Sunday, April 2, 2023

I hope to bring him back to Paris in an iron cage. - Michel Ney

Marshal Michel Ney, duc d'Elchingen, prince de la Moskova
François Gérard (PD)
Sergent Nicolas Guilbert turned to his fellow Guardsman, Caporal Jean Bruneau and smiled, "The King keeps sending us men, perhaps he expects the Emperor to save France. For Louis."

Bruneau shook his head, "Have you heard the rumors? Marshal Ney is approaching, he has sworn to return le Tondu to Paris in an iron cage. He has 6,000 men with him, artillery as well. What do we have? A single battery?"

"Ney? I shouldn't be surprised. It was the damned marshals who drove the Emperor into exile. They had gotten too comfortable with their titles and their estates." Guilbert spat on the verge of the road.

"Bah, dismiss all of them, promote the colonels, they have always been faithful!"
 

It was an extraordinarily tense moment, the Emperor, with barely 3,000 effectives, was facing Marshal Ney, the Bravest of the Brave, with over 6,000 men. Napoléon looked at newly promoted general, Charles de la Bédoyère and smiled.

"What do you think, de la Bédoyère? Does Ney mean to bring his Emperor back to Paris in an iron cage?"

De la Bédoyère grinned back, "I don't truly know, Sire. But I'm sure Monsieur le Marechal told Louis XVIII exactly what the king wanted to hear."

"Perhaps." Napoléon nudged his horse forward. "Now let us see what le Rougeaud¹ intends for us."


Charles de la Bédoyère had come over to the Emperor's side a few days before, bringing his 7th Regiment of the Line with him. This confrontation with Ney could turn badly.

While the Emperor had his spies in Paris, and in the army, it was hard to tell which way Ney would jump. Though rumor had it that Ney was disgruntled with the new regime, his wife had been treated badly by the old nobility. Perhaps ...


"Monsieur le Marechal Ney, my old comrade. It is a good day for battle, is it not?"

"Sire, I have decided that I can no longer serve the king. I know where my true loyalties lie. I have issued a proclamation to the Army that I believe the Bourbons have failed the French nation and that you, our rightful sovereign, have returned to the throne."

Ney looked nervous, he had thrown the dice, now he must play things out.

The Emperor winked at Ney, "Then come, my friend, let us advance and prepare to defend le patrie. I'm sure the other crowned heads of Europe have their own thoughts on who should rule France."

Marshal Ney nodded, then drawing his sword he turned to his troops and shouted out, "VIVE L'EMPEREUR!"

The soldiers' shouts rang up and down the valley and echoed from the mountains as they hailed the return of their emperor. Many would pay a steep price for their loyalty to the Bonaparte dynasty. None more than Ney and del la Bédoyère².

But that is in the future, for now the eagles fly north and soon will alight on the spires of Paris.

Proclamation to the French People on His Return from Elba, March 5, 1815.

Frenchmen: The defection of the Duke of Castiglione (Augereau) delivered up Lyons without defense to our enemies. The army, the command of which I had entrusted to him, was, by the number of its battalions, the courage and patriotism of the troops that composed it, in a condition to beat the Austrian troops opposed to it, and to arrive in time on the rear of the left flank of the army which threatened Paris. The victories of Champ-Aubert, of Montmirail, of Château-Thierry, of Van Champs, of Mormons, of Montereau, of Craonne, of Rheims, of Arcis-sur-Aube, and of St. Dizier, the rising of the brave peasants of Lorraine and Champagne, of Alsace, Franche-Comté and Burgundy, and the position which I had taken in the rear of the hostile army, by cutting it off from its magazines, its parks of reserve, its convoys, and all the equipages, had placed it in a desperate situation. The French were never on the point of being more powerful, and the élite of the enemy's army was lost without resource; it would have found a tomb in those vast plains which it had so mercilessly laid waste, when the treason of the Duke of Ragusa delivered up the capital and disorganized the army. The unexpected misconduct of these two generals, who betrayed at once their country, their prince, and their benefactor, changed the fate of the war; the situation of the enemy was such that, at the close of the action which took place before Paris, he was without ammunition, in consequence of his separation from his parks of reserve. In these new and distressing circumstances, my heart was torn, but my mind remained immovable; I consulted only the interests of the country; I banished myself to a rock in the middle of the sea; my life was yours, and might still be useful to you. Frenchmen: In my exile I heard your complaints and your wishes; you accused my long slumber; you reproached me with sacrificing the welfare of the country to my repose. I have traversed the seas through perils of every kind; I return among you to reclaim my rights, which are yours. (Source)

Word has spread of Napoléon's return, even now the crowned heads of Europe, through their representatives at the Congress of Vienna, have declared Napoléon Bonaparte an outlaw.

Europe would go to war once again, this time to stop a single man.





¹ Literally, the ruddy-faced, more likely intended to mean "the red haired." Ney was a ginger.
² Both men were executed for treason after Waterloo. De la Bédoyère in August,  Ney in December of 1815.

30 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. A man most of the French preferred to the king.

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  2. Always the what if's, Sarge. What if Napoleon had won? What if he had somehow managed to overcome the need or desire to fight "everyone/everywhere/all at once?" One can only imagine what that loyalty could have done make things better instead of sending so many to their end.

    (I say that, of course. Sort of like asking if Alexander or Caesar or Charlemagne or Tokugawa Ieyasu could have done things differently. The answer, of course, is likely not: men such as this cannot seem to let go of their sense of destiny in the world, no matter what it costs in terms of blood and treasure).

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    1. One could make the argument that war was forced on Napoléon as the other countries of Europe wanted to restore the Bourbons. Whereas the English were always interested in keeping France not too powerful, but to maintain a balance on the Continent. But the Emperor was pretty good at war, perhaps he desired it?

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  3. The Crowned Heads of Europe didn't care for a non-royal in the club nor the Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité the French pushed.

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    1. The elites running modern America don't care much for someone not in the club to be in charge either. Just goes to show you that some things don't change.

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    2. The elites in the world today are trying to install a new feudalism where they are the nobles and they control land or manufacturing, and also own the peons through debt, through ties to the land, through outright slavery.

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    3. Nylon12 - No, no they didn't (truth be told, they still don't).

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    4. Beans - That's what the "elites" have always desired. (Elite is in quotes as they are anything but.)

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  4. "If" is such a big word. "If only" marks the destruction of universes, and creates universes as well.

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  5. Our own Founders were mighty wary of "Liberte Egalite, Fraternite" ;and rightfully so, albeit for different reasons.
    Boat Guy

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    Replies
    1. They were indeed. Some of which I understand. (How can someone who owns no property really be part of a society, no skini in the game in some ways.)

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  6. "...dismiss all of them, promote the Colonels..." is a good idea today, since our "Marshals" are far worse than their were.
    Boat Guy

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    1. You have that right BG.

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    2. First look at the officers who retired or resigned their commissions due to all the bullscat. Those are the ones to first recommission and then promote.

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    3. BG - You saw my point, it's so very true these days. Most of the DoD hierarchy are worthy of nothing but scorn.

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    4. Beans - Unfortunately those are great numbers. Many chose to stick it out, for whatever reason. Some out of loyalty to their oaths and hoping they could change things from within, some as they are the "go along to get along" type.

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    5. Dunno Sarge; I can think of several "worthy" of far more than scorn, there are a number who should be hanged.
      BG

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  7. If only the Bourbon hadn't been a feckless idiot, Ney may have stayed semi-loyal to the Crown. Ah, well, feckless idiots, they do seem to have a way of chasing off competent people.

    This whole hundred days is quite an example of that stupid phrase 'go big or go home.' They tried bigly.

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    Replies
    1. The younger nobles, those who fled France during and after the Revolution, had naught but revenge on their minds. The king himself? A hapless, perhaps well-meaning, fool. But a fool nevertheless.

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    2. Beans,
      One of my earliest IP's had a saying he'd use a lot and would have done so almost certainly in this case. It went "If if's and buts were candy and nuts, we'd all have a f*****g Merry Christmas"!
      Your comment reminded me of that and got a chuckle, so thanks.
      juvat

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  8. Another is my uncle's "Could have. Would have. Should have."

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  9. Sarge, as you know, I like history. History truly never repeats itself, but does sometimes rhyme.
    I am picking up a rhythm for a rhyme here. My ignorance of French history prevent further comment.
    Excellent story telling, as always.
    JB

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Just be polite... that's all I ask. (For Buck)
Can't be nice, go somewhere else...

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