Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen (duc d'Elchingen) and Prince of Moskowa (prince de la Moskowa) (born January 10, 1769; executed by firing squad December 7, 1815), commonly known as Field Marshal Ney, was a soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the first 18 ordained marshals of Napoleon. Ney was nicknamed Le Rougeaud ("the red-faced general") and was called le Brave des Braves by Napoleon and his soldiers ("the bravest of the brave").
Marshal Ney Biography
Michel Ney was born in 1769 in Saarlouis (French: Sarrelouis), a small town in Lorraine that eventually became part of the German Sarre region. Ney grew up fluent in both languages because the town has a predominantly French population in a German neighborhood. Michel Ney was the second child of a master cooper and a Seven Years' War veteran.
After graduating from St. Augustins' High School, Michel Ney worked as a notary in Saarlouis and afterward as a foreman in coal mines and smelters. The life of an average officer did not appeal to Ney; therefore, he enlisted in the Hussard regiment in 1787.
French Revolution
Michel Ney was promptly promoted from plain soldier to non-commissioned officer after joining. He served in the French army stationed in the north from 1792 to 1794 and took part in the first major fight at Neerwinden. The level rose at a dizzying rate as well. In 1792, he was promoted to lieutenant (sous-lieutenant), then lieutenant (lieutenant), captain, and major two years later. Ney was sent to Sambre-et-Meuse in June 1794 and was wounded during the siege of Mainz. On October 15, 1794, he was raised to the rank of Adjudant-général chef de brigade, which is equivalent to Colonel.
Ney was elevated to Major General (général de brigade) in August 1796 and appointed leader of the cavalry on the German front. On April 17, 1797, Ney's cavalry was charged with halting an effort by Austrian lancers to encircle the French cannons. After successfully repelling the Austrians, Ney's troop was counter-attacked by powerful Austrian cavalry. Ney fell from his horse while overseeing the battle and was captured by the enemy. The French army had to trade an Austrian general for Ney on May 8.
After battling the Austrians in March 1799, Ney was elevated to lieutenant general (général de division) and given charge of cavalry in Switzerland and the Danube. Ney was shot in the thigh and wrist in Winterthur. Following his rehabilitation, he was under General Moreau at Hohenlinden in December 1800. Since September 1802, Ney has served as commander-in-chief of the French army in Switzerland, as well as on diplomatic missions. Ney was made Field Marshal of France on May 19, 1804.
Marshal of Napoleon
Ney was appointed commander of the VI Corps of the Great Army (La Grande Armée) in 1805, following his victory at the Battle of Elchingen. Ney's men invaded Tyrol in November 1805 and took Innsbruck from Archduke John of Austria. In 1806, Ney led the VI Corps in the Battle of Jena, capturing Erfurt. Field Marshal Ney ordered the French to besiege Magdeburg and force the Austrians to surrender.
At Eylau in 1807, Ney's forces promptly reinforced and saved the main force led by Napoleon from being narrowly defeated. He fought in Güttstadt the same year and led the French right flank at the Battle of Friedland. Ney was appointed Duke of Elchingen (duc d'Elchingen) on June 6, 1808. His VI Corps was dispatched to Spain in August of the same year and won many minor campaigns. In 1810, Ney led an offensive on Portugal with Field Marshal André Masséna, capturing Ciudad Rodrigo and taking part in the Battle of Buçaco. During the retreat of the French troops from Torres Vedras, Ney was removed from command for disobeying orders from his superiors.
During the campaign Napoleon invaded Russia(1812), Ney was rehabilitated and appointed head of the Grande Armée's III Corps. Ney was wounded in the neck at Smolensk, yet he continued to command the French central army during the Battle of Borodino. Ney was named commander of the rear guard during the French retreat from Moscow. Despite being cut off from the French army by the Russians, Ney's rear force managed to break through the encirclement and find Napoleon's army.
Emperor Napoleon praised Ney's gallantry and dubbed him "the bravest of the brave" (le Brave des Braves). Ney then proceeded to command the French rear at Beresina in order to keep the key bridge at Kovno open. It is reported that Ney was the last person to cross the bridge and leave Russia. Marshal Ney was bestowed the title Prince of Moskowa (Borodino in French) on March 25, 1813. Ney became leader of the French at Weissenfels in 1813 and was wounded again during the Battle of Lützen. Following his recuperation, he commanded the French right flank at the Battle of Bautzen, as well as participated in the Battles of Dennewitz and Leipzig, where he was wounded again.
Ney became the spokesman for a group of rebel marshals who requested Napoleon abdicate on April 4, 1814, in Fontainebleau. The emperor was informed by Ney that the army would not enter Paris, to which Napoleon answered, "The army will obey me," to which Ney replied, "The army will obey their command."
After the Bourbon Dynasty reclaimed power, King Louis XVIII exalted, congratulated, and made Ney an aristocrat for pressuring Napoleon to abdicate and go into exile. When the marshal learned that Napoleon had returned to France, he was determined to protect the freshly restored peace and show his loyalty to King Louis XVIII by leading an army to halt Napoleon's progress toward Paris. Ney also pledged that the new monarchy would arrest and imprison the old emperor. However, on March 18, 1815, Michel Ney rejoined the ranks of Napoleon's followers in Auxerre.
The Hundred Days
Napoleon named Ney commander of the left wing of the French army stationed in the north on June 15, 1815. On June 16, Napoleon's army was divided into two halves to undertake two campaigns at the same time. Ney's force was tasked with attacking the British army commanded by the Duke of Wellington at Quatre Bras, and Napoleon led the army personally. At Ligny, France attacked Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's Prussians. Ney's force was criticized for moving too slowly and only capturing Quatre Bras after the French had passed.
At Ligny, Napoleon directed General d'Erlon to lead his forces (now on Napoleon's left flank and Ney's right wing) to attack the Prussian rear in order to cut off the enemy's withdrawal. While preparing to strike, d'Erlon abruptly paused and changed direction, much to Napoleon's surprise. The reason behind this abrupt turnaround was that Ney had requested aid from d'Erlon in the direction of Quatre Bras. Because they were not trapped, the Prussians were able to withdraw, rendering the French victory at Ligny incomplete.
At the Battle of Waterloo, Ney was reassigned to command the French army's left flank. Ney ordered his heavy cavalry to attack the Anglo-Dutch combination around 3:30 p.m. After bursting through the cannon fire, this cavalry force confronted enemy soldiers without the backing of French infantry or artillery. Ney was unable to break the siege, which many believe was the key to Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo. It is still debated why an experienced field marshal like Ney would direct the cavalry to strike without the backup of other forces.
While still dominant on the battlefield, Ney's cavalry also failed to muzzle artillery (by inserting a pointed stick into the cannon's muzzle). These forces should have used muzzle-stop equipment to neutralize enemy artillery, forcing Anglo-Dutch units to withdraw from the battlefield. After personally fighting in vain against the British artillery, the famed valiant marshal assembled the French men and exclaimed, "Come! and see how a French Marshal can die."
Michel Ney Cause of Death
Court Session
After Napoleon's total defeat and exile for a second time, Ney was arrested on August 3, 1815, and brought before a court on December 4, 1815, for treason. Although Field Marshal Louis Nicolas Davout had signed with the Coalition that no officers or soldiers involved in the 100-Day Dynasty would be convicted.
Taking Field Marshal Ney to court was a violation of this agreement. The marshal's lawyer then contended that because Ney's hometown, Sarrelouis, was already Prussian territory under the Treaty of Paris, he was a foreigner and could not be tried in a French court. Marshal Ney immediately stepped up to interrupt his counsel and said:
Je suis Français et je resterai Français!"
The court eventually found Ney guilty of treason and sentenced him to death by shooting. Five French marshals, Séurier, Kellermann, Pérignon, Victor, and Marmont, voted in favor of this result. Field Marshal Davout was one of those who voted no. The decision was made around 11 p.m. on December 6.
Execution
During the sentencing, defense attorneys went to the marshal's cell to meet him. Michel Ney was now eating his dinner calmly, and he told the lawyers, "I believe that Mr. Bellart could not have had as fine a dinner as I have." (Bellart was a member of the court who was not only pleased with the death penalty for the death sentence imposed on Ney but also proposed the removal of all titles, including the Legion of Honor, which the field marshal had received.)
At 3:00 a.m. on December 7, 1815, Michel Ney was raised to hear the sentencing, after which he saw his wife and four children for the last time. At 8:30 a.m., he was taken to the Luxembourg Gardens to serve his sentence. Before being executed, the famously brave marshal refused the blindfold and offered to order the execution team to shoot him.
Ney's executions were in the minority and were designed primarily to scare Napoleon's remaining marshals and generals, the majority of whom were pardoned and escaped death. Michel Ney was buried in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery's marshall quarter, and many of Ney's fellow field marshals, notably Davout and Joachim Murat, were also buried in this region, near Ney's grave.
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