1. Louis-Alexandre Berthier was twice Minister of War of France and was made a Marshal of the Empire in 1804.
28 Facts About Louis-Alexandre Berthier
1. 2.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier was the eldest of five surviving children of Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Baptiste Berthier, an officer in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, and his first wife Marie Francoise L'Huillier de La Serre.
3.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier first saw action during the American Revolutionary War, in which he served from 1780 to 1783 as a staff officer under Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, Count of Rochambeau.
4.
In 1792, Louis-Alexandre Berthier was promoted to marechal de camp and posted to the Army of the North.
5.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier was appointed chief of staff to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, and bore a distinguished part in the Argonne campaign of Generals Dumouriez and Kellermann.
6.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier served in the Italian campaign of 1796, distinguishing himself at the Battle of Lodi.
7.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier accompanied Napoleon throughout the campaign of 1797, and was left in charge of the army after the Treaty of Campo Formio.
8.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier was in this post in 1798 when he entered Italy, invaded the Vatican, organized the Roman Republic, and took Pope Pius VI prisoner.
9.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier supervised the Pope's relocation to Valence, where, after a tortuous journey, Pius died.
10.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier assisted in the Coup of 18 Brumaire, afterwards becoming Minister of War for a time.
11.
The General-in-Chief Louis-Alexandre Berthier gave his orders with the precision of a consummate warrior, and at Marengo maintained the reputation that he so rightly acquired in Italy and in Egypt under the orders of Bonaparte.
12.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier himself was hit by a bullet in the arm.
13.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier took part in the campaigns of Austerlitz, Jena, and Friedland.
14.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier was made Grand Huntsman in 1804 and Vice-Constable of the Empire in 1807.
15.
In 1806, when Napoleon deposed King Frederick William III of Prussia from the Principality of Neuchatel, Louis-Alexandre Berthier was appointed its ruler, with the title of Prince of Neuchatel and Duke of Valangin.
16.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier never visited Neuchatel, where he was represented by a governor, although he was well acquainted with its affairs.
17.
In 1808, Louis-Alexandre Berthier served in the Peninsular War, and in 1809, served in the Austrian theatre during the War of the Fifth Coalition, after which he was given the title of Prince of Wagram.
18.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier was with Napoleon in Russia in 1812, and took part in the extremely unusual council of war on whether to proceed, being one of several who advised against an advance on Moscow which Napoleon had decided on, encouraged by Joachim Murat who was blamed by many for the horse-killing pace of the march into Russia.
19.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier is said to have burst into tears at the decision.
20.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier served in Germany in 1813, and France in 1814, fulfilling, until the fall of the French Empire, the functions of chief of staff of the Grande Armee.
21.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier made peace with Louis XVIII in 1814 and accompanied the king on his solemn entry into Paris.
22.
On Napoleon's return to France in March 1815, Louis-Alexandre Berthier withdrew to the Bavarian city of Bamberg.
23.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier's loss was keenly felt by Napoleon, who wished he had his former Chief of Staff at Waterloo:.
24.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier was an immensely skilled chief of staff, but he was not a great field commander.
25.
In 1796, Louis-Alexandre Berthier fell in love with Giuseppa Carcano, marquise Visconti di Borgorato, who was to be his mistress for the duration of the First French Empire, despite the emperor's disapproval.
26.
On 9 March 1808, Louis-Alexandre Berthier married Elisabeth who was the only daughter of Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria and Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Zweibrucken-Birkenfeld-Rappoltstein, the sister of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, and a relative of the Russian emperor through the Wittelsbach line on the Bavarian side and Prussian side of her lineage.
27.
Louis-Alexandre Berthier is featured prominently in the three tutorial missions in the game, and appears in two of the game's historical battles.
28.
The Louis-Alexandre Berthier collection is conserved in the archives of the State of Neuchatel.