Marcellin Marbot


Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcelin Marbot, known as Marcellin Marbot, was a French general, famous for his memoirs depicting the Napoleonic age of warfare. He belongs to a family that has distinguished itself particularly in the career of arms, giving three generals to France in less than 50 years. His elder brother, Antoine Adolphe Marcelin Marbot, was also a military man of some note.

Biography

Early life

Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcelin Marbot was born into a family of military nobility in Altillac, in the ancient province of Quercy in southwestern France. He was the younger son of General Jean-Antoine Marbot, former aide-de-camp to Lieutenant-Général de Schomberg, inspector general of the cavalry within the Military household of the king of France.
After studying at the Sorèze Military College, he joined the 1st Hussards Regiment as a volunteer on 3 September 1799. He served under General Jean-Mathieu Seras, who promoted him to the rank of sergeant on 1 December 1799. In the same month, on 31 December 1799, he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in recognition of his courage. He fought with the Army of Italy and took part in the Battle of Marengo and the Siege of Genoa, during which his father, General Jean-Antoine Marbot died.
Having returned to France, he joined the 25th Chasseur Regiment on 11 June 1801 and was detached to the School of Cavalry at Versailles.

Napoleonic wars

He became aide-de-camp to Marshal Pierre Augereau on 31 August 1803 and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 11 July 1804. During the war against the Kingdom of Prussia and the Russian Empire between 1806 and 1807, he fought in the VII corps of the Grande Armée. Having distinguished himself at the Battle of Austerlitz, he was promoted to the rank of captain on 3 January 1807. The following month, he took part in the Battle of Eylau, during the course of which he nearly lost his life. After this he served in the Peninsular War under Marshals Jean Lannes and André Masséna, and showed himself to be a dashing leader of light cavalry in the Russian campaign of 1812.
On 15 November 1812 he was promoted to the rank of colonel and took part in the German campaign of 1813 as the commander of a cavalry regiment. During the morning of the first day of the Battle of Leipzig, Marbot nearly changed the course of the entire war when his regiment came close to capturing the Tsar of Russia, Alexander I and the King of Prussia, Frederick William III, as they had strayed from their escort. After a slow recovery from the wounds he had received at the battles of Leipzig and Hanau, he took part in the Battle of Waterloo alongside Emperor Napoleon I during the Hundred Days.
After the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, he was exiled during the first years of the Bourbon Restoration and only returned to France in 1819.

July Monarchy

During the July Monarchy, his intimacy with King Louis Philippe I and his son, Prince Ferdinand Philippe of Orléans secured him important military positions. He was promoted to the rank of maréchal de camp, and in this rank he was present at the Siege of Antwerp in 1832.
From 1835 to 1840 he served in various Algerian expeditions, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-général in 1836. In 1845 he was made a member of the Chamber of Peers. Three years later, at the fall of King Louis Philippe I, he retired into private life.

Family

His father, General Jean-Antoine Marbot, had four sons, only two whom reached adulthood: Antoine Adolphe Marcelin, the elder, maréchal de camp during the July Monarchy, and Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcelin, the younger. Through his mother, he was the cousin of François Certain de Canrobert, marshal of France during the Second French Empire.
On 5 November 1811, he married Angélique Marie Caroline Personne-Desbrières, and by this alliance became the owner of the Château du Rancy in Bonneuil-sur-Marne. They had two sons:
Marbot received the following decorations:
French Empire
Kingdom of France
Kingdom of France
Kingdom of Belgium
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg
Marbot endured 13 wounds and injuries during his service:

Publications

In exile after Battle of Waterloo, Marbot returned to France in 1819 and wrote two books:
The first publication was a reply to General Joseph Rogniat’s treatise on war, in which Marbot effectively contrasted the human factor in war with Rogniat’s pure theory. The second presented his recommendations for the future development of the French Armed Forces.
Napoleon read the first publication while in exile on the island of Saint Helena. His aide-de-camp, General Henri-Gatien Bertrand recorded in his diary on 14 March 1821:
In the evening, the Emperor handed me Marbot's book, and said: "That is the best book I have read for four years. It is the one that has given me the greatest amount of pleasure. He has expressed some things better than I did, he was more familiar with them because, on the whole, he was more of a Corps commander than I. Throughout the book he never refers to 'the Emperor'. He wanted the King of France to give him an appointment with the rank of Colonel; that is quite obvious. He uses 'Emperor' once, so as not to look as though he were afraid to do so, or to appear cowardly, and another time he uses 'Napoleon'. He mentions Masséna and Augereau frequently, and he has described the Battle of Essling better than I could have done it myself . I should have liked to show Marbot my appreciation by sending him a ring. If I ever return to active life, I will have him attached to me as an aide-de-camp .

This publication earned Marbot the distinction of being remembered in Napoleon's will:
To Colonel Marbot, one hundred thousand francs. I recommend him to continue to write in defense of the glory of the French armies, and to confound their calumniators and apostates.

Memoirs

His fame rests chiefly on the Memoirs of his life and campaigns, the Memoirs of General Baron de Marbot, which were written for his children and published posthumously in Paris, in 1891. An English translation by Arthur John Butler was published in London, in 1892. Marbot’s Memoirs were widely acclaimed, and Arthur Conan Doyle wrote of them:
The first of all soldier books in the world. There are few books which I could not spare from my shelves better than the Memoirs of the gallant Marbot.

Literary references

Several authors and personalities have cited Marbot and his Memoirs in their works:
Several places and buildings have been named after Marbot: