The Fighting Marshals
Nicolas Jean De Dieu Soult
by Ian Barstow, UK
 |
By 1791 he was a tough drill sergeant. With the coming of the Revolution came other changes, and a year later Soult found himself a lieutenant in a volunteer regiment with the Army of the Rhine. An untried unit, Soult's experience was much needed, and he soon started beating the men into shape. In July 1792 he was promoted to command a company. Full scale action did not come for another year, at Ueberfelsheim on the anniversary of his birthday in 1793. Chased off by the Prussians, Soult's battalion suffered close to 50% losses, but he himself was personally mentioned in despatched by General Custine. What with the fluid nature of republican fighting, Soult found himself leading two battalions under Gouvion St-Cyr in September, conducting an efficient pursuit following Bodenthal.
Captain
At the end of the year Soult was posted as a Staff captain to Taponier's division in the Army of the Moselle, where he exhibited further evidence of a good administrative capacity, as well as the ability to ad lib. H on occasion commanded troops of up to brigade strength as command integrity collapsed amid the chaos of war. He was rewarded in January 1794 with a posting as chief of staff to Lefebvre who commanded the advance guard. With the creation of the new Army of the Sambre and Meuse under Jourdan, Lefebvre's division changed front and was heavily engaged at Fleurus, with Soult having five horses killed under him during the intense fighting.
The following season saw heavy campaigning in Belgium and Luxembourg as the French drove on the Rhine, and Soult was rewarded for his hard work and consistency with promotion to General de Brigade in October. Pretty good for a man who had been a drill sergeant in 1791. His personal life was also more than satisfactory. Having been quartered with the Berg family near Dusseldorf, Soult fell in love with their daughter, Louise, and married her in April 1796, having felt himself secure enough in stature to refuse an offer from Hoche to help suppress the Vendee, and then to have schemed his way back into Lefebvre's division. During this period displayed his tactical ability consistently, and glowed amidst many inferior subordinates, culminating in a masterful retirement from Herborn on June 16th 1796, when he spent a tricky day retiring in square from masses of Austrian cavalry until he was bailed out by Ney's mounted partisans (a raiding outfit specially knocked together for Ney comprising various cavalry odds and ends).
At the start of 1797 Soult joined Championnet's division, and in 1798 the division was posted to Boulogne with the Army of England, taking a small part in repelling the British raid on Ostend. Following this, and the abortive plans to invade England, Soult returned to Lefebvre whose division had joined the soon-to-be Army of the Danube, fighting at Stockach and then Ostrach in March 1799, taking command of the division at the latter following Lefebvre's wounding. The fighting was vicious and the French did not always get the best of it, but Soult did more than enough to earn promotion to substantive General de Division a month later.
The merging of the Armies of the Danube and Helvetia (Massena) saw Soult moved to Zurich, fighting counter-insurgency, and showing a commendable civility towards the insurgents. Personally I'd have shot the lot, but that's just me for you. Continual fighting brought Soult to the eye of the supreme plunderer, Massena, and perhaps it was from this rogue that Soult got his own taste for the better things in life, or perhaps Massena simply honed what was already there. He did well at Second Zurich, carrying out Massena's complicated orders to the letter, and following he was given control of three scattered divisions with orders to shadow and control Suvarov, which he did ably.
Wing Commander
Following the coup, Soult was promoted to Wing Commander in Massena's new Army of Italy, although getting fenced inside Genoa can not have been too much fun. Leading numerous sorties, Soult was putting all his chips on the table, and the inevitable happened. He was wounded in the leg and captured, having been knocked about and robbed. His period in an Austrian field hospital appears to have had a serious effect on Soult's nerve. Certainly never again would he show such rashness, and it is likely that his bottle was permanently impaired.
From the glory point of view, Soult was unfortunate to miss Marengo, but he probably would not have seen it this way. The ensuing peace provided an excellent smokescreen for a man of unsteady nerve. He had time to recuperate, whilst being able to live on his past reputation. Having been partially corrupted by Massena, Soult was posted to Murat's trip to Naples as his advanced guard commander. This of course finished the job. He got a big time taste for the high life.
Meanwhile, Massena was saying all sorts of nice things about Soult to anybody who would listen in Paris, earning him a recall from the living hell of Naples in the summer. He became a colonel-general in the Consular Guard, then commander of the Camp of St Omer, before becoming eighth on the Marshals' seniority list. He joined his corps at the Camp of Boulogne determined to show all his rivals just what he knew about drill, and he soon had his men toiling. Those of us who have seen the statue of Napoleon at Boulogne might be surprised to know that it was Soult who commissioned it, in gratitude for his elevation. He was firmly the Emperor's man.
With the rest of the Grand Army Soult marched east in 1805. He was centrally involved in the encirclement of Ulm, although this was easy as it involved little bloodshed. Prior to the big one though, Soult was all for retiring from Austerlitz, and Lannes had to be held back from calling him out for cowardice. During the battle Soult was anywhere but near the action, and his divisional commanders were unimpressed with his lack of aggression. He was nowhere to be seen at the crucial storming of Pratzen, and one school of thought postulates this as the reason that he was not made Duke of Austerlitz.
Unlike some of his colleagues, Soult appears to have become instantly comfortable with his hurried elevation, and very quickly took on the manner and demeanour of people who he no doubt would have castigated back in his NCO days. During the 1806 Jena campaign, it was the same story. IV Corps ran fluidly, but nobody ever had to ask where its commander was. He was always within spitting distance of the headquarters tent. Furthermore, this lack of courage was beginning to become common knowledge. At Jena IV Corps was lightly engaged, and anyway, Soult had the luck to be gifted with the likes of St Hilaire to run his divisions, and who most certainly didn't need any tips on how to fight.
What carried Soult through as his excellent corps organisation, and his understanding of the Emperor's requirements. It did not matter to Napoleon that Soult was no firebrand, because he got the job done. Berthier couldn't stick him (hardcase that he was, of course) but Soult used the same ploys to comfortably survive Eylau. The fact that he had to hide in an infantry square at Heilsburg is down to the fact that his corps got into a battle because of his lack of hands on control and had to sustain a difficult position until nightfall.
Still, when it was all over Soult was one of the first names out of the hat. Let's just leave the gory details at Duke of Dalmatia plus lots of cash. Titles aplenty are best left to headed notepaper. Apparently the title narked him, as it did not signify a martial achievement, but perhaps this was napoleon's little wheeze. I like to think so. Anyway, for those of you beginning to get a little fed up with Soult, I have one word for you. Of course, it's SPAIN.
When Napoleon went there for his holidays in 1808, Soult took his corps along. At the time neither of them guessed that it was going to be more than two weeks in Torremolinos. When the Emperor had o go back to sort out the Austrians, Soult stayed behind. He had successfully pursued Sir John Moore to his death at Corunna and perhaps it gave him a confused impression that the British weren't too much of a handful. In what was becoming a habit, Soult did put up a nice monument to the fallen British general. It might be worth checking the signature at the bottom of Nelson's Column. It was about this time that Soult got the notion that perhaps if Napoleon could rise to a throne, then he might just do the same. Putting the pin in the map, Portugal came up as favourite. The invasion went a bit wrong when Wellesley caned him at Oporto, costing him a complete baggage train and all his guns. The subsequent victory at Ocana over the Dons impressed many people, but mainly those like King Joseph who thought War was a song by Edwin Starr.
Following Marmont's defeat at Salamanca, Soult had to abandon the long blockade of Cadiz, although he subsequently retook Madrid and pursued Wellington back towards Portugal. In 1813 he was recalled to central Europe, filling the vacancy commanding the Imperial Guard which Bessieres' death had left. He then fought at Bautzen, but was sent back to Spain when the Emperor heard of the catastrophe at Vitoria.
Finally, in the Pyrenees campaign he brilliantly outmanoeuvred Wellington, only to lose every battle he had to fight. By now he had a long string of enemies amongst his colleagues, including Ney, Jourdan and Victor. However it must be admitted that practically nobody had much chance of jamming the floodgates and the final defeat in 1814 cannot truly be blamed on Soult, and he in effect held Wellington off for close to ten months under very difficult conditions.
Bourbon Minister of War
With the abdication Soult was persuaded to go over to the Bourbons, becoming Minister of War for Louis XVIII. However, whilst not being by nature a political animal, he realised with impeccable timing that the Bourbon ship might quickly run onto the rocks, and he was determined not to be aboard when it did. Accordingly in March 1815 he resigned and promptly fell in with napoleon on his return, becoming Chief-of-Staff for the Army of the North. He appeared to be the most suitable man for the job.
Unfortunately the second most eminent general in the army was his bitter enemy, Ney. Soult also found out that his time in Spain where he had total independence had left him ill-equipped to act as the emperor's pen-pusher. The lack of rapid aggression which had become Soult's hallmark now transferred itself to his new post. Always advising caution, he allowed Ney enough rope to hang himself without stepping in as his post required. Derided though Berthier may generally be, the campaign might have been wholly different if his sure hands had been available.
Following Waterloo, Soult was duly proscribed and fled to Germany and his in-laws, biding his time until he was safe to return. With the 1830 revolution he was back in favour, and returned as Minister of War from 1830-34. In 1838 he represented France at the coronation of Queen Victoria, meeting again the man who had chased him through the Pyrenees. Various further stints in ministerial roles filled out the 1840s, which began when, aged 71, he welcomed back Napoleon's remains from St Helena.
Marshall-General
Retiring from public life on September 15th 1847, Soult was made Marshal-General of France eleven days later, only the fourth man ever to have held the post. He died at Soultberg on November 26th 1851.
So what do we make of the man dubbed 'King Nicolas'? Well, he hated Ney, so sadly that's a point against in my book. Certainly he had a monstrous ego, and resided in splendour wherever he lived. That he was at his height a fine strategist is beyond argument, and whenever he was in a position where his own safety was not at risk, he did a good job. In fact, the turning point in his military career is his capture at Genoa, and his subsequent loss of nerve. Up to then he had been more than willing to put himself about, and he had earned his rapid rise through the ranks.
As for looting, he was fairly well up the rankings in that respect, not far behind the old master, Massena. But what about his status as a soldier? Amongst those who have graced these pages in previous issues, there is no doubt that his abilities were high. He commanded independently almost as well as Suchet or Massena at their peaks, and certainly was one of the few who could be trusted to run his own campaign. That said, this fact contributed to his ego and the subsequent arguments with other marshals. This is a major fault. There is no point being a great soldier if you cannot co-operate. It is one of the fundamentals. Equally, courage is of the essence. Had he been as fearless as Lannes or Ney then the British might have been in real trouble in the Peninsula. He gets a big plus point for his consistent loyalty to Napoleon, unlike many of his colleagues who sought elevation without gratitude.
Nevertheless, and although many people cite him as one of the top three Marshals, for me he is below the likes of Davout, Lannes, Ney and Suchet, because as a general you expect and send out men to die for you. Not toy soldiers, but real, breathing people with wives and families and everything that you may have. To not be prepared to die for them in return is unforgivable.
|
It's been a while since we took on one of the major players amongst the marshalate, but Soult definitely qualifies. He was born on March 29th 1769, and this in itself was a portent of greatness. Why? Have you ever stopped to consider who else was born in 1769. Napoleon Bonaparte, Arthur Wellesley, Michel Ney, Pitt the Younger, Humboldt, Cuvier. An impressive list. Born the son of a Gascon notary, Soult was on the verge of taking up a career in baking when at 16 his father died. Instead he joined the Royal Infantry regiment, thinking that he could earn enough to set up in the bakery business.
Joseph was so impressed that he made Soult his 'Major-General', mainly because Jourdan had bodged Talavera so badly that he needed replacing pronto. What at first seemed like a glory job turned out to be a nightmare that Soult simply was not up to. Against the Spanish he did well enough, as was to be expected, but when the redcoats showed up Soult forever seemed to hear his mother calling, and had to go home. He consistently avoided battle against Wellington, and it was here that the failings in his courage were all too brutally exposed. No Emperor to hide behind here. In typical marshal's style, he failed to co-operate with his colleagues, and should have been shot for not supporting Massena at the Lines of Torres Vedras. At Albuera he blew a golden chance for victory, and it seems that at this point Soult had lost the killer instinct, too intent was he in preserving his own hide.