Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era

by George F Nafziger

  Antraigues became a “suspect” in late September and no longer participated in the Assembly. He soon decided to emigrate and went to Switzerland, where he published a number of counterrevolutionary brochures and worked with the Spanish on the invasion of southern France. In June 1793 he joined the Spanish legation in Venice. When Spain signed a peace treaty with France, he moved into Russian service, joining their legation in Venice. Simultaneously, he maintained close ties to Drake, the British ambassador to Venice, and was a secret agent to the Comte de Provence (later Louis XVIII). He corresponded with agents in Corsica, in Languedoc, and with Pichegru and publicly spoke of eliminating partisans of the Republic. The Directory decided to dispose of him and had him arrested in Trieste in May 1797. He was taken to Milan where he told Bonaparte everything he knew about the plans of the exiled royalists.

  Upon his release, Antraigues was accused of treason by his former compatriots and shunned. However, he established new relations with the Austrian minister, Thugut, and Prince Czartoryski, serving them as an informer. In 1803 he was named counselor of state by Czar Alexander I and served in the Russian legation in Saxony where he continued his intrigues and published a violent pamphlet against Napoleon. He left Russian service after the signing of the Treaty of Tilsit and went to London, where he revealed the secret articles of that treaty to the British in exchange for a pension. He was given a post in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Canning used him when dealing with French affairs. He and his wife were murdered on 22 July 1812 in London by an Italian servant. His papers were immediately seized by the British government, giving his murder the appearance of a political murder.

  APPERLEY, CHARLES JAMES (1777–1843). An English sportsman and sporting writer, Apperley is better known under his nom de plume, ‘Nimrod,’ which he used in his works on the chase and the turf. Some of Apperley’s most important works include Remarks on the Condition of Hunters, the Choice of Horses, etc., (1831); Memoirs of the Life of the Late John Mytton (1837); Nimrod’s Northern Tour (1838); Nimrod Abroad (1842) and Hunting Reminiscences (1843).

  APPIANI, ANDREA (1754–1817). Born in Milan, Appiani was made a pensioned artist by Napoleon for the Kingdom of Northern Italy. When northern Italy was reconquered by the Austrians in 1814 Appiani lost his pension and fell into poverty. Appiani was a noted fresco painter and his most noted pieces are in the Church of Santa Maria Presso San Celso and the royal palace in Milan. They almost rival those of his master Correggio. His great-nephew Andrea Appiani (1817–1865) was a historical painter in Rome, so Appiani is frequently referred to as “the Elder.”

  ARAKCHEYEV, ALEKSYEI ANDREYEVICH, COUNT (1769–1834). Arakcheyev served Russia as a soldier and statesman. He was descended from a noble family of Great Novgorod. In July 1791 Arakcheyev became an adjutant on the staff of Count N. I. Saltuikov. Saltuikov recommended him to Tsarevich Paul Petrovich to reorganize the army corps at Gatchina. Arakcheyev soon won Paul’s confidence with his zeal and technical skills. Arakcheyev made the Gatchina corps the model for the rest of the Russian army, and, when Paul became emperor, he was promoted and entrusted with the reorganization of the entire Russian army. As the colonel of the Preobragensky Guard Regiment, he started there. Arakcheyev instituted many indispensable hygienic reforms, which soon made him generally detested. The opposition of the Russian officer corps forced his dismissal on 18 March 1798. This disgrace lasted only six months. On 11 August 1798 Arakcheyev was reinstated and on 5 May 1799 was created a count. Paul personally selected his motto, “Devoted, not servile.” His favor lasted only five months and he was dismissed again on the grounds of a false denunciation.

  On 27 April 1803 Arakcheyev was recalled and employed as inspector-general of the Russian artillery. His reforms greatly contributed to the success and power of Russian artillery during the Napoleonic Wars. When the scandals of the commissariat became apparent in 1807–08, Emperor Alexander I realized that the only man who could clean up the mess was Arakcheyev. Appointed in January 1808 as the inspector general and war minister, his stern and incorruptible energy proved more than a match for the problems of the Russian commissariat.

  In 1808, when Alexander ordered the Russian army to cross the ice of the Gulf of Finland it was the stern presence of Arakcheyev that forced an unwilling general and a semimutinous army to begin the campaign that ended a year later with the conquest of Finland. On 1 January 1810 Arakcheyev became a member of the Council of Ministers and a senator, while continuing as war minister. His position was not strong because of the many enemies he had made over the years and he was once again alienated from the emperor. By 1812 Arakcheyev was restored to favor and though he took no direct role in the war, he was by Alexander I’s side throughout it as an indispensable friend and counselor. When Nicholas I ascended the throne, Arakcheyev was in frail health. On 26 April 1826 Arakcheyev resigned all his offices and retired to Carlsbad. He died on 21 April 1834 in his estate at Gruzina.

  Arakcheyev had married in 1806, but the marriage was a failure and he lived apart from his wife.

  ARANDA, PEDRO PABLO ABARCA DE BOLEA, COUNT OF (1719–1798). Aranda was born in the castle of Siétamo in Aragon on 1 August 1719. In his youth he was taken into the military and studied the Prussian system of drill, which he introduced into the Spanish army. Aranda became director-general of artillery under Fernando VII. Aranda resigned that post when he was not allowed to punish fraudulent army contractors and went into a period of disgrace.

  In 1766, during the riots in Madrid, Aranda came into favor with Charles III by restoring order. Aranda became president of the Council of Castile and showed himself to be a competent administrator, introducing many important reforms.

  In 1767, under his ministry, Aranda was responsible for the expulsion of the Society of Jesus Christ from Spain. It is probable that he persuaded the king that the Jesuits were plotting against him. Aranda was held responsible for the diplomatic humiliation Spain suffered over the Falkland Islands and in 1773, Charles III sent him as ambassador to Paris where he remained until 1787.

  During the reign of Charles IV, Aranda served as prime minister for a short period in 1792. His principal function, however, was established by the queen, Marie-Louise, and her favorite, Godoy, and he served as a screen. In his old age, his temper had become uncontrollable and he was insufferable to the king, who had him imprisoned for a short period at Granada, and threatened him with trial by the Inquisition. The threatened trial did not go beyond the preliminary stages and Aranda died in Epila on 9 January 1798.

  ARCIS-SUR-AUBE, BATTLE OF. Fought on 20–21 March 1814. Emperor Napoleon I, commanding a force of 23,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry confronted an allied force of approximately 43,000 under Field Marshal Prince Schwarzenberg. A sharp engagement developed and Napoleon soon realized that he was engaging far more than he could hope to defeat. He broke off the battle and Schwarzenberg was too cautions to pursue him. Holding the field after Napoleon withdrew, Arcis-sur-Aube was an allied victory of little significance.

  ARGELANDER, FRIEDRICH WILHELM AUGUST (1799–1875). Argelander was born in Memel on 22 March 1799, and studied astronomy in Königsberg. His treatise on the path of the great comet of 1811 appeared in 1822. Argelander was made director of the Abo observatory in 1823. In 1832 he moved to a similar post in Helsingfors (modern Helsinki). That same year Argelander was appointed professor of astronomy in the University of Bonn, where he died on 17 February 1875.

  ARMED NEUTRALITY OF THE NORTH. Formed in 1800 as a response of the neutral northern European states to British claims to the right to search neutral shipping for contraband cargoes destined for France. The Baltic states moved to revive the Armed Neutrality of 1780. Sweden, Russia and Denmark were the original members and on 18 December 1800 Prussia joined the league. This was an anti-British league and it immediately affected the British by cutting off critical naval supplies: yardarms, masts, pitch and hemp. It also cut Britain off from grain supplies, which amplified the effects of bad harvests in 1799 and 1800. In e
arly 1801 the British sent a fleet under Admiral Sir Hyde Parker to deliver an ultimatum to the Danes. The ultimatum was rejected and Nelson launched the first battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. The Danes were forced to accept the British terms. The assassination of Czar Paul I that year effectively destroyed the Armed Neutrality of the North.

  ARMFELT, GUSTAF MAURITZ, COUNT (1757–1814). Armfelt was born in Finland on 31 March 1757, and entered Swedish military service. Gustavus III of Sweden employed him in negotiations with Catherine II in 1783 and again with the Danes in 1787. During the Russian war of 1788–90 Armfelt served as a counselor to the King of Sweden. In 1788, when the Danes invaded Sweden and threatened Gothenburg, Armfelt organized the Dalecarlian levies and led them to victory over the Danes. When the war with Russia ended he served as plenipotentiary in the negotiations with Russia that produced the Peace of Verelä.

  When Gustavus III died in 1792 Armfelt was given custody of the infant crown prince and he became a member of the Council of Regency. However, in order to get rid of him, the anti-Gustavian duke-regent, Charles, sent Armfelt to Naples as ambassador. From there Armfelt encouraged Catherine II of Russia to use her military to demonstrate in favor of the Gustavians, but his plot was discovered and he only barely escaped the men sent to take him prisoner. Fleeing to Russia, Armfelt remained there until Gustavus IV attained his majority and ascended the throne. Rehabilitated, he was sent as the Swedish ambassador to Vienna in 1802. Armfelt was removed from this post two years later for sharply attacking the Austrian position against Napoleon. Between 1805 and 1807 Armfelt was commander in chief of Swedish forces in Pomerania, where he fought the French when they invaded.

  After this campaign Armfelt returned to Sweden, only to be expelled for his support of Prince Gustavus. Armfelt took refuge in Russia where he established great influence over Alexander I. Armfelt took no active military part in the various wars but he is credited with gaining the support of Alexander I for Bernadotte’s plan to join Norway to Sweden. He died in Tsarskoe Selo on 19 August 1814.

  ARNAULT, ANTOINE-VINCENT (1766–1834). Arnault was born in Paris. His first play, Marius à Minturnes, was published in 1791 and immediately established his reputation. In 1792 Arnault wrote a second republican tragedy, Lucrèce. Napoleon commissioned him in 1797 to reorganize the Ionian Islands, nominated him to the Institut de France, and made him secretary-general of the university. Arnault stood by Napoleon until 1819. His Fables published in 1813, 1815 and 1826 are probably his best-known works. Arnault collaborated in the Vie politique et militaire de Napoléon (1833). His complete works (Oeuvres complètes) were published in 1818–19. His eldest son, Émilien Lucien (1787–1863), was also a playwright, and wrote several tragedies of some note.

  ARNDT, ERNST MORITZ (1769–1860). Arndt was born a Swedish citizen at Schoritz on the island of Rügen on 26 December 1796. Arndt was educated in Stralsund, Griefswald and Jena. Arndt completed the requirements for the Lutheran ministry, but at age 28 renounced the ministry and began an 18-month wandering life. When he returned to Germany he was embittered by the ruination he saw that had been caused by the French. In 1800 Arndt settled in Greifswald and published Freiheit der alten Republiken. In 1803 he published Germanien und Europa, which expressed his views of the French aggression. In 1803 his most remarkable book, Versuch einer Geschichte der Leibeigenschaft in Pommern und Rügen was published. It was a moving history of serfdom in Pomerania and on Rügen that was so powerful it caused Gustavus IV to abolish serfdom. In 1806 Arndt was appointed to the chair of history at the university at Greifswald. Arndt promptly wrote Geist der Zeit, which called upon his countrymen to throw off the oppressive Napoleonic yoke. The reaction by Napoleon was so great that he was forced to flee to Sweden. From there Arndt wrote pamphlets, poems and songs to stir the hearts of his countrymen.

  Von Schill’s heroic death at Stralsund brought Arndt back to Germany in disguise and he arrived in Berlin in December 1809. In 1810 Arndt returned to Greifswald, but could only stay shortly, once again moving out on a series of adventurous travels. In 1812 he was summoned by Stein to St. Petersburg to assist in the war with France. Arndt continued issuing provocative pamphlets and patriotic songs such as Was ist das deutsche Vaterland?, Der Gott, der Eisen wachsen liess, and Was blasen die Trompeten? In 1818 Arndt was appointed to the chair of modern history at the newly founded University of Bonn and from that chair he criticized the reactionary policy of the German powers. Arndt’s boldness offended the Prussians and in the summer of 1819 he was arrested and his paper confiscated. Though liberated, he was once again arrested in the following year and taken before a specially constituted tribunal.

  Though acquitted, Arndt was forbidden to exercise his functions as a professor, but allowed to retain his income. In 1850 Arndt was reinstated to his professorship and in 1841 he was chosen rector of the university. The outbreak of the revolution in 1848 rekindled his earlier enthusiasms and he took a seat as one of the deputies in the National Assembly in Frankfurt. Arndt was part of the deputation that offered the imperial crown to Friedrich Wilhelm IV and was indignant at his refusal to accept it. Arndt retired from public life shortly later and died in Bonn on 29 January 1860.

  ARTOIS, CHARLES-PHILIPPE, COMTE D’ (1757–1836). See Charles X.

  ASPERN-ESSLING, BATTLE OF. Fought on 21–22 May 1809. Emperor Napoleon I, commanding 73,000 French and allied troops, engaged Archduke Charles with a force of approximately 111,000 Austrian troops. Napoleon had pursued the Austrian armies from the Bavarian border to Vienna, where the Austrians crossed the Danube and took up defensive positions. Napoleon impetuously pushed across the Danube and engaged the numerically superior Austrians. His army, however, was dependent upon a single pontoon bridge, which was repeatedly broken by the Austrians. Eventually, unable to deploy his entire force against the Austrians, the tide of battle turned against him and Napoleon was forced to withdraw and concede the battle to them. Psychologically, Aspern-Essling was a major allied victory, for it broke the myth of Napoleon’s invincibility.

  AUBER, DANIEL FRANÇOIS ESPRIT (1782–1871). Auber was born in Caen, France, and at an early age he learned to play several musical instruments. He soon embarked on a musical career, with his first teacher being the Tirolean composer, I. A. Ladurner. Later Auber would study under Cherubini and in 1813 his first composition, the one-act opera Séjour militaire, was produced. It was a failure. In 1822 he began his association with his librettist, A. E. Scribe. Their first opera was Leicester. His works were of the French school, being light and sparkling. Auber would write 50 operas in all.

  In 1829 Auber was elected as a member of the Institut de France. In 1830 he became the director of the court concerts, and in 1842, at the direction of Louis Phillippe, he succeeded Cherubini as director of the Conservatoire. Auber became Maître de Chapelle in 1857 at the direction of Napoleon III. Auber was noted for his charming personality and it won him a strong place in Parisian society. Auber remained in his home during the 1870–71 siege of Paris; however, the harshness of life under the Commune affected him both physically and mentally, hastening his death in 1871.

  AUCKLAND, WILLIAM EDEN, BARON (1744–1814). Generally known as “Eden,” Auckland was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. In 1768 he was called to the bar. In 1772 Eden became undersecretary of state; in 1776 he became commissioner of the Board of Trade; in 1778 commissioner to North America, where he was involved in the dispute with the American colonists. In 1780 Eden became chief secretary for Ireland. He resigned in 1782 and in 1783 took office as vice treasurer of Ireland under the coalition ministry. Eden resigned in December.

  In 1785 Eden opposed Pitt’s free-trade propositions for English-Irish trade. However, that year he joined Pitt’s government as a member of the committee on trade and plantations. In 1786 and 1787 he negotiated Pitt’s commercial treaty with France as well as agreements concerning the East India companies and Holland. In 1788 Eden became ambassador to Spain. Despite that, that same year he was sent on a missio
n to Holland and represented England there from 1790 to 1793. Eden negotiated the support of the Dutch fleet in 1790 and in 1793 attended the Congress of Antwerp. Shortly later he left the government and did not hold office again until 1798. At that time Eden joined Pitt’s government as joint postmaster general. His harsh criticisms of Pitt’s resignation in 1801, plus his continuing in office under the Addington government, ended his friendship with Pitt. Eden was excluded from Pitt’s 1804 government. Eden was, however, included in Grenville’s “All the Talents” ministry as president of the Board of Trade in 1806. Eden would later hold appointments of auditor and director of Greenwich hospital, recorder of Grantham, and chancellor of the Marischal College at Aberdeen. Eden died on 28 May 1814.

  Eden had married Eleanor, sister of the first Lord Minto, in 1776. Among his many children was the novelist Emily Eden (1797–1869).

  AUERSTÄDT, BATTLE OF. Fought on 14 October 1806. Marshal Davout, commanding a force of 26,660 infantry, 1,622 cavalry and 1,681 gunners and engineers, encountered a Prussian force under Field Marshal Duke Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand von Brunswick of 39,550 infantry, 12,250 cavalry and 163 guns. The Duke of Brunswick offered an ineffective battle, committing forces piecemeal. His infantry was unable to overcome the French skirmisher tactics that gradually ate up his infantry. The Prussians were utterly crushed, despite their massive superiority of forces, and fled from the field. The French were too exhausted to pursue. French casualties came to around 7,000, while the Prussians lost 10,000 dead and 3,000 prisoners.