Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era

by George F Nafziger

  Irrespective of Napoleon’s opinion of him, Metternich thought highly of him, making him his assistant, confidant and adviser. Gentz accompanied Metternich on all his journeys from 1812 onward. Gentz served as secretary to the Congress of Vienna and to all the following congresses and conferences up to the Congress of Verona in 1822. By the end of Gentz’s life he had long abandoned the liberalism of his youth and accepted Metternich’s view that in an age when old systems were collapsing, it was the duty of a statesman to “prop up moldering institutions.” Called a mercenary with a pen, Gentz died on 9 June 1832.

  GÉRARD, FRANÇOIS PASCAL SIMON, BARON (1770–1837). Gérard was born in Rome on 4 May 1770 to a French father and an Italian mother. He was granted admission to the Pension du Roi in Paris when 12 and passed from there to the studio of the sculptor Pajou. This was followed by two years of internship under the painter Bernet and then under David. David would employ him in his painting, La Mort de Le Pelletier de Saint-Fargeau, executed in 1793. At David’s request Gérard was named a member of the Revolutionary Tribunal, but he invariably absented himself from those onerous duties. His reputation as a painter grew and in 1799 he executed a portrait of Madame Bonaparte, Napoleon’s mother, which established his position as one of the premier portrait painters in Europe. The most celebrated men and women sat for Gérard, including Madame de Staël, Canning, Talleyrand, Wellington and others. His honors included being named baron of the Empire under Napoleon, a member of the Institut de France, an officer of the Legion of Honor, and first painter to the king (Bourbons). Gérard died on 11 January 1837.

  GHENT, TREATY OF. Signed on 24 December 1814, this treaty ended the War of 1812 between Britain and the United States. Unfortunately, due to the slow communications of the day, the last battle, the battle of New Orleans, was fought on 8 January 1815, long after the treaty was signed. The treaty allowed for the return of public and private documents and archives that had been taken by either party. It returned all prisoners held by both parties and Britain promised to stop the attacks on the United States by its Indian allies. It also established the boundaries of the United States and Canada, dealing specifically with the issue of a number of islands that were claimed by both parties. As a note of true cordiality, both the United States and Britain agreed to continue their mutual efforts to end slavery.

  GNEISENAU, AUGUST WILHELM ANTON, COUNT NEITHARDT VON (1760–1831). Gneisenau was born on 27 October 1760 in Schildau, near Torgau, Saxony, to a Saxon family named Neithardt. He assumed the name Gneisenau from his family’s lost estates in Austria. In 1779 he entered the Austrian army and in 1782 transferred to the service of the Margraf of Ansbach-Bayreuth. Gneisenau served with one of the prince’s mercenary regiments in English pay during the American War of Independence. On 8 February 1786 Gneisenau joined Prussian service as a Sekondleutnant and in July he joined the Freiregiment von Chaumontet and would remain in Prussian light infantry formations until 1806. Gneisenau served in the Polish campaign in 1794–95. For the next 10 years he devoted himself to the study of military subjects in the quiet of garrison duty in Jauer. In 1796 Gneisenau married Caroline von Kottwitz. When war erupted in 1806 he served Hohenlohe as one of his staff officers, fought at Saalfeld, Jena, and commanded an infantry brigade under Lestoq. In 1807 Gneisenau was commandant at Colberg and under his command the garrison resisted all French attacks until the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit. For this exploit he gained great renown in Prussian service as well as the order of Pour le mérite and promotion to oberstleutnant (lieutenant colonel).

  In 1809 and 1810 Gneisenau served on diplomatic missions to England, Sweden and Russia. Upon his return he was given the duty of rebuilding the shattered Prussian army. Gneisenau implemented the Krumper system, which allowed the Prussians to train forces far in excess of those allowed by treaty with Napoleon. When Prussia went to war with France in 1813 he was made Blücher’s quartermaster-general and then chief-of-staff to Blücher. Gneisenau was made a count for his services during the 1814 campaign. In 1815 he was once again made chief-of-staff to Blücher. Gneisenau assumed control of the Prussian army when Blücher was injured at Ligny until he was able to resume command. In 1816 Gneisenau became commander of the Prussian VIII Crops, but retired shortly later. In 1818 he was made governor of Berlin and a member of the Staatsrat (State Council). In 1825 Gneisenau became general feldmarshal. In 1831 he was given command of the Army of Observation on the Polish frontier. While at Posen Gneisenau contracted cholera and died on 24 August 1831.

  GODOY, ÁLVAREZ DE FARIA, MANUEL, PRINCE OF PEACE, DUKE OF ALCUDIA (1767–1851). Godoy was born in Badajoz on 12 May 1767 to a noble family. He entered the Guardia de Corps in 1784. A handsome man, Godoy captivated María Luisa of Parma, Queen of Spain. His influence with the queen caused him to be promoted with scandalous rapidity in the army. It also brought him the title Duke of Alcudia and in 1792 he became a minister under Premier Aranda, whom he succeeded within a year. Godoy’s intrigues, and especially his dealings with France, rapidly alienated him from both the nobility and the people of Spain. It grew such that in 1798 Godoy was forced into retirement, even though he retained the king and queen’s favor.

  Though Godoy’s initial entry to power came by virtue of the favors of the queen, he ingratiated himself with the king as well. Godoy succeeded Aranda by adopting a policy of peaceful reconciliation with France that brought him the title “Prince of Peace.” His policies were, overall, ruinous to Spain.

  Godoy was recalled in 1802 and served until 1807, when he struggled desperately to balance the hatred of the nation and Napoleon’s aggressive designs on Spain. An outburst of popular resentment against him in Aranjuez on 17 March 1808 led to his arrest and imprisonment by Fernando VII (Crown Prince of Spain and Prince of Asturias). Godoy was released by order of Napoleon and joined the royal family in Bayonne. Godoy stayed with Carlos IV and María Luisa during their captivity in France and later in Rome where Carlos died in 1819. When Fernando VII died in 1833 Godoy returned to Madrid and attempted to secure the restoration of the properties confiscated from him in 1808. When he failed, he moved to Paris, living on a small pension granted him by Louis-Philippe, until he died on 4 October 1851.

  GORCHAKOV ALEKSEI IVANOVICH (1779–1855). Born in Moscow to a family of Russian nobility, at the age of two Gorchakov was listed in the Russian Guard. He began his military career as lieutenant in 1793. By 1797 he had risen to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Guard and wing-adjudant to Czar Paul I. Gorchakov was promoted to colonel in April 1798 and generalmajor on 5 August 1798. He participated in the 1799 Italian and Swiss campaigns under Marshal Suvorov. Gorchakov distinguished himself at Trebbia, being awarded the Order of St. Anna I class with diamonds, and at Novi. He was promoted to the rank of generalleutnant for his bravery during the crossing of the Alps. He did not participate in the 1805 campaign, but in 1806 commanded the 18th Division and led it through the 1806–07 campaigns. He commanded the right flank of the Russian army at Friedland. In 1809 Gorchakov took part in the occupation of east Galicia, but was relieved of his command because of disagreements with the Russian government.

  In 1812 Gorchakov was asked to serve in the 2nd Army of the West. He distinguished himself at Shevardino and Borodino, winning the St. George III class. He was wounded at Borodino and his recovery was protracted. Gorchakov returned to the army in early 1813. He was awarded the St. Vladimir I class for his actions during the battle of Leipzig. The King of Prussia awarded him the Order of Red Eagle I class for the same action. In 1814 he fought at Brienne, La Rothière, Bar-sur-Aube and Paris and was awarded with the Order of St. George II class. In 1817 he became a member of the War Council. On 1 January 1819 he was promoted to the rank of general of infantry. He served until 1847, living and dying in Moscow in 1855.

  GORODETCHNA, BATTLE OF. Also known as the battle of Podobna, the battle of Gorodetchna was fought on 12 August 1812 between the Austrian Hilfkorps, reinforced by a force of Saxons, under the overall command of Prinz Schwarzenbe
rg and the Russian 3rd Army of the West under Generalleutnant Tormassov. The Austrians and Saxons totaled around 18,000 men and faced 38,000 Russians.

  Tormassov’s forces stood behind a small river bordered by swamps. Schwarzenberg led his forces to his right and pushed across the river behind the Russian position. The Russians, now trapped with the river behind them, drove forward in a frontal attack against the Austro-Saxon lines. The Russians pushed past the Austro-Saxon right, escaping, but suffering around 3,000 casualties in the process. Schwarzenberg lost around 2,000 casualties.

  GOUVION-SAINT-CYR. See Saint-Cyr, Laurent Gouvion.

  GOYA Y LUCIENTES, FRANCISCO DE (1746–1828). Goya was born in Fuendetodos, Spain, near Saragossa on 30 March 1746. He began his art studies in the studio of José Luzan Martínez at Saragossa. At 19 he was a rowdy youth, joining in street scuffles between rival parishes and after one such fight in which three were killed, he was forced to flee to Madrid. Goya’s same behavior shortly encouraged his departure from Madrid and he joined a traveling troupe of bullfighters. Goya eventually arrived in Rome, destitute and his health broken. He resumed his painting studies and in 1771 was awarded second prize in a contest sponsored by the academy of Parma. Later that year he returned to Parma where he painted the frescoes in the Cathedral El Pilar and the Aula Dei church. Goya married in 1775 and returned to Madrid.

  Through family connections Goya received a commission to prepare cartoons to assist Menges as he decorated the Spanish royal palace. Between 1776 and 1780 he supplied 20 cartoons to the factory of Santa Barbara representing scenes of life in the fields, villages and streets. Royal favor soon followed and in 1785 Goya was made director of the Academy of Arts and in 1786 became a court painter, where he painted portraits of four successive sovereigns of Spain and their families. Goya was an ardent proponent of realism and refused to paint flattering paintings. In his portrait Family of Charles IV, rather than paint an accurate picture of one of the daughters, who was truly ugly and would have resulted in a loss of patronage, he turned her face so one can see only the back and side of her head in the portrait. His list of commissions and paintings grew through the remainder of the century, including numerous portraits and religious paintings.

  When the French invaded Spain, Goya joined the Josefinos and worked for Joseph Bonaparte. However, when the people of Madrid rose, he was forced into hiding. It was during this period that his most magnificent works were executed. His painting of the massacre El dos de Mayo (1814) shows the fury of the Spanish people as they attack Napoleon’s Mamelukes in the streets of Madrid with drawn daggers. No doubt this was done to reflect the long struggle of the Spanish people against the Moors prior to the unification of Spain in the 15th century, so for the Spanish it is a particularly poignant painting. Goya immortalized the subsequent war with a series of etchings known as the Disasters of the War, which was a record of French atrocities.

  Toward the end of his life Goya became totally deaf and in 1824 he moved to Bordeaux where he began a series of paintings of common people, The Milkmaid, The Water Carrier, and so on. Goya traveled from Bordeaux to Paris and then back to Madrid for a short stay before returning to Bordeaux where he died on 16 April 1828. In 1919 his remains were transferred to San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid.

  GRANDE ARMÉE. The term Grande Armée was applied to the main French army, generally being that army Napoleon was commanding. It was applied on the basis of theaters and not a large force under the command of one general, so that when the French had armies in Spain, Italy and Germany in 1813, the Grand Armée was those forces under Napoleon in Germany.

  GRATTAN, HENRY (1746–1820). Born on 3 July 1745 in Dublin. When of age, Grattan attended Trinity College and began a lifelong devotion to classical literature. He was called to the Irish bar in 1772, but his practice of the law was not serious. In 1775 Lord Charlemont brought him into the Irish Parliament and soon Grattan assumed the leadership of the Irish National Party. On 16 April 1782 Grattan moved in Parliament to declare the independence of the Irish Parliament from the British Privy Council. Britain soon relented and Grattan was given a £50,000 grant as an expression of the gratitude of his fellow countrymen.

  Because this act had shaken British politics, the first act of the Grattan Parliament was to pass a bill for the support of 20,000 sailors for the British navy. This act of loyalty reassured the English.

  Grattan dominated Irish politics from 1782 to 1800, while refusing any official post under the British crown and constantly encouraging among Irish politicians the will to resist Westminster’s authority. He resigned from the Irish Parliament in May 1797. When the rebellion of 1798 was crushed by the British, he denounced the British loudly. His subsequent proposals for parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation were popular in Ireland, but unpopular in Britain. In 1799 he fell from favor completely. He was dismissed from the Privy Council, his portrait was removed from a hall of Trinity College, and the Merchant Guild of Dublin struck his name from their rolls. However, the threatened destruction of the 1782 constitution restored him to the affections of the Irish people. On 15 January 1800, Grattan appeared in the Irish Parliament to occupy a seat he had obtained by purchase. His presence and subsequent speech electrified the Parliament, but resolved nothing. He soon withdrew from Parliament and took no active part in public affairs until 1805, when he again became a member of Parliament. Fox later offered him a post in his government, but he declined. After 1810 he seldom spoke in Parliament. In 1815 he left the Whig party and supported the final struggle against Napoleon. Grattan gave his final speech in Parliament in 1819. He died on 6 June 1820 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, close to the tombs of Pitt and Fox. Perhaps his greatest epitaph was given by Sydney Smith, when he said, “No government ever dismayed him. The world could not bribe him. He thought only of Ireland; lived for no other object; dedicated to her his beautiful fancy, his elegant wit, his manly courage, and all the splendor of his astonishing eloquence.”

  GRENVILLE, WILLIAM WYNDHAM, BARON (1759–1834). Grenville was born on 25 October 1759 in London. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. In February 1782 he was elected to Parliament from the borough of Buckingham and in September of the same year he became secretary to his brother, Earl Temple, lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He left that office in 1783 but in December of that year became paymaster-general of the armed forces under William Pitt. In 1785 he became vice president of the Committee of Trade. In January 1789 he was chosen speaker of the House of Commons, but vacated that post when he was appointed secretary of state for the home department. Shortly later he left his other offices and became president of the Board of Control and in November 1790 was elevated to the dignity of Baron Grenville. In 1791 he was transferred to the Foreign Office, but retained his post on the Board of Control until 1793. When Pitt resigned as prime minister in 1801, Grenville also resigned. In 1804, when Pitt returned to power, Grenville refused to join unless his political ally, Fox, was also brought into the government. Because of the conflict between Pitt and Fox, this was impossible and Grenville remained out of government until February 1806, when, after Pitt’s death, he became head of a coalition government. Grenville’s government was not successful in foreign affairs, but he did form the Ministry of All Talents, which abolished the slave trade in 1807. When Fox died, Grenville’s government gradually weakened and in March 1807 it resigned.

  Grenville never returned to office after that point, though he was asked on several occasions to serve. Grenville remained in Parliament, supporting Catholic emancipation until his career ended in 1823. He died on 12 January 1834.

  GRIBEAUVAL SYSTEM. A system of artillery named after Jean-Baptiste Vacquette de Gribeauval. Gribeauval had served in the Austrian army during the Seven Years’ War and became an expert on artillery. He returned to France in 1765 and began a reformation of the French artillery system. His system of artillery involved reducing the number of calibers of artillery pieces used by the army to a 4pdr, 8pdr, and 12pdr canno
n, a 6-inch howitzer and 8-inch and 10-inch mortars. The field guns were mounted on a split trail limber that had between its trails a ready ammunition case that allowed the gun to be quickly brought into action. In addition, the Gribeauval guns had two positions for mounting the gun. The first was the firing position and the second was to hold the gun when it was being moved. This second position allowed better balance and easier handling of the gun, thus further facilitating bringing it into action quickly.

  GRIMM, JACOB LUDWIG CARL (1785–1863). Born on 4 January 1785 in Hanau, Hesse-Cassel. He and his brother studied law in Marburg under Savigny. In 1805 Savigny invited Jacob Grimm to join him in Paris and in 1806 he returned to Cassel, where his mother and brother Wilhelm had settled. In 1808 he was appointed Superintendent of the private library of Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, and auditor to the State Council. In 1813, after Jérôme was expelled, Jacob was appointed secretary of the legation to the reinstated Elector of Hesse-Cassel. In this capacity he accompanied the Hessian minister to the headquarters of the allied armies. In 1814 he went to Paris to recover the books taken by the French during their occupation of Hesse-Cassel and in 1814–15 he attended the Congress of Vienna. In 1817 Jacob and his brother moved to Göttingen, where Jacob received an appointment as professor and librarian. In 1837 he was one seven professors who signed a protest against the King of Hanover’s abrogation of the constitution. Jacob was dismissed from his posts and banished from Hanover. He soon moved to Berlin where he joined his brother. Both brothers received professorships and were elected to the Academy of Sciences. He died on 20 September 1863.

  During his life, Jacob Grimm was an active and prolific writer. He was particularly noted for his Deutsche Grammatik (German Grammar), which was published in 1819. He was also noted for his enunciation of “Grimm’s Law,” which relates to consonants in the older Indo-Germanic, low and high German languages. However, for the average reader, the greatest literary contribution by Jacob and his brother Wilhelm was published in two volumes between 1812 and 1814; Kinder und Hausmärchen, or as it is known in English, Grimm’s Fairy Tales.