Thomas Robert Bugeaud de la Piconnerie
Encyclopedia
Thomas Robert Bugeaud, marquis de la Piconnerie, duc d'Isly (15 October 1784 – 10 June 1849) was a Marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...

 and Governor-General of Algeria
Colonial heads of Algeria
Beylerbey: Bey of beysKalifah: Governor acting in the absence of the BeylerbeyAga : Military CommanderFor continuation after independence, see: Presidents of Algeria-Sources:* http://www.rulers.org/rula1.html#algeria...

.

Early life

He was born at Limoges
Limoges
Limoges |Limousin]] dialect of Occitan) is a city and commune, the capital of the Haute-Vienne department and the administrative capital of the Limousin région in west-central France....

, a member of a noble family of Périgord
Périgord
The Périgord is a former province of France, which corresponds roughly to the current Dordogne département, now forming the northern part of the Aquitaine région. It is divided into four regions, the Périgord Noir , the Périgord Blanc , the Périgord Vert and the Périgord Pourpre...

, the youngest of thirteen children. He ran away from home, and for some years lived in the country as an agricultural worker. At the age of twenty he became a private soldier in the Vélites of the Imperial Guard, with which he took part in the Austerlitz
Battle of Austerlitz
The Battle of Austerlitz, also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of Napoleon's greatest victories, where the French Empire effectively crushed the Third Coalition...

 campaign of the following year. Early in 1806, he was given a commission, and as a Second Lieutenant
Second Lieutenant
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces.- United Kingdom and Commonwealth :The rank second lieutenant was introduced throughout the British Army in 1871 to replace the rank of ensign , although it had long been used in the Royal Artillery, Royal...

 he served in the Jena and Eylau
Battle of Eylau
The Battle of Eylau or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau, 7 and 8 February 1807, was a bloody and inconclusive battle between Napoléon's Grande Armée and a Russian Empire army under Levin August, Count von Bennigsen near the town of Preußisch Eylau in East Prussia. Late in the battle, the Russians...

 campaigns, winning his promotion to the rank of lieutenant at the Battle of Pultusk
Battle of Pultusk
The Battle of Pułtusk took place on 26 December 1806 during the War of the Fourth Coalition near Pułtusk, Poland. Approximately 35,000 Russian soldiers with 128 guns under General Levin August, Count von Bennigsen resisted the attacks of 25,000 First French Empire soldiers under Marshal Jean...

.

In 1808, he was in the first French corps to enter Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, and was stationed in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...

 during the revolt of the Dos Mayo
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

. At the Second Siege of Saragossa
Siege of Saragossa (1809)
The Second Siege of Saragossa was the French capture of the Spanish city of Zaragoza during the Peninsular War.It is particularly noted for its brutality.-Prelude:...

, he won further promotion to the rank of captain, and in 1809 - 1810 found opportunities for winning distinction under Suchet
Louis Gabriel Suchet
Louis Gabriel Suchet, 1st Duc d'Albufera was a Marshal of France and one of Napoleon's most brilliant generals.-Early career:...

 in the eastern theatre of the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...

, in which he rose to the rank of major and the command of a full regiment. At the first restoration he was made a colonel, but he rejoined Napoleon
Napoleon I of France
Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 during the Hundred Days
Hundred Days
The Hundred Days, sometimes known as the Hundred Days of Napoleon or Napoleon's Hundred Days for specificity, marked the period between Emperor Napoleon I of France's return from exile on Elba to Paris on 20 March 1815 and the second restoration of King Louis XVIII on 8 July 1815...

, and under his old chief Suchet distinguished himself in the war in the Alps
Alps
The Alps is one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany to France in the west....

.

July monarchy

He spent the fifteen years after the fall of Napoleon without employment, returning to agriculture and developing his home district of Périgord. The July revolution
July Revolution
The French Revolution of 1830, also known as the July Revolution or in French, saw the overthrow of King Charles X of France, the French Bourbon monarch, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, who himself, after 18 precarious years on the throne, would in turn be overthrown...

 of 1830 reopened his military career and after a short tenure of regimental command he was in 1831 made a maréchal de camp. In the chamber of deputies, to which he was elected in the same year, he showed himself to be an inflexible opponent of democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...

, and in his military capacity he was noted for his severity in police work and the suppression of émeutes. His conduct as gaoler (jailer) of the duchesse de Berry led to a duel between Bugeaud and the deputy Dulong in which the latter was killed (1834); this affair and the incidents of another émeute exposed Bugeaud to ceaseless attacks in the Chamber and in the press, but his opinion was sought by all parties in matters connected with agriculture and industrial development. He was re-elected in 1834, 1837, and 1839.

Algeria

Although he initially disapproved of the conquest of Algeria, his undeviating adherence to Louis Philippe
Louis-Philippe of France
Louis Philippe I was King of the French from 1830 to 1848 in what was known as the July Monarchy. His father was a duke who supported the French Revolution but was nevertheless guillotined. Louis Philippe fled France as a young man and spent 21 years in exile, including considerable time in the...

 brought him into agreement with the government. He embarked on a campaign to win the swift, complete, and lasting subjugation of Algeria. He was sent to Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 in a subordinate capacity and proceeded to initiate his war of flying column
Flying column
A flying column is a small, independent, military land unit capable of rapid mobility and usually composed of all arms. It is often an ad hoc unit, formed during the course of operations....

s. He won his first victory on 7 July 1836, made a brilliant campaign of six weeks' duration, and returned home with the rank of lieutenant-general. In the following year, he signed the Treaty of Tafna
Treaty of Tafna
The Treaty of Tafna was signed by both Abd-el-Kader and General Thomas Robert Bugeaud on May 30, 1837. This agreement was developed after French imperial forces sustained heavy losses and military reversals in Algeria. The terms of the treaty entailed Abd-el-Kader recognizing French imperial...

 (30 May 1837), with Abd-el-Kader, an act which, though justified by the military and political situation, led to attacks upon him in the chamber, to the refutation of which Bugeaud devoted himself in 1839.

Finally, in 1840, he was nominated governor-general of Algeria, and early in 1841 he put into force his system of flying columns, a controversial but successful tactic known as "Razzia" at the time. His swiftness and energy drove back the forces of Abd-el-Kader from place to place, while the devotion of the rank and file
Rank and file
In politics and labor unions the rank and file are the individual members of an organization, exclusive of its leadership. The phrase originated in the military, denoting the horizontal "ranks" and vertical "files" of individual foot-soldiers, exclusive of the noncommissioned officers....

 to "Père Bugeaud" enabled him to carry all before him in action. In 1842, he secured the French positions by undertaking the construction of roads. In 1843, Bugeaud was made marshal of France
Marshal of France
The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements...

, and in this and the following year he continued his operations with unvarying success. His great victory of Isly
Battle of Isly
The Battle of Isly was fought on August 14, 1844 between France and Morocco, near the Isly River. French forces under Marshal Thomas Robert Bugeaud routed a much larger, but poorly organized, Moroccan force under Mohammed, son of sultan Abderrahmane of Morocco...

 on 14 August 1844 won him the title of duke
Duke
A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...

.

In 1845, however, he had to take the field again in consequence of the disaster of (22 September 1845), and up to his final retirement from Algeria (July 1846) he was almost constantly employed in the field. His resignation was due to differences with the home government on the question of the future government of the province. Amidst his other activities he had found time to study the agricultural characteristics of the conquered country, and under his régime the number of French colonists had grown from 17,000 to 100,000. In 1848, the marshal was in Paris during the revolution, but his orders prevented him from acting effectively to suppress it. He was asked, but eventually refused, to be a candidate for the presidency in opposition to Louis Napoleon
Napoleon III of France
Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte was the President of the French Second Republic and as Napoleon III, the ruler of the Second French Empire. He was the nephew and heir of Napoleon I, christened as Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte...

. His last public service was the command of the army of the Alps, formed in 1848 - 1849 to observe events in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

. He died in Paris in 1849.

Bugeaud's writings were numerous, including his Œuvres militaires, collected by Weil (Paris, 1883), many official reports on Algeria and the war there, and some works on economics and political science. See: Comte d'Ideville, Le Maréchal Bugeaud (Paris, 1881–1882).

Bugeaud's innovations and writings continued to be influential among French military leaders engaged in colonial campaigns.
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