on 16–19 October 1813, was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon's army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine...
(October 1813), Napoleon reproached him with not being the Augereau of Castiglione; to which he replied, "Give me back the old soldiers of Italy, and I will show you that I am." Yet he led the IX Corps at Leipzig with skill and brought off his command in good order.
In 1814 Augereau had command of the army of Lyon
Lyon
Lyon , is a city in east-central France in the Rhône-Alpes region, situated between Paris and Marseille. Lyon is located at from Paris, from Marseille, from Geneva, from Turin, and from Barcelona. The residents of the city are called Lyonnais....
, and his slackness exposed him to the charge of having come to an understanding with the Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n invaders. Thereafter he served the restored Bourbon King Louis XVIII of France
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...
. But, after reviling Napoleon, he went over to him 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...
. The Emperor repulsed him and charged him with being a traitor to France in 1814.
Louis XVIII, when re-restored to the royal throne, deprived him of his military title and pension. Augereau died at his estate of La Houssaye
La Houssaye
La Houssaye is a commune in the Eure department in northern France.-Population:-References:*...
. He is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery
Père Lachaise Cemetery is the largest cemetery in the city of Paris, France , though there are larger cemeteries in the city's suburbs.Père Lachaise is in the 20th arrondissement, and is reputed to be the world's most-visited cemetery, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors annually to the...
.
Books
- Koch, Mémoires de Masséna
- Andreossi, Baron A. F. La Campagne sur le ..., 1800 - 1801
- Bouvier, Bonaparte en Italie
- Boycott-Brown, Martin. The Road to Rivoli. London: Cassell & Co., 2001. ISBN 0-304-35305-1
- Ducasse, Baron A. Précis de la campagne de ... de Lyon en 1814
- Elting, Colonel John R. "The Proud Bandit". Chandler, DavidDavid G. ChandlerDavid G. Chandler was a British historian whose study focused on the Napoleonic era.As a young man he served briefly in the army, reaching the rank of captain, and in later life he taught at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Oxford University awarded him the D. Litt. in 1991...
(ed.). Napoleon's Marshals. New York: Macmillan, 1987. ISBN 0-02-905930-5 - Marbot, Mémoires
- Smith, DigbyDigby SmithDigby Smith is a British military historian. The son of a British career soldier, he was born in Hampshire, England, but spent several years in India and Pakistan as a child and youth. As a "boy soldier," he entered training in the British Army at the age of 16...
. The Napoleonic Wars Data Book. London: Greenhill, 1998. ISBN 1-85367-276-9