Louis Nicolas Davout

Louis Nicolas Davout (Annoux, May 10, 1770 - Paris, June 1, 1823), French soldier, Duke of Auerstädt and Prince of Eckmühl, was one of the most efficient lieutenants of Napoleon, popularly known for his severity and rudeness.

Biography

He studied at the Royal Military School of Auxerre, and then at the Royal Military School of Paris. At the end of his studies, Davout entered the Royal Cavalry Campaign Regiment as a second lieutenant in 1788, when he was only 18 years old.

Some years later he was promoted to battalion chief of the 3rd regiment of Yonne volunteers; Between 1793 and 1795 he achieved the rank of brigadier general in the Moselle and Rhine conflicts, where he stood out for his bravery and audacity. His talents and intrepidity led General Jean Victor Marie Moreau to entrust him with important orders, especially in the passage of the Rhine, on April 20, 1797.

He participated in Napoleon's campaign in Egypt accompanied by Desaíx, where he contributed energetically to the victory of Aboukir. Upon returning to France he was appointed major general. In 1802, Napoleon entrusted him with the main order of the consular guard grenadiers; and he appointed him marshal of the empire in 1804.

In 1805 he received command of the third corps of the Grande Armée, with which he achieved great victories in the battles of Ulm and Austerlitz.

A year later he obtained his most brilliant victory at the Battle of Auerstädt, where with only the forces of his III CE he defeated, outnumbered, the bulk of the Prussian army, which was commanded by the Duke of Brunswick (who died in battle), and the King of Prussia Frederick William III in person. This victory was rewarded by the emperor by granting the III CE the privilege of being the first to enter Berlin.

During 1809, Louis Nicolas Davout was present at the battles of Eckmühl and Wagram. He was the first prince of Eckmühl during the battle.

That same year Napoleon entrusted him with the task of organizing the Elbe Observation Corps which, shortly after, became the Grand Army. In 1812, during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia, he won an important victory over the Russians at Mahilyow, although he did not completely defeat Bagration's army due to the slowness of Jerome Bonaparte, in charge of the right wing during the Battle of Saltanovka.

In 1813 he was in charge of the left wing of the French army in Hamburg, Germany, and was at that time one of the few generals who had never been defeated in battle.

He retired during the First Restoration in France, in his lands of Savigny-Sur-Orge.

During the Hundred Days he accepted the Ministry of War and after the battle of Waterloo he received command of the French army in Paris, but despite having a greater number of battalions than the ally, he was forced to sign the armistice with the invading allied powers on July 3, 1815.

In 1822 he was appointed mayor of the town of Savigny-Sur-Orge.

Davout died on June 1, 1823, due to a respiratory problem. He was buried in Paris in the Père-Lachaise cemetery, in a grave prepared by his relatives.

Battles

Davout would participate in the following battles:

• Battle of Aboukir. A Turkish army of about eighteen thousand men led by Mustafa Bajá, landed in Abukir, Egypt, in March 1799. When Napoleon, who was besieging Acre, was informed of it, he lifted the siege from Syria. As he was on his way south, the Ottomans defeated the small French garrisons of the Egyptian coast. On 14 June, the French contingent of Napoleon reached Cairo with only about seven thousand soldiers; the general gathered units of other garrisons and marched north. He found ten days later the Ottomans gathered in Abukir, next to his fleet, deployed in three battle lines and two forts. The French attacked. The inexperienced and backward Turks bravely defended against the more than ten thousand veteran soldiers of the revolutionary wars. At noon, a cavalry charge of General Joachim Murat escaped the Ottomans, took one of the forts and captured Mustafa; with him six thousand men surrendered. The French suffered about 386 casualties. The Ottomans lost another two thousand men killed in combat, and more than four thousand drowned. Another two thousand five hundred Turks were locked in the castle of Abukir, but they had no drinking water. During the following week, a thousand of them died; on August 2, the other survivors raised the white flag.
• Ulm Battle. It was a battle of the Napoleonic wars that took place in Ulm, Württemberg. In 1805, England, Austria, Sweden and Russia formed the Third Coalition to overthrow the French Empire. When Bavaria joined Napoleon, the Austrians, with 72 000 soldiers under the command of General Karl Mack von Leiberich, began an invasion prematurely while the Russians were still marching through Poland. This led to the conflict in Austria before the Russians could come to the forefront. Napoleon, with 177 000 soldiers of the Great Armée in Boulogne, was ready to invade England. As this invasion failed, they marched south on 27 August, and on 25 September they were in a position to confront the forces of General Mack, around Ulm, from Strasbourg to Weissenburg. On 7 October, Mack heard that Napoleon was planning to march around his right flank to cut off their Russian lines, which were approaching via Vienna, thus changing the front, placing his left wing in Ulm and his right wing in Rain, but the French crossed the Danube in Neuburg. Trying to evade the siege, Mack tried to cross the Danube in Günzburg, but he stumbled on the sixth body of the French army on 14 October in the battle of Elchingen, losing 2000 men and being forced to return to Ulm. On 16 October, Napoleon had surrounded the Austrian army in Ulm, and three days later Mack surrendered with 30,000 men. About 20 000 escaped, 10,000 were killed or injured, and the rest was taken prisoner. Some 6000 French were killed or injured. Mack was tried in war council and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
• Battle of Austerlitz. It took place on December 2, 1805, 5 kilometres from the village of Brno, in the current Czech Republic. It was one of the main battles of Napoleonic wars, and it is considered by many as the greatest military triumph of Napoleon. The battle was fought during the period of the Third Coalition War. The conflict involved forces of the newly formed First French Empire, against the armies of the Russian Empire and the Austrian Empire. After about nine hours of combat, the French troops, led by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, were able to win a decisive victory over the Austrian army, led by Tsar Alexander I of Russia. Despite the difficulties of the struggle in several sectors, the battle is often regarded as a tactical masterpiece. The battle of Austerlitz ended effectively with the Third Coalition. On December 26, 1805, Austria and France signed the Pressburg Treaty, which ended the war and strengthened the previous treaties of Campo Formio and Lunéville, forced Austria to yield territories to the German allies of Napoleon, and imposed a compensation of 40 million francs on the defeated Habsburgos. Russian troops were allowed to return to their country. The victory of Austerlitz also allowed the creation of the Rhine Confederation, a collection of German states that separated France from the rest of Europe, as a barrier. In 1806, the Holy Roman Empire ceased to exist when the Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II maintained the name of Francis I of Austria as his only official title. These achievements, however, did not establish lasting peace on the continent. After Austerlitz, Prussia's concern at the growing French influence in Central Europe triggered the Fourth Coalition War in 1806.

• Battle of Auerstädt. He opposed the Prussian army against part of the French army led by Louis Nicolas Davout on 14 October 1806, parallel to the battle of Jena, which took place on the same date. On October 14, 1806, the Prussian army, a reference in Europe for half a century, was defeated in two simultaneous battles. The Marshal Davout, commanding the right wing of the French army, confronted the Prussians in Auerstaedt, while the Emperor Napoleon did it in Jena. The Emperor led the campaign with the aim of taking Berlin. After a meeting in Saalfeld, he continued to pursue the Prussian army. Thinking that he was in Weimar, retreating to Leipzig, accelerated the march to confront him in Jena. His scouts told him they would reach the Prussians on October 13. Napoleon thought he had before him the bulk of the Prussian army. On the night of 13 to 14, he sent Davout forward to confront the right flank of the Prussian army and lead them to open ground, where the bulk of the French troop could face them more effectively. Davout then faces what was actually a very strong army body with more than 60 000 men, against the 26 000 of the French marshal. However, by showing very superior tactical knowledge, he held the forces under the command of the Duke of Brunswick, who died in this action. In the later French counteroffensive, this Prussian army, now under the command of King Frederick William III, is defeated. This defeat, together with that of the Battle of Jena, means for Prussia the end of the war, the occupation of the national territory by the French troops, the taking of Berlin and the renunciation of important territorial possessions, thanks to the Treaty of Tilsit.
• Wagram Battle. From July 5 to July 6, 1809 he confronted the French armies of Napoleon against the Austrian army of the Archduke Carlos in the town of Wagram (now in Austria), in the framework of the Napoleonic wars of the Fifth Coalition. The final result of this battle was the Austrian defeat and the subsequent capitulation of it to the French Empire. The battle took place six weeks after the French defeat in the battle of Aspern-Essling, once Napoleon had secured with reinforcements and fortifications the island of Lobau, in the Danube. On this occasion he would never again make the previous mistake of going across the Danube with a single bridge as a link between his armies and reinforcements. A new pontoon bridge was built to unite Lobau with the northern islands, in the power of the enemy, and with the advantage of bad weather, the French avant-garde moved only a few kilometres east of Aspern and Essling. This movement surprised the confident Austrians, who were not able to impose their higher number against the French bridge head.

Charges

These were some of the main positions he obtained throughout his life:

• Lieutenant in the Royal Cavalry Corps Regiment in 1788. This charge was granted nothing more to finish his studies at the Royal Academy of Paris.
• Chief Battalion of the 3rd Yonne Volunteers Regiment in 1793, during the campaigns of Mosela and the Rhine.
• General Division in 1802. This rank was granted by Napoleon for his great performance in Egypt.
• Marshal of the Empire in 1804. Range granted by Napoleon Bonaparte for his activity and strategy in battle.
• Commander of III Corps of the Great Armeé in 1805, during the battles of Ulm and Austerlitz.
• Prince of Eckmühl in 1809. This title was imposed on him on the same battlefield of Eckmühl.
• Minister of War during the Hundred Days, when Napoleon returned from the island of Elba, where he was exiled, to continue to direct his empire in the conquest of Europe.
• Mayor of the town of Savigny-South-Orge in 1822. When he retired from the French army after the final defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte in the Battle of Waterloo.