Marshal of the Empire: Difference between revisions

Among the men who were offered the Marshalate, there was a mix of famous generals, who had commanded the armies of the Republic (Brune, Jourdan, Kellermann, Lefebvre, Masséna, Moncey), as well as more junior generals, whose command never exceeded division-sized forces (Mortier, Ney, Soult). It even included relatively obscure generals from Napoleon's Italian or Egyptian expeditions, who had recently secured their promotion to the top military rank of General of Division, but had never held significant commands (Bessières, Davout, Lannes). Unsurprisingly, this created a certain degree of discontentment among the more senior commanders. André Masséna was noted for his sardonic remark, ''"There's fourteen of us..."'', which he muttered when his friends came to congratulate him for his nomination. [[Auguste de Marmont|Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont]], then a young general, possibly bitter that he had not been nominated also observed that: ''"If Bessières is a Marshal, then anyone can be."'' Ironically, Marmont himself was made a Marshal of the Empire in 1809, though it was said he was awarded the distinction for his close friendship with Napoleon as opposed to any great generalship.

 

 

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