Luis Alejandro Berthier

Louis-Alexandre Berthier, prince de Neuchâtel et Valangin, prince de Wagram ( , ; 20 November 1753 – 1 June 1815) was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was twice Minister of War of France and was made a Marshal of the Empire in 1804. Berthier served as chief of staff to Napoleon Bonaparte from his first Italian campaign in 1796 until his first abdication in 1814. The operational efficiency of the Grande Armée owed much to his considerable administrative and organizational skills.

Born into a military family, Berthier served in the American Revolutionary War and survived suspicion of monarchism during the Reign of Terror before a rapid rise in the ranks of the French Revolutionary Army. Although a key supporter of the coup against the Directory that gave Napoleon supreme power, and present for his greatest victories, Berthier strongly opposed the progressive stretching of lines of communication during the Russian campaign. Allowed to retire by the restored Bourbon regime, he died by either suicide or murder shortly before the Battle of Waterloo. Berthier's reputation as a superb operational organiser remains strong among current historians.

Early life

Berthier was born in Versailles on 20 November 1753. He was the eldest of five surviving children of Lieutenant-Colonel Jean-Baptiste Berthier (1721–1804), an officer in the Corps of Topographical Engineers, and his first wife (married in 1746) Marie Françoise L'Huillier de La Serre. Three of his brothers also served in the French Army, with two, César (1765–1819) and Victor-Léopold (1770–1807), becoming generals during the Napoleonic Wars.

Early career

As a boy, Berthier was instructed in the military art by his father, an officer of the Corps de genie (Engineer Corps). In 1764 he was admitted to the Royal Engineering School of Mézières, as a second lieutenant, graduating as a topographical engineer two years later, at the age of 12.

At the close of the campaign, he was employed in civil and diplomatic business. This included a mission to Spain in August 1800, which resulted in the retrocession of Louisiana to France by the Treaty of San Ildefonso on 1 October 1800, and led to the Louisiana Purchase.

Napoleonic Wars

In May 1804, Napoleon became Emperor and at once made Berthier a Marshal of the Empire. This lasted until his abdication on 3 June 1814.

On 9 March 1808, Berthier married Elisabeth who was the only daughter of Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria and Countess Palatine Maria Anna of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Rappoltstein, the sister of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, and a relative of the Russian emperor through the Wittelsbach line on the Bavarian side and Prussian (Mecklenburg) side of her lineage.

They had one son and two daughters: Napoléon-Alexandre, 2nd Duke and 2nd Prince of Wagram (11 September 1810 – 10 February 1887), married on 29 June 1831 to Zénaïde Françoise Clary (25 November 1812 – 27 April 1884). They had two daughters, Malcy Louise Caroline Frédérique Berthier Princess of Walgram (1832-1884), Elisabeth Alexandrine Maria Berthier Princess of Wagram (1849–1932) and a son, Louis Philippe Marie Alexandre Berthier, 3rd Prince of Wagram (1836–1911) Caroline-Joséphine, Princess of Wagram (22 August 1812 – 1905), married on 9 October 1832 to Alphonse Napoléon, Baron d'Hautpoul (29 May 1806 – 25 April 1889) Marie Anne Wilhelmine Alexandrine Elisabeth, Princess of Wagram (19 February 1816 – 23 July 1878). Born shortly after her father's death. Married on 24 June 1834 to Jules Lebrun, 3rd Duke of Plaisance (19 April 1811 – 15 January 1872)

Later life

Following Napoleon's first abdication, Berthier retired to Château de Grosbois, his 600-acre (2.4 km2) estate at Boissy-Saint-Léger, Val-de-Marne. He made peace with King Louis XVIII in 1814 and accompanied the king on his solemn entry into Paris. During Napoleon's short exile on Elba, he informed Berthier of his projects. Berthier was much perplexed as to his future course and, being unwilling to commit to Napoleon, fell under the suspicion both of his old leader and of Louis XVIII.

Death

On Napoleon's return to France in March 1815, Berthier withdrew to the Bavarian city of Bamberg. On 1 June 1815 he died from a fall from an upstairs window at the Neue Residenz, a 17th-century Bishop's residence. The manner of his death remains uncertain because he fell from a casement window with a sill from the floor, making an accident seem unlikely. According to some accounts, he was assassinated by members of a secret society, while others say he threw himself from the window, maddened at the sight of Russian troops marching to invade France. It remains unclear whether his defenestration was suicide or murder.

His loss was keenly felt by Napoleon, who wished he had his former Chief of Staff at Waterloo:

Character assessment Berthier was an immensely skilled chief of staff, but he was not a great field commander. When he was in temporary command in 1809, the French army in Bavaria underwent a series of reverses. Despite the fact that his merit as a general was completely overshadowed by the genius of Napoleon, Berthier was nevertheless renowned for his excellent organising skills and being able to understand and carry out the emperor's directions to the minutest detail. General Paul Thiébault wrote of him:

No one could have better suited General Bonaparte, who wanted a man capable of relieving him of all detailed work, to understand him instantly and to foresee what he would need. by Gérard Cardonne.

Video games Berthier is prominently featured in the 2010 video game Napoleon: Total War, where he serves as the narrator of the campaign/story mode, and the battle advisor to the French faction during battles. He is also featured prominently in the three tutorial missions in the game, and also appears in two of the game's historical battles. The game is slightly inaccurate in Berthier's life, in that Berthier gives the narration about the Battle of Waterloo, regardless of a win or a loss, while in real life, Berthier died shortly before the battle from a fall in his home.