Everything about Joseph Souham totally explained
Joseph Souham (
April 30,
1760 -
April 28,
1837) was a French general who fought in the
French Revolutionary Wars and the
Napoleonic Wars. He was born at
Lubersac and died at
Versailles.
French revolutionary years
Souham served in the Royal French army as a private from
1782 to
1790. In
1792, having shown himself active in the cause of the
Revolution, he was elected commandant of a volunteer battalion from the
Corrèze. He served with his unit at the
Battle of Jemappes.
By
1793, Souham had risen to the rank of general of division. When his army commander,
Charles Pichegru fell ill, Souham assumed army command and defeated the Allied army at the
Battle of Tourcoing in May
1794. He served under Pichegru in Holland (
1795), but in
1799 he fell into disgrace on suspicion of being involved in Royalist intrigues. He was reinstated in
1800 and served under
Jean Moreau in the Danube campaign of that year. During the Consulate he appears to have been involved in conspiracies and was suspected with his old commanders Moreau and Pichegru of participation in the plot of
Georges Cadoudal.
Empire and later years
He was unemployed from
1800 to
1809. In the latter year a shortage of available experienced officers caused him to be put back on active duty. He was sent to Spain where he took a notable part in
Gouvion St Cyr's operations in
Catalonia. The actions at Vichy in which he was wounded won him the title of count.
In
1812,
Marshal Marshal Massena declined the command of
Marmont's army which had just been defeated at the
Battle of Salamanca, but Masséna recommended Souham for the job. In October 1812, Souham's reinforced Army of Portugal forced
Wellington to abandon the
Siege of Burgos. After a pursuit which included the
Battle of Venta del Pozo, he pressed the Anglo-Portuguese army back to Salamanca. In January
1813, he was recalled to France.
In 1813, he took command of a division in Marshal
Michel Ney's III Corps. At the
Battle of Lützen (1813) he greatly distinguished himself. Faced by the bulk of the combined Russian and Prussian armies, he bitterly defended the area around Gross-Gorschen. At the
Battle of Leipzig he was wounded while leading III Corps.
After the fall of the First Empire he deserted the emperor and, having suffered for the Royalist cause, was well received by
Louis XVIII, who gave him high commands. These honors Souham lost at the return of Napoleon and were regained once more after the Second Restoration. He retired in
1832, and died on
28 April,
1837 in Versailles.
Further Information
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