Claude Victor-Perrin, Duc de Belluno

Claude-Victor Perrin, Duke of Belluno ( , ; 7 December 1764 – 1 March 1841) was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was made a Marshal of the Empire in 1807 by Emperor Napoleon I.

Early life Victor was born in Lamarche on 7 December 1764 to Charles Perrin and Marie Anne Floriot. In 1781, he enlisted in an artillery regiment in Grenoble as a drummer, and after ten years' service he applied for and received his discharge. From here his most important service was in protecting the retreating army at the crossing of the Berezina River. He was appointed commander of the 2nd Army Corps in March 1813, and over the following months fought at the battles of Dresden, Leipzig, Wachau, and finally at Hanau on 30 October. The result was a scene of violent recrimination and his supersession by the emperor, who transferred his command to General Étienne Maurice Gérard. Nevertheless, he was put at the head of two divisions of the Young Guard the same day. He was wounded by a gunshot at the Battle of Craonne on 7 March, which forced him to walk on crutches for three months.

Bourbon Restoration and later life

Upon Napoleon's defeat in April 1814, Victor transferred his allegiance to the restored House of Bourbon. He was made a Chevalier de Saint-Louis, and in December 1814 received from King Louis XVIII the command of the 2nd military division. In 1815, on the return of Napoleon from exile in Elba during the Hundred Days, Victor accompanied the king to Ghent.

When the second restoration followed the Battle of Waterloo, Victor returned to Paris with Louis XVIII and was made a peer of France and major-general of the Royal Guard. In October, he was appointed chairman of a commission which inquired into the conduct of the officers who joined Napoleon during the Hundred Days. As a member of the Chamber of Peers, he voted in favor of the death penalty for Marshal Michel Ney, a vote he bitterly regretted, and Victor made the day of Ney's execution (7 December) a day of penance until the end of his life.

In 1821, Victor was appointed Minister of War and held this office for two years. In this capacity, he prepared the 1823 French invasion of Spain but was dismissed by Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême and resumed his ministerial portfolio. After the July Revolution in 1830, he refused to swear allegiance to the government of King Louis Philippe I, was expelled from the Chamber of Peers, and retired altogether into private life. He died in Paris on 1 March 1841 and was buried at the Père-Lachaise Cemetery. His papers for the period 1793–1800 have been published (Paris, 1846).

Personal life Victor first married Jeanne-Josephine Muguet in May 1791 and had four children: Victorine (1792–1822) Charles (1795–1827) Napoléon-Victor (1796–1853) Eugène (1799–1852)

His second marriage was to Julie Vosch van Avesaet in June 1803 (1781–1831), with whom he had a daughter: Stephanie-Josephine (1805–1832)

Evaluation Victor had mixed military talents. He was an excellent organizer and tactician. During his time in Spain he destroyed entire Spanish armies with Cannae-like envelopments and even fought Wellington to a virtual tactical draw at Talavera. However he was a timid strategist often afraid of taking risks. Nevertheless, he recognized new developments in warfare and implemented them throughout his career. At the Beresina River in 1812, he made excellent use of reverse slope defenses showing that he learned something from Wellington.