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MASSENA, ANDRE, or ANDREA

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Originally appearing in Volume V17, Page 866 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MASSENA, See also:ANDRE, or See also:ANDREA , See also:duke of Rivoli, See also:prince of Essling (1756-1817), the greatest of See also:Napoleon's marshals, son of a small See also:wine See also:merchant, it is said of Jewish origin, was See also:born at See also:Nice on the 6th of May 1756. His parents were very poor, and he began See also:life as a See also:cabin boy, but he did not care much for the See also:sea, and in 1775 he enlisted in the Royal-Italien See also:regiment. He quickly See also:rose to be under-officer-See also:adjutant; but, finding his See also:birth would prevent his ever getting a See also:commission, he See also:left the See also:army in 1789, retired to his native See also:city, and married. At the See also:sound of See also:war, however, and the word See also:republic, his See also:desire to see service increased, and he once more left See also:Italy, and joined the 3rd See also:battalion of the See also:volunteers of the See also:Var in 1791. In those days when men elected their See also:officers, and many of the old commissioned officers had emigrated, promotion to a See also:man with a knowledge of his See also:drill was rapid, and by See also:February 1792 Massena was a See also:lieutenant-See also:colonel. His regiment was one of those in the army which occupied Nice, and in the advance to the See also:Apennines which followed, his know-ledge of the See also:country, of the See also:language, and of the See also:people was so useful that in See also:December 1793 he was already a See also:general of See also:division. In command of the advanced guard he won the See also:battle of Saorgio in See also:August 1794, capturing ninety guns, and after many successes he at last, on the 23rd of See also:November 1795, with the right wing of the army of Italy, had the greatest See also:share in the victory of Loano, won by See also:Scherer over the Austrians and Sardinians. In See also:Bonaparte's See also:great See also:campaign of 1796–97 Massena was his most trusted general of division; in each battle he won fresh laurels, up to the crowning victory of Rivoli, from which he afterwards took his See also:title. It was during this campaign that Bonaparte gave him the title of enfant gdte de la victoire, which he was to justify till he met the See also:English in 1810. In 1798 he commanded the army of See also:Rome for a See also:short See also:time, but was displaced by the intrigues of his subordinate See also:Berthier. Massena's next important service was in command of the army in See also:Switzerland, which See also:united the army in See also:Germany under See also:Moreau, and that in Italy under See also:Joubert. There he proved himself a great See also:captain, as he had already proved him-self a great lieutenant; the See also:archduke See also:Charles and See also:Suvarov had each been successful in Germany and in Italy, and now turned upon Massena in Switzerland.

That general held his ground well against the archduke, and then suddenly, leaving See also:

Soult to See also:face the Austrians, he transported his army to See also:Zurich, where, on the 26th of See also:September 1799, he entirely defeated Korsakov, taking 200 guns and 5000 prisoners. This campaign and battle placed his reputation on a level with that of his compatriot Bonaparte, and he might have made the revolution of See also:Brumaire, but he was sincerely attached to the republic, and had no ambition beyond a desire to live well and to have plenty of See also:money to spend. Bonaparte, now First See also:Consul, sent him to See also:Genoa to command the debris of the army of Italy, and he nobly defended Genoa from February to See also:June to the very last extremity, giving time for Bonaparte to strike his great See also:blow at See also:Marengo. He now went to See also:Paris, where he sat in the See also:Corps Legislatif in 1803, and actually defended Moreau without See also:drawing upon himself the See also:ill-will of Napoleon, who well knew his honesty and lack of ambition. In 1804 he was made one of the first marshals of See also:France of the new regime, and in 1805 was decorated with the See also:Grand See also:Eagle of the See also:Legion of See also:Honour. In that See also:year Napoleon needed an able general to keep in check the archduke Charles in Italy, while he X\-IT. 28advanced through Germany with the grand army. Massena was chosen; he kept the archduke occupied till he received See also:news of the surrender of See also:Ulm, and then on the 3oth of See also:October defeated him in the battle of Caldiero. After the See also:peace of See also:Pressburg had been signed, Massena was ordered to take See also:possession of the See also:kingdom of See also:Naples, and to See also:place See also:Joseph Bonaparte on the See also:throne. This task done, Napoleon summoned Massena to See also:Poland, where he as usual distinguished himself, and where he for the time gave up his republican principles. In 1808 he was made duke of Rivoli. In 1808 he was accidentally wounded by his old enemy Berthier when both were in attendance. on the See also:emperor at a See also:shooting party, and he lost the sight of one See also:eye.

In the campaign in 1809 he covered himself with See also:

glory at See also:Landshut and at See also:Eckmuhl, and finally at the battle of Aspern-Essling his magnificent leadership made what would without him have been an appalling disaster into a See also:mere See also:reverse of which the enemy could make no use. On the See also:field of See also:Wagram Massena, though too ill to ride, directed from his See also:carriage the movements of the right wing. For his great services he was created prince of Essling, and given the princely See also:castle of See also:Thouars. He was then ordered to See also:Spain to " drive the English into the sea." (For the See also:campaigns of 1810 and 1811, the advance to and the See also:retreat from Torres Vedras see See also:PENINSULAR WAR.) Massena himself, with some See also:justice, ascribed his failure to the frequent disobedience of his subordinates See also:Ney, Reynier and See also:Junot, and public See also:opinion attributed this disobedience to the presence with the army of Massena's See also:mistress, and to the resentment thereat See also:felt by the wives of the three generals. Still, unsuccessful as he was, Massena displayed the determination of the See also:defence of Genoa and the fertility in expedients of the campaign of Zurich, and kept his army for five weary months See also:close up to See also:Wellington's impregnable position before retiring. His retreat through a devastated country was terrible, but his force of See also:character kept his men together, and Ney having shown the worst See also:side of his character now showed the best in the frequent and brilliant See also:rear-guard actions, until a new See also:act of insubordination at last made the old See also:marshal dismiss Ney from his command. Soon Massena was once again ready to try his See also:fortune, and he nearly defeated Wellington at Fuentes d'Onoro, though much hampered by Bessieres. But his recall soon followed this and he returned See also:home to find his See also:prestige gone. The old marshal felt he had a right to complain of Ney and of Napoleon himself, and, it is said, opened communications with See also:Fouche and the remnant of the republican party. Whether this be true or not, Napoleon gave his greatest marshal no more employment in the field, but made him merely a territorial commandant at See also:Marseilles. This command he still held at the restoration, when See also:Louis XVIII. See also:con-firmed him in it, and with true See also:Bourbon stupidity gave him letters of See also:naturalization, as if the great See also:leader of the See also:French armies had not ceased to be an See also:Italian. When Napoleon returned from See also:Elba, Massena, probably by the See also:advice of Fouche, kept Marseilles quiet to await events, the greatest service he could do the royalists, but afterwards imputed to him as a See also:fault.

After the second restoration Massena was summoned to sit on the See also:

court-See also:martial which tried Marshal Ney, but, though he had been on See also:bad terms with that general, and attributed his own disgrace to him, the old soldier would not be his comrade's See also:judge. This refusal was used by the royalists to attack the marshal, against whom they raked up every offence they could think of. This annoyance shortened his life, and on the 4th of See also:April 1817 the old See also:hero died. He was buried in Pere-la-See also:Chaise, with only the word " Massena " upon his tombstone. In private life indolent, greedy, rapacious, ill-educated and morose, in war Massena was, like Napoleon, the incarnation of battle. Only his indolence and his consequent lack of far-ranging See also:imagination prevented him being as great in See also:strategy as in See also:tactics. His See also:genius needed the presence of the enemy to stimulate it, but once it sprang to life Massena became an ideal leader, absolutely brave, resourceful, unrelenting and indefatigable. He was as great a See also:master of the strategy of forces in immediate contact—of gathering up as it were the threads of the See also:fugue into a " stretto." For the planning of a whole perfect campaign he 1r T had neither knowledge nor inclination, and he falls short there-fore of the highest See also:rank amongst great generals; but his place amongst the greatest of soldiers is beyond See also:challenge. See Thiebault's See also:doge funebre, and See also:Koch's Memoires de Massena (4 vols., 1849), a valuable See also:work, carefully compiled. In more See also:modern times E. Gachot has produced several important See also:works dealing with Massena's campaigns.

End of Article: MASSENA, ANDRE, or ANDREA

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