Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era

by George F Nafziger

  In 1825 as a new war with Turkey was about erupt Senyavin returned to the military service in the rank of general-aide-de-camp and was appointed commander of the Baltic Navy. In 1826 Senyavin was promoted to the rank of admiral and was appointed a senator. In 1827 Senyavin commanded the Baltic Sea Navy Squadron. He died in April 1831. One of Russia’s greatest naval commanders, not only was his name given to several Russian naval vessels, but a group of the Caroline Islands was also named after him.

  SÉRURIER, JEAN-MATHIEU-PHILIBERT, COMTE DE, MARÉCHAL D’EMPIRE (1742-1819). Sérurier was born on 8 December 1742 in Laon. On 25 March 1755 he joined the French militia. In 1759 Sérurier entered the regular army and fought during the Seven Years’ War. He was wounded at Warburg on 31 July 1760. In 1762 Sérurier served in Portugal. He served as an instructor from 1763 to 1769. On 17 March 1789 he was promoted to major. During the Revolution Sérurier continued with the army, rising to lieutenant colonel on 1 January 1791. On 10 October 1792 he was discharged from the army because of his noble heritage and suspicions that he supported the royalist cause. In October 1792 Barras had him reinstated.

  On 25 June 1793 Sérurier was provisionally promoted to the rank of général de brigade and provisionally promoted to the rank of général de division on 22 December 1794. His service at this time was in Italy. He fought at Loano, captured Ceva, fought at Saint-Michel, was victorious at Mondovi, carried Fossano, fought at Borghetto and commanded the siege of Mantua in 1796. It was Sérurier who would eventually receive the surrender of Mantua. After Mantua Sérurier fought at Pavia, Tagliamento and the capture of Gradisca. Napoleon had him carry 22 captured flags to the Directory on 3 June 1797. Sérurier continued to serve in Italy until 1799 and retired on 13 August 1801. He became vice president of the Senate on 22 December 1802 and president of the commission to establish the frontiers between France and Liguria in 1803.

  In 1804 Sérurier replaced Bruyer as governor of the Invalides. On 19 May 1804 he was promoted to the rank of maréchal d’Empire and comte d’Empire on 3 June 1808. Sérurier never returned to the field, but on 31 March 1814, shortly before the Allies entered Paris, he stripped the Invalides of 1,417 flags taken from various enemies as well as the sword and insignia of Friedrich II and burned them rather than allow them to fall into the hands of the Allies. During the Hundred Days Sérurier was relieved of his duties as governor of the Invalides. He was discharged from service only to be readmitted as a maréchal de France on 1 January 1819. Sérurier died in Paris on 21 December 1819, was buried at Père Lachaise on 24 December. He was exhumed and reinterred in the Invalides on 26 February 1847.

  SMOLENSK, BATTLE OF. The battle of Smolensk occurred on 17–18 August 1812. Smolensk was the first big battle in the invasion of Russia and occurred only because the Russians stopped momentarily to defend the city as the 1st and 2nd Armies of the West joined hands. The Russians had around 80,000 men deployed in and behind the city. Napoleon advanced with around 160,000 men and deployed before the walls of Smolensk. The battle was little more than an artillery bombardment, during which the city was set afire. It remains uncertain if the fires were deliberately set or caused by French howitzer shells. The French had no siege artillery and were unable to penetrate the city walls. The Russians, however, had no intention of standing and fighting, and slowly withdrew. The French only succeeded in entering the city when they discovered that the Russians had abandoned the walls. The French may have lost around 7,000 men and the Russians 6,000.

  Though a French tactical victory, it was insignificant strategically, as the Russians escaped a major, pitched battle against the French.

  SOMOSIERRA, ENGAGEMENT OF. The engagement at Somosierra occurred on 30 November 1808. It is not important because of its size or the number of casualties, but because of the amazing feat of arms that occurred during the engagement. Lieutenant General Benito de San-Juan commanded slightly less than 8,000 men and had positioned them on the road passing over the Guadarramas, the last physical obstacle separating the French from Madrid. Approximately 11,000 French, under the command of Napoleon, were advancing to seize Madrid when they encountered the Spanish strongly positioned up the steep and narrow road, with 16 cannon deployed to make any effort to seize the road a bloody one.

  Napoleon was impatient with the apparent delay that would be caused by the Spanish and ordered the Polish Chevauléger escorting him to clear the road. The brave 88 Poles charged forward. Two charges failed, but allowed sufficient French infantry to advance and prepare a proper attack. The road was cleared and Madrid fell shortly later. The French lost around 300 men, including 60 of the Poles. The Spanish lost around 200 men and withdrew.

  SOULT, NICOLAS-JEAN DE DIEU, DUC DE DALMATIE, MARÉCHAL D’EMPIRE (1769-1851). Soult was born in Saint-Amans-la-Bastide, France, on 29 March 1769. He began his military career as a simple soldier on 16 April 1785, rising through the ranks until on 16 July 1792 Soult was elected to the rank of sous-lieutenant. He served in the Army of the Moselle from 1793 to 1794. In 1794 Soult served at Fleurus and joined the Army of the Sambre and Meuse. On 11 October 1794 he was promoted to général de brigade. In 1796 Soult served at Altenkirchen, Wetzlar, Friedberg, and Würzburg and continued his service along the Rhine through 1799.

  On 4 April 1799 Soult was provisionally promoted to the rank of général de division. In 1799 Soult served in Switzerland and was present at Zurich on 25 September 1799. In 1800 Soult served in Piedmont. On 19 May 1804 he was promoted to the rank of maréchal d’Empire and colonel-général de la Garde impériale. In 1805 Soult was victorious at Landsberg, captured Memmingen, fought at Hollabrunn and at Austerlitz carried the Pratzen heights. He commanded the French right at Jena on 14 October 1806, served at the capture of Lübeck, was victorious at Bergfried, served at Hoff, Ziegel Ihoff, commanded the center at Eylau, served at Heilsberg and captured Königsberg.

  In 1808 Soult went to Spain and began five years of combat there. On 29 June 1808 he was named the Duc de Dalmatie. During his Spanish service Soult was victorious at Burgos, occupied Reynosa, served at Santander, Lugo, was defeated at Romana and at Monteray on 4 March 1809, served at Verin, captured Chaves, was victorious at Carvalho and captured Braga and Oporto. He was defeated by Wellington and forced to abandon Oporto. Soult was victorious at the El Arzobispo bridge on 8 August and replaced Jourdan as King Joseph Bonaparte’s chief of staff on 16 September. He defeated the Spanish at Ocaña, captured Seville in February 1810, besieged and captured Olivencia in January 1811, besieged and captured Badajoz, was defeated at Albuera, and was victorious at Venta del Bahul. On 3 January 1813 Soult was recalled to France and given command of the Old Guard on 30 April 1813. Soult fought at Bautzen and Dresden, but on 6 July 1813 was sent back to Spain to command the Army of Spain. His army was on its last legs and was steadily driven back in a series of defeats to Toulouose where he was defeated on 10 April 1814. Soult was relieved of field command on 22 April and served as minister of war from 3 December 1814 to 11 March 1815.

  When Napoleon returned Soult rejoined Napoleon and served at Ligny and Waterloo. Soult rallied the debris of the Army of the North at Laon and then passed command to Grouchy on 26 June. He was banished on 12 January 1816 and retired to Dusseldorf. Soult was allowed to return to France on 26 May 1819 and restored to his rank. Soult served in various capacities, including ambassador extraordinaire to London at the coronation of Queen Victoria on 25 April 1838 and minister of foreign affairs from 12 May 1839 to 1 March 1840. On 26 September 1847 he was promoted to the rank of maréchal-général de France. He died at Château de Soultberg on 26 November 1851.

  SPERANSKI, COUNT MIKHAIL MIKHAILOVICH (1772–1839). Speranski was born the son of a village priest. He studied in the seminary in St. Petersburg and became professor of physics and mathematics. Speranski’s intellect attracted the attention of the government and he became secretary to Prince Kurakin. In 1806 he accompanied Czar Alexander I to the Congress of Erfurt with Napoleon, who described him as “the only clear head in Russia.”
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  Between 1809 and 1812 Speranski held most of the power of government to himself and he continued in high favor with the Czar through 1811, knowing the details of a pending breach with Napoleon and the Continental System. Despite the regard Alexander held for him, Speranski was highly unpopular and became Alexander’s scapegoat for the 1812 crisis. In addition, Karamzin, Rostopchin, Grand Duchess Catherine and the Swedish General Baron Armfield intrigued to have him charged with treason. Alexander ignored this charge, but dismissed Speranski from service on 29 March 1812. Speranski was reinstated to public office in 1816 and became governor-general of Siberia. In 1821 Speranski entered the Council of State and died in St. Petersburg on 11 February 1839.

  STAËL, ANNE-LOUISE GERMAINE NECKER, BARONNE DE STAËL-HOLSTEIN (1766–1817), MADAME DE. Anne Louise was born in Paris on 22 April 1766, to the banker Jacques Necker (1732–1804) and Suzanne Curchod, who acquired fame as the early love of Gibbon. Her childhood was unexceptional, though she was observed to have a strong intellect and underwent a rigorous education for a girl of her day and age. Early in her life Anne-Louise undertook a literary career, with Sophie published in 1786 and Jeanne Grey published in 1790. On 14 January 1786 Anne-Louise married Eric Magnus, Baron of Staël-Holstein. The baron was initially an attaché to the Swedish legation and later minister. She was 20 and he was 37.

  During the Revolution Anne-Louise had become socially acquainted with a number of the influential personages of the period and perceived herself as taking a part in the councils and efforts of the moderates. However, the day before the September massacres, she fled from France. In 1793 Anne-Louise visited England and encountered the moderate liberal emigrants Talleyrand, Narbonne, Jaucourt and others at Mickelham in Surrey. After the queen’s execution she wrote the pamphlet Réflections sur le procès de la reine. When Robespierre was executed Anne-Louise and her husband returned to Paris. With her husband returned to a prominent position in Parisian society, Anne-Louise reopened her salon to the leadership of France and literati of Paris. During this period she also published a number of small works. It was in this period that Anne-Louise rose to political prominence. She soon found herself opposed to the rising Napoleon for both personal and political reasons. She preferred a moderate republic or a constitutional monarchy, not a new absolute monarchy. Anne-Louise was accused of extravagance and after 11 years of marriage, in 1797, the marriage was dissolved. In 1799 her former husband was recalled to Sweden and died in 1802. She had borne him three children: Auguste-Louis, Albert and Albertine, who married Victor, Duc de Broglie.

  It was around 1802 that Anne-Louise began what would be known as a duel with Napoleon. Napoleon was furious with her for her links to the alleged conspirator Jean Moreau, to Camille Jordan who was a hostile pamphleteer and to the appearance of her father’s memoirs, which were very unfriendly to Napoleon. Napoleon found her published works offensive and pro-English. Finally, in 1803 Napoleon ordered that she be exiled from Paris, not to live within 40 leagues of the city. Anne-Louise moved first to Germany and then to Vienna, where she learned of her father’s death. With his death she found herself a wealthy and independent woman. At her château in Coppet she surrounded herself with brilliant company and in 1805 wrote Corinne. In 1806 she moved back to Paris, despite the exile order. Napoleon took no action and she moved about frequently, finally returning to Coppet where she met and married a young Swiss officer named Rocca (23 years her junior) in 1811.

  Anne-Louise’s duel with Napoleon did finally begin to bring results and Napoleon’s police began making life difficult for her guests, so visitors to Coppet became most infrequent. Among others, Mathieu de Montmorency and Madame Récamier were exiled for the crime of seeing her.

  Anne-Louise secretly slipped out of Coppet and traveled to St. Petersburg, then to Stockholm and to England. She was received at a brilliant reception in London and lionized during 1813. Later that year, however, her second son, Albert, was killed in a duel. When Louis XVIII returned to the throne, she went back to Paris, but fled when news of Napoleon’s return reached her. After Waterloo Anne-Louise went to Italy for her own health and that of her second husband, who was dying of tuberculosis. She returned to Paris in 1816 and reestablished her salon, which was much frequented. Anne-Louise died on 14 July 1817.

  STOLBERG, FRIEDRICH LEOPOLD, GRAF ZU (1750–1819). Stolberg was born in Bramstedt, Holstein, on 7 November 1750. He studied in Göttingen, began a career as a man of letters, and joined the Göttinger Hain or Dichterbund (Poet’s Union). Stolberg left the university and went to Switzerland in the company of Goethe. He became the envoy to the court of Copenhagen for the Prince Bishop of Lübeck in 1777. In 1782 he married Agnes von Witzleben. His wife died in 1788. After the death of Stolberg’s wife, he became the Danish envoy to the Prussian court in Berlin. While there he remarried in 1789 to Countess Sophie von Redern. Stolberg was appointed president of the Lübeck Episcopal Court in Eutin in 1791, but resigned the office in 1800, retired to Münster, Westphalia, and while there joined the Roman Catholic Church. Stolberg’s conversion aroused severe attacks from his former friend, Voss. Stolberg eventually moved to his estate in Sondermühlen, near Osnabrück, where he died on 5 December 1819.

  During his life, Stolberg wrote numerous odes, ballads, dramas and satires. Of particular note is his tragedy Timoleon (1784), a translation of the Iliad (1778), translations of Plato (1796–1797), Aeschylus (1802), Ossian (1806), Leben Alfreds des Grossen in 1815 and Geschichte der Religion Jesu Christi (17 volumes, 1806–1818).

  STORACE, STEPHEN (1763–1796). Storace was born in London and studied music under his father, Stefano Storace, at the Conservatorio di Sant’Onofrio in Naples. Storace’s first opera, Gli Sposi malcontenti was produced in 1785 in Vienna. While there Storace became acquainted with Mozart and Storace’s sister, Sophie, sang Susanna in the Marriage of Figaro (Nozze di Figaro). His second opera, Gli Equivoci, based on Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors, was produced in Vienna, followed by the Singspiel entitled Der Doktor und der Apotheker. This latter work was recast as The Doctor and the Apothecary and produced at Drury Lane, in England. His first truly great success, however, was The Haunted Tower, an opera that ran for 50 weeks in 1789. This was followed by The Pirates in 1792. Storace died on 19 March 1796.

  SUCHET, LOUIS-GABRIEL, DUC D’ALBUFERA, MARÉCHAL D’EMPIRE (1770–1826). Suchet was born on 2 March 1770 in Lyon. Suchet entered the national guard cavalry in Lyon in 1791. On 20 September 1793 he was elected a lieutenant colonel, commanding the 4th Battalion of Volunteers of the Ardèche. He fought at the siege of Toulon and took English general O’Hara prisoner in December 1793. Suchet fought at Laono in 1795 and Dego, Lodi, Borghetto, Castiglioine, Bassano, Arcola and Rivoli in 1796. He was wounded at Cerea. On 28 October 1798 he was provisionally appointed général de brigade. On 25 March 1798, after having been transferred to Switzerland, Suchet took the 25 standards captured at Freiburg, Neueneck and Gümenen to the Directory.

  During 1799 Suchet married Honorine Anthoine. Her father was the mayor of Marseille and her mother was Anne-Rose Marseille-Clary, sister-in-law to Joseph Bonaparte. On 10 July 1799 Suchet was promoted to général de division. He continued his service in Italy, serving under Masséna until the war ended.

  In 1805 Suchet commanded the 4th Division of the IV Corps of the Grande Armée. He fought at Ulm, Hollabrunn and Austerlitz. In the 1806 campaign, under Lannes in the V Corps, he fought at Saalfeld, Jena, Pultusk and Ostrolenka. He was made a comte d’Empire on 19 March 1808. In 1808 Suchet was sent to Spain. He fought numerous battles, defeating Blake at Maria, was victorious at the Bridge of Alventosa, was stopped before Valencia, captured Mequineza, defeated Blake again at Puebla de Benaguasil, captured the Orpesa fortress, was victorious at Sagonte, wounded before the Fort of Santoge, blockaded Valencia, defeated at Castalla and was victorious at Molins del Rey.

  Suchet was promoted to the rank of maréchal d’Empire on 8 July 1811. He became the Duc d’Albufera on 24 January 1812 in honor of his greatest
victory at Albuera on 6 May 1811. He was made a peer of France on 4 June 1814 by Louis XVIII. During the Hundred Days he rallied to Napoleon and was stripped of his honors by Louis XVIII after the campaign. Suchet was restored to his rank of peer of France on 5 March 1819. He died at Château de Saint-Joseph or Montredon, near Marseille, on 3 January 1826.

  SWITZERLAND. The Swiss League was a federation of 13 quasi-independent states or cantons. Each canton had its own government. The democratic cantons were Uri, Schwyz, Unterwalden, Zug, Glarus and Appenzell. The governments of these cantons were in the hands of a few families that lived on pensions from various foreign powers. The guild cantons were Zürich, Basel and Schaffhausen. These cantons had their government formed by the guild corporations of the towns. Admission to the guilds was severely limited. The aristocratic cantons were Berne, Lucerne, Fribourg and Soleure. The federal cantons were Valais and Raetian and the monarchic cantons were Neuchâtel, which actually belonged to the King of Prussia, and the territories of the Prince-Bishop of Basel, and the Abbots of St. Gall and Engelberg. The league, which stood over these cantons, was governed by a few charters of commonly accepted law established in the 14th and 15th centuries.

  When the French Revolution erupted the revolution was imported into the league’s territories by invading French troops. There were some native revolutionaries and the Helvetian Club in Paris actually suggested that the French invade Switzerland. In April 1798 the Swiss, in forming the Helvetic Republic, received their first constitution, which was based on the principles of the French constitution of the Directory.

  Valtellina and Valais were cut off from the League in 1797 and 1802 when Napoleon needed the Valais for his communications with the Cisalpine Republic and Valtellina was taken to permit passage from Lombardy to the Tyrol. Ticino was taken in 1810, but Napoleon soon offered to return it. On 30 March 1806 Neuchâtel was given to Marshal Berthier as his private domain.