Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era

by George F Nafziger

  During the French invasion in 1812 Barclay de Tolly was removed from command of all the Russian armies shortly before Borodino and replaced by Kutusov, who had criticized his Fabian, scorched-earth tactics. Upon assuming command, Kutusov immediately began retreating and burning everything behind him. Barclay’s removal was largely because of politics and his “non-Russian” ethnic background.

  Barclay de Tolly participated in the 1813 campaign and after Bautzen once again became commander in chief of Russian forces, commanding through the battles of Dresden, Kulm and Leipzig. Barclay de Tolly was made a count after defeating Napoleon at Leipzig, led the Russian armies into France in 1814 and at Paris was promoted to field marshal. In 1815 he once again became commander in chief of the Russian army, but arrived too late to participate in the battle of Waterloo. Barclay de Tolly was elevated to the dignity of prince after the close of the Hundred Days and died in Insterburg, in Prussia, on 26 May 1818.

  BARTENSTEIN, CONVENTION OF. Signed on 26 April 1807 by Czar Alexander I of Russia and King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, it was a treaty of alliance forged in the aftermath of the battle of Eylau. Russia pledged to demand in any settlement that Prussia should be restored to its 1805 boundaries or receive equivalent compensation elsewhere in Germany. The two signatories agreed to work toward the establishment of a German federation, under the protection of the Austrians and Prussians, that would have a military frontier along the Rhine. The results of the battle of Friedland and the Treaty of Tilsit nullified this treaty.

  BARTOLINI, LORENZO (1777–1850). Bartolini was born in Vernio, Tuscany, in 1777. He studied art and acquired a reputation as a modeler in alabaster. In 1797 Bartolini went to Paris, where he studied painting under Desmarets and then sculpture under F. F. Lemot. Bartolini received a commission to prepare a bust of Napoleon and was later sent by Napoleon to Carrara to found a school of sculpture. Bartolini spent the rest of his life there and in Florence. He produced a tremendous number of busts and among his best-known works are Hercules and Lichas and Faith in God.

  BATAVIAN REPUBLIC. The Republic of the Netherlands was established in the Austrian Netherlands where it was conquered by the French during the 1794–95 campaign. In April 1798 it was renamed the Batavian Republic and was ruled by a government modeled on the French Directory. In fact it was little more than a French province, bound to France by military alliance and an open road to French armies. In March 1805 Napoleon changed the government, establishing the Batavian Commonwealth, where executive power was given to a kind of dictator called the council pensionary. However, in June 1806, with the need to appease his various family members, the Batavian Commonwealth was replaced by the Kingdom of Holland under Napoleon’s brother Louis. Louis remained King of Holland until July 1810, when Holland was incorporated into the French Empire and Louis was sent to the Duchy of Clèves-Berg.

  BAUSSET-ROQUEFORT, LOUIS FRANÇOIS JOSEPH, BARON DE (1770–1830). Bausset was of noble birth and emigrated during the Revolution. He returned after the Consulate was established and settled in Lyon. On 1 February 1805 he was appointed Napoleon’s chamberlain and prefect of the palace. In May he accompanied Napoleon to Milan for his coronation as King of Italy. When Marie-Louise came to France to marry Napoleon in March 1810, Bausset was responsible for her comfort during the trip. In September 1812 he traveled into Russia and arrived at Napoleon’s camp on the eve of the battle of Borodino bearing a painting of Napoleon’s 17-month-old son, Napoleon François Charles Joseph Bonaparte (eventually the Duke of Reichstadt). After the first abdication, Bausset accompanied Marie-Louise and Napoleon’s son back to Vienna and remained in her service until she set up her household in Parma. Bausset returned to France in March 1816 and spent his last years involved in local government.

  BAUTZEN, BATTLE OF. Fought on 20–21 May 1813, Bautzen was the second major battle of the 1813 Spring Campaign in Germany. Napoleon had been pursuing the beaten Allies from the battlefield of Lützen and met them in their prepared positions by Bautzen. Napoleon commanded 167,000 men facing the combined Russo-Prussian army of 97,000 men. Marshal Ney led a turning movement from the north designed to sweep around the allied right wing and drive them back against the mountains to the south, encircling and crushing them. Macdonald and Oudinot drove in the allied southern flank in order to pin the allied left and center. The Allies, however, realized the danger and withdrew. Napoleon lacked the cavalry to launch an effective pursuit and the Allies escaped. The French lost about 22,000 casualties and prisoners. The Allies lost around 11,000 casualties.

  BAVARIA. In 1788, the Elector of the Palatinate (in German, Pfalz) Karl Theodor, inherited the throne of Bavaria and joined under his rule the two electorates, Bavaria and the Pfalz. The newly formed state contained Bavaria, Upper Pfalz, the Duchies of Neuburg and Sulzbach, the Pfalz territories on the two banks of the Rhine and the Duchy of Berg.

  As the French Revolution erupted, the Bavarian army was undergoing a major reorganization. Being part of the Holy Roman Empire, when Austria and Prussia decided in the diet of 20 April 1792 to declare war, Bavaria found itself at war. The Diet of Ratisbonne declared on 22 March 1793 that the Holy Roman Empire would go to war against France. Though Bavaria declared war, the Pfalz and the Duchy of Zweibrücken declared themselves neutral.

  Bavaria was to provide a military contingent of four battalions, or 2,054 men, to fight with the allied armies. They participated in the siege of Mainz and the occupation of Lauterburg in 1793. In 1794, they joined the Prussians under Hohenlohe and participated in the attack on the French positions on 20 September, at Matzenberg. In 1795 the Army of the Circles, including five Bavarian battalions, fought at Aalen, Gundlfingen, Mindingen, Geissenfels, Langen-Brück, Biberach and Würzburg.

  Moreau’s occupation of Bavaria obliged Elector Karl Theodor to flee to Saxony and the Bavarian states signed a treaty at Pfaffenhofen on 7 September 1796, which obliged the Bavarians to withdraw their contingent from the war. Unfortunately for the French, Moreau was forced to retreat from Bavaria and the elector repudiated the treaty. The Treaty of Campo Formio, signed on 17 October 1797, by the Austrians and French, contained in its secret articles a clause that left Bavaria and various other territories to French mercy. The Bavarians were outraged at being given over to the French by the Austrians to protect their own territories.

  The Congress of Rastadt brought peace with France. The left bank of the Rhine was ceded to France, but Napoleon was not out to ruin Bavaria and the seeds of what was to be a long alliance were established.

  When Fürst Karl Theodor died in 1798, he left Bavaria to his nephew Maximilian-Josef. Max-Josef had been raised in the court of Christian IV of Zweibrücken and his outlook on life was quite French. In 1777, at the age of 21, he entered French service, becoming the colonel of the Alsace and Deux-Ponts (Zweibrücken) Regiments. Somewhat later he succeeded his cousin Karl von Zweibrücken as ruler of Zweibrücken. However, Zweibrücken was in French hands and the new duke found himself fleeing Moreau’s victorious armies to the shelter of Anspach. He married Protestant Caroline of Baden and became brother-in-law to the Czar of Russia and the King of Sweden.

  When Max-Josef ascended to the rule of Bavaria and the Pfalz, he found that the Austrians had stripped his magazines, and the fortress of Ingolstadt was occupied by an Austrian garrison, which forced the Bavarians to endure the costs of their manning the city’s defenses.

  Through 1799 the Bavarians found themselves engaging the French. In 1800, three Pfalz battalions were assigned to Archduke Charles’s Imperial Army and they too continued the war with France. In March 1800, he received a £566,688 subsidy from Britain to support the Bavarian war effort. Napoleon’s victory at Marengo on 14 June 1800 ended the hostilities in Italy, but in Germany they continued until 25 November, with the French victory at Hohenlinden.

  A treaty was signed on 24 August 1801 between France and Bavaria. This treaty ceded to France the Duchies of Juliers and Zweibrücken (Deux-Ponts), as well as all the Pfalz possessions on
the left of the Rhine. France, in return, guaranteed to Bavaria all its possessions as established by the Peace of Teschen in 1779.

  Bavaria lost 580,000 inhabitants and 4,000,000 florins of annual revenue. In addition to the territories mentioned, it also lost Simmern, von Lautern, and von Weldnetz. It was obliged to cede portions of the Pfalz to Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Nassau, and Leiningen. However, in return it received the Bishopric of Würzburg, part of Passau, and Bamberg, Freissingen, and Augsburg, the Prevot of Kempten, 12 abbeys, and 26 free cities, including Ulm and Nordlingen. This added 854,000 inhabitants and 6,607,000 florins of annual income. Aside from losing distant territories and gaining contiguous lands, Bavaria had actually increased its annual income. The French were well on their way toward making Bavaria a solid and loyal ally.

  The acquisition of Passau had, for the Bavarians, a particular importance. The citadel of the city, known as the Oberhaus Schloss, stood as the military “key” to Bavaria. It controlled the roads up the Inn valley and effectively closed that route to invading Austrian armies. By handing this city to the Bavarians, the Austrians were effectively bottled up in their mountain fastness.

  With Bavaria as an ally in 1805, the campaign against Austria and Russia went to the victorious French. The Bavarians served with France through the 1806 and 1807 campaigns. The Treaty of Tilsit raised the Elector of Bavaria to the King of Bavaria. The Tyrol was taken from Austria and given to Bavaria, but they would suffer a guerrilla war as they fought to establish their control of the Tyrol. The Bavarians served throughout the 1809 campaign and even at Wagram.

  As a result of the 1809 campaign, the Bavarian borders were shifted once again. Bavaria surrendered the Circle of Adige and Klause, and Botzen to the Kingdom of Northern Italy. The Grand Duchy of Würzburg was made independent of Bavaria and Bavaria ceded to Württemberg the provinces of Ravensburg, Geislingen and part of Albeck, Ulm and Schweinfurth. A total of 62,000 inhabitants were passed to other countries. However, in exchange Bavaria received the Principality of Ratisbonne (32,000 inhabitants), Bayreuth (225,000), Salzburg (184,000), Berchtesgarten (20,000), the Quartier of the Inn (125,000), Hausruck (94,000), Giengen (8,000), Trachberg (4,600), Egloff (2,500) and Isuy (1,500). This was a total of 632,600 new citizens, over 10 times what it surrendered. Bavaria now had a population of 3,530,000 inhabitants and stood as a compact country with clearly defined and defensible borders.

  Bavarian forces participated in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia, but did not join him in the 1813 campaign. They deserted to the allied cause on 11 October 1813. In their first engagement against the French at Hanau, they were terribly mauled by the Old Guard.

  The Bavarian contingent served with the allied armies throughout the rest of the 1813 and 1814 campaigns. When Napoleon was safely tucked away in Elba, Bavaria and Austria once again began to settle territorial disputes. Bavaria ceded back to Austria the Tyrol, Vorarlberg, Salzburg, the Quartier of the Inn and the Circle of Hausruck, except for some small territories. However, the victorious Allies refused to permit the annexation of the Pfalz to Bavaria.

  As compensation, however, Bavaria received the Grand Duchy of Würzburg, Aschaffenburg, Redwitz and a few smaller territories ceded by Hesse-Darmstadt (Hanau), territories from Fulda, from Württemberg (Nordlingen and part of the circle of the Upper Danube, Mergentheim, and others), from Baden (the Circle of Main and Tauber, and others) and the Principality of Isemburg. The King of Prussia renounced his rights to Ansbach and Bayreuth and in return the King of Bavaria renounced his rights to Berg. Finally, the castle at Bayreuth was given to Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, husband of a Bavarian princess and adopted son to Napoleon Bonaparte, as a residence for himself and his family.

  Though Bavaria recovered much of its Rhenish territories on the left bank of the Rhine, including the Duchy of Zweibrücken and the Rhenish Pfalz, there continued to be problems with Württemberg and Baden about these territories. These were settled in 1819, when Bavaria ceded all its possessions on the right bank of the Rhine.

  BEAUCHAMP, ALPHONSE DE (1767–1832). Beauchamp was born in Monaco in 1767. He died in Paris on 3 June 1832. In 1784 Beauchamp entered the Sardinian Marine Regiment, but when Sardinia declared war on France he refused to fight, for what he considered an unjust cause, and was imprisoned for several months. During the course of the Revolution, Beauchamp obtained a government post in Paris and when Robespierre fell, he was transferred to the bureau of the minister of police, where he was charged with the superintendence of the press. Beauchamp used this opportunity to gather materials that he used in his first major historical work, Histoire de la Vendée et des Chouans (1806). Beauchamp became politically unacceptable, however, and not only was his third edition of this work confiscated, he was forced to leave Paris.

  Beauchamp’s historical and biographical works on events of the Revolution and Napoleonic period are valuable because of the sources available to him. Among his later writings were: Vie Politique, militaire et privée du général Moreau (1814); and Catastrophe de Murat, ou Récit de la dernière révolution de Naples (1815). Beauchamp is reputed to have written the Mémoires de Fouché, but it is more likely that he assisted Fouché in its writing.

  BEAUHARNAIS, EUGÈNE-ROSE, DE, PRINCE D’EICHSTÄDT, DUC DE LEUCHTENBERG (1781–1824). Beauharnais was born on 2 September 1781 to future Empress Joséphine and her husband, revolutionary General Alexandre-Françoise-Marie de Beauharnais. His father was executed at the guillotine in 1793. Beauharnais became an ordnance officer under Hoche and was employed under Masséna in Italy in 1795. Beauharnais was appointed by Napoleon as an auxiliary sous-lieutenant and assigned to the 1st Hussar Regiment on 30 June 1797. Beauharnais became an aide-de-camp to Napoleon in June and went with Napoleon during the Egyptian campaign. On 22 December 1799 he became a captain in the Chasseurs à cheval of the Consular Guard, fighting with distinction at Marengo in June 1800. Beauharnais became colonel général des Chasseurs de la Garde impériale on 13 October 1802. On 17 October 1804 he was promoted to général de brigade. After Napoleon became Emperor, he officially became a prince on 1 February 1805. Beauharnais was formally adopted by Napoleon on 16 February 1806 and became Prince of Venice on 20 December 1807, commander of the Army of Italy on 9 April 1809, was defeated at Sacile on 16 April, victorious at Pavia on 8 May, victorious at Raab on 14 June, and served at Wagram. In 1812 Beauharnais commanded the IV Corps, fighting numerous battles, including Borodino. When Napoleon left the Grande Armée in December 1812, Prince Eugène assumed command of the remains of the Grande Armée. His handling of operations in Germany was not firm and he was soon relieved when Napoleon returned to the head of the army. Beauharnais served at Lützen on 2 May 1813, but was soon sent back to Italy to prepare for the upcoming campaign. Beauharnais served as Viceroy of Italy and de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Northern Italy. Beauharnais rebuilt the Army of the Kingdom of Northern Italy and commanded it during the 1813–14 campaign against the Austrians. Though the Austrians outnumbered him almost three to one, he fought an exceptional campaign, winning the battle of Mincio, but was forced to withdraw because of the overwhelming numbers against him and the betrayal of Napoleon by his uncle Murat, King of Naples. Beauharnais signed the Convention of Schiarino-Rizzino that ended hostilities on Italy on 16 April 1814.

  As Beauharnais was married to the daughter of the King of Bavaria, when the wars ended, he moved to Bavaria to live with his father-in-law. The King of Bavaria gave him the Duchy of Leuchtenberg and the Principality of Eichstädt. Beauharnais was named a peer of France on 2 June 1815 and did not serve in the Hundred Days. Beauharnais died in Munich on 21 February 1824.

  BEETHOVEN, LUDWIG VAN (1770–1827). Beethoven was probably born on 16 December 1770 in Bonn. His family is traceable to a village near Louvain, Belgium, but his grandfather moved to Bonn in 1732 where he became a court musician to the Archbishop-Elector of Bonn. His father was also a musician, so at age nine, Ludwig began a course of study on the clavier under a singer named Pfeiffer. Beethoven’s
musical talent was awakened and a child prodigy soon appeared. In 1783 he was given a post as a cembalist in the Bonn theater. In 1787 Beethoven made a short visit to Vienna and played for an astonished Mozart. By 1792 the Archbishop-Elector of Bonn was eager to show off his prize musician and arranged for another trip to Vienna, where Beethoven met Count Waldstein. After returning to Bonn, Hayden, in 1792, having heard of Beethoven, traveled through Bonn and visited Beethoven. Beethoven would shortly go to Vienna and study under Hayden. Because of Beethoven’s abrupt personality, this relationship did not last long and Hayden did not take him to London with him in 1794.

  Beethoven’s musical creativity was phenomenal and he moved music from what Mozart had established further than Mozart had moved the musical art from the mark left by Handel. He would eventually write nine symphonies, five piano concertos, a violin concerto, two masses, an opera, numerous overtures, 32 piano sonatas and numerous other works. Of particular note to the history of the period is the Symphony No.3 in E-flat, Op.55, Eroica. In 1798, General Bernadotte, then French ambassador, suggested to Beethoven that he might write a symphony in honor of Napoleon. Beethoven, seeing Napoleon in the light of the late 18th century, saw Napoleon as an advocate of French freedom, not a despot. Beethoven agreed to write the symphony, but did nothing until the summer of 1803, when he began frantically working on it. It was finished in the spring of 1804, but when Napoleon crowned himself Emperor on 18 May 1804, Beethoven tore the title page in half, prophetically screaming that Napoleon would “become a greater tyrant than anyone!” When the symphony was finally published, it was listed as a “Heroic symphony, composed to celebrate the memory of a great man.” Aside from the historical note, this work was Beethoven’s first truly romantic composition and it started Beethoven down a new musical road that was unprecedented in the world of music.