August 9, 2025 • 21 mins
General Morand was a commander for Marshal Davout and one of his "Three Immortals" along with Gudin and Friant. Special guest Charles Mackay joins the show to discuss this stalwart general of the Grande Armee.
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(00:00):
Welcome back to generals and Napoleon we have on once again
the brilliant talented and very funny Charles McKay joining us
once again how are you Sir. I am good I am good thank you
for the invite I appreciate it. My pleasure my pleasure for
those who don't know Charles really scholarly fellow attended
(00:21):
Florida State 's Napoleonic studies program he also has some
great content on blue sky can catch him on bubbles vampire
there. And today we're going to talk
about a guy one of the 3 immortals who are we talking
about today Charles. We're talking about general
Charles Antoine morand general of Division One of the 3
immortals as you mentioned in davoos 3rd corps.
(00:43):
OK well let's jump right in he was born in June 1770 1:00 in
the dew region of France near the Swiss border he was the son
of a lawyer and follows his follows in his dad 's footsteps
initially. But why do you think he made the
switch to a military. Career I will ask you if you've
ever read French law because I think I know the answer to that
(01:06):
and do you want to do French lawfor your whole life or do you
want you know this is 1792 this is the country 's in danger
there's a army that's getting ready to invade and he's 21
years old. Yeah.
I didn't even really think aboutit until you phrased it like
that and this is pre Napoleonic code French law like it was all
(01:28):
jumbled and and messy yeah. Yes absolutely right Byzantine I
think would be the best answer. Yeah yeah that's a great point
OK well he joins the due volunteers in August 1792 and
he's elected captain by his comrades by September he's made
Lieutenant Colonel which is fasteven for the times right.
(01:50):
Yeah that I mean that that that's pretty quick although
with you know elections for officers anything goes so
generally the guys that had had previous service in the Royal
Army even if it was enlisted rocket to the top of leadership
or the people that could read and write.
And so obviously you know someone functioning in the
(02:10):
capacity of a lawyer even at 21:00 and a young age can read
and write. That's another great point a lot
of the aristocracy had emigratedso a lot of the reading and
writing brilliant guys had fled the country so there's a need
for people like you you say who know the law and can read and
write. Sure now I don't want to
insinuate that that literacy rates were so low probably about
(02:32):
50% literacy rates in France at this time the Enlightenment had
done a lot to to really propagate.
Writing and learning and readingand and cultivate a culture
where that can happen so we're probably talking 50% of of
literacy rates but young man whowould be in the army are
probably not on that on that higher comparable arc so you
(02:56):
know he's got some advantages going in.
OK well when does young Moran see his first action against the
enemy. It does not take long he's
active right away and not unlikeanother general we talked about
not too long ago general freon he's active right away and all
of the look countries the Austrian Netherlands and all of
(03:18):
the fights and skirmishes and infact it's interesting that in
many ways moron and freon have parallel tracks really up until
maybe 1810. Where their paths maybe diverge
a little bit but like for you all he's active in the low
countries he's at fluru he gets assigned to bernadotte 's
(03:40):
division in the army of Italy and then he gets to go to to
Egypt with the army as well? Yeah it's interesting that he's
joins bernadotte 's division as part of the army of Italy in
1797 and technically he's under Napoleon at that time and then
1798 morand helps bertier capture Rome.
And then joins Napoleon 's expedition to Egypt so like
(04:01):
freont he's placed under the command of general Desai how
does he perform in Egypt. He does well he's not as active
as again to draw a comparison tofreont freont is more on the on
the spear tip often a moron is left back to do administrative
be the Governor General of the particular area so he did a lot
(04:22):
of Garrison duty but it was in upper Egypt so he's not in
Alexandria he's not in Cairo. He doesn't go with the army to
the Holy Land he he is down in in in upper Egypt.
OK well he's promoted a general brigade in 1800s so I must be
doing something right and is part of the force that
eventually has to surrender to the British do we know when he
(04:44):
gets back to France. Yeah what so he he and frione
get back about the same time when that capitulation happens
and the British evacuate the theFrench troops so that would be
the 18 O one time frame. OK.
In 18 O 5 Miranda is under Marshall salt at the battle of
alisterlitz where he's wounded and receives another promotion
(05:06):
to general of division do we know when he joins up with
Marshall devue. Yeah it's in early 18 O 6 that
he does that so he is part of Saint hilaire 's command and
literally moron was the actual spear tip it's entirely possible
he was the first French Saber toto encounter the Russians on the
(05:29):
pratts and heights so he is literally right on the edge.
And of course he's wounded therenot not grievously but he is
wounded there but he's right in the right in the front of Saint
alair 's command. Huge victory for Napoleon and
the French army but moving alongin the story in 18 O 7 Moran
meets the daughter of a Polish aristocrat and gets married
(05:50):
later on in 1810 what do we knowabout his personally.
So you and I have talked in the past about marriages during the
Napoleonic era and some of them were were I'll fated some of
them were were quite successful some of them were me but Meryl
had a good had a good marriage he was totally infatuated and
there was a a bit of an age difference between he and his
(06:13):
bride she was 16 when she first when he first encountered and he
would have been in his mid 30s so there was a little bit of an
age difference but it was a successful marriage they had.
Had 8 or 9 children the last maron direct descended didn't
die until 19:00 O 5 South and ofcourse he he was born in
(06:35):
17911771 you know he's got some years on him after the
Napoleonic era as well he doesn't die until the 1830s so
he has a little bit more time but he had a loving and
successful marriage with with a big family.
Very good. Well in 18 O 9 Miranda is back
(06:56):
at the front under Marshall devue in the war of the 5th
coalition and devue score is always on the right side of the
battle line why is this such an honor is it historically you
always put your best troops on the right I know the Romans did
that and does it speak to Napoleon 's faith in devue.
That's a great question you knowthat the early part of that
(07:16):
campaign was such a hash and youknow in part that's because the
emperor was not there in person he was attending to some state
matters that he needed to in Paris and was also trying to
maintain a sort of a farcical situation where the Austrians
were creeping up for war and he didn't want to go to the
battlefront to provoke the Austrians so poor aubertier is
(07:38):
there and misinterprets badly Napoleon 's orders.
And the French army is is in serious danger of getting
annihilated by a reinvigorated army led by the very capable
archduke Charles Austrian army and it's really devue and these
divisional commanders that that sort of save France 's bacon but
(08:03):
then after that the devue gets put on the right flank and it's
especially to wagram he is the right flank at wagram.
And and you know of all of the marshals devue was called the
iron Marshall right I mean the guy 's a rock so great to you
know when you're dressing lines in a military formation you all
look to the right dress to the right command so there is a
(08:27):
psychological factor I think in putting the iron Marshall on the
right hand side. That's a great point yeah
because I know al schlitz he's on the right side I Lao he's on
the right side. Kind of sort of on the right at
borodino but more of the center but yeah.
Interesting well in 1810 generalmoron is stationed in Hamburg
and is governor of the hanzioticcities but I've read that his
(08:50):
relationship with the Vue beginsto sour at this point do you
know what happened between the 2men.
So so how much time do we have John a lot of this gets involved
in some. Some sort of you know martial
politics and things I'll try notto go too deep into this but a
(09:11):
lot of the rub happened with Poland devoux was rather
outspoken about that that Polandshould be made an independent
state rather than a dependent state for France there were
rumors that that devoux was advocating to be the king of
Poland. And of course you know Mira has
(09:33):
married a Polish Princess or a Polish noblewoman and so I think
there was some friction that that started there and devil had
a knack of really pissing off all of the wrong people he got
under Jerome skin and he got under miraz skin.
And this is a problem because ofthe proximity that both Jerome
(09:55):
and murah have to Napoleon you know they're just chattering in
his ear that devo did this and did that he's scheming for this
that probably really undercut a little bit of DeVos position.
And so moron was I won't say he was caught in the crossfires
because I don't think he was caught in the crossfire of this
(10:15):
but he was strong headed as welland the 2 of them just started
to butt heads and you know devu devu had to have things his way
it's his way or the highway and I think by 1810 moron thought OK
I want to take the highway so moron moron.
(10:37):
Wrote to the to Clark the minister of war without first
going to devue and asked for a transfer or asked to retire or
asked to be reassigned any of those things and.
That did not work for devue who was incensed that he would go to
the minister of war without his foreknowledge Napoleon had to
(11:01):
step in and essentially told moron listen I'm not reassigning
you I cannot reassign you because if I did it for you I'd
have to do it for everybody and that's not going to happen and
to moron 's credit and to devue 's credit this too maintained a
working relationship and it was a good.
And close working relationship if your listeners have followed
(11:23):
the Russian campaign they know well that that you know none of
these guys are mailing it in. Yeah and we're going to talk
about that next in 1812 Moran isworking again with devoux in the
invasion of Russia we lose goudin one of the 3 immortals
along the way into Moscow duringone of the battles what happens
to Moran at the battle bordino. So.
(11:48):
Like devue and freel he is wounded he takes some K shot to
the jaw and breaks his jaw in several locations however
manages to continue on with the army so he is with the soldiers
that occupy Moscow freel wasn't so lucky as we talked about
another episode he had to he wasso wounded he had to remain back
(12:10):
but at least moron was able to to advance with the troops and
occupy Moscow. Yeah it's interesting after
fighting throughout the retreat moron only has 300 troops out of
the original 10,000 under his command was that the typical
remnant of Napoleon 's divisions.
Yeah in fact it was he's lucky to be alive as any of these
(12:31):
people were you know if you go in with anywhere from a half
1,000,000 to 600,000 and and 30,000 come out obviously you
got to feel pretty lucky now officers had it better right
they still had access to mounts and and resources and more
reliable. Versus of decent nourishment and
food and things see clothing whatnot but still that was not a
March through a Rose Garden. No no no that was a rough one
(12:54):
moron fights again in the 1813 boughs of Lutsen bounsen and the
invasion of France did he serve the bourbons when Napoleon was
first exiled to Elba. He did but let me back up if I
may for just a hot second because he actually does get
command of a corps. Oh great OK.
Bertrand goes down for a short bid in 1813 and moron takes over
(13:18):
Bertrand 's 4th core so he does have some core commander
experience one of the only immortal that ends up having any
core command experience and doesvery well and and capable.
So yes he he he did go and servethe borman 's again but then I'm
sure you're going to talk about when Napoleon comes back he he
(13:38):
rallies to the rallies to the eagle.
Yep he does he flocks to Napoleon 's banner again during
the 100 days and was heavily involved in the defense of
plants and woah against the prussians what happened there.
So he's posted with the cavalry and as that battle progresses
Napoleon launches a frontal assault against the British.
(14:01):
And and the prussians are advancing from the east there's
some initial doubt during the battle of Waterloo if they see
the uniforms off of the distancestarting to March towards the
battlefield and everybody the British the French everybody is
looking in their spyglasses to see is this grushy 's you know
command that's coming to to savethem and reinforce the French
(14:22):
right or is it in fact the prussians and then it becomes
apparent that it's Prussian blueand so Bonaparte has to change
up his plan a little. And designate elements of the
guard to go hold plants and wah which is the linchpin of the
French right flank and the hope there is that the French with
who are grossly outnumbered at plants and wah can can hold off
(14:44):
the prussians long enough to letthe old guard do its coup de
grace against the British break the the allied army and then you
know March into Brussels in in in victory having destroyed the
British and the Prussian armies but.
As we know you know spoiler alert it did not work no.
It did. Not no no the the French were
(15:06):
overwhelmed in plants and Allah and Moran is heavily engaged in
covering the retreat in slowing the prussians doing anything
possible to to buy time for the French army either to finish off
the British at first or to to save the save the crumbling
French situation at the end right.
Well after Napoleon 's second abdication moron is suspended
(15:29):
without pay or pension by the returning borbons he's exiled
from France he's also sentenced to death in absentia but
Marshall sancer has his sentenceoverturned so his later years
sound kind of rough. Yeah so he was implicated in a
plot to assassinate king Louis the the 18th on some you know
(15:52):
really trumped up. You know I mean this was sort of
a sham case and a sham court he was he was convicted in absentia
because he'd have the good senseto to get out of France that he
was warned ahead of time that there were these charges that
were pending and that he would likely not do well if he was in
France so he goes to Poland actually he goes to his his in
(16:14):
laws and hangs out not too far from Krakow and he's there
through the early part of the 1820s and now Saul seer as you
mentioned the Marshall did get his name cleared from the
murder. And then eventually he's able to
to come back to to France and once the July marquee happens
he's restored to rank and actually takes a command in 1832
(16:41):
as a commander of a military division not far from where he's
from in in the eastern part of France near Switzerland.
Good I'm happy to hear that he got to resume his career a
little. Bit I'm not sure you'd call that
a an active command. But nevertheless and then he
dies in 1835 from a stroke. Yeah I was going to ask you what
(17:02):
you think his legacy is because there's there's 3 immortals that
I'm fascinated by a gudan who the great Carrie elwis and I
discussed you and I discussed freont and now we're discussing
moron So what do you think the legacy is of these 3 gentlemen.
Well of of the 3 marah is the sort of most interesting in some
(17:23):
respects because his chief complaint against devoux was
that devoux was sort of working behind the scenes to block his
advancement so marah is an ambitious general I think you
have to be ambitious to be a general at that level anyway but
(17:45):
clearly. Marant wants to do more than
than what he's doing and he starts to to think that that in
fact devoux is not supporting his advancement but actively
blocking his advancement it's aninteresting juxtaposition with
his you know his other one of his other immortals freon
because freon has those marriageties to devoux so freon is
(18:09):
actually offered command outsideof devou 's core in the guard
and turns it down to stay loyal and serve.
Devue but before this moron wants to command a corps and he
feels like devue is is thwartinghim from doing that.
And and these are men of giant egos even if moron doesn't have
(18:30):
an ego you want to get promoted and work your way up the ranks
so it must have been somewhat humbling to him like all right
well I'm the governor of the hanzi attic cities am I going to
be here forever like how do I how do I get to that next step
of promotion. Absolutely obviously he's
covered in glory from his time at austerlitz from our stat from
(18:50):
the action at vogram he rightfully believes that you
know he can stand toe to toe with.
With any of the core commanders and you know you always give me
a a a good hearted general tithing for my bringing Juno
into any conversation on whom I read a dissertation but when you
compare in some respects the experience that Juno had and the
(19:12):
experience that that moron had you know moron doesn't have
anything to be ashamed of he hasjust as much experience and.
And more talent and more capabilities.
I think you're onto something though because Juno was
literally driven mad by the promise of becoming a Marshall
and then never becoming one so Ican see where maybe moron he
(19:34):
wasn't driven mad but he was upset enough to go behind davoo
's back to war minister Clark toget something done.
I think that was just a completefrustration at that point at
nowhere else to go and the part of that that surprises me is I
don't. I mean Napoleon got involved in
these guys lives I mean he approved who they marry for
heaven 's sakes so I don't understand how he thought that
(19:57):
he you know by going to Clark Clark would just say OK and move
him. Yeah.
And, you know, Bonaparte and Devoux are related by marriage.
It's a tenuous connection, but the connection of marriage
nonetheless. And so I'm sure he felt just
frustrated by the by the constraints.
(20:17):
It's short of a, it's a great metaphor for understanding the
Napoleonic period that before when we talk about, and you
mentioned it earlier with the, the promotions coming so quickly
to people with talent in the Revolution because the officer
corps had been decimated. And you know, by the time we get
to 18 O 5, a lot of these peopleare there because of their
(20:38):
talent and of their talent alone.
You know, you get in the latter part of the period and you know,
talent is a factor, certainly, but it's obvious it's not the
only factor. And that's got to be frustrating
for a guy like Moral. Yeah.
And it's kind of like we were talking about earlier.
Yeah. You go from Lieutenant Colonel
to general brigade to general division in, I don't know, two
(20:59):
or three years, but then your general division forever because
you, unless you become a Marshall, you're you're you're
in the same spot you were ten years ago.
So I think that's a good point too.
Yeah, the distinction of course,is if you can get a core command
that that's, I mean, the Marshall is a, is an honorific
in theory, the rank of general division is the highest military
(21:21):
rank within the French military.And then the the, the operation
of a core is the that's the ultimate, well, unless you call
it an army. But there's only one of those in
the Napoleonic, only one of those in the Napoleonic regime.
Obviously the core command is. Is the.
That's what you, that's what youstrive for.
Well, thank you for that, Charles.
(21:41):
Another fine biography on the good General moron.
I really appreciate your time. Again, if you'd like to learn
more about Charles, you can check him out on Blue Sky
Bubbles Vampire, and we thank him for coming on the show.
Thanks a lot John. I appreciate it.
Have me back anytime.
Welcome back to generals and Napoleon we have on once again
the brilliant talented and very funny Charles McKay joining us
once again how are you Sir. I am good I am good thank you
for the invite I appreciate it. My pleasure my pleasure for
those who don't know Charles really scholarly fellow attended
(00:21):
Florida State 's Napoleonic studies program he also has some
great content on blue sky can catch him on bubbles vampire
there. And today we're going to talk
about a guy one of the 3 immortals who are we talking
about today Charles. We're talking about general
Charles Antoine morand general of Division One of the 3
immortals as you mentioned in davoos 3rd corps.
(00:43):
OK well let's jump right in he was born in June 1770 1:00 in
the dew region of France near the Swiss border he was the son
of a lawyer and follows his follows in his dad 's footsteps
initially. But why do you think he made the
switch to a military. Career I will ask you if you've
ever read French law because I think I know the answer to that
(01:06):
and do you want to do French lawfor your whole life or do you
want you know this is 1792 this is the country 's in danger
there's a army that's getting ready to invade and he's 21
years old. Yeah.
I didn't even really think aboutit until you phrased it like
that and this is pre Napoleonic code French law like it was all
(01:28):
jumbled and and messy yeah. Yes absolutely right Byzantine I
think would be the best answer. Yeah yeah that's a great point
OK well he joins the due volunteers in August 1792 and
he's elected captain by his comrades by September he's made
Lieutenant Colonel which is fasteven for the times right.
(01:50):
Yeah that I mean that that that's pretty quick although
with you know elections for officers anything goes so
generally the guys that had had previous service in the Royal
Army even if it was enlisted rocket to the top of leadership
or the people that could read and write.
And so obviously you know someone functioning in the
(02:10):
capacity of a lawyer even at 21:00 and a young age can read
and write. That's another great point a lot
of the aristocracy had emigratedso a lot of the reading and
writing brilliant guys had fled the country so there's a need
for people like you you say who know the law and can read and
write. Sure now I don't want to
insinuate that that literacy rates were so low probably about
(02:32):
50% literacy rates in France at this time the Enlightenment had
done a lot to to really propagate.
Writing and learning and readingand and cultivate a culture
where that can happen so we're probably talking 50% of of
literacy rates but young man whowould be in the army are
probably not on that on that higher comparable arc so you
(02:56):
know he's got some advantages going in.
OK well when does young Moran see his first action against the
enemy. It does not take long he's
active right away and not unlikeanother general we talked about
not too long ago general freon he's active right away and all
of the look countries the Austrian Netherlands and all of
(03:18):
the fights and skirmishes and infact it's interesting that in
many ways moron and freon have parallel tracks really up until
maybe 1810. Where their paths maybe diverge
a little bit but like for you all he's active in the low
countries he's at fluru he gets assigned to bernadotte 's
(03:40):
division in the army of Italy and then he gets to go to to
Egypt with the army as well? Yeah it's interesting that he's
joins bernadotte 's division as part of the army of Italy in
1797 and technically he's under Napoleon at that time and then
1798 morand helps bertier capture Rome.
And then joins Napoleon 's expedition to Egypt so like
(04:01):
freont he's placed under the command of general Desai how
does he perform in Egypt. He does well he's not as active
as again to draw a comparison tofreont freont is more on the on
the spear tip often a moron is left back to do administrative
be the Governor General of the particular area so he did a lot
(04:22):
of Garrison duty but it was in upper Egypt so he's not in
Alexandria he's not in Cairo. He doesn't go with the army to
the Holy Land he he is down in in in upper Egypt.
OK well he's promoted a general brigade in 1800s so I must be
doing something right and is part of the force that
eventually has to surrender to the British do we know when he
(04:44):
gets back to France. Yeah what so he he and frione
get back about the same time when that capitulation happens
and the British evacuate the theFrench troops so that would be
the 18 O one time frame. OK.
In 18 O 5 Miranda is under Marshall salt at the battle of
alisterlitz where he's wounded and receives another promotion
(05:06):
to general of division do we know when he joins up with
Marshall devue. Yeah it's in early 18 O 6 that
he does that so he is part of Saint hilaire 's command and
literally moron was the actual spear tip it's entirely possible
he was the first French Saber toto encounter the Russians on the
(05:29):
pratts and heights so he is literally right on the edge.
And of course he's wounded therenot not grievously but he is
wounded there but he's right in the right in the front of Saint
alair 's command. Huge victory for Napoleon and
the French army but moving alongin the story in 18 O 7 Moran
meets the daughter of a Polish aristocrat and gets married
(05:50):
later on in 1810 what do we knowabout his personally.
So you and I have talked in the past about marriages during the
Napoleonic era and some of them were were I'll fated some of
them were were quite successful some of them were me but Meryl
had a good had a good marriage he was totally infatuated and
there was a a bit of an age difference between he and his
(06:13):
bride she was 16 when she first when he first encountered and he
would have been in his mid 30s so there was a little bit of an
age difference but it was a successful marriage they had.
Had 8 or 9 children the last maron direct descended didn't
die until 19:00 O 5 South and ofcourse he he was born in
(06:35):
17911771 you know he's got some years on him after the
Napoleonic era as well he doesn't die until the 1830s so
he has a little bit more time but he had a loving and
successful marriage with with a big family.
Very good. Well in 18 O 9 Miranda is back
(06:56):
at the front under Marshall devue in the war of the 5th
coalition and devue score is always on the right side of the
battle line why is this such an honor is it historically you
always put your best troops on the right I know the Romans did
that and does it speak to Napoleon 's faith in devue.
That's a great question you knowthat the early part of that
(07:16):
campaign was such a hash and youknow in part that's because the
emperor was not there in person he was attending to some state
matters that he needed to in Paris and was also trying to
maintain a sort of a farcical situation where the Austrians
were creeping up for war and he didn't want to go to the
battlefront to provoke the Austrians so poor aubertier is
(07:38):
there and misinterprets badly Napoleon 's orders.
And the French army is is in serious danger of getting
annihilated by a reinvigorated army led by the very capable
archduke Charles Austrian army and it's really devue and these
divisional commanders that that sort of save France 's bacon but
(08:03):
then after that the devue gets put on the right flank and it's
especially to wagram he is the right flank at wagram.
And and you know of all of the marshals devue was called the
iron Marshall right I mean the guy 's a rock so great to you
know when you're dressing lines in a military formation you all
look to the right dress to the right command so there is a
(08:27):
psychological factor I think in putting the iron Marshall on the
right hand side. That's a great point yeah
because I know al schlitz he's on the right side I Lao he's on
the right side. Kind of sort of on the right at
borodino but more of the center but yeah.
Interesting well in 1810 generalmoron is stationed in Hamburg
and is governor of the hanzioticcities but I've read that his
(08:50):
relationship with the Vue beginsto sour at this point do you
know what happened between the 2men.
So so how much time do we have John a lot of this gets involved
in some. Some sort of you know martial
politics and things I'll try notto go too deep into this but a
(09:11):
lot of the rub happened with Poland devoux was rather
outspoken about that that Polandshould be made an independent
state rather than a dependent state for France there were
rumors that that devoux was advocating to be the king of
Poland. And of course you know Mira has
(09:33):
married a Polish Princess or a Polish noblewoman and so I think
there was some friction that that started there and devil had
a knack of really pissing off all of the wrong people he got
under Jerome skin and he got under miraz skin.
And this is a problem because ofthe proximity that both Jerome
(09:55):
and murah have to Napoleon you know they're just chattering in
his ear that devo did this and did that he's scheming for this
that probably really undercut a little bit of DeVos position.
And so moron was I won't say he was caught in the crossfires
because I don't think he was caught in the crossfire of this
(10:15):
but he was strong headed as welland the 2 of them just started
to butt heads and you know devu devu had to have things his way
it's his way or the highway and I think by 1810 moron thought OK
I want to take the highway so moron moron.
(10:37):
Wrote to the to Clark the minister of war without first
going to devue and asked for a transfer or asked to retire or
asked to be reassigned any of those things and.
That did not work for devue who was incensed that he would go to
the minister of war without his foreknowledge Napoleon had to
(11:01):
step in and essentially told moron listen I'm not reassigning
you I cannot reassign you because if I did it for you I'd
have to do it for everybody and that's not going to happen and
to moron 's credit and to devue 's credit this too maintained a
working relationship and it was a good.
And close working relationship if your listeners have followed
(11:23):
the Russian campaign they know well that that you know none of
these guys are mailing it in. Yeah and we're going to talk
about that next in 1812 Moran isworking again with devoux in the
invasion of Russia we lose goudin one of the 3 immortals
along the way into Moscow duringone of the battles what happens
to Moran at the battle bordino. So.
(11:48):
Like devue and freel he is wounded he takes some K shot to
the jaw and breaks his jaw in several locations however
manages to continue on with the army so he is with the soldiers
that occupy Moscow freel wasn't so lucky as we talked about
another episode he had to he wasso wounded he had to remain back
(12:10):
but at least moron was able to to advance with the troops and
occupy Moscow. Yeah it's interesting after
fighting throughout the retreat moron only has 300 troops out of
the original 10,000 under his command was that the typical
remnant of Napoleon 's divisions.
Yeah in fact it was he's lucky to be alive as any of these
(12:31):
people were you know if you go in with anywhere from a half
1,000,000 to 600,000 and and 30,000 come out obviously you
got to feel pretty lucky now officers had it better right
they still had access to mounts and and resources and more
reliable. Versus of decent nourishment and
food and things see clothing whatnot but still that was not a
March through a Rose Garden. No no no that was a rough one
(12:54):
moron fights again in the 1813 boughs of Lutsen bounsen and the
invasion of France did he serve the bourbons when Napoleon was
first exiled to Elba. He did but let me back up if I
may for just a hot second because he actually does get
command of a corps. Oh great OK.
Bertrand goes down for a short bid in 1813 and moron takes over
(13:18):
Bertrand 's 4th core so he does have some core commander
experience one of the only immortal that ends up having any
core command experience and doesvery well and and capable.
So yes he he he did go and servethe borman 's again but then I'm
sure you're going to talk about when Napoleon comes back he he
(13:38):
rallies to the rallies to the eagle.
Yep he does he flocks to Napoleon 's banner again during
the 100 days and was heavily involved in the defense of
plants and woah against the prussians what happened there.
So he's posted with the cavalry and as that battle progresses
Napoleon launches a frontal assault against the British.
(14:01):
And and the prussians are advancing from the east there's
some initial doubt during the battle of Waterloo if they see
the uniforms off of the distancestarting to March towards the
battlefield and everybody the British the French everybody is
looking in their spyglasses to see is this grushy 's you know
command that's coming to to savethem and reinforce the French
(14:22):
right or is it in fact the prussians and then it becomes
apparent that it's Prussian blueand so Bonaparte has to change
up his plan a little. And designate elements of the
guard to go hold plants and wah which is the linchpin of the
French right flank and the hope there is that the French with
who are grossly outnumbered at plants and wah can can hold off
(14:44):
the prussians long enough to letthe old guard do its coup de
grace against the British break the the allied army and then you
know March into Brussels in in in victory having destroyed the
British and the Prussian armies but.
As we know you know spoiler alert it did not work no.
It did. Not no no the the French were
(15:06):
overwhelmed in plants and Allah and Moran is heavily engaged in
covering the retreat in slowing the prussians doing anything
possible to to buy time for the French army either to finish off
the British at first or to to save the save the crumbling
French situation at the end right.
Well after Napoleon 's second abdication moron is suspended
(15:29):
without pay or pension by the returning borbons he's exiled
from France he's also sentenced to death in absentia but
Marshall sancer has his sentenceoverturned so his later years
sound kind of rough. Yeah so he was implicated in a
plot to assassinate king Louis the the 18th on some you know
(15:52):
really trumped up. You know I mean this was sort of
a sham case and a sham court he was he was convicted in absentia
because he'd have the good senseto to get out of France that he
was warned ahead of time that there were these charges that
were pending and that he would likely not do well if he was in
France so he goes to Poland actually he goes to his his in
(16:14):
laws and hangs out not too far from Krakow and he's there
through the early part of the 1820s and now Saul seer as you
mentioned the Marshall did get his name cleared from the
murder. And then eventually he's able to
to come back to to France and once the July marquee happens
he's restored to rank and actually takes a command in 1832
(16:41):
as a commander of a military division not far from where he's
from in in the eastern part of France near Switzerland.
Good I'm happy to hear that he got to resume his career a
little. Bit I'm not sure you'd call that
a an active command. But nevertheless and then he
dies in 1835 from a stroke. Yeah I was going to ask you what
(17:02):
you think his legacy is because there's there's 3 immortals that
I'm fascinated by a gudan who the great Carrie elwis and I
discussed you and I discussed freont and now we're discussing
moron So what do you think the legacy is of these 3 gentlemen.
Well of of the 3 marah is the sort of most interesting in some
(17:23):
respects because his chief complaint against devoux was
that devoux was sort of working behind the scenes to block his
advancement so marah is an ambitious general I think you
have to be ambitious to be a general at that level anyway but
(17:45):
clearly. Marant wants to do more than
than what he's doing and he starts to to think that that in
fact devoux is not supporting his advancement but actively
blocking his advancement it's aninteresting juxtaposition with
his you know his other one of his other immortals freon
because freon has those marriageties to devoux so freon is
(18:09):
actually offered command outsideof devou 's core in the guard
and turns it down to stay loyal and serve.
Devue but before this moron wants to command a corps and he
feels like devue is is thwartinghim from doing that.
And and these are men of giant egos even if moron doesn't have
(18:30):
an ego you want to get promoted and work your way up the ranks
so it must have been somewhat humbling to him like all right
well I'm the governor of the hanzi attic cities am I going to
be here forever like how do I how do I get to that next step
of promotion. Absolutely obviously he's
covered in glory from his time at austerlitz from our stat from
(18:50):
the action at vogram he rightfully believes that you
know he can stand toe to toe with.
With any of the core commanders and you know you always give me
a a a good hearted general tithing for my bringing Juno
into any conversation on whom I read a dissertation but when you
compare in some respects the experience that Juno had and the
(19:12):
experience that that moron had you know moron doesn't have
anything to be ashamed of he hasjust as much experience and.
And more talent and more capabilities.
I think you're onto something though because Juno was
literally driven mad by the promise of becoming a Marshall
and then never becoming one so Ican see where maybe moron he
(19:34):
wasn't driven mad but he was upset enough to go behind davoo
's back to war minister Clark toget something done.
I think that was just a completefrustration at that point at
nowhere else to go and the part of that that surprises me is I
don't. I mean Napoleon got involved in
these guys lives I mean he approved who they marry for
heaven 's sakes so I don't understand how he thought that
(19:57):
he you know by going to Clark Clark would just say OK and move
him. Yeah.
And, you know, Bonaparte and Devoux are related by marriage.
It's a tenuous connection, but the connection of marriage
nonetheless. And so I'm sure he felt just
frustrated by the by the constraints.
(20:17):
It's short of a, it's a great metaphor for understanding the
Napoleonic period that before when we talk about, and you
mentioned it earlier with the, the promotions coming so quickly
to people with talent in the Revolution because the officer
corps had been decimated. And you know, by the time we get
to 18 O 5, a lot of these peopleare there because of their
(20:38):
talent and of their talent alone.
You know, you get in the latter part of the period and you know,
talent is a factor, certainly, but it's obvious it's not the
only factor. And that's got to be frustrating
for a guy like Moral. Yeah.
And it's kind of like we were talking about earlier.
Yeah. You go from Lieutenant Colonel
to general brigade to general division in, I don't know, two
(20:59):
or three years, but then your general division forever because
you, unless you become a Marshall, you're you're you're
in the same spot you were ten years ago.
So I think that's a good point too.
Yeah, the distinction of course,is if you can get a core command
that that's, I mean, the Marshall is a, is an honorific
in theory, the rank of general division is the highest military
(21:21):
rank within the French military.And then the the, the operation
of a core is the that's the ultimate, well, unless you call
it an army. But there's only one of those in
the Napoleonic, only one of those in the Napoleonic regime.
Obviously the core command is. Is the.
That's what you, that's what youstrive for.
Well, thank you for that, Charles.
(21:41):
Another fine biography on the good General moron.
I really appreciate your time. Again, if you'd like to learn
more about Charles, you can check him out on Blue Sky
Bubbles Vampire, and we thank him for coming on the show.
Thanks a lot John. I appreciate it.
Have me back anytime.
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