Jean-Baptiste Bessières (; 6 August 1768 – 1 May 1813), 1st  Duke of Istria (Duc d'Istrie), was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. His younger brother, Bertrand, followed in his footsteps and eventually became a divisional general. Their cousin, Julien Bessières, also served Emperor Napoleon I as a diplomat and imperial official.

Early life and career
Bessières was born on 6 August 1768 in Prayssac, in the province of Quercy, to a bourgeois family. He was the eldest of eight children born to Mathurin Bessières, a physician, and Antoinette Lemozy. He attended school in the nearby city of Cahors.

In 1792, during the French Revolution, Bessières was called to Paris to serve in the Constitutional Guard of King Louis XVI. Each department was required to send a certain number of young men to supply it, which were selected from families considered as still being loyal to the king. Among others sent by the department of Lot for the Guard were Joachim Murat and Jean-Jacques Ambert.

Despised for its royalist nature, the Constitutional Guard was disbanded by the revolutionary government on 29 May 1792, less than three months after its formation. Like other former officers of the Guard, Bessières took part in the unsuccessful defense of the Tuileries Palace during the Insurrection of 10 August. He was accused afterwards of having collaborated with the Marquis de Mandat, who organized the defenses of the palace but was killed shortly before the insurrection. He therefore went into hiding, and, finding refuge with the Duc de la Rochefoucauld, stayed at his residence for nearly three months.

Revolutionary Wars
Bessières gave a fresh start to his military career in November 1792, when he enlisted in the Revolutionary Army as a simple cavalryman in the 22nd regiment of chasseurs à cheval. The regiment was deployed in the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees, and for the next three years Bessières fought in the War of the Pyrenees against Spain until its end, with his regiment operating in Catalonia and Cerdanya. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant in February 1793.

After several setbacks in 1793, France reversed the situation of the war with Spain with a major victory at the Battle of Boulou, in 1794, with the Army of the Pyrenees under the command of General Jacques Dugommier. During the battle a charge of Bessière's chasseurs regiment was decisive in dispersing the more numerous Spanish cavalry. Next he took part in the Battle of the Black Mountain under the command of General Charles Dugua, and distinguished himself at Bascara in 1795.

In 1796, at the rank of captain, Bessières went to serve in Napoleon Bonaparte's Italian campaign. At Rovereto his conduct brought him to his chief's notice, and after the Battle of Rivoli he was sent to France to deliver the captured colours to the Directory. Hastening back to the front, he accompanied Napoleon in the invasion of Styria in command of the Guides, who formed the nucleus of the later Consular and Imperial Guards.

As a chef de brigade, he then served in the Egyptian expedition and won further distinction at Acre and Abukir. Returning to Europe with Napoleon, Bessières was present at the Battle of Marengo (1800) as second-in-command of the Consular Guard. General Jean Lannes, commanding a corps at Marengo, felt that Bessières didn't support his faltering troops sufficiently, and a long running feud arose between them. At the close of the battle, Bessières led a successful cavalry charge with the Guard Cavalry, though its effect on the battle was not as decisive as Napoleon pretended. It was General François Étienne de Kellermann's cavalry charge that won the battle for Marengo but Napoleon gave the credit largely to his own Guard Cavalry.

Napoleonic Wars

Promoted to general of division in 1802, he was subsequently made a Marshal of the Empire in 1804, a wholly undeserved distinction rewarded due to his loyalty and friendship with Napoleon. General Auguste de Marmont, a future marshal, said that if Bessières could be made a marshal, then anyone could become one as well. He was also made colonel-general of the Guard Cavalry and would command them in all future campaigns where he proved a very able cavalry commander.

In 1805, Bessières was awarded the Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, and in 1809 was entitled Duke of Istria. It was a duché grand-fief, a rare, nominal, but hereditary honor (extinguished in 1856) in Napoleon's own Kingdom of Italy.

With the outbreak of the Peninsular War in 1808, Bessières had his first opportunity at independent command. He did well against the Spanish, scoring a crushing victory in the Battle of Medina del Rio Seco, but proved slow and hesitant in command of a large force. Bessières was thus soon recalled to lead the Guard Cavalry during Napoleon's invasion of Spain, a task more befitting his talents.

As war erupted in 1809 against Austria, he was again with the Grande Armée in the Danube valley as a cavalry leader, a position in which he excelled. At the Battle of Aspern-Essling, he led the cavalry in the centre and did well holding it against superior numbers, but once again fell foul of Lannes. Lannes again felt that Bessières was not providing sufficient support to his faltering troops and ordered him to charge home instead of malingering. Bessières then challenged Lannes to a duel, but Marshal André Massena intervened and prevented the duel between the two marshals in front of their troops.

At the subsequent Battle of Wagram, Bessières once again led the cavalry reserve and had a horse killed under him which caused consternation amongst the Guard. Napoleon congratulated him on making his Guard cry but also chided him for not netting more prisoners because he lost his horse.

Replacing Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte in command of the Army of the North later that same year, the newly created Duke of Istria successfully drove back the British in the Walcheren Campaign. In 1811, he was sent back to Spain again to lead the Army of the North. He mostly fought counterinsurgency operations and proved a difficult and touchy colleague to his fellow army commanders, especially Masséna who was in dire need of support after his failed invasion of Portugal in 1810–1811. He was recalled in some disgrace and once again reverted to his habitual Guard Cavalry post.

For the Russian campaign in 1812, Bessières commanded the enlarged Guard Cavalry. Hardly engaged at the Battle of Borodino, he destroyed his reputation with the rest of the army when he advised Napoleon not to use his Guard for a decisive breakthrough. Although this left the Imperial Guard intact for future battles, it prevented a decisive victory which might have successfully ended the Russian campaign.

With Marshal Joachim Murat back in Naples at the beginning of the 1813 campaign, Bessières was appointed to the command of the whole of Napoleon's cavalry.

Death 
Three days after the opening of the campaign and on the eve of the Battle of Lützen, while conducting a reconnaissance of the defile of Poserna-Rippach, Bessières was killed by a cannonball shot which ricocheted off a wall and hit him in the chest.
He died instantly. Napoleon deeply felt the loss of one of his truest friends while the remaining Marshals considered it a good death for a soldier.

After his death, Bessières was found to be heavily in debt after spending his fortune on his mistress. Napoleon oversaw his inheritance, settled most of his debts, and looked out for the future of his children. His eldest son, Napoléon Bessières, was made a member of the Chamber of Peers by King Louis XVIII.

Legacy 

As a commander, Bessières proved out of his depth when leading armies. His background as the commander of Napoleon's headquarters guard, the Guides of the Army of Italy, deprived him of the wide experience his fellow marshals had earned before assuming high command. Like Murat, he was however an excellent cavalry commander and he also proved an able administrator of the Imperial Guard. His few attempts at independent command were not a success however and Napoleon thereafter preferred using Bessières as a cavalry commander.

Bessières was not of high birth but he adopted the manners and looks of a gentleman as befitting Napoleon's closest Guard commander. He typically wore the uniform of Napoleon's old Guides of the Army of Italy with marshal's distinctions and wore his hair long with white powder in Ancien Régime style, even when the latter went out of fashion. He was known to be well mannered and kind and generous to subordinates but very touchy about his privileges and position.

Notes

References

External links
Heraldica.org – Napoleonic heraldry

1768 births
1813 deaths
Commanders in the French Imperial Guard
Dukes of the First French Empire
French military personnel killed in the Napoleonic Wars
French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars
Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
Marshals of the First French Empire
Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe
People from Lot (department)
Cavalry commanders
장바티스트 베시에르(, 1768년 8월 6일~1813년 5월 1일)는 프랑스의 군인이다. 1804년부터 1813년까지 제국근위대 기병총감으로 재직했으며 1804년 프랑스 육군원수, 1809년 이스트라 공작으로 임명되었다.

생애

초기 생애 
베시에르는 1768년 8월 6일 프랑스 남동부의 소도시 프레사크(Preyssac)에서 외과의사 마튀랭 베시에르(Mathurin Bessières)와 앙투아네트 르모지(Antoinette Lemozy)부부의 장남으로 태어났다. 15세에 카오르의 왕립 콜레주에서 공부를 시작한 그는 가업을 잇기 위해 몽펠리에의 의과대학에 진학했으나, 집안의 경제 사정이 악화되어 학업을 그만두고 아버지의 의원에서 조수로 일했다.

1792년 2월, 베시에르는 혁명정부의 주도로 조직된 새 왕실근위대의 근위병으로 선발되어 파리로 상경했다. 하지만 근위대가 4개월 만에 해체되어 파리의 국민위병 소속으로 편입되었다. 그는 8월 10일 사건 때 튈르리 궁을 탈출하는 귀족들을 돕다가 반혁명파로 몰려, 잠시 동안 숨어 지내야 했다.

프랑스 혁명전쟁기 
11월 1일, 베시에르는 고향으로 내려가 피레네부대(Légion des Pyrénées)에 자원입대했고 이후 동피레네군(Armée des Pyrénées orientales)에 배속되었다. 그가 소속된 제 22엽기병연대는 불루 전투와 시에라네그라 전투, 피게레스 전투에서 많은 공훈을 세웠다.

에스파냐와의 전쟁이 마무리된 후, 22엽기병연대는 이탈리아 방면군(Armée d'Italie)으로 재배치되었다. 1796년 5월 30일, 보르게토 전투에서 베시에르의 활약을 눈여겨 본 이탈리아 방면군 사령관 나폴레옹은 그를 사령관 경호대(le corps des guides)의 지휘관으로 임명했다. 이 경호대는 훗날 제국근위대 엽기병대(chasseurs à cheval de la Garde impériale)의 모체가 되었다.

베시에르는 1798년 나폴레옹의 이집트 원정에도 경호대장으로 동행하여, 아부키르 전투에서 기병대장 조아킴 뮈라와 함께 용맹함을 보여 주었다. 1799년 8월 17일 나폴레옹이 이집트를 몰래 빠져나갈 때는 몇몇 측근들과 함께 나폴레옹을 수행했으며, 브뤼메르 18일 쿠데타 때에도 동행했다. 통령의 자리에 오른 나폴레옹은 베시에르를 새로 창설된 통령근위대(Garde des consuls)의 부대장으로 임명했다.

1800년 6월 14일, 베시에르는 마렝고 전투에서 프랑수아 에티엔 켈레르만 장군을 지원하여 결정적인 순간의 기병 돌격을 성공적으로 이끌어냈다. 그는 이 공적으로 인해 준장으로 진급했다.

나폴레옹 전쟁기 
1804년 5월 19일, 나폴레옹은 베시에르를 원수로 임명하고 제국근위대의 기병총감 직을 맡겼다. 또한 1805년 2월 2일에는 그에게 레지옹 도뇌르 그랑에글을 수여했다. 베시에르는 소장으로 진급한 지 2년밖에 되지 않았고 그 때까지 사단(division)급 이상의 부대를 지휘해 본 적도 없었으므로, 그의 원수 임명에 불만을 품은 장군들도 있었다. 그러나 1805년 오스트리아 전쟁에서 베시에르는 제국근위대의 행정과 운용 전체를 담당했으며, 12월 2일 아우스터리츠 전투에서는 9000기의 근위기병대를 이끌고 러시아 근위대를 향해 돌격함으로써 그의 통솔력을 보여 주었다.

1808년 베시에르는 에스파냐 방면군(Armée d'Espagne) 제 2군단의 군단장으로 임명되어, 에스파냐 북부 지역을 장악하라는 명령을 받았다. 7월 14일, 그는 메디나데리오세코 전투에서 앙투안 드 라살 장군이 지휘하는 기병대를 활용하여 숫적 열세를 극복하고 승리를 거두었다. 이로써 에스파냐 북부 지역이 일시적으로 프랑스군의 통제 하에 들어왔으며 나폴레옹의 형 조제프 보나파르트가 마드리드에 입성하여 에스파냐의 왕좌에 앉을 수 있었다.

1809년 2차 오스트리아 전쟁에서는 뮈라를 대신하여 예비기병대장을 맡아, 아스페른-에슬링 전투에서 기병대를 지휘했다. 이 전투 직후 나폴레옹으로부터 이스트라 공작 작위를 받았다. 그러나 7월 5일~7월 8일의 바그람 전투에서는 적을 향해 돌격하려는 순간 날아온 포탄에 맞아 부상을 입어서 더 이상 지휘를 계속하지 못했다. 부상을 치료하기 위해 먼저 프랑스로 귀국했던 그는 곧 영국의 왈헤렌 원정대 저지를 목적으로 벨기에 플랑드르로 파견되었다.

1810년, 베시에르는 에스파냐 북부군(Armée du Nord de l'Espagne)사령관으로 임명되어 다시 에스파냐로 파견되었다. 하지만 그는 포르투갈 방면군(Armée du Portugal)사령관 앙드레 마세나 원수와 계속해서 갈등을 빚었고, 1811년 5월 3일 푸엔테스데오뇨로 전투에서는 그와 제대로 협력하지 못하여 웰링턴 공작이 지휘하는 영국군에 패했다.

1812년, 베시에르는 러시아 원정에서 제국근위대를 지휘했다. 하지만 근위기병대는 말과 식량 부족으로 인해 기동에 어려움을 겪었다. 그들은 고로디노 전투에서 황제를 지켰고 베레지나 강으로 퇴각하는 아군을 엄호했지만, 러시아 원정에 투입된 다른 부대와 마찬가지로 심각한 손실을 입었다.

죽음 

1813년, 베시에르는 근위기병대를 포함한 전 기병대를 통솔하는 중요한 직위를 맡게 되었다. 그러나 뤼첸 전투가 일어나기 하루 전인 1813년 5월 1일, 리파흐 인근에서 정찰을 나갔던 베시에르는 프로이센군 포병대가 날린 유탄에 맞아 흉부가 짓뭉개진 채 사망했다. 베시에르의 죽음은 근위대뿐만 아니라 전투를 앞둔 나폴레옹에게도 큰 충격을 주었다. 나중에 나폴레옹은 베시에르의 죽음을 두고 이렇게 말했다.

베시에르의 유해는 5월 3일 파리로 운구되어 앵발리드에 안장되었다. 그의 심장은 따로 보존되어, 현재는 프레사크의 생바르텔레미 성당에 있다.

가족관계 
베시에르의 동생 베르트랑 베시에르 또한 나폴레옹 전쟁기에 활동했던 장군이었다.

베시에르는 1801년 먼 친척인 마리 잔 라페리에르(Marie Jeanne Lapeyrière)와 결혼했다. 그녀는 조제핀 황후의 말벗이었으며, 나폴레옹의 여동생들과도 친분이 있었다.

 부인 : 마리 잔 라페리에르(1781~1840), 변호사 장 루이 라페리에르의 딸
 아들 : 나폴레옹 베시에르(1802~1856), 정치인

참고 문헌

각주

외부 링크 

1768년 출생
1813년 사망
프랑스 제1제국의 원수
나폴레옹 전쟁 관련자
프랑스 혁명 전쟁
작전 중 사망자
로트주 출신
프랑스의 프랑스 혁명 전쟁 참전 군인