Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era

by George F Nafziger

  GRIMM, WILHELM CARL (1786–1859). Wilhelm, brother of Jacob, was born in Hanau in 1786. An author in his own right, he shares in the credit for his brother’s greatest work, Grimm’s Fairy Tales. Also a scholar, his first work was a translation of the Danish Kaempeviser, Altdänische Heldenlieder in 1811–13. It brought him far greater fame than that accrued to his brother at that time. Of his other works, the most notable is Deutsche Heldensage.

  GROGNARDS. The term Grognards means the “grumblers” and was given to the grenadiers and chasseurs of the Imperial Guard. The term particularly referred to the Grenadiers à pied de la Garde impériale, but also was applied to the Chasseurs à pied de la Garde impériale.

  GROS, ANTOINE JEAN, BARON (1771–1835). Gros was born in Paris on 16 March 1771. He followed his father into the profession of painting. In late 1785 Gros entered David’s studio. In 1793 he left for Italy, where he studied with Rubens at Genoa. Gros was presented to Joséphine de Beauharnais and through her to Napoleon. On 15 November 1796 Gros accompanied Napoleon to Arcola and witnessed the battle in which Napoleon planted the French flag on the fateful bridge during the heat of the action. Gros seized the incident, prepared a sketch and showed it to Bonaparte. Napoleon, seeing the value of an artist who would portray him in a heroic manner, made him an inspecteur aux revues, which allowed him to continue with the army.

  In 1797 Napoleon commissioned him to select the spoils of the campaign that were to be sent to the Louvre. The year 1799 found him trapped in besieged Genoa. Gros escaped and moved to Paris to renew his painting. His sketch of The Battle of Nazareth won for him the art prize offered by the Consuls, but the commission was not executed because Napoleon did not want Junot’s military exploits to receive such attention. Napoleon compensated him by commissioning him to paint Les Pestiférés de Jaffa, which displayed Napoleon’s visit to the pest house in Jaffa. French medieval tradition has it that French kings had the ability to cure the sick simply by the act of laying hands on them; the painting shows Napoleon laying his hands upon the sick and bringing them relief.

  Gros would become Napoleon’s painter of battles and was subsequently commissioned by Napoleon to paint Battle of Aboukir in 1806 and Battle of Eylau in 1808. Gros continued painting major historical events through the rest of his life, but as his reputation began to tarnish with the rise of Romanticism, he found himself heavily criticized and burdened with a sense of failure. He apparently committed suicide and was found drowned in the Seine on 26 June 1835.

  GROSS-BEEREN, BATTLE OF. The battle of Gross-Beeren was fought on 23 August 1813. The Army of the North, 25,000 to 30,000 men under Bernadotte, engaged the French Army of Berlin, 22,000 men under Marshal Oudinot. Bernadotte attacked Oudinot’s right wing, concentrating his attack on the French IV Corps. The lay of the land permitted him to concentrate his forces there and prevented the Saxon VII Corps from intervening. Having achieved a superiority of forces against the French right and turning it, Bernadotte forced the French and Saxons to withdraw from the field. The allies lost 2,000 killed, wounded and prisoners, while the French lost 3,500 killed, wounded and prisoners.

  The battle was not, in itself, conclusive, but it stopped Oudinot’s advance on Berlin. If Berlin had fallen, it is possible that the Prussians might have withdrawn from the war, though not likely. This allied victory, plus that of Katzbach, fought three days later, however, were to more than offset Napoleon’s victory at Dresden.

  GROUCHY, EMMANUAL MARQUIS DE, MARÉCHAL D’EMPIRE (1766–1847). Grouchy was born in Paris on 23 October 1766. On 31 March 1780 Grouchy entered the Strasbourg military school as an artillery cadet. On 14 March 1781 he became an artillery lieutenant. Grouchy changed service branches and on 1 February was serving as a lieutenant colonel in the 12th Chasseurs à cheval Regiment. By 7 September 1792 Grouchy had risen to the rank of maréchal de camp (major general). Because of his noble birth on 30 September 1793 he was suspended from his functions, but by 29 November 1794 he was fully reinstated and on active duty again.

  On 23 April 1795 Grouchy was provisionally promoted to the rank of général de division and it was confirmed on 13 June 1795. Grouchy served in the Vendée as Hoche’s chief of staff in the Army of the West in 1795 and 1796. He fought at the battle of Quiberon where an invasion by a royalist army was destroyed. Grouchy remained in western France until 1798 when he joined Joubert at Mainz, but promptly moved to Italy and became chief of staff to Moreau in May 1799. Grouchy received 14 wounds during his defense of Pasturana and was taken prisoner when it fell. Once released he returned to service and fought at Hohenlinden on 3 December 1800.

  Under the Empire he resumed active field commands in the cavalry, frequently serving under Murat. Grouchy served in Germany and Poland through 1807, fought in Spain, became a count of the Empire on 28 January 1809, served in Italy in 1809 under Eugène de Beauharnais, fought at Wagram, participated in the invasion of Russia in 1812 and continued into 1813, when on 1 April he was put in retirement because of ill health. Grouchy returned to service in December and became commander in chief of the cavalry of the Grande Armée, effectively replacing Murat, who had defected to the Allies. In 1814 at Vauchamps he won for Napoleon a brilliant victory, and was wounded at Craonne. Grouchy remained with the army after the first abdication, was promoted to maréchal de France on 15 April 1815 and became a peer of France on 2 June 1815. Grouchy commanded the cavalry reserve in Belgium and after the battle of Ligny was given command of the forces sent to pursue the Prussians. Grouchy did a poor job of this and allowed the Prussians to join Wellington at Waterloo, which resulted in Napoleon’s defeat. During the Second Restoration he was court-martialed for his failure at Wavre, proscribed and emigrated to the United States. On 24 November 1819 Grouchy accepted the general amnesty and was restored to the grade of lieutenant general. He was restored to the rank of maréchal de France by Louis-Philippe on 19 November 1831. Grouchy died at Saint-Étienne, while returning from a voyage to Italy, on 29 May 1847.

  GULISTAN, TREATY OF. Signed on 12 October 1813, this treaty ended the Russo-Persian War of 1804–13, by the ceding to Russia of Georgia and other Transcaucasian provinces.

  GUYTON DE MORVEAU, LOUIS BERNARD, BARON (1737–1816). De Morveau was born on 4 January 1737 in Dijon. He studied law and served as advocate-general in the Parlement until 1782. His hobby was chemistry and in 1772 he published a work on phlogiston, crystallization, and other chemical topics. De Morveau worked with A. L. Lavoisier and adopted his views on combustion. Though he continued a political career, his greatest contributions were in the world of chemistry. In 1791 de Morveau was elected to the Legislative Assembly and in 1792 and 1795 to the National Convention. De Morveau served as master of the mint from 1800 to 1814. In 1811 he was made a baron of the Empire. He died in Paris on 2 January 1816.

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  HANAU, BATTLE OF. The battle of Hanau was fought from 29 to 31 October 1813. It was the last major battle of the Napoleonic Wars in Germany. Napoleon was leading the remains of the Grande Armée westward after his massive defeat at the battle of Leipzig (16–19 October 1813). At the head of about 60,000 men, Napoleon found a force of 50,000 Austrians and Bavarians under the Bavarian General der Kavallerie Count von Wrede blocking his route to France. Wrede assumed a position with the unfordable Kinzig River to his back. After a series of cavalry attacks, Napoleon launched the Old Guard in a steamroller attack that blew the allied forces out of their way as if they didn’t exist. The French losses may have run as high as 6,000 killed and wounded with another 4,000 stragglers who were captured, but records do not exist. The Allies, on the other hand, according to their statements, lost about 5,000. The allied losses do not reflect the power of the blow that was delivered. Their forces were broken and badly scattered, but were able to recover after the French had cleared the area. Their losses would have been substantially higher had Napoleon had the time or ability to pursue them as they fled the battlefield.

  HANOVER. Between 1792 and 1815 Hanover consisted of numerous l
ittle states, principal among them were the Duchies of Hanover, Bremen and Lauenburg; the Principalities of Braunschweig (Brunswick)-Lüneburg, Calenburg, and Brubenhagen; the Counties of Hoya, Diephod, Hadeln, Verden and Spielburg; and the feudatory counties of Benthiem and Hohnstein.

  Hanover had a total area of 13,000 square miles and 852,000 inhabitants. The Harz Mountains ran through the duchy and provided lead, copper, iron, silver and other raw materials to drive the country’s economy. The silver drawn from those mines totaled about 30,000 marks per year. The various mines of Hanover provided its elector with 2,000,000 francs revenue annually. There were a further 4,400,000 francs gathered by the prince’s agents and the committee of the state.

  Hanover became an Electorate of the Holy Roman Empire in 1692 but it was not until 1708 that the House of Braunschweig-Lüneburg was able to assume its role. In 1714 George, Elector of Hanover, ascended to the throne of England and, though under the same rule, the two states never merged politically. As a result, they had occasionally found themselves at odds, with England at war and Hanover at peace; for example, during the American Revolution.

  The Hanoverian army was involved in the wars of the French Revolution. The Leibgarde, serving under the Duke von Coburg, was engaged on 23 May 1793 at the battle of Famars. Portions of the Hanoverian army, 10,500 men, were under the Duke of York in August 1793. They were engaged at Rerpoede, in Holland, on 6–7 September 1793. In 1794 Hanoverians were assigned to the defense of the city of Menin where they underwent a substantial siege. On 30 April 1794 the fortress surrendered and 22 officers and 676 men passed into captivity. On 22 May 1794 the Hanoverian Corps was engaged at the battle of the Chin Bridge.

  General Mortier overran and occupied Hanover in 1803. The war between the French and Hanoverians was settled by the Treaty of Sulingen, signed on 3 June 1803. This was followed by the Treaty of Arlenburg, signed on 5 July 1803, which defined the terms of the French occupation of Hanover.

  After the Treaty of Amiens collapsed, Hanover was indefensible. France occupied it under the Convention of Sulingen and its army was disbanded. Napoleon used Hanover as a reward to keep the King of Prussia neutral until after the 1805 campaign was completed, but by then the Prussian king realized that he would not be given Hanover. When Prussia was crushed in 1806 Hanover was dismembered and southern Hanover vanished into the Kingdom of Westphalia and its soldiers became part of the Westphalian army. Northern Hanover was absorbed into metropolitan France in 1810.

  Many of the Hanoverian soldiers escaped to England when Hanover fell to the French. They were reorganized into the King’s German Legion and fought with distinction in Spain. It was in 1813 that the first elements of the King’s German Legion returned to Hanover and formed the nucleus around which the reborn Hanoverian army would grow.

  In early 1813 Russian Cossack General Tettenborn captured Hamburg. With this territory free of the French, the German citizens began arming and forming a new army that would include soldiers from both the Hanseatic cities and Hanover. They were organized into a corps under Wallmoden and fought against Davout’s legions in defense of Hamburg during the spring of 1813. Davout quickly took Hamburg back and began what would be a year-long occupation of the city. Indeed, he held it until after Napoleon had abdicated in 1814.

  This force of Hanoverians formed under Wallmoden operated in northern Germany through 1813 and during the 1814 campaign the Hanoverians did little but reorganize their national army, though Wallmoden’s corps was in the field.

  It was not until 18 June 1815, at the battle of Waterloo, that the Hanoverians fielded their army and fought a significant action. When Waterloo was over, the Hanoverians, as part of Wellington’s army, were engaged in the occupation of defeating France, but soon returned to their homeland.

  HARDENBERG, KARL AUGUST VON, PRINCE (1750–1822). Hardenberg was born on 31 May 1750 in Essenroda, Hanover, and as such, was a subject of the British King. Hardenberg studied at Leipzig and Göttingen and entered the Hanoverian civil service in 1770. After traveling in search of a better post he returned to Hanover and married the Countess von Reventlow, becoming a privy counselor and a count. On a trip to London his wife became romantically involved with the Prince of Wales, which forced him to leave Hanoverian service.

  In 1782 Hardenberg entered the Brunswick civil service, but his wife’s immoral behavior forced him to leave yet again. After divorcing his first wife, Hardenberg married again. In 1792 Hardenberg became administrator of Ansbach and Bayreuth, then part of Prussia. Here he began a long and successful career in Prussian service. Hardenberg served as deputy for Foreign Minister Haugwitz in 1803 and succeeded him in 1803.

  Hardenberg had made himself unpopular with Napoleon and when the Treaty of Tilsit called for the transfer of Hanover to Prussia in exchange for the transfer of all its southern territories, it also contained the condition that Hardenberg be removed from Prussian service. Hardenberg was removed from service, served from April to July 1807, and was dismissed yet again. On 6 June 1810 he was made chancellor and became an ardent Prussian nationalist. Hardenberg served as plenipotentiary to the Congress of Vienna. Hardenberg was no match for Metternich and at the congress, despite Russia’s support, he failed to secure the annexation of all of Saxony. After the Hundred Days Hardenberg advocated the dismemberment of France and was rebuffed there as well. Hardenberg was at the congresses of Aix-la-Chapelle (Aachen), Troppau, Laibach and Verona, but his voice was not heard over that of Metternich. Hardenberg died in Genoa on 26 November 1822.

  HAUGWITZ, CHRISTIAN AUGUST HEINRICH KURT, COUNT VON, FREIHERR VON KRAPPITZ (1752–1832). Haugwitz was born in Peucke, near Öls, Germany, on 11 June 1752. In 1791 he was elected to the post of Silesian Provincial Estates General Director. In 1792 Haugwitz was invited into Prussian service and became ambassador to Vienna and later a member of the cabinet in Berlin. The Treaty of Basel, a peace treaty with France, signed on 5 April 1795, ended involvement with the War of the First Coalition and was mostly the work of Haugwitz. Haugwitz was compelled to resign after his efforts to have the King of Prussia force Napoleon to evacuate Hanover.

  Haugwitz resigned in August 1804 and was replaced by Hardenberg. Haugwitz was recalled to work with Hardenberg, but his vacillating policies and Napoleon’s aggression worked against him. Haugwitz signed the Treaties of Schönbrunn (15 December 1805) and Paris (15 February 1806) that gave Prussia Hanover in return for Ansbach, Clèves, and Neuchâtel. Prussia never received Hanover and war resulted. His career ended with the Prussian defeats at Jena-Auerstädt on 14 October 1806. Haugwitz retired from Prussian governmental service and spent his last years in Italy, dying in Venice on 9 February 1832.

  HESSE-CASSEL. In 1792 the territories of Hesse-Cassel were bounded on the north by the Electorate of Hanover and the Bishoprics of Paderborn and Leichsfeld; on the east by the Duchies of Saxe-Weimar, Saxe-Meiningen, and the Bishopric of Fulda; on the south by Hesse-Darmstadt and Mentz; on the west by France; and the states of the Prince Primate, formerly the Electorate of Cologne.

  The united territories of Hesse-Cassel contained a population of 456,000 inhabitants dispersed over a territory of about 15,500 square miles.

  The territories were composed of several private lordships; namely, those of lower or northern Hesse; of the Landgravate proper; of the county of Ziegenhayn; of the Principality of Hersfeld; those of upper Hesse; of the county of lower Catzenellenbogen; the county of Hanau-Munzenburg; part of the Principality of Henneberg, in which is Schmalkalde, which was famous for its alliance with the Protestant princes during the Thirty Years War; the lordship of Pleisa; part of the county of Schauenberg; and the Bailiwick of Hoga. Cassel was the capital of the possessions belonging to the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel. It contained about 20,000 inhabitants.

  Hessia was divided in 1527 between four of the sons of the Landgrave of Hessia forming the states of Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Marburg and Hesse-Rheinfels. In 1648 Hesse-Marburg was partitioned between Hesse-Cassel and Hesse-Darmstadt
. Hesse-Rhinfels had met the same fate in 1583.

  In 1792 Germany had two Hessian states, Hesse-Darmstadt and Hesse-Cassel. Both states had a strong military tradition, but the strongest tradition existed in Hesse-Cassel. From the Thirty Years’ War to 1792, Hessian troops had fought as mercenaries in nearly every European war. In addition, between 1776 and 1783, nearly 17,000 Hessians had fought for the British in the American Revolution. The landgraves of Hesse-Cassel had, over the years, developed an extravagant lifestyle, which they supported by excessive taxes and by the provision of mercenary troops.

  The landgraves were not particular as to their customers or the market. In 1687 one of them let out 1,000 soldiers to the Venetians fighting the Turks. In 1702, 9,000 served under the maritime powers. In 1706, 11,500 served in Italy. The best customer was, no doubt, England. She had Hessians in her pay through most of the 18th century. Some of them were with the Duke of Cumberland during the Pretender’s invasion of 1745. In 1743 Hessians served in two armies with 6,000 serving with George II of England and 6,000 serving with Emperor Charles VII.

  The most important landgrave was Friedrich II. He was a Catholic ruler in a Protestant country. His first wife had been an English princess, a daughter of George II. She separated from the landgrave upon his conversion and retired to Hanau with her son.

  After his wife’s departure Friedrich II led an extravagant life. He adopted the cast-off mistress of the Duc de Bouillon, but not content with just her favors, is said to have sired more than one hundred children. His court was modeled on the French court and French was spoken in his court, though he carried on much of his correspondence in German. It was Friedrich II that sent so many of his countrymen to fight in America.