The Imperial Military Nobility Quiz

Answer: 24

Although all of the Marshals died as nobles, not all of them were ennobled by the Emperor. Jean-Baptiste Jourdan was only made a Count under the Restoration, while Prince Jozef Antoni Poniatowski had already enough titles on his own and did not need more from the Emperor of the French; not only that, but he was only a Marshal for three days before he died in battle.

Answer: 7

Berthier was made Prince of Neuchâtel in 1806 and later of Wagram in 1809 ; Murat was made a prince in 1804 because he had married Caroline, Napoleon's youngest sister; Masséna was made Prince of Essling in 1809 ; Bernadotte, Prince of Ponte-Corvo in 1809; Lannes, Prince of Siewerz (a title he never actually used) in 1807; Ney, Prince of the Moskova in 1812; and Davout, Prince of Eckmühl in 1809.

Once again, Prince Poniatowski is not included because he did not need Napoleon in order to be a Polish prince - he was one by birth.

Answer: Jean-Baptiste Jourdan

Yes, 'Jean-Baptiste' seemed to be a popular first name at the time.

Jean-Baptiste Jourdan's fame rested almost solely on this victory, yet he was never made the Duke of Fleurus like he wanted; in fact, he was never even made a duke at all. He died as a count, a title given by Louis XVIII during the Restoration.

Of the other three, Kléber and Bernadotte were also at Fleurus, and although the former is just as famous as most of the Marshals, he was not made one - he died too soon, in 1800. Bernadotte already received enough prestigious titles and did not need to ask for one more, especially since he earned the greatest of all - Crown Prince and later King of Sweden - mostly through his own merit. As for Bessières, as far as we know, he never set foot near Fleurus, as he made his career under the Revolution first in Paris then in the South and in Italy.

Answer: Mes cousins

Napoleon already had four brothers who were giving him enough trouble, certainly he did not want more ! By calling his marshals "his cousins", he was perpetuating a tradition of the Old Regime as well as putting some distance between himself and them.

If anyone else wrote to a Marshal, they would have to say "Monseigneur", and if they spoke to him, "Monsieur le Maréchal".

Answer: Chocolates

As it turns out, Marshal Lefebvre liked chocolate just like anyone else, and for some time "chocolates of Danzig" became a way of talking about money. His ennoblement also produced a funny and touching anecdote that was harder to make into a quizz question:

One morning, shortly after the Marshal's victory at Danzig, an ordnance officer came to find him with a message from the Emperor : "Tell the Marshal that I have invited the Duke of Danzig for lunch and that is why I summoned him". When he arrived, Lefebvre patiently waited for another guest, the Duke of Danzig, until Napoleon told him that he was already there, and that it was him, François Lefebvre, the son of an Alsatian miller.

Answer: In his early years as a soldier, he was nicknamed "Beausoleil"

Claude-Victor Perrin started his military career as a drummer in an artillery regiment, and was nicknamed "Beausoleil" due to his jovial and, well, sunny temperament. Some think Napoleon wanted to play a joke on his longtime comrade, others argue that he took his new nobility much too seriously to do that. According to at least one historian (A. G. Macdonell), it was his sister Pauline who suggested that Victor should be made Duke of Bellune, and only told the joke once Napoleon had established the decree.

The Emperor was furious at first, but then joined in the laughter when he saw Victor's flustered face.

Answer: Austerlitz

In the Battle of Austerlitz, on 2 December 1805, Jean-de-Dieu Soult played a decisive part, seizing the heights of Pratzen and separating the Allied armies; on the evening of that battle, Napoleon came to him and said : "You are the finest tactician in Europe".

Despite that, the Emperor considered Austerlitz to be one of his personal victories, and 'sharing' it with anyone was out of the question, leaving Soult to make do with a title that had nothing to do with his many feats. Much later, during the Second Restoration, the Austrian Empire decided to abolish the dukedoms Napoleon had created within its territory, and after raising a public outcry in France, they actually offered Soult to make up for the loss of Dalmatia with a newly-created Dukedom of Austerlitz. Soult, however, refused; opportunistic as he was, he had enough pride not to accept this title from anyone but the Emperor, and Austria was forced to back down and let the dukedoms remain as they were.

Answer: Nazareth

In Nazareth, during the Syrian episode of the Egyptian campaign, Junot and three hundred other soldiers routed four thousand Ottomans; General Kléber was supposed to reinforce him, but by the time he arrived the Ottomans had already fled. According to the Memoirs Junot's widow wrote, the Emperor actually considered making his longtime friend the Duke of Nazareth, but he gave it up rather quickly once he realized what it sounded like. Given Junot's eccentric personality, it is perhaps indeed for the best that he never became "Junot of Nazareth".

In these other battles, Junot behaved bravely although he did not particularly distinguish himself... except in Valoutina, during the Russian campaign, where his inaction lost the battle. Napoleon himself later acknowledged that "in Valoutina, Junot was already insane", and the tempestuous general did become increasingly erratic over time until he committed suicide less than one year after Valoutina, in July 1813.

Answer: To betray

Auguste Marmont has become infamous for betraying Napoleon in April 1814 by defecting to the Allies with the remnants of his corps, thus completely undermining Napoleon's position in his attempts to negotiate with the Allies and have his son become the new ruler of France : the Emperor was counting on the army being united behind him to support his claims, when Marmont's defection blatantly showed it was not. Most contemporaries and later historians have been very critical of this action, especially since the way Marmont tried to justify it in the Memoirs published after his death was rather clumsy and full of contradictions.

However, Louis Chardigny points out that far from being a calculated betrayal, Marmont's defection was a desperate move, and he mostly wanted to avoid further bloodshed once he was convinced Napoleon was determined to fight to the last man. Still, even with that, he failed as a friend, because he abandoned his comrade of twenty years, to whom he owed his meteoritic rise (a popular saying that circulated in the army at the time of his nomination as a Marshal was : "Macdonald is France's choice, Oudinot is the army's choice, Marmont is friendship's choice").

Answer: Guillaume Brune

Guillaume Brune was always a fervent Republican (before joining the Army, he was a Jacobin printer and a friend of Marat, among others), and Napoleon remained wary of him, including him mainly in the first list of the Marshals to keep his Jacobin friends quiet. In 1815, when he needed every bit of help he could get, he made Brune a Count on 2 June and sent him to quell the Royalist insurrections in Southern France. The same Royalists murdered Brune in Avignon exactly two months later.

Grouchy was made a Marshal during this period, but he was already a Count since 1808. It turns out that before being the loser of Waterloo, this cavalryman had had a long and successful career behind him, which is the sole reason Napoleon made him a Marshal in the first place.

Gouvion Saint-Cyr was also made a Count in 1808 but did not rally to Napoleon during the Hundred Days. As often with him, he stayed on his country estate and waited for the events to unfold (and in fact the Bourbons called him to become Minister of War immediately after Napoleon abdicated for the second time).

Obviously, Cambronne was not a Marshal, even though his last stand at Waterloo made him more famous than many of them.