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See also:SOULT, See also:NICOLAS See also:JEAN DE DIEU , See also:Duke of See also:Dalmatia (1769-1851), See also:marshal of See also:France, was-See also:born at See also:Saint-Arnans-la-See also:Bastide (now in See also:department of the See also:Tarn) on the 29th of See also:March 1769, and was the son of a See also:country See also:notary at that See also:place. He was fairly well educated, and intended for the See also:bar, but his See also:father's See also:death when
he was still a boy made it necessary for him to seek his See also:fortune, and he enlisted as a private in the See also:French See also:infantry in 1785. His See also:superior See also:education ensured his promotion to the See also:rank of sergeant after six years' service, and in See also:July 1791 he became instructor to the first See also:battalion of See also:volunteers of the Bas-Rhin. He served w'th his battalion in 1792. By 1794 he was See also:adjutant-See also:general (with the rank of chef de See also:brigade). After the See also:battle of See also:Fleurus, in which he greatly distinguished himself for coolness, he was promoted general of brigade by the representatives on See also:mission. For :he next five years he was constantly employed in See also:Germany under See also:Jourdan, See also:Moreau, Kleber and See also:Lefebvre, and in 1799 he was promoted general of See also:division and ordered to proceed to See also:Switzerland. It was at this See also:- TIME (0. Eng. Lima, cf. Icel. timi, Swed. timme, hour, Dan. time; from the root also seen in " tide," properly the time of between the flow and ebb of the sea, cf. O. Eng. getidan, to happen, " even-tide," &c.; it is not directly related to Lat. tempus)
- TIME, MEASUREMENT OF
- TIME, STANDARD
time that he laid the See also:foundations of his military fame, and he particularly distinguished himself in See also:Massena's See also:great Swiss See also:campaign, and especially at the battle of See also:Zurich. He accompanied Massena to See also:Genoa, and acted as his See also:principal See also:lieutenant throughout the protracted See also:siege of that See also:city, during which he operated with a detached force without the walls, and after many successful actions he was wounded and taken prisoner at See also:Monte Cretto on the 13th of See also:April 1800. The victory of See also:Marengo restoring his freedom, he received the command of the See also:southern See also:part of the See also:kingdom of See also:Naples, and in 1802 he was appointed one of the four generals commanding the consular guard. Though he was one of those generals who had served under Moreau, and who therefore, as a See also:rule, disliked and despised See also:Napoleon, Soult had the See also:wisdom to show his devotion to the ruling See also:power; in consequence he was in See also:August 1803 appointed to the'command-in-See also:chief of the See also:camp of See also:Boulogne, and in May 1804 he was made one of the first marshals of France. He commanded a See also:corps in the advance on See also:Ulm, and at See also:Austerlitz (q.v.) he led the decisive attack on the allied centre. He played a great part in all the famous battles of the Grande Armee, except the battle of See also:Friedland (on the See also:day of which he forced his way into See also:Konigsberg), and after the conclusion of the See also:peace of See also:Tilsit he returned to France and was created (18o8) duke of Dalmatia. In the following See also:year he was appointed to the command of the II. corps of the See also:army with which Napoleon intended to conquer See also:Spain, and after winning the battle of Gamonal he was detailed by the See also:emperor to pursue See also:Sir See also:John See also:Moore, whom he only caught up at See also:Corunna.
For the next four years Soult remained in Spain, and his military See also:history is that of the See also:Peninsular See also:War (q.v.). In 1809, after his defeat by Sir John Moore, he invaded See also:Portugal and took See also:Oporto, but, busying himself with the See also:political See also:settlement of his conquests in the French interests and, as he hoped, for his own ultimate benefit as a possible See also:candidate for the See also:throne, he neglected to advance upon See also:Lisbon, and was eventually dislodged from Oporto by Sir See also:Arthur See also:Wellesley, making a painful and almost disastrous See also:retreat over the mountains. After the battle of Talavera he was made chief of See also:staff of the French troops in Spain with extended See also:powers, and on the 19th of See also:November 18og won the great victory of See also:Ocala. In 1810 he invaded See also:Andalusia, which he speedily reduced, with the exception of See also:Cadiz. In 1811 he marched See also:north into See also:Estremadura, and took See also:Badajoz, and when the Anglo-Portuguese army laid siege to it he marched to its See also:- RESCUE (in Middle Eng. rescous, from O. Fr. recousse, Low Lat. rescussa, from reexcussa,reexcutere, to shake off again, re, again, ex, off, quatere, to shake)
rescue, and fought the famous battle of See also:Albuera (May 16). In 1812, however, he was obliged, after Welling-ton's great victory of See also:Salamanca, to evacuate Andalusia, and was soon after recalled from Spain at the See also:request of See also:Joseph See also:Bonaparte, with whom, as with the other marshals, he had always disagreed. In March 1813 he assumed the command of the IV. corps of the Grande Armee and commanded the centre at See also:Lutzen and See also:Bautzen, but he was soon sent, with unlimited powers, to the See also:south of France to repair the damage done by the great defeat of See also:Vittoria. His campaign there is the finest See also:- PROOF (in M. Eng. preove, proeve, preve, &°c., from O. Fr . prueve, proeve, &c., mod. preuve, Late. Lat. proba, probate, to prove, to test the goodness of anything, probus, good)
proof of his See also:genius as a general, although he was repeatedly defeated by the See also:English under See also:Wellington, for his soldiers were but raw conscripts, while those of Wellington were the veterans of many See also:campaigns.
Such was the military career of Marshal Soult. His political career was by no means so creditable, and it has been said of him that he had See also:character only in front of the enemy. Afterthe first See also:abdication of Napoleon he declared himself a Royalist, received the See also:- ORDER
- ORDER (through Fr. ordre, for earlier ordene, from Lat. ordo, ordinis, rank, service, arrangement; the ultimate source is generally taken to be the root seen in Lat. oriri, rise, arise, begin; cf. " origin ")
- ORDER, HOLY
order of St See also:- LOUIS
- LOUIS (804–876)
- LOUIS (893–911)
- LOUIS, JOSEPH DOMINIQUE, BARON (1755-1837)
- LOUIS, or LEWIS (from the Frankish Chlodowich, Chlodwig, Latinized as Chlodowius, Lodhuwicus, Lodhuvicus, whence-in the Strassburg oath of 842-0. Fr. Lodhuwigs, then Chlovis, Loys and later Louis, whence Span. Luiz and—through the Angevin kings—Hungarian
Louis, and acted as See also:minister for war from the 3rd of See also:December 1814 to the filth of March 1815. When Napoleon returned from See also:Elba Soult at once declared himself a Bonapartist, was made a peer of France and acted as See also:major-general (chief of staff) to the emperor in the campaign of See also:Water-See also:loo, in which role he distinguished himself far less than he had done as See also:commander of an over-matched army. At the Second Restoration he was exiled, but not for See also:long, for in 1819 he was recalled and in 1820 again made a marshal of France. He once more tried to show himself a fervent Royalist and was made a peer in 1827. After the revolution of 183o he made out that he was a See also:partisan of Louis Philippe, who welcomed his See also:adhesion and revived for him the See also:title of marshal-general. He served as minister for war from 1830 to 1834, as See also:ambassador extraordinary to See also:London for the See also:coronation of See also:Queen See also:Victoria in 1838, and again as minister for war from 1840 to 1844. In 1848, when Louis Philippe was overthrown, Soult again declared himself a republican. He died at his See also:castle of Soultberg, near his birthplace, on the 26th of November 1851. ooult himself wrote but little. He published a memoir justifying his adhesion to Napoleon during the See also:Hundred Days, and his notes and See also:journals were arranged by his son Napoleon See also:Hector (1801-1857), who published the first part (Memoires du marechal-general Soult) in 1854. Le See also:Noble's Memoires sur See also:les operations See also:des See also:Francais en Galicie are supposed to have been written from Soult papers.
See A. Salle, See also:Vie politique du marechal Soult (See also:Paris, f834); A. de Grozelier, Le MarCehal Soult (See also:Castres, 1851) ; A. See also:Combes, Histoire anecdotique du marechal Soult (Castres, 1869).
End of Article: SOULT, NICOLAS JEAN DE DIEU
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