The Fighting Marshals

Marshal Macdonald is yet another of the apparently endless line of French generals of bizarre background who walked the Tuileries at the start of the last century. Unlike many of the others however, opinions of Macdonald are not so cut and dried. Some would have him a simple soldier, concerned with the good of France and the military way in general, whilst others suggest him to have been secretly conniving, and a glory stealer of the first order. You must, of course, read and decide for yourselves as ever.

That he is 'unpopular' from the historical sense is of no doubt. Who ever wants to be Macdonald in refights of Wagram? Not I! Partly this can be explained by his absence from the Peninsula, and thus is probably considered as second rate by the British, who tend to think that way about anybody who wasn't good enough to go up against the redcoats.

But what of Mr. Excitement's background? Macdonald was born at Sedan on November the 17th 1765, the son of one of the many Scots who had fled following the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1746. He was brought up primarily with his father in Sancerre when his parents separated, and groomed for the church. Macdonald later claimed that having read Homer at school he became fascinated with Achilles and thus changed careers. On this, as with much of Macdonald's life, we have only his word, which must certainly be considered doubtful.

In 1785 Macdonald attained a lieutenancy in Maillebois' Regiment, although he saw no action and transferred to Dillon's Regiment. It appears that during this time Macdonald studied his profession arduously, making time for a heathy interest in the arts, including the theatre and music. All in all it was enough to make the likes of Ney throw up.

Keen for a taste of action, Macdonald soon got it during the Revolution. A captain in 1791, he had risen to General de Division by 1794. It was meteoric rise, although much of it was staff work with Beurnonville and Dumouriez and it was Pichegru who befriended and promoted him. Macdonald then came into Moreau's sphere, and soon became a close friend. In the early 1795 campaign in the low countries, Macdonald led the crossing of the Waal (frozen, I best add) near Nijmegen. This success, was however more luck than judgement; although for some unknown reason Macdonald has received much credit for admitting as much. Again, this all depends on whether you are an admirer or a detractor.

One thing that Macdonald did despise was politics. He had no knack for it, and his relatively two-dimensional personality was unsuited to the machinations of the Revolution. By 1798 he had seen action across western Europe without particularly distinguishing himself, and he finally found himself in a nasty little war against the Neapolitans, who were their usual robust selves to a degree that would have shown Berthier's military ability in a good light.

It was here that Macdonald, not for the last time, fell out with his commander namely General Championnet in this case. Eventually, Macdonald proved to have more friends where it counted and he replaced his former commander.

Unfortunately, Macdonald found him self up against Suvarov. He compounded the problem with a poor performance. Firstly he was ridden over by Austrian cavalry after taking Modena, getting a tidy cut to the head in the process. Then he was roughly handled by Suvarov on the Trebbia River, on June 17th-19th 1799. Typically, Macdonald blamed someone else, namely Victor, yet the defeat was squarely his. To add insult to injury, Macdonald's priceless collection of Italian art went missing. He claimed that none of the items were looted. Of course, after all, every penniless Scots emigrant leaves untold treasures to his children. Why Macdonald avoided being tarnished with the same brush that stroked Augereau and Massena is unclear. Perhaps he was just too uninteresting.

Returning to Paris, Macdonald claims to have been offered leadership of the military uprising which then moved on to Moreau and eventually some little artillery bloke who had been away in Egypt. This again seems unlikely, and we only have Macdonald's word for it. Being on quite friendly terms with Josephine (!), Macdonald backed Bonaparte and was given command of the Army of Grisons as a reward. He then contrived to slaughter several hundred of his men by crossing the Alps in the December of 1800. He quickly beat the Austrians - but then again, who didn't, and he saw little real fighting. Indeed Napoleon quickly came to the conclusion that Macdonald was not much use, and a string of diplomatic postings followed. This must have irked Macdonald immensely, being that he was as much use to diplomacy as Massena would have been to the Salvation Army.

Firstly he went to Denmark, where he irritated Bonaparte with a series of begging letters asking to be recalled to the colours. Then, in 1803 Pichegru and Moreau were accused of treason. Many in Paris had little doubt that their former cohort Macdonald was also involved, and smarting from Bonaparte's rejection, this is completely conceivable. However, yet again even Tallyrand was unable to make anything stick, and Macdonald walked. It can be of little surprise that the name Macdonald failed to appear among the first 18 marshals in 1804. Apparently, this saddened him, as if his performances to date had warranted a baton. It would be 1809 before anyone showed Macdonald more than a passing interest.

It was a savage year to be a Frenchman, 1809. Generals had been droppping like flies, both in Spain and inCentral Europe. It had been cruelly suggested that Napoleon was close to the bottom of the barrel when he contacted Macdonald. Prince Eugene had just been defeated at Sacile and Napoleon mayhave wanted an experienced man nearby. However, it should be pointed out that Macdonald was appointed one of three corp commanders and not as some gracious saviour. Technically, it was not the most difficult campaign, as Eugene was to prove at Raab, which meant

Macdonald should be able to be effective without coming up against anything really demanding. Macdonald managed to make the most of it, of course, playing up his role and diminishing Eugene's. His memoirs spread his own glory so thick that one imagines there must be a difficulty turning the pages. Unfortunately for Macdonald, several of Eugene's written orders are contradictory to his own stories, and cast his honesty in doubt once more. Having sorted out the Archduke John, Eugene and Macdonald headed for Wagram.

Eugene's Army of Italy, of which our friend Macdonald was a part, held the centre of Napoleon's position at Wagram, Davout and Oudinot to the right and Massena to the left. Macdonald's first attack across the Rossbach at about 7 p.m. on the first day of the battle (July 5th) was badly handled, and driven back in rout, and he spent the night reorganising. Following the Austrian flank attack that so nearly succeeded Macdonald was ordered to attack again. He duly formed a huge column of troops some 8000 strong, and ordered it forward without cavalry support. It was shot to pieces, although Macdonald of course blamed the cavalry for failing to support him. Nevertheless he gathered together more cannon fodder and eventually the Austrians broke in exhaustion.

It seerns odd that in the exhilaration following the victory that it should be Macdonald who was called before the Emperor and made a marsha1 on the field. Lasalle was dead of course. So too St Hilaire and d'Espagne. Perhaps Napoleon had a spare baton going or maybe he needed to raise the morale of the men with a suitable ceremony. For actual service to the Empire, one must question Macdonald's right to join the glorious few. Certainly in retrospect years later during his exile, Napoleon appeared to wish that he had never set eyes on Macdonald.

Five weeks after Wagram, Macdonad was created Duke of Taranto, which came with a stipend of 60,000 francs a year. Then in April of 1810 he was appointed commander of the Army of Catalonia. This was one appointment which he was not keen on. He claimed to object to the way the Spanish war as being pursued and his comments about French motives again smack of treason. Trying a softer tack than Augereau, he got about as far, but this time it was illness that beat him, and a year later he was back in Paris suffering from chronic gout

Practically every commander going was needed for the great enterprise of 1812, but Napoleon was wise enough to leave Macdonald on the fringes. X Corps was the left flank, and saw little action. He was finally outmaneuvered by Yorck commanding his ostensible Prussian allies, and the end of the campaign saw Macdonad fleeing from his own erstwhile subordinate. Even Macdonald would have difficulty concocting any glory from that. He then advocated evacuating Poland which offended Poniatowski as well as Napoleon.

Nevertheless, he was given a command in 1813, XI Corps, and fought at Bautzen. Then he was given 75,000 men in an independent command and proceeded to get himself crushed by Blucher - no small achievement. Indeed throughout this campaign Macdonald's lack of ability is highlighted again and again. Finally at Leipzig he was forced to swim the Elbe, although unlike the unfortunate Poniatowski he succeeded

Macdonald's career then dissipated into one of backbiting critidsm, particularly with respect to his Emperor. As ever ready to trumpet his own abilities, Macdonad took pleasure in pointing out Napoleon's apparent falures. Macdonald claims to have spoken to the Emperor as no other dared, yet once more this is his own version. Finally at the conclusion of the 1814 campaign at Fontainebleu, Macdonald played a disgracefully major role alongside Ney in convincing the Emperor to resign. During the subsequent negotiations Napoleon praised Macdonald's honesty and nobility. However, considering his state at that time one suspects that the later opinion may have been the true one.

Macdonald appears to come out of the surrender smelling of roses, but much of this is from the same biased sources that so easily lied about the 1809 campaign, and so must be in doubt. He then became an advisor to the Bourbons, and he remained loyal to his new master when Napoleon returned in 1815. His absence in the Armee du Nord is likely to have been no great loss.

Macdonald drifted into private life following the final disbanding of the Imperial Armies, and he died in 1840. During that time he wrote his 'recollections' which seem to actually recollect so little with any accuracy. Nevertheless they were a great influence on the like of Thiers and Petre, who have given Macdonald a credibility that he probably did not deserve.

History has been unkind to Etienne Macdonald and in retrospect so has this article. The more one learns of the man the more one smells rotten fish. It may of course be untrue. Alan Hankinson's chapter in Napoleon's Marshals certainly evens the score, as it is almost painful in its praise. Macdonaid seems to me a bearable fellow whose on opinion of himseif was so enormous as to suggest the most mighty ego. He continually claims to have been at or near the hub of events in his memoirs; a story which is not borne out by other accounts. That he failed to be of any great substance when he lived in a time of such opportunity may be condemnation enough.