Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

JOURDAN, JEAN BAPTISTE, COUNT (1762-1...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 524 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

JOURDAN, See also:JEAN See also:BAPTISTE, See also:COUNT (1762-1833) , See also:marshal of See also:France, was See also:born at See also:Limoges on the 29th of See also:April 1762, and in his boyhood was apprenticed to a See also:silk See also:merchant of See also:Lyons. In 1776 he enlisted in a See also:French See also:regiment to serve in the See also:American See also:War of See also:Independence, and after being invalided in 1784 he married and set up in business at Limoges. At the outbreak of the revolutionary See also:wars he volunteered, and as a subaltern took See also:part in the first See also:campaigns in the See also:north of France. His rise was even more rapid than that of See also:Hoche and Marceau. By 1793 he had become a See also:general of See also:division, and was selected by See also:Carnot to succeed Houchard as See also:commander-in-See also:chief of the See also:Army of the North; and on the 15th-16th of See also:October 1793 he won the brilliant and important victory of See also:Wattignies (see FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS). Soon afterwards he became a " suspect," the moderation of his See also:political opinions and his misgivings as to the future conduct of the war being equally distasteful to the truculent and enthusiastic See also:Committee of Public Safety. Warned in See also:time by his friend Carnot and by Barere, he avoided See also:arrest and resumed his business as a silk-See also:mercer in Limoges. He was soon reinstated, and See also:early in 1794 was appointed commander-in-chief of the Army of Sambre-et-See also:Meuse. After repeated attempts to force the passage of the Sambre had failed and several severe general actions had been fought without result, Jourdan and his army were discouraged, but Carnot and the See also:civil commissioners urged the general, even with threats, to a last effort, and this time he was successful not only in See also:crossing the Sambre but in winning a brilliant victory at See also:Fleurus (See also:June 26, 1794), the consequence of which was the See also:extension of the French sphereof See also:influence to the See also:Rhine, on which See also:river he waged an indecisive See also:campaign in 1795. In 1796 his army formed the See also:left wing of the advance into See also:Bavaria. The whole of the French forces were ordered to advance on See also:Vienna, Jourdan on the extreme left and See also:Moreau in the centre by the See also:Danube valley, See also:Bonaparte on the right by See also:Italy and See also:Styria. The campaign began brilliantly, the Austrians under the See also:Archduke See also:Charles being driven back by Moreau and Jourdan almost to the See also:Austrian frontier.

But the archduke, slipping away from Moreau, threw his whole See also:

weight on Jourdan, who was defeated at See also:Amberg and See also:Wurzburg, and forced over the Rhine after a severe rearguard See also:action, which cost the See also:life of Marceau. Moreau had to fall back in turn, and, apart from Bonaparte's marvellous campaign in Italy, the operations of the See also:year were disastrous. The chief cause of failure was the vicious See also:plan of campaign imposed upon the generals by their See also:government. Jourdan was nevertheless made the scapegoat of the government's mistakes and was not employed for two years. In those years he became prominent as a politician and above all as the framer of the famous See also:conscription See also:law of 1798. When the war was renewed in 1799 Jourdan was placed at the See also:head of the army on the Rhine, but again underwent defeat at the hands of the archduke Charles at Stockach (See also:March 25), and, disappointed and broken in See also:health, handed over the command to See also:Massena. He at once resumed his political duties, and was a prominent opponent of the coup d'etat of 18 See also:Brumaire, after which he was expelled from the See also:Council of the Five See also:Hundred. Soon, however, he became formally reconciled to the new regime, and accepted from See also:Napoleon fresh military and civil employment. In 1800 he became inspector-general of See also:cavalry and See also:infantry and representative of French interests in the Cisalpine See also:Republic, and in 1804 he was made a marshal of France. He remained in the new See also:kingdom of Italy until 18o6, when See also:Joseph Bonaparte, whom his See also:brother made See also:king of See also:Naples in that year, selected Jourdan as his military adviser. He followed Joseph into See also:Spain in the same capacity in 18o8. But Joseph's See also:throne had to be maintained by the French army, and throughout the See also:Peninsular War the other marshals, who depended directly upon Napoleon, paid little heed either to Joseph or to Jourdan.

After the See also:

battle of See also:Vitoria he held no important command up to the fall of the See also:Empire. Jourdan gave in his See also:adhesion to the restoration government of 1814, and though he rejoined Napoleon in the Hundred Days and commanded a See also:minor army, he submitted to the Bourbons again after See also:Waterloo. He refused, however, to be a member of the See also:court which tried Marshal See also:Ney. He was made a count, a peer of France (1819), and See also:governor of See also:Grenoble (1816). In politics he was a prominent opponent of the royalist reactionaries and supported the revolution of 1830. After this event he held the See also:portfolio of See also:foreign affairs for a few days, and then became governor of the Invalides, where his last years were spent. Marshal Jourdan died on the 23rd of See also:November 1833, and was buried in the Invalides. He wrote Operations de l'armee du Danube (1799) ; Memoires pour servir a l'histoire sur la campagne de 1796 (1819); and unpublished See also:personal See also:memoirs.

End of Article: JOURDAN, JEAN BAPTISTE, COUNT (1762-1833)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
JOULE, JAMES PRESCOTT (1818–1889) 		[next]
JOURNAL

Site © 2006 - Net Industries