Jean Maximilien Lamarque - Biography - Under Napoleon

Under Napoleon

When Napoleon took power, ending the Republic, Lamarque served in the Napoleonic army. He fought at the Battle of Austerlitz. He then followed Marshal Masséna to support Joseph Bonaparte in Italy, and he participated in the siege of Gaeta. Joseph Bonaparte appointed Lamarque his Chief of Staff in 1807, with the rank of Major General. When Joachim Murat took over from Joseph Bonaparte, Lamarque was sent to consolidate his position by capturing Capri from the British commanded by Hudson Lowe. In a bold attack, Lamarque took the British by surprise. After a hard-fought battle he succeeded in taking the island.

In Italy, he led one of six armies under the command of Napoleon’s adopted son Eugène de Beauharnais. As a member of the Grande Armée at Lobau he took part in the Battle of Wagram, during which he had four horses shot from under him. In 1810, he was created a baron of the French Empire. Thereafter he was transferred to Spain to support Joseph Bonaparte who had been made king of Spain by his brother, but who was slowly forced to retreat by the rebellious Spanish and the British under Wellington.

When Napoleon was exiled to Elba in 1814, Lamarque supported him, returning to the emperor's service during the Hundred Days. While Napoleon marched to Belgium to deal with the British and Prussian armies, Lamarque commanded a division of ten thousand men against a Royalist uprising in La Vendée under General Canuel. Lamarque defeated the rebellion, but the victory was nullified by Napoleon's own defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Napoleon was later to praise Lamarque's efforts highly: "Lamarque, whom I sent there at the height of the crisis, performed wonders, and even surpassed my hopes."