![]() In 1813, Davout commanded the Hamburg military district, and defended Hamburg, a poorly fortified and provisioned city, through a long siege, only surrendering on direct order by King Louis XVIII, who had come to the throne after Napoleon's abdication in April 1814. His inability to hold out at the Battle of Krasnoi until the arrival of Ney and his corps led him into disgrace and he would not meet with the emperor again until his return from Elba. During the retreat he conducted the rear guard, which was deemed too slow by the emperor, and was replaced by Marshal Michel Ney. On 1 July he left Vilnius, occupied Minsk on the 8th and defeated the Russians at Mohilev before he joined the main army at Smolensk, with which he continued throughout the campaign and the retreat from Moscow. In this, he commanded the I Corps, numbering over 70,000. Davout was entrusted by Napoleon with the task of organizing the "corps of observation of the Elbe", which would become the gigantic army with which Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. He was later made Prince of Eckmühl following the campaign. During the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, Davout took part in the Battle of Eckmühl, and also distinguished himself in the Battle of Wagram, where he commanded the right wing. Napoleon left him as governor-general of the newly created Duchy of Warsaw following the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, and the next year awarded him with the title of Duke of Auerstädt. As a reward, Napoleon let Davout and his men enter Berlin first on 25 October 1806.ĭavout at the Battle of Auerstedt, by Dick de Lonlayĭavout added to his renown in the battles of Eylau and Friedland. At Auerstädt, Davout won a battle he could not win". Historian François-Guy Hourtoulle writes: "At Jena, Napoleon won a battle he could not lose. In the subsequent War of the Fourth Coalition, Davout, with a single corps, with the intention to fall on the Prussian left wing, fought and won the Battle of Auerstädt against the main Prussian Army, under the Duke of Brunswick, which had more than twice as many soldiers at its disposal (more than 63,000, to Davout's 28,000). At the Battle of Austerlitz, following a forced march of 48 hours to fall on the left flank of the Russian army, the III Corps bore the brunt of the allies' attack. As commander of the III Corps of the Grande Armée, Davout rendered his greatest services. Davout was the youngest and least experienced the generals promoted to marshal, which earned him the hostility of other generals throughout his career. At the ascension of Napoleon as emperor in 1804, Davout was named as one of the original 18 Marshals of the Empire. : 65 Napoleon, who had great confidence in his abilities, finally promoted him to general of division and arranged his marriage to his sister Pauline's sister-in-law Aimée Leclerc, thus making him part of Napoleon's extended family, and gave him a command in the Consular Guard Grenadiers. On his return, he did not take part in the Battle of Marengo, where his friend Desaix was killed while making a decisive contribution to the victory. He nevertheless served in the campaigns of 1794-1797 on the Rhine, and accompanied General Louis Desaix in the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte. He had just been promoted to general of brigade when he was removed from the active list because of his noble birth. He was chef de bataillon in a volunteer corps in the campaign of 1792, and distinguished himself at the Battle of Neerwinden the following spring. : 94 On the outbreak of the French Revolution, Davout embraced its principles. He graduated on 19 February 1788 and was appointed a sous-lieutenant in the Royal-Champagne Cavalry Regiment in garrison at Hesdin. ![]() ![]() : 4 He was educated at the École de Brienne in Brienne-le-Chateau, the military academy also attended by Napoleon, before also transferring to the École Militaire in Paris on 29 September 1785. Louis-Nicolas Davout, lieutenant-colonel of the 3rd battalion of Yonne in 1792, by Alexis-Nicolas Pérignonĭavout was born at Annoux ( Yonne), the son of Jean-François d'Avout (1739–1779) and his wife (married in 1768) Françoise-Adélaïde Minard de Velars (1741–1810). ![]()
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