Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcelin Marbot[a] (/mɑːrˈboʊ/mar-BOH, French:[ʒɑ̃batistɑ̃twanmaʁsəlɛ̃maʁbo]; 18 August 1782 – 16 November 1854), known as Marcellin Marbot,[b] was a French
general, famous for his memoirs depicting the
Napoleonic age of warfare.[2] He belongs to a family that has distinguished itself particularly in the career of arms, giving three generals to France in less than 50 years, including his elder brother,
Antoine Adolphe Marcelin Marbot.
After studying at the Sorèze Military College (1793–1798), he joined the
1st Hussards Regiment as a volunteer on 3 September 1799.[3] He served under General
Jean-Mathieu Seras, who promoted him to the rank of
sergeant on 1 December 1799. In the same month, on 31 December 1799, he was promoted to the rank of
second lieutenant in recognition of his courage. He fought with the
Army of Italy and took part in the
Battle of Marengo and the
Siege of Genoa, during which his father, General Jean-Antoine Marbot died.[5]
On 15 November 1812 he was promoted to the rank of
colonel and took part in the
German campaign of 1813 as the commander of a cavalry regiment. During the morning of the first day of the
Battle of Leipzig, Marbot nearly changed the course of the entire war when his regiment came close to capturing the Tsar of Russia,
Alexander I and the King of Prussia,
Frederick William III, as they had strayed from their escort.[8] After a slow recovery from the wounds he had received at the battles of
Leipzig and
Hanau, he took part in the
Battle of Waterloo alongside Emperor
Napoleon I during the
Hundred Days.[7]
After the final defeat of Napoleon in 1815, he was exiled during the first years of the
Bourbon Restoration and only returned to France in 1819.[7]
From 1835 to 1840 he served in various
Algerian expeditions, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-général (divisional general) in 1836. In 1845 he was made a member of the
Chamber of Peers. Three years later, at the fall of King Louis Philippe I, he retired into private life.[7]
On 5 November 1811, he married Angélique Marie Caroline Personne-Desbrières (1790–1873), and by this alliance became the owner of the Château du Rancy in
Bonneuil-sur-Marne.[9] They had two sons:
Marbot endured 13 wounds and injuries[1] during his service:
A
bayonet stab to the left arm, received while he was left stunned by the "wind" of a
cannonball that had just flown through his
bicorn hat, at the
Battle of Eylau: 8 February 1807.
A
sword slash to the forehead at
Ágreda: 1 November 1808.
In exile after the
Battle of Waterloo, Marbot returned to France in 1819 and wrote two books:
Critical remarks on the work of Lieutenant-Général Rogniat, entitled: Considerations on the art of war (1820).[15]
On the necessity of increasing the military forces of France; means of achieving this in the most cost-efficient way possible (1825).[16]
The first publication was a reply to General Joseph Rogniat’s treatise on war, in which Marbot effectively contrasted the human factor in war with Rogniat’s pure theory. The second presented his recommendations for the future development of the
French Armed Forces.
Napoleon read the first publication while in exile on the island of
Saint Helena. His aide-de-camp, General
Henri-Gatien Bertrand recorded in his diary on 14 March 1821:
In the evening, the Emperor handed me Marbot's book, [...] and said: "That is the best book I have read for four years. It is the one that has given me the greatest amount of pleasure. [...] He has expressed some things better than I did, he was more familiar with them because, on the whole, he was more of a Corps commander than I. [...] Throughout the book he never refers to '
the Emperor'. He wanted the King of France (
Louis XVIII) to give him an appointment with the rank of Colonel; that is quite obvious. He uses 'Emperor' once, so as not to look as though he were afraid to do so, or to appear cowardly, and another time he uses '
Napoleon'. He mentions
Masséna and
Augereau frequently, and he has described the
Battle of Essling better than I could have done it myself [...]. I should have liked to show Marbot my appreciation by sending him a ring. If I ever return to active life, I will have him attached to me as an aide-de-camp [...].[17]
This publication earned Marbot the distinction of being remembered in
Napoleon's will:
To Colonel Marbot, one hundred thousand francs. I recommend him to continue to write in defense of the glory of the
French armies, and to confound their calumniators and apostates.[18]
Memoirs
His fame rests chiefly on the Memoirs of his life and campaigns, the Memoirs of General Baron de Marbot, which were written for his children and published posthumously in Paris, in 1891. An English translation by
Arthur John Butler was published in London, in 1892.[19] Marbot’s Memoirs were widely acclaimed, and
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote of them:
The first of all soldier books in the world. [...] There are few books which I could not spare from my shelves better than the Memoirs of the gallant Marbot.[20]
Literary references
Several authors and personalities have cited Marbot and his Memoirs in their works:
Andrew Lang's collections of stories written by various authors feature selected excerpts from Marbot's Memoirs. Three appear in The Red True Story Book collection (1895): "Marbot's March",[21]"Eylau. The Mare Lisette"[22] and "How Marbot crossed the Danube".[23] Another two appear in The All Sorts of Stories Book collection (1911): "How the Russian Soldier was Saved"[24] and "Marbot and the Young Cossack".[25]
In
Arthur Conan Doyle's novel Through the Magic Door (1907), the author shares his admiration for Marbot's Memoirs with his readers.[20] Doyle also modelled the fictional comedic character of
Brigadier Gerard, the most entertaining of all his characters, on a number of real-life sources from the
Napoleonic era, among them Marbot.[26]
In
Theodore Roosevelt's writings and public statements, Marbot is cited on two occasions. He is mentioned in Roosevelt's address Biological Analogies in History (1910), delivered at the
University of Oxford,[27] and in his publication A Book Lover's Holiday in the Open (1916).[28]
In
Virginia Woolf's novel Mrs Dalloway (1925), there are several mentions of the protagonist Clarissa Dalloway reading Marbot's Memoirs.[29]
As with a number of other historical figures, Marbot appears prominently in the Riverworld cycle of science-fiction novels (1967-1983) by
Philip José Farmer. Marbot is first featured as the commander of Marines on
Sam Clemens' riverboat, the Not for Hire. After the destruction of that boat and the death of its captain, Marbot joins the group led by famed English explorer Sir
Richard Francis Burton and accompanies him on the journey to the head of the River. Accompanied by his lover, the English author
Aphra Behn, Marbot reaches the Tower at the head of the River, only to die in combat when androids based on characters from Alice Through the Looking-Glass attack the guests during a
Lewis Carroll-themed party.[30]
In
Marc Bloch's book The Historian's Craft (1949), he uses the story of Marbot crossing the Danube, along with various documentary evidence, as an example of historical criticism unearthing erroneous history-writing, citing sources as wide-ranging as the Commentaries of
Julius Caesar and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.[31]
In
Ronald Frederick Delderfield's novel To Serve Them All My Days (1972), the protagonist David Powlett-Jones gets comfort from Marbot's Memoirs during his time in the trenches, and again on the death of his wife and daughter in a road accident.[32]
Eponyms
Several places and buildings have been named after Marbot:
^"Marcelin" is spelt with one "l" in Marbot's birth certificate and official documents.[1]
^"Marcellin" is spelt with two "l"s in certain service records and is the spelling used by Marbot. He is also sometimes known as "Jean-Baptiste Marbot".
^Dawson, Paul L. (2019).
Napoleon's Waterloo Army: Uniforms and Equipment. Barnsley: Pen and Sword.
ISBN978-1-5267-0530-3. The regiment was led in 1815 by Colonel Marcelin Marbot, who left a vivid set of memoirs about his military career under Napoleon; these give a picture of the Napoleonic age of warfare [...].
^Royal and Military Order of Saint Louis (1814–1830).
"List of recipients" (in French). Marbot, Jean-Baptiste Antoine Marcellin. 6 June 1827. Knight.{{
cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (
link)
^"Règne de Léopold Ier. – An 1833.". Pasinomie, ou Collection complète des Lois, Décrets, Arrêtés, Avis du Conseil d'État et Règlements Généraux qui peuvent être invoqués en Belgique (in French). Brussels: H. Tarlier. 1833. p. 111. 10 March 1833. – N. 425. – Ordinance containing the French decorated with the
Order of Leopold on the occasion of the Antwerp Citadel. [...] Marbot, aide-de-camp to HRH The Duke of Orléans. Baudrand, aide-de-camp to HRH The Duke of Orléans.
^"France. Paris, 16 avril". Journal des débats politiques et littéraires (in French). Paris. 17 April 1833. p. 1 – via Gallica (
Bibliothèque nationale de France). We receive an official report of the appointments made in Belgium to different ranks of the
Order of Leopold in favor of the French army. [...] Are appointed Commanders: Generals Dejean, Jamia, Fabre, Achard, T. Sébastiani, Gentil-Saint-Alphonse, Schramm, Marbot, Baudrand, Rumigny, Harlet, Latour-Maubourg, de Riguy, Georges, Simonneau, Lawoestine, Rullière, Durocheret, d'Hincourt, Laffaille, Auvray and Gourgaud.
^Guyot, Amédée; Scribe, Théodore (1846).
"Ordres étrangers. Français décorés d'Ordres étrangers.". Almanach Royal et National pour l'an MDCCCXLVI, Présenté à Leurs Majestés et aux Princes et Princesses de la Famille Royale (in French). Paris: Guyot et Scribe. p. 345. Netherlands. [...]
Order of the Oak Crown. Grand Crosses. Baron Achard, Peer, Lieutenant-General. Baron Marbot, Peer, Lieutenant-General.
^Bonaparte, Napoleon (15 April 1821).
"Napoleon's Will and Testamemt". Longwood, Island of St. Helena. Retrieved 1 October 2021 – via Fondation Napoléon.