Jean-de-Dieu Soult

Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult was born on 29 March 1769 at Saint-Amans-la-Bastide, in the Tarn. Son of a royal notary, he enlisted at sixteen as a soldier in the Royal Infantry regiment. The Revolution opened his career. In 1792, he was sergeant-major; in 1794, brigadier general. He fought in Germany under Moreau, then under Jourdan. In 1799, at Stockach, he was taken prisoner by the Austrians. Freed, he joined the Army of Italy. In 1800, he took part in the Battle of Marengo under Desaix. The Consulate propelled him: divisional general in 1802, marshal in 1804. Napoleon noticed him for his sense of terrain and rigour.

At Austerlitz, on 2 December 1805, Soult commanded the 4th Corps. His manoeuvre was decisive: he broke the Russo-Austrian centre on the Pratzen plateau, enabling Napoleon to annihilate the enemy army. The Battle of the Three Emperors consecrated Soult as one of the Grand Army's finest tacticians. In 1806, at Jena, he contributed to the Prussian rout. In 1808, Napoleon sent him to Spain. Soult defeated the Spaniards at Gamonal, entered Madrid, pursued Moore's British to Corunna. But the guerrilla flared. Soult remained in the peninsula for several years: governor of Andalusia, he held Seville and besieged Cadiz. Plundered resources — paintings, jewels — fuelled his personal collection. Wellington beat him at Albuera in May 1811. Soult nonetheless remained one of the pillars of the French occupation.

In 1813, Soult was recalled from Spain for the German campaign. He commanded the Imperial Guard at Leipzig. The defeat was crushing. In 1814, he fought in France — Orthez, Toulouse — against Wellington. After the abdication, he rallied to Louis XVIII and received the king's marshal's baton. During the Hundred Days, he refused to join Napoleon and remained faithful to the Bourbons. This fidelity earned him appointment as peer of France and Minister of War in 1815. But ultraroyalism suspected him. In 1819, he left the government.

Under the July Monarchy, Soult enjoyed a second career. Louis-Philippe appointed him President of the Council in 1832, 1839 and 1840. He reorganised the army, led the conquest of Algeria, modernised military institutions. Republicans hated him; legitimists despised him. He died on 26 November 1851 at his Château de Soultberg, in the Tarn, aged eighty-two. He was one of the last Marshals of the Empire — and the only one to have held the post of head of government under the constitutional monarchy. His path illustrates the plasticity of Napoleonic military elites: from the Emperor's sword to the Prime Minister's chair.

On 2 December 1805, at Austerlitz, Soult executed the decisive manoeuvre planned by Napoleon. The Emperor had deliberately left his right wing weak to draw the Coalition onto the Pratzen plateau. In the morning, the fog lifted. The Russians and Austrians stripped the centre to break through the French wing. Soult, whose 4th Corps held a rearward position, received the order to advance. In one hour, his divisions climbed the Pratzen, routed the enemy regiments and cut the Coalition army in two. The battle was won before noon.

This victory consecrated Soult as one of the finest executors of Napoleonic plans. Methodical, precise, capable of deploying masses at the appointed hour, he embodied the type of professional soldier the Emperor valued. In Spain, he applied the same rigour — sometimes with brutality. As governor of Andalusia, he plundered convents and palaces; artworks shipped to France filled museums and his personal collection. Wellington beat him at Albuera in 1811, but Soult remained to the end one of the pillars of the occupation. His political longevity — peer of France under three regimes, President of the Council under Louis-Philippe — testified to an ability to adapt that few marshals possessed.