Ney was an incredibly brave and competent corps commander. Napoleon gave him the nom de guerre of “Bravest of the Brave” as a result of his actions during the retreat from Moscow. However, Ney had little talent for independent command and during battles he not infrequently forgot his place as a commander and plunged into the thick of them.
NICHOLAS I, CZAR OF RUSSIA (1796–1855). Nicholas was born on 6 July 1796 in St. Petersburg. He was the brother of Czar Alexander I and Grand Duke Constantine. Nicholas married Alexandra Feodorovna (born Princess Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of Wilhelm III) on 13 July 1817 in St. Petersburg. On 17 April 1817 Nicholas became commander of the 6th Cuirassier Regiment. In 1818 he was given a honorary doctorate from Oxford University. On 1 December 1825 he became Czar of Russia. Nicholas died on 2 March 1855 in St. Petersburg.
NORTHERN CONVENTION. The Northern Convention, signed on 18 December 1800, revived the Armed Neutrality of the North against the British blockade of the Baltic. Its signatories were Russia, Sweden, Denmark and Prussia, the latter completing the alliance when it finally joined.
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OLD GUARD. April 1806 was the first time that the term vieille garde or Old Guard was used. The invention of the distinction of Old Guard was necessary, as the functions of the Imperial Guard had bifurcated. The Old Guard was the battle-hardened veterans. This part of the Guard remained the elite battlefield reserve. Because of the lower requirements for the other Guard formations, for the sake of their morale, the newly anointed “Old Guard” needed something to distinguish them and indicate their superiority. The non-Old Guard formations were not subjected to the same rigorous selection criteria as the Old Guard and anything less would be insulting to the veteran grenadiers and chasseurs. In addition, the non-Old Guard units were not expected to be as reliable on the battlefield as the Old Guard, but they were expected to perform as a battlefield reserve on a par with any line formation, if not better because of the superiority implied by their being a Guard.
The units that bore the title “Old Guard” varied from year to year, but generally consisted of the 1st and 2nd Grenadiers and Chasseurs à pied, the senior squadrons of the Grenadiers and Chasseurs à pied, the Mamelukes, the senior Guard foot and horse artillery companies, the gendarmerie d’élite and the original sapeur company.
OSTERMAN-TOLSTOY, ALEXANDER IVANOVICH, GENERAL (1770–1857). Alexander Ivanovich Tolstoy volunteered for service in the Russian army at the age of 18 and immediately participated in the Russian-Turkish War of 1788 under the command of Suvorov. He fought in the battles at Bendery, Izmail and Machin.
By 1796 Tolstoy was colonel of the Bugsky Jager Regiment (light infantry). He inherited the title Count Osterman from his relatives that year and in 1797 he was promoted to general and changed his name to Alexander Osterman-Tolstoy.
In the 1806–07 campaign Tolstoy distinguished himself in the engagement by the village of Charnova, where he held out for 15 hours against the French. His service at the battle of Pultusk won him the Order of St. George, III class. Tolstoy further distinguished himself at Eylau and was rewarded with a golden sword bearing the inscription “For Courage.” Tolstoy was seriously wounded in an engagement at Guttstadt. After his recovery he became the commander of the Preobrazhensky Guard Infantry Regiment as well as the 1st Guards Division.
In the beginning of the war of 1812 Tolstoy commanded the IV Infantry Corps. He distinguished himself in the battles at Ostrowno and Vitebsk. At Borodino, Tolstoy’s corps occupied the key to the Russian position between the Raevsky redoubt and the Bagration fleches. Leading his troops from the front line he was shell shocked and taken off the battlefield. Tolstoy was wounded at Bautzen on 9 May 1813. At the battle at Kulm, on 17 August 1813, he engaged Vandamme’s I Corps and lost his left arm to an artillery shell.
From 1816 Osterman-Tolstoy commanded the Guard Grenadier Corps; in 1817 in the rank of general of infantry he retired for reasons of health. Tolstoy retired to western Europe, living in France, Italy, Germany and Switzerland, dying in Switzerland in 1857.
OUDINOT, NICHOLAS-CHARLES, DUC DE REGGIO, MARÉCHAL D’EMPIRE (1767–1847). Oudinot was born on 24 April 1767 in Bar-le-Duc, France. In 1784 he enlisted in the Médoc Infantry Regiment and was released from service in 1787. During the Revolution Oudinot was made captain of a company of cavalry on 14 July 1789 (the day the Bastille fell). Oudinot began active military service on the Rhine and was confirmed in the grade of général de brigade on 13 June 1795. On 18 October he was wounded by five saber cuts plus a shot to the neck, then taken prisoner. Oudinot was exchanged on 7 January 1796 and on 11 September 1796 received four saber cuts and was shot by a musket ball on the Ingolstadt bridge. On 12 April 1799 Oudinot was promoted to the rank of général de division. On 4 June 1799 Oudinot was wounded again at Rosenberg, while defending the entrenched camp at Zurich. On 14 August 1799 he was shot again while serving near Zurich. Oudinot fought in Italy during the 1800 campaign. In 1805 Oudinot was given command of a division of converged grenadiers and was victorious at the battle of Wertingen. On 16 November 1805 he was wounded again and replaced by Duroc. Oudinot returned to service in March 1806 and in November was charged with organizing a division of grenadiers and voltigeurs. Shortly before Friedland, he fell from a horse and broke his arm, but still was able to serve at the battle of Friedland.
During the 1809 campaign Oudinot once again commanded an ad hoc division of converged grenadiers and voltigeurs. He served at Landshut, carried Ried, was wounded by a saber cut at Essling, replaced Lannes on 23 May 1809, crossed the Danube at Wagram leading the advanced guard on 4 July and was wounded by yet another musket shot. On 12 July 1809 Oudinot was promoted to the rank of maréchal d’Empire. He did not serve in Spain. On 14 April 1810 Napoleon elevated him to the dignity of Duke of Reggio. In 1812 Oudinot commanded a corps and held an independent command on the left of the main army’s advance. Oudinot was victorious at the battle of Deweltowo, defeated at Jakobovo, victorious at Oboiarszina and was victorious at the First Battle of Polotsk (17 August), but was grievously wounded and relieved of command. He resumed command in October and was victorious at Lochnitza. Oudinot was wounded again at the Berezina on 28 November 1812 and wounded again on 29 November 1812.
Oudinot returned to service in the spring of 1813 in time to command the French right at Bautzen. He was victorious at Hoyerswerda, checked at Luckau and defeated by Bernadotte at Gross-Beeren on 23 August 1813. Oudinot fought at Wachau and Leipzig. He was wounded again at Brienne in January 1814, served at La Rothière, Mormant, Méry-sur-Seine, was victorious at Bar-sur-Aube 27 February, and Vendeuvre, and shot again at Arcis-sur-Aube on 20 March. That shot, however, was deflected by his Grand Eagle medal and did no harm.
During the First Restoration Oudinot remained employed under the Bourbons. He did not rally to Napoleon during the Hundred Days and was exiled to his estates. Under the Second Restoration he prospered. Oudinot was made a duke and peer of France on 31 August 1817. In 1823 he commanded a corps during the invasion of Spain. On 21 October 1842 Oudinot became governor of the Hôtel des Invalides and remained there until his death. He died in the Hôtel des Invalides in Paris on 13 September 1847.
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PAËR, FERDINANDO (1771–1839). Paër was born on 1 June 1771 in Parma. He studied music, and his first opera, La locanda dei vagabondi, was published when he was 16. In 1797 Paër moved to Vienna and began writing a long series of operas, including Camilla ossia Il Sotteraneo (1799) and Achille (1801). In 1803 he was appointed composer to the Dresden court theater, where he produced Sargino (1803) and Leonora ossia L’amor coniugale (1804). This latter work was based on the same story as Beethoven’s sole opera, Fidelio. In 1807 Napoleon saw him, hired him and took him to Warsaw, then on to Paris. In 1812 Paër replaced Spontini as conductor of the Italian opera in Paris. He retired in 1823 and was replaced by Rossini. Paër died on 3 May 1839 after having written a total of 42 operas.
PAGANINI, NICCOLÒ (1784–1840). Paganini was born on 18
February 1784 in Genoa. At a very early age he began to study the violin and would become world renowned as a virtuoso of that instrument. Paganini first appeared in public in Genoa in 1793 and was a huge success. He made his first professional tour of Europe in 1797. Paganini was to lead a checkered career for several years and in order to pay his gambling debts at one point he was even forced to pawn his violin. However, a French merchant named Livron helped him out of difficulties and gave him a fine instrument made by Joseph Guarnerius. From 1801 to 1804 Paganini lived in retirement in Tuscany with a noblewoman who had become his lover. In 1805 he began a new tour of Europe, astonishing the music world with his virtuosity, which included playing on the fourth string alone.
In 1813, while in Venice, Paganini became musical director to Napoleon’s sister Élisa, the Princess of Lucca and Piombo. While in Élisa’s service, Paganini began a liaison with the dancer Antonia Bianchi, which lasted until 1828, and in 1826 she bore him a son, Achillino. In 1827 the pope bestowed upon him the Order of the Golden Spur. Paganini’s 1828 tour of Germany and Austria was a sensation. Paganini arrived in Paris in 1831 and that June played in the King’s Theater in London. In 1832 he returned to Italy, but spent 1833 in Paris and in 1834 Berlioz composed for him the symphony Harold en Italie. In 1838 the failure of the “Casino Paganini” gambling house in Paris cost him a considerable fortune. This broke Paganini’s health and he died in Nice on 17 May 1840. He left his fortune, some £80,000, to his son and left his Guarnerius violin to the municipality of Genoa.
Paganini was also noted for a number of his compositions. He composed numerous works for the violin, including eight concertos, and more than 200 works for solo guitar and the combination of violin and guitar. Probably his most famous works are his 24 capriccios, the last of which was used by Brahms, Rachmaninov and Lutoslawski as the basis for compositions of their own.
PARIS, BATTLE OF. The battle of Paris was fought on 30 March 1814. King Joseph Bonaparte, recently deposed King of Spain, commanded 41,000 French troops defending Paris. The main allied armies had abandoned attempting to protect their lines of communication and had advanced directly on Paris, ignoring Napoleon’s attack far to the east. Prince zu Schwarzenberg commanded approximately 60,000 men. Though the French forces were in prepared positions and fought with great vigor, they were mostly green troops or the shattered remains of regular formations. The Allies launched a series of concentric, frontal attacks along the northern bank of the Seine and forced the French to capitulate. The French losses were 4,000 casualties and 1,000 prisoners. The Badeners and Prussians lost 1,953 men, the Württembergers less than 200, the Austrians lost 82 and the Russians, who carried on the bulk of the fighting, lost 5,050 men.
When Joseph surrendered Paris to the Allies he effectively ended Napoleon’s ability to continue the war. Paris was truly the heart of France, both industrially and politically. Without Paris Napoleon’s hope for victory vanished.
PARIS, TREATY OF. The first Treaty of Paris was signed on 30 May 1814 after the first abdication of Napoleon on 11 April 1814 in an effort to establish Louis XVIII as King of France and to construct a lasting peace in Europe. It was signed by Talleyrand for France, Lords Castlereagh, Aberdeen and Cathcart for Great Britain, Prince Metternich and Count Stadion for Austria and Baron Hardenberg and W. von Humboldt for Prussia. Sweden, Portugal and Spain later joined. The allied powers declared that it was their aim to establish a lasting peace based on a just distribution of forces among the powers and that France had returned to the “paternal government of her kings.” It allowed France all territories that it had held on 1 January 1792, restored her colonies except Île-de-France (Mauritius), Tobago, Rodriguez, Santa Lucia and the Seychelles, which were surrendered to Britain, and the part of Santo Domingo that had formerly been Spanish was returned to Spain. France also gained some territories, including a piece of territory south of Mons, a larger piece around Philippeville on the Sambre and Meuse, and a rectification that included Sarrelouis and a piece of land to connect the formerly isolated fortress of Landau. The frontier east of Doubes was improved, as was the frontier around Geneva, Avignon, Venaissin and Montbéliard. All the German enclaves in Alsace were given over to France, as were the subprefectures of Annecy and Chambéry (Savoy). The treaty asserted the independence and the right to federate of the German states and it ceded Malta to Great Britain.
In the secret part of the treaty France was bound to agree in principle to the readjustments and reallocations of territory to be made in the Treaty of Vienna.
The second Treaty of Paris signed on 20 November 1815 established the penal and cautionary measures the Allies found necessary after the Hundred Days to ensure a quiescent France. At its signing, France was represented by the Duc de Richelieu, Great Britain by Castlereagh and Wellington, Austria by Metternich and Wessenberg, Prussia by Hardenberg and von Humboldt and Russia by Rasumovski and Capo d’Istria. The treaty stated that since the Allies had saved France from Napoleon, they were entitled to compensation and security for the future. The territorial penalties were moderate and France retained the enclaves she had gained by the earlier treaty, but she surrendered the northern and eastern frontier adjustments, surrendered Philippeville, Marienbourg, Bouillon, Sarrelouis, and Landau, ceded territories to Geneva and lost Annecy and Chambéry. There were other articles, but the most serious required the payment of an indemnity of 700,000,000 francs and the occupation of parts of France by an army of occupation of 150,000 allied soldiers.
This treaty also declared those steps that the signatory powers were willing to take to exclude the Bonapartes from the French throne. It also established a general alliance between the signatory powers that was to last throughout the five-year occupation of France and beyond. The treaty also stipulated that the powers would hold periodic meetings of their ministers to ensure the maintenance of the general European peace. This last article was the origin of the congresses of Aix-la-Chapelle (1818), Troppau (1820), Laibach (1821) and Verona (1822).
PASQUIER, ÉTIENNE DENIS, DUC (1767–1862). Pasquier was born on 22 April 1767. He became a counselor in the French Parlement. In 1810 Napoleon made him Prefect of Police. In 1812 Pasquier became involved in the strange conspiracy of the republican General Malet. Malet was spreading the story that Napoleon had perished in Russia, launched a coup, and managed to surprise and capture various ministers and other authorities. Pasquier was among those captured by Malet, but he soon regained his liberty. Malet was executed for his troubles when Napoleon returned.
Pasquier resigned shortly after Napoleon abdicated in 1814. Louis XVIII, however, gave him a position controlling roads and bridges. Under the Bourbons Pasquier held various ministerial offices, but refused to join the cabinets at the end of Charles X’s reign. After the 1830 revolution he became president of the Chamber of Peers, which he held until February 1848, when he retired.
PEPE, GUGLIELMO (1783–1855). Pepe was born in Squillace, in Calabria, Italy. In 1799 he took part in the republican movement in Naples. Pepe fought against the Bourbon troops led by Cardinal Ruffo, was captured and exiled to France. He joined the French army and later served under Joseph and Murat when they were kings of Naples. Pepe commanded the Neapolitan brigade in the Peninsular War and returned to Italy in 1813 to help reorganize the Neapolitan army. When Napoleon abdicated Pepe and others demanded a constitution of King Joachim Murat. During the Hundred Days, Pepe served on Murat’s staff. He was retained after restoration of the Neapolitan line of Bourbons and worked to suppress the brigands in the Capitanata. His republican sympathies caused him to conspire to capture the King of Naples, the Emperor of Austria and Metternich in 1819, but the scheme failed. In 1820 a military revolt erupted and Pepe was sent against the rebels. When the revolt was suppressed he was appointed inspector-general of the Neapolitan Army. When the Austrians supported the Bourbon reestablishment of an absolute monarchy, Pepe attacked the Austrians at Rieti on 7 March 1821, but his raw levies were easily repulsed. His army disbanded and he went
into exile.
In 1848 Pepe returned to Naples when it proclaimed a constitution. He was made commander of the Neapolitan army, which was to cooperate with the Piedmontese against Austria, but when it reached Bologna the King recalled him and his troops. Pepe resigned his commission in the Neapolitan army, took 2,000 volunteers and crossed the Po to join the fight. Pepe joined Manin in Venice, but when Venice fell, both Pepe and Manin were among those excluded from the amnesty. Pepe went into exile again and died in Turin in 1855.
PERCEVAL, SPENCER (1762–1812). Perceval was born on 1 November 1762 in Audley Square, London, the second son of John, 2nd Earl of Egmont. Perceval was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, and called to the bar in 1786. He entered Parliament in 1796 and supported Pitt. In 1801, upon the formation of the Addington cabinet, Perceval was appointed solicitor general and in 1802 became attorney general. Perceval opposed Catholic emancipation and in 1807 delivered a speech against it that contributed to the fall of the Grenville administration. Perceval became chancellor of the exchequer under the Duke of Portland, whom he succeeded in 1809 as premier. Perceval remained in office until he was shot and killed by a man named John Bellingham in the lobby of the House of Commons on 11 May 1812, a bankrupt with a grievance. Bellingham had sought redress from him without success. Despite the fact that Bellingham was apparently insane, he was hung for Perceval’s murder.
PÉRIGNON, DOMINIQUE-CATHERINE, MARQUIS DE, MARÉCHAL D’EMPIRE (1754–1818). Pérignon was born in Grenade, France, on 31 May 1754. On 6 July 1780 Pérignon joined the Lyonnais Regiment as a sous-lieutenant. In July 1789 he was a lieutenant colonel in the Haute-Garonne National Guard. On 1781 Pérignon was elected a deputy to the Legislative Assembly and in October became a member of the military committee. In May 1792, however, he left the legislature and returned to the army, fighting the Spanish in the eastern Pyrenees. On 18 September 1793 Pérignon was promoted to général de brigade by the representatives of the people. He continued operations against the Spanish until 1795. Pérignon left those functions and was replaced by Schérer. Pérignon was to take command of the combined Armies of the Coast of Brest and Cherbourg, but instead was made ambassador to Spain on 26 November. In 1798 he was employed in the Army of Italy and commanded the troops stationed in Liguria. In August 1799 Pérignon commanded the left corps of the Army of Italy, was severely wounded in the head and taken prisoner at Novi on 15 August 1799. Pérignon did not return to France until the end of 1800.
Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era Page 28
