Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte served with distinction in Italy and Germany, and was briefly Minister of War.
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52 Facts About Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte
2.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte played a significant role in the French victory at Austerlitz, and was made Prince of Pontecorvo as a reward.
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3.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was, through marriage to Desiree Clary, brother-in-law to Joseph Bonaparte, and thus a member of the extended Imperial family.
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4.
In 1810, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was unexpectedly elected the heir-presumptive to the childless King Charles XIII of Sweden, thanks to the advocacy of Baron Carl Otto Morner, a Swedish courtier and obscure member of the Riksdag of the Estates.
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5.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte assumed the name Charles John and was named regent, and generalissimo of the Swedish Armed Forces, soon after his arrival becoming de facto head of state for most of his time as Crown Prince.
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6.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte then authored the Trachenberg Plan, the war winning Allied campaign plan, and commanded the Allied Army of the North that defeated two concerted French attempts to capture Berlin and made the decisive attack on the last day of the catastrophic French defeat at Leipzig.
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7.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte presided over a period of peace and prosperity, and reigned until his death in 1844.
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8.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was the son of Jean Henri Bernadotte, prosecutor at Pau, and his wife Jeanne de Saint-Jean, niece of the lay abbot of Sireix.
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9.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was the youngest of five siblings, two of whom died in childhood.
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10.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's promotions came both from the esteem of his commanders as well as from his men; having been elected to the rank of lieutenant colonel and colonel by his men, though he refused both nominations in favor of traditional advancement.
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11.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte played key roles throughout the next 18 months during the three French invasions into Germany; often employed in the place of honor during offensives leading the vanguard, and in retreat as a defensive specialist commanding the rearguard.
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12.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's successful crossing of the Alps through the storm in midwinter was highly praised but coldly received by the Italian Army.
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14.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was pleased with this appointment but Napoleon lobbied Talleyrand-Perigord, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, to appoint him to the embassy of Vienna instead.
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15.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was very dissatisfied; he finally accepted the post in Vienna, but had to quit owing to the disturbances caused by his hoisting the tricolour over the embassy.
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16.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's rule was popular, and despite the exactions taken from the populace as part of Napoleon's policy of making occupations pay for themselves, Hanover's economy prospered.
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17.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte extended his protection, and made private contributions to, Gottingen University, befriending many of the professors and other men of learning whom he often had over for dinner and employed to tutor himself and his wife.
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18.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was tasked with assuring France's newest ally, the Elector of Bavaria, Maximillian Joseph, that the Austrians would be driven from his country.
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19.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, struggling desperately to prevent his men from sacking the city, was given six horses from the Council of Lubeck as a token of their appreciation.
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20.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte treated with courtesy 1600 Swedish prisoners, under the command of Colonel Count Gustave Morner, and allowed them to return to their home country.
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21.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte moved West as ordered, pursued by Bennigsen where he defeated the numerically superior Russian vanguard at Mohrungen.
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22.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was known throughout the army for his probity and honesty in the conduct of his affairs on campaign and he refrained from the looting and brigandage that many of his fellow marshals engaged in.
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23.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte held his troops to the same high standard and punished looting and raping severely and was known to intervene with his sword drawn against those engaged in pillaging, as was the case following the capture of Lubeck.
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24.
The Russians resumed the offensive that summer and Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was attacked by, and defeated, a strong Prussian Corps at Spanden, preserving the French bridgehead over the Pasleka, where he was nearly killed when a spent ball struck him in the neck.
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25.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was to direct the expedition against Sweden, via the Danish islands, but the plan came to naught because of the want of transports and the defection of the Spanish contingent, which went back to Spain to fight against Napoleon at the start of the Peninsular War.
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27.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte maintained strict discipline of his troops and his good treatment of the Danes made him popular with the populace and Danish Royal Family.
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28.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte made it known to Napoleon that he did not want the Spanish Crown.
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33.
In 1810 Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was about to enter his new post as governor of Rome when he was unexpectedly elected the heir-presumptive to King Charles XIII of Sweden.
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34.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was childless; Queen Charlotte had given birth to two children who had died in infancy, and there was no prospect of her bearing another child.
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35.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte communicated Morner's offer to Napoleon who at first treated the situation as an absurdity, but later came around to the idea and supported Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's candidacy both financially and diplomatically.
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36.
Also, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was personally popular, owing to the kindness he had shown to the Swedish prisoners in Lubeck and his reputation as the well-liked governor of the Hanseatic Cities from 1807 to 1809; as many Swedish merchants had operated under his auspices.
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37.
Finally, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte had no qualms about converting to Lutheranism, recalling the conversion of Henry IV for the benefit of France with whom he felt a kinship with as both hailed from Pau, nor converting his son Oscar.
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39.
On 2 November 1810 Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte made his solemn entry into Stockholm, and on 5 November he received the homage of the Riksdag of the Estates, and he was adopted by King Charles XIII under the name of "Charles John".
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42.
The Army of the North committed the coup de grace on the already depleted French and Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was the first of the Allied sovereigns to enter Leipzig.
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44.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was especially concerned about the conflict between the UK and Russia.
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45.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's dynasty faced little danger, as the Swedes and the Norwegians alike were proud of a monarch with a good European reputation.
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46.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte demanded that the Storting give him the power of absolute veto, but was forced to back down.
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47.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's popularity decreased for a time in the 1830s, culminating in the Rabulist riots after the Lese-majeste conviction of the journalist Magnus Jacob Crusenstolpe, and some calls for his abdication.
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49.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's remains were interred after a state funeral in Stockholm's Riddarholm Church.
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50.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte became Lord and Master of all Swedish orders of chivalry upon his accession to the throne.
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51.
Desiree Clary's relationships with Bonaparte and Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte were the subject of the novel Desiree by Annemarie Selinko.
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52.
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte is a primary supporting character in the historical fiction novel by New York Times Bestselling author Allison Pataki A Queen's Fortune: A Novel of Desiree, Napoleon, and the Dynasty that outlasted the Empire, that tells the life story of his wife Desiree Clary.
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