Bessieres

Author(s) Karl Marx
Written 29 September 1857


First published in The New American Cyclopaedia, Vol. III, 1858
Reproduced from The New American Cyclopaedia
Source : Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 18
Collection(s): New American Cyclopaedia

When working on biographical essays on military leaders, Bessières in particular, Marx wrote to Engels on September 17, 1857 inquiring about their military records and their role in individual battles. Marx took into account the description of Bessières as a brave cavalry general contained in Engels' letter to him of September 21. Marx's excerpts on Bessières from the following reference books are extant: C. Mullié, Biographie des célébrités militaires des armées de terre et de mer de 1789 à 1850 (Vol. 1, Paris), The English Cyclopaedia (Vol. V, London, 1856), Meyer's Conversations-Lexicon (Vol. 4D, 1845), and Biographie universelle (Michaud) ancienne et moderne (Vol. 4, Paris, 1854). It seems that Marx also used extracts from A. H. Jomini's book Vie politique et militaire de Napoléon (vols. 1-4, Paris, 1827) enclosed by Engels in his letter of September 11 or 12, 1857.

Bessières, Jean Baptiste, marshal of the French empire, born at Praissac, in the department of Lot, Aug. 6, 1768, killed at Lützen, May 1, 1813. He entered the constitutional guard[1] of Louis XVI, in 1791, served as a non-commissioned officer in the mounted chasseurs of the Pyrénées, and soon after became a captain of chasseurs. After the victory of Roveredo, Sept. 4, 1796, Bonaparte promoted him on the battle-field to the rank of colonel. Commander of the guides[2] of the general-in-chief during the Italian campaign of l796-'97, colonel of the same corps in Egypt, he remained attached to it for the greater part of his life. In 1802, the rank of general of division was conferred upon him, and, in 1804, that of marshal of the empire. He fought at the battles of Roveredo, Rivoli, St. Jean d'Acre, Aboukir, Marengo—where he commanded the last decisive cavalry charge—Austerlitz, Jena, Eylau, and Friedland.,[3] Despatched in 1808 to assume the command of a division of 18,000 men stationed in the Spanish province of Salamanca, he found on his arrival that Gen. Cuesta had taken up a position between Valladolid and Burgos, thus threatening to intersect the line of communication of Madrid with France. Bessières attacked him and won the victory of Medina del Rio Secco. After the failure of the English Walcheren expedition,[4] Napoleon substituted Bessières for Bernadotte, in command of the Belgian army. In the same year (1809), he was created duke of Istria. At the head of a cavalry division he routed the Austrian general, Hohenzollern, at the battle of Essling.[5] During the Russian expedition he acted as chief commander of the mounted guard, and on the opening of the German campaign of 1813, as the commander of the French cavalry. He died on the battle-field while attacking the defile of Rippach, in Saxony, on the eve of the battle of Liitzen.[6] His popularity with the common soldiers may be inferred from the circumstance that it was thought prudent to withhold the news of his death for some time from the army.

  1. ↑ The Constitutional Guard was charged , in accordance with the Constitution adopted in 1791, during the French Revolution, with protecting the King and his palace. It was formed after the disbandment of the Royal Guard. In May 1792 the Legislative Assembly, under pressure from the democratic movement, decreed its dissolution.
  2. ↑ The guides—special sub-units in a number of European armies used for guiding troops. In the French army during the Napoleonic wars they protected Napoleon's headquarters and served as his bodyguard.
  3. ↑ The battles mentioned were fought during the wars of France against the first, second, third and fourth European coalitions. On September 4, 1796, during the campaign in the north of Italy, the French army under Bonaparte defeated the Austrians at Roveredo. On the battle of Rivoli in th e same campaign see Note 65. On the siege of the fortress of St. Jean d'Acre (Acca) during the French expedition to Egypt see Note 5. At the battle of Aboukir on July 25, 1799, during the same expedition, the French destroyed a Turkish force landed by the Anglo-Turkish fleet on the Egyptian coast. On the battle of Marengo see Note 69. The battle of Austerlitz (Moravia) on December 2, 1805 between the Russo-Austrian and Frenc h armie s was won by Napoleon I. After this defeat Austria withdrew from the third anti-French coalition and concluded a peace treaty with Napoleon . Russia and Britain formed a new, fourth, coalition in 1806 and continued the war. At the battle of Jena (Thuringia) on October 14, 1806, the French troops under Napoleon routed the Prussians. The same day Marshal Davout's troops defeated the main Prussian forces at Auerstädt. The defeat of Prussia—a member of the fourth anti-French coalition—in these two battles (often united in one as the battle of Jena) led to the occupation of most of Prussia by the French. On the battle of Preussisch-Eylau see Note 51. The battle of Friedland between the French and the Russians on June 14, 1807 is described in this volume, pp. 78 and 199.
  4. ↑ A reference to the British naval expedition to the mouth of the Scheldt in July 1809 during the war of the fifth coalition against Napoleonic France. It was undertaken when Napoleon's main forces were engaged against Austria. The British captured Walcheren island, but failed to use it as a base for military operations against Antwerp and other French strong points in Belgium and Holland. They had to evacuate it in December 1809.
  5. ↑ See this volume, pp. 27-33.— Ed
  6. ↑ The battle of Lützen (Saxony) between Napoleon's army an d Russo-Prussian armies took place o n May 2, 1813. Napoleon forced the enemy to retreat, but the retreat was orderly.