GENERALS OF NAPOLEON (8) - JOURDAN - "The Saviour of Fleurus"

herverisson (70)in #history • 9 years ago

Jean-Baptiste Jourdan was born in 1763 in Limoges, the son of a surgeon. In 1778 (aged 15!), he enlists to go to America fights in the Revolution. Back in France in 1784, he marries and settles as a shopkeeper in his hometown. This is where, 5 years later, the Revolution finds him.

Won over by the new ideals, he is given a field command as captain of a volunteer corp and as soon as 1792 he is in Belgium at the head of the Army of the North. He is fairly successful but the Committee of Public Safety does not like his complaints about the inexperience of his recruits. Recalled, he is forced to retire in Limoges, but less than a year later, due to the emergency of the situation, Jourdan is sent back, this time at the head of the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse, where he wins the decisive battle of Fleurus which enables France to annex Belgium and to repel definitely the threat of an invasion of the home country.

(The Battle of Fleurus.)

During the next two years, he pushes back the Austrians beyond the Rhine. His success and fame are complete. After a stint in the parliament, he is back in the army in 1798 at the head of the Army of the Danube. At this time, he is the most famous and successful general among the armies of the Revolution – somewhat a menace for the future Emperor Napoleon.

Due to rivalries and miscommunications of the Revolutionary armies all over Europe, his new campaign with the Army of the Danube is hindered and he is forced into an humiliating but eventually successful retreats towards the Rhine. Moreover, the Revolution is overstretched and also has armies fighting in Italy under Bonaparte, who proves much more successful than Jourdan at the time.

Which means that, when he is back in Parliament in 1799, Jourdan, as a good Jacobin, does his best to opppose Bonaparte's coup – in vain. Bonaparte is tempted to punish and imprison the Jacobin general, but acknowledges, somewhat resentfully, the popularity of the « winner of Fleurus » and grants him administrative duties far away in Italy, to neutralize any influence he might have. In 1804, eventually, the newly crowned Emperor elevates his rival to the dignity of Marshall, in a bid to accomodate the remnants of the Jacobin faction.

However, Napoleon never really trusts his former rival. In 1806, Jourdan is replaced with Massena when the war breaks with Austria again, and Napoleon sends him back to Italy as general governor of Naples, where he becomes friend with Joseph, the brother of Napoleon. When this one is proclaimed King of Spain, Jourdan accompanies him to Madrid, where he tries as best as he can to influence the outcome of the war. However, once again, Jourdan suffers from not being part of the inner circle of Napoleon's generals.

Marshall Soult, the general-in-chief of the Spanish armies, constantly refuses to pay attention to his advices and orders, and Joseph is a weak king who keeps changing his mind. When the final defeat comes in Vitoria, in 1811, Jourdan loses his Marshall ceremonial baton in the retreat, and furthermore, the Emperor puts all the blame on him for the defeat.

He never takes part again in any war, but he remains true to his ideas : during the Restoration he is a prominent figure in the antiabsolutist party, encouraging also the revolution of 1830. He dies in 1833. Napoleon once said that he never granted the title of « Duke of Fleurus » to Jourdan because he couldn't stand giving him a title better than his, because he never won a victory which had saved France – like Jourdan did.