Napoleonic Wars MORT DU MARECHAL LANNES antique Dopter engraving early 19C


Napoleonic Wars MORT DU MARECHAL LANNES antique Dopter engraving early 19C

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Napoleonic Wars MORT DU MARECHAL LANNES antique Dopter engraving early 19C :
$83.25


very rare as never seen elsewhere.. 24,2 x 36,5 cm sheet size. Paris chez dopter rue st jacques 21Jean Lannes, Marshal of France,
painting by Julie Volpelière, afterFrançois Gérard.Nickname(s)Roland of theGrande ArméeBorn10 April 1769
Lectoure,Kingdom of FranceDied31 May 1809(aged40)
Ebersdorf,Austrian EmpireBuriedatPanthéon, ParisAllegianceKingdom of the French
French First Republic
First French EmpireYearsof service1792-1809RankGeneral of DivisionBattles/warsFrench Revolutionary Wars,
Napoleonic WarsAwardsMarshal of the Empire,
Légion d\'honneur(Grand Cross),
Name inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe,
Sovereign Prince ofSiewierzand Duke ofMontebello

Jean Lannes,1st Duc deMontebello(10 April 1769 – 31 May 1809), was aMarshal of the Empire. He was one of Napoleon\'s most daring and talented generals. Napoleon once commented on Lannes:\"I found him apygmyand left him agiant\". A personal friend of the emperor, he was allowed to address him with the familiar \"tu\", as opposed to the formal \"vous\".

Contents[hide]
  • 1Early life
  • 2Campaigns of Italy and Egypt
  • 3Service to the Empire
  • 4Death
  • 5Assessment
  • 6References
  • 7External links

Early life[edit]Lannes\' birth house inLectoureSous-LieutenantLannes of the 2nd battalion of theGersin 1792

Lannes was born in the small town ofLectoure, in theGersdepartment in the south of France. He was the son of a Gascon farmer, Jeannet Lannes (1733 – 1812, son of Jean Lannes (d. 1746) and wife Jeanne Pomiès (d. 1770) and paternal grandson of Pierre Lane and wife Bernarde Escossio, both died in 1721), and wife Cécile Fouraignan (1741 – 1799), and was apprenticed to adyer. He had little education, but his great strength and proficiency in all manly sports caused him in 1792 to be elected sergeant-major of the battalion of volunteers of Gers, which he had joined on the breaking out of war between Spain and the French republic. He served through the campaigns in the Pyrenees in 1793 and 1794, and rose by distinguished conduct to the rank ofchef de brigade. However, in 1795, on the reform of the army introduced by theThermidorians, he was dismissed from his rank.

He married twice, inPerpignan, 19 March 1795 to Paulette Méric, whom he divorced because of infidelity in 1800, after she had given birth to an illegitimate son while he was campaigning in Egypt:

  • Jean-Claude Lannes de Montebello (Montauban, 12 February 1799 – 1817), who died unmarried and without issue,

and secondly atDorneson 16 September 1800 toLouise Antoinette, Comtesse de Guéhéneuc(Paris, 26 February 1782 – Paris, 3 July 1856), by whom he had five children:

  • Louis Napoléon(30 July 1801 – 19 July 1874)
  • Alfred-Jean (11 July 1802 – 20 June 1861)
  • Jean-Ernest (20 July 1803 – 24 November 1882)
  • Gustave-Olivier (4 December 1804 – 25 August 1875)
  • Josephine-Louise (4 March 1806 – 8 November 1889)

one who succeeded in his titles and three others who used the courtesy title of Baron. One of his direct descendants,Philippe Lannes de Montebello, was until 2008 the director of theMetropolitan Museum of Art.

Campaigns of Italy and Egypt[edit]Lannes at the battle of Bassano (1796)

He re-enlisted as a simple volunteer in the FrenchArmée d\'Italie, and in its campaign of 1796, he again fought his way up to high rank, being eventually made a general of brigade by orders ofBonaparte. He was distinguished in every battle. At theBattle of Bassanohe captured two enemy Flags with his own hands[1]and was wounded in theBattle of the Bridge of Arcolewhile aiding Bonaparte to escape the Austrian advance. He was chosen by Bonaparte to accompany him toEgyptas commander in one ofKléber\'s brigades, in which capacity he greatly distinguished himself, especially on theretreat from Syria. He was wounded at theBattle of Abukir. He went back to France with Bonaparte, and assisted him in his1799 coup. After Bonaparte\'s take over and appointment as Consul of France, Lannes was promoted to the ranks of general of division and commandant of the consular guard. Back with theArmée d\'Italie, Lannes commanded the advanced guard in the crossing of theAlpsin 1800, was instrumental in winning theBattle of Montebello, from which he afterwards took his title, and bore the brunt of theBattle of Marengo.

Service to the Empire[edit]Jean Lannes\' victory at the battle of Saalfeld (1806)

In 1801 Napoleon sent him as ambassador to Portugal. Opinions differ as to his merits in this capacity; Napoleon never made such use of him again. Lannes purchased the seventeenth-centuryChâteau de Maisons, near Paris, in 1804 and had one of its state apartments redecorated for a visit from Napoleon.

On the establishment of the empire he was created aMarshal of France(1804), and commanded once more the advanced guard of a great French army in the campaign ofAusterlitz. At Austerlitz he had the left of theGrande Armée. In the 1806-07 campaign he was at his best, commanding his corps with the greatest credit in the march through theThuringianForest, theaction of Saalfeld(which is studied as a model today at the French Staff College) and theBattle of Jena. His leadership of the advanced guard atFriedlandwas even more prominent.

After this, Lannes was to be tested as a commander-in-chief, for Napoleon took him to Spain in 1808, and gave him a detached wing of the army, with which he won a victory overCastañosatTudelaon 22 November. In January 1809 he was sent to attempt the capture ofSaragossa, and by 21 February, after one of the most stubborn defences in history, was in possession of the place. He said, \"this damned Bonaparte is going to get us all killed\" after his last campaign in Spain. In 1808, Napoleon created him Duc de Montebello, and in 1809, for the last time, gave him command of the advanced guard. He took part in the engagements around Eckmühl and the advance on Vienna. With his corps he led the French army across theDanube, and bore the brunt, withMasséna, of the terriblebattle of Aspern-Essling. On 22 May he received a mortal wound. His eldest son was made apeer of FrancebyLouis XVIII.

Death[edit]Death of Marshal Lannes at Essling (1809)

On 22 May, during a lull in the second day of theBattle of Aspern-Essling, Marshal Lannes went and sat down at the edge of a ditch, his hand over his eyes and his legs crossed. As he sat there, plunged in gloomy meditation, a cannonball, fired from a gun atEnzersdorf, ricochetted, and struck him just where his legs crossed. The knee-pan of one was smashed, and the back sinews of the other torn. The Marshal said, \"I am wounded; it\'s nothing much; give me your hand to help me up.\" He tried to rise, but could not. He was carried to the tête de port, where the chief surgeons proceeded to dress his wound. One of the marshal\'s legs was amputated. He bore the operation with great courage; it was hardly over when Napoleon came up and, kneeling beside the stretcher, wept as he embraced the marshal. Lannes\' other leg was later also amputated. On 23 May he was transported by boat to the finest house inKaiserebersdorf. Eight days later he succumbed to his wounds at daybreak on 31 May. Lannes was initially buried inLes Invalides, Paris. But in 1810, Lannes was exhumed and reinterred in thePanthéon nationalafter a grandiose ceremony.

Assessment[edit]Tomb of Lannes in thePanthéon, Paris

Lannes ranks withLouis Nicolas DavoutandAndré Massénaas the ablest of all of Napoleon\'s marshals. He was continually employed in tasks requiring the utmost resolution and daring, and more especially when the emperor\'s combinations depended upon the vigour and self-sacrifice of a detachment or fraction of the army. It was thus with Lannes at Friedland and at Aspern as it was with Davout at Austerlitz and Auerstädt, and Napoleon\'s estimate of his subordinates\' capacities can almost exactly be judged by the frequency with which he used them to prepare the way for his own shattering blow. Dependable generals with the usual military virtue, or careful and exact troop leaders likeSoultandMacdonald, are kept under Napoleon\'s own hand for the final assault which he himself launched; the long hours of preparatory fighting against odds of two to one, which alone made the final blow possible, he entrusted only to men of extraordinary courage and high capacity for command. In his own words, he found Lannes a pygmy, and left him a giant. Lannes\'s place in his affections was never filled.

References[edit]
  1. Jump up^Dunn-Pattison, p. 120.
  • This articleincorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain:Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911).Encyclopædia Britannica(11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

Napoleonic Wars MORT DU MARECHAL LANNES antique Dopter engraving early 19C :
$83.25

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