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André Masséna
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Jean-André Masséna, 1st Duc de Rivoli, 1st Prince d'Essling (May 6, 1758–April 4, 1817) was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is considered by military historians as one of the greatest field commanders in history and is often ranked among generals of his generation second only to Napoleon himself.
Napoleon said of Masséna: he was "the greatest name of my military Empire." According to Donald D.
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Jean-André Masséna, 1st Duc de Rivoli, 1st Prince d'Essling (May 6, 1758–April 4, 1817) was a French military commander during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He is considered by military historians as one of the greatest field commanders in history and is often ranked among generals of his generation second only to Napoleon himself.
Napoleon said of Masséna: he was "the greatest name of my military Empire." According to Donald D. Horward, "Masséna's military career was equaled by few commanders in European history. In addition to his remarkable battlefield successes, he touched the careers of many who served under his command. Indeed, at one time or another, a majority of French marshals served under his command and saw 'the great Masséna at work.'
Masséna was one of the original eighteen Marshals of France created by Napoleon. His nickname was l'Enfant chéri de la Victoire ("the Dear Child of Victory").
Early life
André Masséna was born in Nice, then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, the son of a shopkeeper Jules Masséna and wife Marguerite Fabre, married on August 1, 1754. His father's family was Christian, though of Jewish ancestry; his original family name was Menasse. . His father died in 1764, and after his mother remarried he was sent to live with relatives.
At the age of thirteen, Masséna became a cabin boy aboard a merchant ship; he sailed with it around the Mediterranean and on two extended voyages to French Guiana. In 1775, after four years at sea, he returned to Nice and enlisted in the French Army as a private in the Royal Italian regiment. He had risen to the rank of warrant officer (the top rank for a non-nobleman) when he left in 1789. In the same year he married on August 10 Anne Marie Rosalie Lamare (Antibes, September 4, 1765 – Paris on January 3, 1829) and they remained living on her birthplace. After a brief stint as a smuggler he rejoined the army in 1791 and was made an officer, rising to the rank of colonel by 1792.
Revolutionary Wars
When the Revolutionary Wars broke out in April 1792, Masséna and his battalion were deployed along the border to Piedmont. Masséna continued training his battalion and prepared it for battle, hoping that it would be incorporated into the regular army. A month after the occupation of Nice, in October 1792, the battalion was one of four volunteer battalions that became part of the French Armée d'Italie.
Masséna distinguished himself in the war, and was quickly promoted, attaining the rank of brigadier-general in August 1793, followed by divisional general that December. He was prominent in all the campaigns on the Italian Riviera over the next two years, participating in the attack on Saorgio (1794) and the battle of Loano (1795), and was commanding the two divisions of the advance guard of the army when Napoleon Bonaparte took command of it in March 1796. Masséna remained one of Bonaparte's most important subordinates throughout the extraordinary 1796-7 campaign in Italy, playing a significant part in the major engagements at Arcole and Rivoli, among others. In 1799 Masséna was granted a command in Switzerland and was victorious over the Russians under Alexander Korsakov at the Second Battle of Zurich in September, forcing Russia from the Second Coalition.
Meanwhile, his wife stayed at Antibes, where she had his children, the first of whom died in childhood: Marie Anne Elisabeth (July 8, 1790-March 18, 1794), Jacques Prosper, 2nd Prince d'Essling July 3, 1818 (June 25, 1793-May 13, 1821), unmarried and without issue, Victoire Thècle (September 28, 1794-March 28, 1857), married on September 12, 1814 Charles, Comte Reille (Antibes, September 1, 1775-March 4, 1860), and François Victor, 2nd Duc de Rivoli, 3rd Prince d'Essling (April 2, 1799-April 16, 1863), married on April 19, 1823 Anne Debelle (1802-January 28, 1887), and had issue.
Masséna then returned to Italy and led his forces at the Siege of Genoa (1800), one of his greatest military achievements. Masséna refused to surrender until June 4, with the condition that the Austrians provide him and his men a safe passage to French territories, and the remaining 7,000 men retreated to France with full honors. Despite the fact that he had lost the city, Masséna had given Napoleon valuable time leading up to the Battle of Marengo (June 14, 1800). Masséna was then made commander of the French forces in Italy, only to soon be dismissed for looting.
Napoleonic Wars and afterwards
Not until 1804 did Masséna regain the trust of Napoleon. That year he was promoted to the rank of Marshal of France in May. He led forces that captured Verona and fought the Austrians at Caldiero (October 30, 1805). Masséna was given control of operations against the Kingdom of Naples, and in this position he was responsible for looting and massacres, including that of Lauria in August 1806. His behaviour led subsequently to his dismissal. Despite this he was granted a (first) ducal victory title in chief of Rivoli on August 24, 1808.
Masséna did not serve again until 1809, against the forces of the Fifth Coalition. When the French vanguard in the Danube was cut off and isolated, Masséna formed part of the command, leading the IV Corps, of the defense centred around Aspern and Essling, before it was rescued after a bloody struggle against the Austrians. He was rewarded on January 31, 1810 with a second, now princely victory title, Prince d'Essling, for his efforts there and in the Battle of Wagram.
During the Peninsular War, Masséna led the invasion of Portugal in 1810, where he commanded the first clash with the Allies at Buçaco (September 27), forcing the Allies to retreat to the Lines of Torres Vedras where a stalemate ensued for several months. When Masséna was forced to retreat from Portugal after the battles of Barrosa and Fuentes de Oñoro, he was replaced by Marshal Auguste Marmont and did not serve again, being made a local commander at Marseille.
Masséna retained his command after the restoration of Louis XVIII. When Napoleon returned from exile the following year, Masséna refused to commit to either side and kept his area quiet. He was disinclined to prove his royalist loyalties after the defeat of Napoleon and died soon afterwards in Paris. He was buried at Père Lachaise, in a tomb he shares with his son-in-law Reille..
The village of Massena in the state of New York, USA, is named in Masséna's honor. It was settled by French lumbermen in the early 19th century. Massena, Iowa, also in the USA, and which in turn was named for the community in New York, honours Masséna with a portrait of him in its Centennial Park.
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