CHAMPAGNY, JEAN-BAPTISTE NOMPÈRE DE, DUC DE CADORE (1756–1834). Champagny was born in Roanne, France, on 4 August 1756. He entered the Navy in 1774. In 1789 Champagny was elected by the nobility to serve in the États-généraux. On 21 June Champagny went over to the Third Estate and collaborated with the Constituent Assembly, concerning himself with naval subjects. Between 1791 and 1799, he withdrew from political life. In 1799 Napoleon named him to the Council of State. From July 1801 to August 1804 Champagny was French ambassador to Vienna. Champagny served as minister of the interior from 1804 to 1807. In August 1807 he succeeded Talleyrand as minister for foreign affairs.
In 1808 Champagny oversaw the annexation of the Papal States and was involved in the abdication of Carlos IV of Spain in May 1808. Champagny negotiated the peace after the 1809 campaign and the marriage of Napoleon to Marie-Louise. In 1811 Champagny retired after an argument with Napoleon, but was persuaded to engage in a fruitless mission to Austria in 1814. Champagny joined the Bourbons, but joined Napoleon during the Hundred Days. Louis XVIII excluded him, but in 1819 he was restored to the dignity of a peer. Champagny died on 3 July 1834. His third son, Jérôme Paul, worked on the publication of the correspondence of Napoleon I under his nephew, Napoleon III.
CHAMPAUBERT, BATTLE OF. Fought on 10 February 1814, it was the first of a series of four victories by Napoleon, which resulted in the near destruction of Blücher’s Army of Silesia. Napoleon, commanding 13,000 infantry and 1,700 cavalry, caught Olsufiev in Champaubert with 5,166 infantry and 24 guns. Olsufiev was caught by surprise and overwhelmed. The French lost around 600 casualties. Records are very strong that the Russians lost 3,500 killed, wounded, and prisoners.
CHAPPE, CLAUDE (1763–1805). Chappe was born in Brûlon, France, in 1763. He and his brother Ignace (1760–1829) are noted for the invention of the optical telegraph that was used in France until replaced by the electrical telegraph. The telegraph was accepted by the Legislative Assembly in 1792 and construction began almost immediately. This system allowed Napoleon to transmit messages as far as 50 leagues in 15 minutes and allowed him a degree of control never known before in France. Chappe became depressed and is thought to have committed suicide. Chappe died in Paris on 23 January 1805.
CHAPTAL, JEAN-ANTOINE CLAUDE, COMTE DE CHANTE-LOUP (1756–1832). Chaptal was born in Nojaret, France, on 4 June 1756. Being the son of an apothecary, it was natural that he should study and work as a chemist. When the Revolution came Chaptal managed the Grenelle saltpeter works. In 1797 Chaptal moved to Paris and after the coup d’État du 18 brumaire he was named counselor of state by Napoleon. Chaptal then succeeded Lucien Bonaparte as minister of the interior. A misunderstanding with Napoleon caused him to fall out of favor in 1804, but he was soon rehabilitated. Chaptal is noted for his contributions to the development of modern industry in France through his knowledge of chemistry. Chaptal wrote many treatises on the use of dyes. He died in Paris on 30 July 1832.
CHARLES X, KING OF FRANCE (1757–1836). Charles X was born as the fourth child of the dauphin, Louis, son of Louis XV, and Maria Josepha of Saxony. Known as Charles-Philippe, Comte d’Artois, before his ascension to the throne in 1824, he married Marie-Thérèse of Savoy. His youth was spent in scandalous dissipation, which attracted to him the hatred of the people of Paris. Charles X had no part in politics prior to the Revolution and fled France in July 1789 to become the leader of the émigrés. In 1795 Charles X attempted to aid the royalist uprising in the Vendée, landing at the island of Yeu, but going no further. Charles X remained in England until 1814, only returning to Paris after the allied armies had made it safe for him to to do so. When his brother Louis XVIII ruled, he led the ultra-royalist party. Charles X succeeded to the throne in September 1824 and achieved some initial popularity. However, he soon destroyed this by attempting to reestablish all the evils of the ancien régime. On 25 July 1830 Charles X issued “four ordinances” which immediately provoked a new revolution, one for which he had taken no precautions. The revolution was successful and Charles X abdicated in favor of his grandson, the Duc de Bordeaux, and appointed Louis-Philippe, Duc d’Orléans, lieutenant general of France. When Charles X learned that Louis-Philippe had accepted the crown, he gave up the struggle and withdrew, first to England, then to Göritz, where he died on 6 November 1836.
CHARLES XIII, KING OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY (1748–1818). Born on 7 October 1748 in Stockholm, to Adolphus Friedrich, King of Sweden, and Louisa-Ulrica, sister of Friedrich the Great. Charles served as admiral of the fleet in the battles of Hogland (17 June 1788) and Öland (26 July 1789) during the Russo-Swedish War of 1788–89. When Gustavus III was assassinated at the famous masked ball in Drottningholm, his son, Gustavus IV, was only 13 and too young to assume the throne. Charles, then Duke of Sudermania and uncle to Gustavus IV, served as regent of Sweden until 1796, but the real ruler of Sweden was Gustaf Adolph Reuterholm. In November 1796 Gustavus IV ascended the throne. Charles was expelled from politics until 13 March 1809, when Gustavus IV was dethroned and Charles was once again appointed regent. Bernadotte was given the throne of Sweden, arriving in 1810. In 1814 Bernadotte, by then Charles XIV of Sweden, united Norway to Sweden and became the first King of Sweden and Norway. Charles XIII had been king in title only for eight years. He died on 5 February 1818.
CHATEAUBRIAND, FRANÇOIS RENÉ, VICOMTE DE (1768–1848). Born in Saint-Malo on 4 September 1768 to René Auguste de Châteaubriand, Comte de Combourg. He spent most of his childhood in the family château de Combourg. He studied for the priesthood at the College of Dinan, but decided in 1786 to enter the army instead. In 1788 he received the tonsure in order to enter the Knights of Malta. In 1791 he left for North America in a quest to discover the Northwest Passage and returned to France in 1792, abandoning the church completely and marrying Céleste Buisson de Lavigne, a girl of 17. His marriage brought him a small fortune, but the events of 1792 obliged him to emigrate to London, where he lived in great poverty.
Initially his politics lay between those of the royalists and the revolutionaries. However, this was changed when the Revolution burst into his family’s life. His mother had died shortly after her release from the Conciergerie in 1794. His brother went to the guillotine in April 1794, and both his sisters and his wife were imprisoned in Rennes. His sister Julie did not survive long after her imprisonment.
During this period, 1794 to 1799, the first of his literary works was written, Les Natchez, a prose epic describing the life of the native Americans. It was the first of his Oeuvres complètes (1826–1831). However, his first published work was Essai historique, politique et morale sur les révolutions anciennes (1797). He returned to Paris in 1800 and by 1802 Le Génie de christianisme was published. Its publication occurred upon the event of Napoleon’s reestablishment of the Catholic Church in France and this was a most opportune occurrence. It served Napoleon’s statecraft tremendously and it would also have an immense influence on French literature. Talleyrand responded by appointing Châteaubriand the writer attaché to the French legation in Rome. However, the execution of the Duc d’Enghien (21 March 1804) occurred before he could assume his new post and he immediately resigned it. His political incorrectness continued in 1807 when an article he wrote in Mercure de France (4 July), of which he was the proprietor, offended Napoleon by making allusions to the Roman emperor Nero. The paper was immediately suppressed and in the next year absorbed into the Décade.
Prior to this incident, in 1806, Châteaubriand had traveled to Jerusalem, traveling by way of Tunis, Carthage, Cadiz and Granada. This provided him material for several further works, including the romantic tale Le Dernier Abencérage. In 1811 Napoleon sought to win back Châteaubriand by having him elected to the Académie française, but his vanity and ambition made him dangerous and untrustworthy as a political associate. He was stopped from delivering the address he had prepared for his reception into the Académie, purportedly because of bitter allusions to Napoleon that it contained. For the remainder of the Empire, Châteaubri
and lived in seclusion near Aulnay in an estate he had purchased in 1807. During the First Restoration, Louis XVIII made Châteaubriand his minister of the interior and he accompanied Louis to Ghent during the Hundred Days.
Châteaubriand rapidly became disillusioned with the excesses of the restored Bourbons and drifted into liberalism. Louis XVIII disgraced him in September 1816 for his pamphlet De la monarchie selon la charte. He was forced to sell his library and his estate of the Vallée-aux-loups.
When his enemy Duc Decazes fell, Châteaubriand was given the French embassy to Berlin (1821), then to London (1822), and served as the French plenipotentiary to the Congress of Verona (1822). His autobiography, Mémoires d’outre-tomb was completed in the 1830s. During the same period he translated Milton’s Paradise Lost (1836) and wrote Congrès de Vérone (1838), and Vie de Rancé (1844). He died on 4 July 1848. He was buried on Grand-Bé, an island in the bay of Saint-Malo.
He had been, for the last 15 years of his life, occupied with the writing of his Mémoires and his chief distraction had been his daily visit to Madame Récamier. Shortly after his death, his celebrated Mémoires d’outre-tomb were published (12 volumes, 1849–50).
CHATEAU-THIERRY, BATTLE OF. The battle of Château-Thierry was fought on 12 February 1814. Napoleon deployed around 20,000 men against Yorck’s combined force of Russians and Prussians, around 30,000 men. This was the third battle in the “six marvellous days in February” when Napoleon savaged Blücher’s Army of Silesia (See Champaubert, Montmirail and Vauchamps). Blücher had strung his army out badly and Napoleon advanced down his line of force, gobbling up each force as he encountered it. Yorck was withdrawing and Napoleon maneuvered against him, with Macdonald marching by other routes to cut Yorck’s forces off before they could cross the bridge over the Marne. Macdonald, however, failed to push his men hard enough and allowed the Allies to escape. The French lost around 500 to 600 casualties, while inflicting around 3,000 casualties and taking 3,000 prisoners from the Allies. Between the four battles, the allied documents indicate they lost 28,503 men. If one accepts the French casualty figures for these battles, around 22,500 casualties and prisoners, the remaining 6,000 were apparently deserters, stragglers or those euphemistically called “missing.” Had Macdonald done as ordered, it is probable that Yorck’s entire force would have been destroyed.
CHAUMONT, TREATY OF. Signed on 9 March 1814, it was an agreement between Britain, Russia, Austria and Prussia to pursue the war against Napoleon to the end, should he refuse peace on terms that limited France to her 1792 boundaries.
CHAUVAN, NICOLAS (1790–1820). According to Arago, Chauvan was a simple and loyal Frenchman from Rochefort. He served in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, being wounded 17 times. He had three fingers amputated because of frostbite, had a broken shoulder, received both a saber and a sash of honor for his bravery. Chauvan was devoted to Napoleon and his sentimental patriotism made him a legendary figure. Unfortunately, there are no records in the French archives that verify the existence of Nicolas Chauvan. It is possible that he is a construct based on François-Régis Chavin.
By 1830 Chauvan’s name had entered the French vocabulary in the form of chauvinisme and would arrive in the English vocabulary during the 1858–62 neo-Napoleonic war scare. It entered common usage in 1870. As a word, it has been misappropriated in the last part of the 20th century by feminists as a term of derision of the male of the human species.
CHÉNIER, MARIE-JOSEPH BLAISE DE (1764–1811). Chénier was born on 11 February 1764 in Constantinople, but was raised in Carcassonne and educated in Paris. Chénier served two years in the army and began a career as a songwriter, playwright and writer. In 1792 he produced his work Caius Graccus, which was proscribed at the insistence of the Montagnard deputy Albitte, in 1793. His 1794 work Timoléon was also proscribed, but after the end of the Terror it began to play again. Chénier had been elected to the Convention and served on the Council of Five Hundred. Chénier had also voted for the execution of Louis XVI. Chénier’s political career ended in 1802, though from 1803 to 1806 he served as inspector-general of public instruction. Chénier wrote Cyrus in 1804 in honor of Napoleon, but was disgraced in 1806 for another work. Chénier was the composer of the Chant du départ, which was frequently played by Napoleonic military bands. He died on 10 January 1811.
CHERUBINI, MARIA LUIGI CARLO ZENOBIA SALVATORE (1760–1842). Cherubini was born in Florence on 14 September 1760. He died in Paris on 15 March 1842. From an early age Cherubini studied music and launched a career as a composer. Cherubini reached the peak of his creative powers in 1797 with his opera, Médée. Early on, however, his musical career was not rewarded with much success. He was highly regarded but overshadowed by his contemporary Beethoven. Official recognition did not come until the Hundred Days when Napoleon made him a chevalier of the Legion of Honor. Under the restored Bourbons his position improved further and he was appointed, along with Le Sueur, as composer and conductor to the Chapel Royal. In 1822 Cherubini received the permanent directorship of the conservatory. His works consisted of 32 operas, 29 church compositions, four cantatas and numerous instrumental pieces.
CIMAROSA, DOMENICO (1749–1801). Cimarosa was born on 17 December 1749 in Aversa, Kingdom of Naples. Cimarosa received a good education and was sent to the musical institute of Santa Maria di Loreto. By 1772 he was receiving critical acclaim for his comic operas. From 1784 to 1787 Cimarosa lived in Florence and wrote three biblical operas there, as well as a comic opera, La Ballerina amante, which was very successful. In 1788 Cimarosa moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, by invitation of Catherine II. In 1792 he moved to Vienna at the invitation of Emperor Leopold II. In 1793 Cimarosa returned to Naples and was well received. During the French occupation of Naples he joined the Liberal Party. When the Bourbons returned, Cimarosa and many of his political friends were condemned to death. Only the intercession of his influential admirers had his sentence commuted to banishment. Cimarosa’s health, however, was broken and he died in Venice on 11 January 1801.
CINTRA, CONVENTION OF. Signed on 22 August 1808 after Wellesley’s (later Wellington) victory over Junot at Vimero, Portugal. Wellesley’s superiors in Portugal, Dalrymple and Burrard, agreed to negotiate with the French terms for their withdrawal from Portugal. The resulting agreement permitted free evacuation and repatriation for 26,000 French troops, their baggage and their booty in British ships back to France. The terms of the convention raised such furor in Britain that all three commanders were returned to Britain and faced a court of inquiry. Wellesley was exonerated, the other two were not and ceased to play an active role in the remainder of the war.
CISALPINE REPUBLIC. In May 1796, during the course of his Italian campaign, Napoleon organized the Duchy of Milan (Lombardy) under a civil administration dominated by the French military that became known as the Lombard Republic. In December 1796 delegates from the Duchy of Modena and the papal territories of Ferrara and Bologna formed the Cispadane Republic south of the Po. On 29 June 1797 Napoleon redesignated the Lombard Republic as the Cisalpine Republic and shortly later merged the Cispadane Republic, Mantua, Romagna and part of Venetia into it, putting its frontiers on the Adige and Valtelline. In this form it was recognized by the Austrians in the Treaty of Lunéville.
In 1801 it would be redesignated as the Republic of Italy, and with further territories added to it, in 1805 it became the Kingdom of Italy with Napoleon as king and Eugène de Beauharnais as viceroy.
CLARKE, HENRI, COMTE DE HUNEBOURG, DUC DE FELTRE, MARÉCHAL DE FRANCE (1765–1818). Clarke was born in Landrecies on 17 October 1765. He died in Neuwiller la Roche on 28 October 1818. Clarke entered the École militaire of Paris on 17 September 1781 and became a sous-lieutenant in the Berwick Regiment on 11 November 1782. By 1792 he was a lieutenant colonel in the 2nd Cavalry Regiment. Clarke was named provisionally to the rank of général de brigade by the Répresentants en mission près de l’armée du Rhin on 19 May 1793, but was denounced and suspended from his duties on 12 October 179
3, arrested and incarcerated. After his release he left for Germany, only returning on 15 February 1795 with the assistance of Carnot. In return Clarke served Carnot as his head of the topographical bureau, drawing up operational plans for the revolutionary armies of France.
On 7 December 1795 Clarke was promoted to the rank of général de division. In 1798 he negotiated a treaty of alliance with Sardinia. In frimaire Year VIII Clarke replaced the director of the Depot of War. On 20 July 1801 he became minister plenipotentiary to the King of Etruria. In 1804 Clarke became a counselor of state. Clarke was recalled to active duty on 24 October 1805 and participated in the capture of Ulm. Clarke replaced Berthier as minister of war on 9 August 1807 and served in that post until 3 April 1814. Clarke became a peer of France on 4 June 1814 and replaced Soult from 11 to 20 March 1815 as minister of war. Clarke followed Louis XVIII to Ghent and continued his functions as minister of war for the Bourbons until 9 July 1815. Clarke served as the military governor of various military divisions of France until his death in 1818.
While serving under Napoleon as minister of war Clarke established order and method to the paperwork involved with the movement of men and matériel throughout the army. Clarke was noted as honest, hardworking and well organized.
CLAUSEWITZ, KARL PHILIP GOTTLEIB (1780–1831). His birth date is uncertain, being born on either 1 June or July 1780 in Prussia. In 1792 he joined the Prussian army as a Fahnenjunker (cadet). Clausewitz participated in the 1793–94 campaign against France. In 1801 he was admitted to the War Academy in Berlin, then directed by Scharnhorst. In 1804 Clausewitz graduated from the academy and was appointed aide-de-camp to Prinz August von Preussen. Clausewitz participated in the 1806 campaign and was taken prisoner by the French, being held in captivity until 1807. Clausewitz left Prussian service and entered the Russian service from 1812 until 1814. He was present when von Diebitsch negotiated the Convention of Tauroggen (1812). Clausewitz returned to Prussian service and fought at Waterloo. On 1 October 1818 Clausewitz was promoted to general-major and appointed director of the Prussian war college. Here Clausewitz wrote On War, but it remained unfinished at the time of his death and was published posthumously. Clausewitz died on 16 November 1831 in Breslau of cholera. After his death two schools of military strategy arose, one headed by Baron Jomini and the other the followers of Clausewitz. It would be Clausewitz’s theories of military strategy that proved accurate and he is today heralded as the premier military thinker of his age.
Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era Page 12