Bertrand Clauzel

Bertrand Clauzel was born on 12 December 1772 in Mirepoix, in the County of Foix.^[1][2]

Bertrand's father, Gabriel Clauzel,^[3] was a bankrupt wholesale merchant who had been disinherited by his own father. Gabriel embraced the revolution. He was on the committee of surveillance of Mirepoix, where a deputy to the National Convention would later write that "his presence alone frightens the enemies of the new regime."^[4]

Bertrand joined the Mirepoix National Guard at the end of July 1789;^[2] the Guard was deployed by his father Gabriel to invest in the episcopal palace of Mirepoix and harass the bishop in 1790.^[4]

In his extended family Bertrand had an uncle, Jean-Baptiste Clauzel who was a politician in Ariege during the revolutionary period.^[5]

Clauzel enlisted in the 43rd Infantry as one of the volunteers of 1791. He saw service in the first campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars.^[1] Having distinguished himself repeatedly on the northern frontier (1792–1793) and in the eastern Pyrénées (1793–1794), Clauzel was made a chef de battalion and given the honour of bringing twenty four flags taken from the Spanish back to Paris to present to the National Convention.^[2]

In 1798, Clauzel became the chief of staff to the division of General Emmanuel de Grouchy within the Army of Italy, in which role he negotiated the abdication of the King of Sardinia in December 1798 from his mainland territories, namely Piedmont (and associated lands in northern Italy).^[2][6]

As part of the negotiations Clauzel sought noble hostages to ensure the terms of the abdication were honoured, but instead returned with the Dropsical Woman a painting by the Dutch master Gerard Dou. Clauzel would donate it to the Louvre where it remains today.^[7][8]

Clauzels efforts were well regarded by his superiors, with Grouchy writing to General Barthélemy Catherine Joubert then chief of the Army of Italy that;^[9]

"my adjutant-general (Clauzel), who, in this instance, supported me with zeal, energy, and devotion"

Clauzel would be rewarded in 1799 with a promotion to général de brigade. In this rank, he continued to served in Italy, during which he won great distinction^[2] at the battles of Trebbia and latter Novi where fought on the left wing of the army initially helping to stabilise it against the Austrian attack but managed to retreat his own brigade after the enemy breakthrough enveloped much of the French and trapped them the Bormida river.^[5]

Clauzel took command of the 4th Division under General Louis-Gabriel Suchet in 1800, taking part in the Siege of Genoa. Clauzel's division saw heavy fighting as delaying actions were fought though mountain passes. During the campaign, he seized the redoubt of Melogno and participated in the attack on Monte-San-Giacomo [It]. Then as the Army of Melas pushed towards the city he endured the starvation of the siege before a negotiated surrender saw the whole army being repatriated to France. Later in December of 1800, Clauzel fought at Pozzolo.^[2][10]

The Treaty of Amiens enabled Napoleon to organise the Leclerc expedition to reassert French control in the lucrative colony of Saint-Domingue following the Haitian Revolution. Clauzel seized Fort-Dauphin in December 1802 and became commander at Cap Français with a promotion to Divisional General.^[2]

During his time in Le Cap, he purchased at auction a house previously owned by Toussaint Louverture, during latter corruption controversy over property in Algeria he would cite this as a model purchase that furthered French national interests encouraging stability in the fragile colony.^[11]

General Charles Leclerc died of yellow fever in 1803, and under the command of Leclerc's successor, Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau, Clauzel became disillusioned with Rochambeau's use of extreme violence and indiscriminate killing in an attempt to reassert French control. Clauzel worked with General Thouvenot at first to try and influence Rochambeau before they eventually conspired on a plot to overthrow Rochambeau and exile him. Rochambeau learned of the plot and, in September 1803, ordered both Clauzel and Thouvenot arrested and deported.^[12] The frigate La Surveillante carrying Clauzel was shipwrecked off the coast of Florida. He survived the wreck and made his way to New York, where he obtained passage to France.^[2]

After his return to France, he was in almost continuous service in a number of coastal garrisons that saw no action. Until in 1806 when he was sent to the army of Naples. Soon after, Napoleon made him a Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur. In 1808–1809, he was under the command of Marshal Auguste de Marmont in Dalmatia, and at the close of 1809, Clauzel was assigned to the Army of Portugal under Marshal André Masséna.^[1][2]

Clauzel initially commanded a division in the Army of Portugal during the Peninsular War,^[13] during the Siege of Aslorga, he defeated and drove back the Spanish corps positioned at Villa Franca into Galicia, and at the Battle of Subiaco, he resisted a vastly superior enemy.^[9] These actions set conditions for the subsequent Torres Vedras campaign. Masséna's failures saw him replaced by Marmont, under whom Clauzel worked to re-establish the discipline, efficiency, and mobility of the army, which had suffered severely in the retreat from Torres Vedras.^[1]

After the failed invasion of Portugal, in 1812 the French concentrated their forces to besiege Valencia and withdrew other units in preparation for the invasion of Russia. This left other areas of the Spanish theatre stripped of troops. Wellington, having previously secured key fortresses at the Spanish–Portuguese border, opted to attack, threatening the northern road connecting Madrid to Burgos and then France.^[13][14]

Marmont initially retreated in the face of Wellington's superior forces, but once reinforced, he attempted to force the Anglo-Portuguese army to retreat. Marmont attempted this by marching to turn Wellington's flank and threaten its lines of communication back to Portugal; it was these manoeuvres that instigated the Battle of Salamanca.^[13]

As the battle began, Clauzel's division was initially positioned behind the French left wing. After the rout of Jean Guillaume Barthélemy Thomières's division, it advanced to reinforce the faltering line. With both Marshal Marmont and General Jean Pierre François Bonet wounded, Clauzel, as the most senior officer available, assumed command of the French forces under challenging circumstances. Marmont's attempt to flank had exposed the divisions led by Thomières and Antoine Louis Popon de Maucune to an Anglo-Portuguese assault. According to Lewis Butler, Clauzel's subsequent actions constituted "a grand attempt to retrieve the battle".^[13]

The battlefield was characterised by two small hills, the lesser and the greater Arapiles. The lesser Arapile was situated at the heart of the Anglo-Portuguese army's position, while the greater Arapile occupied a central position in the French army's deployment. Both hills served as crucial points, securing the flanks of each army's formations. Clauzel's strategy aimed to counter the attack on his left flank by launching an assault on the Anglo-Portuguese centre to capture the lesser Arapile.^[13][14]

The offensive proved unsuccessful as it was met with staunch resistance from fresh enemy troops, resulting in disarray among the French forces and leaving them vulnerable to subsequent assaults on their left and centre. The battle culminated in a resounding defeat for the French, with Butler noting that the engagements had rendered the divisions of Maucune, Thomières, and Clauzel incapable of functioning as cohesive military units.^[13]

Lievyns reports that Clauzel became known as the "unfortunate hero of the Arapiles" following the battle.^[9]

The retreat from Salamanca posed significant challenges to Clauzel due to the substantial losses suffered by the French army. Initially, Maximilien Sébastien Foy's division, the only French unit relatively unscathed, provided cover as the rear guard. However, it suffered a decisive defeat the following day at the Battle of García Hernández. Clauzel managed to salvage what remained of the Army of Portugal as he retreated north of Burgos.^[14]

The historian Mullié reports this retreat by the Army of Portugal was compared the actions of Marshal Michel Ney during the retreat to Russia.^[15]

Burgos was besieged by Wellington before Clauzel could regroup his forces. With reinforcement from General Joseph Souham, Clauzel spent some time recovering from a gunshot wound to his right foot before resuming divisional command in the subsequent campaign, which saw Wellington retreat back to Ciudad Rodrigo.^[2] Despite Wellington's return to his initial position, Clauzel's costly defeat at Salamanca compelled French forces in Spain to focus their efforts against Wellington, leading to the liberation of Andalusia, Extremadura, and Asturias by Spanish forces.^[14]

In early 1813, Clauzel assumed command of the Army of the North in Spain. During the Battle of Vitoria, Clauzel and the bulk of his army was a day's march away and unable to aid Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, contributing to the latter's defeat. In the days after Vitoria, his army was separated from Jourdan's retreating army and risked being cut off, but Clauzel conducted a skilful retreat through Jaca to concentrate French forces.^[2]

After Jourdan was replaced, Clauzel would continue service under the command of Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult. He continued to serve throughout the rest of the Peninsular War and the 1814 campaign in south-west France, seeing action at the major battles of Nivelle, Orthez and Toulouse as well as personally securing a minor French victory at Aire.^[2]

When Wellington communicated news of the Emperor's abdication to French forces in the South, Clauzel was the first to vote, in a meeting of generals, that no consideration should be given to such a notification until it was made by the Emperor himself, this proposal was accepted.^[9]

Following the Bourbon restoration in 1814, he reluctantly submitted to the restored monarchy but swiftly joined Napoleon upon his return to France.^[1] Throughout the Hundred Days, he held command along the Pyrenees.^[1] While there were no major battles on this front before Napoleon surrendered, Clauzel did manage to gain the particular ire of French royalists with his actions in chasing the Duchess of Angoulême out of Bordeaux.^[16]

Clauzel was listed as among those who had "attacked the person" of the King by their participation in the Hundred Days in the edict of 24 July 1815. Clauzel left Bordeaux and escaped police detection as he fled through France, aided by anonymous letters sent to police which reported his whereabouts to be in the region of Foix, where he had grown up. Exiled initially in Belgium, he understood the great legal danger he was in and set off for the United States, arriving in Brooklyn on 29 August 1815.^[16]

Clauzel's fears were justified, and he would later be condemned to death in absentia.^[1] In the Americas, French societies of exiles organised attempts to purchase land in various countries, not all of them with entirely peaceful and commercial intentions. The restored Bourbons worried that Clauzel, amongst other exiles such as Joseph Bonaparte and Grouchy, was assembling Napoleonic loyalists in the Americas with a view to free Napoleon from exile in St Helena through the hiring of American privateers. Once free, a range of ambitious schemes were dreamt up for Napoleon to join in various Spanish American independence wars to create a new empire. Clauzel was not directly implicated in such schemes, but in one case, an expedition was organised by Lakanal, and he did have letters addressed to him.^[16]

Clauzel was amongst those who settled in the Vine and Olive Colony in modern-day Alabama.^[1] He was known to tend a vegetable garden and sell produce at the local market; during his time in exile, Clauzel was a personal friend of former General Grouchy.^[16]

Clauzel seized the first opportunity to return and assist the Orléanist Liberals in France when he was pardoned in 1820, serving in the Chamber of Deputies for Ariège in 1827, then for Ardennes in 1830.^[1][2]

His running in the Ardennes constituency was instigated by the entreaties of a former non-commissioned officer who had served under him at Salamanca what had post-war become a wealthy and influential elector in the area.^[5]

He sat on the left and voted for the Address of the 221, which expressed disapproval of the ultra-royalist administration. Following the July Revolution of 1830, he promptly assumed a military command, being appointed the commander of French forces in Algeria.^[1]

The invasion of Algiers had been begun by the government of the Bourbon absolutist King Charles in a late measure to shore up popular support for his rule, but with the July Revolution, the new constitutional monarchy was governed by liberals who had opposed the Algiers expedition. Victory by French forces at the Battle of Staouéli and the fall of Algiers did not save the absolutist government; however, French success was publicly popular, and the new government was careful to not turn public opinion against itself by abandoning Algeria. The political imperative in Paris was to secure both the loyalty of the troops in Algeria and, begrudgingly, the conquest, albeit with a reduced size for the expedition. Clauzel was sent to replace Legitimist General Louis-Auguste-Victor de Bourmont as commander in chief of the invasion of Algeria.^[17]

Under Bourmont, French forces had militarily defeated the Deylik taking control over many major ports across the country. In the case of Oran and Bône these would be latter abandoned on hearing of the overthrow of Charles X in France. Bourmont even intended to lead his troops back to France to restore the Bourbons, but, with little support from the rank and file, he opted instead to go into exile in Spain. Clauzel therefore inherited a situation in flux; many units needed new, politically loyal officers, and the size of the expedition was reduced by 50%. Nevertheless, Clauzel oversaw the re-occupation of Oran and Bône but was unable to secure the Algerian interior.^[17]

As a veteran of the war in Spain, characterised by insurgency and resistance, given the numerous grievances of Algerians against Ottoman rule, Clauzel attempted to steer French policy away from the likelihood of a protracted engagement. Clauzel's approach involved a political settlement between the French, who would take over as suzerain over the Husaynid rulers of Tunis, who would gain control over much of Algeria beyond some major ports. This was done in a system similar to that of the status of Algiers under the Ottoman Empire, but with France as overlord.^[17] Clauzel's attempts collapsed, his actions lacking sanction from his superiors in Paris. The arrival of a 500-strong Tunisian contingent led to unrest in Oran, and, having lost support, he was replaced.^[17]

Clauzel acted in the absence of orders from the War Ministry, and while debates were live in parliament about what to do with the territories in North Africa, he set out a clearly defined goal for France in Algeria that matched the military forces available to him given the limited political will in the early 1830s for a large and expensive commitment of troops. The invocation of the Tunisians failed to account for simmering tensions emanating in Algerian society that had been present before the French arrived and were manifested in the unrest that accompanied their arrival.^[17]

Elsewhere, Clauzel was an enthusiastic supporter of the first attempt at agricultural colonialism in Algeria, especially a model farm in the Mitidja.^[17] Clauzel would also set up a company to acquire agricultural land and enable settlement by Europeans.^[18]

Simultaneous with his removal, Clauzel was appointed a Marshal of France in February 1831.^[1][2] In his absence, Algeria saw a small revolving door of successors to Clauzel as governor general, combined with vacillation in France causing 'restricted occupation' in Algeria to become the French goal, due to, in the words of Charles-André Julien, "less a matter of policy than of an absence of policy".^[17]

For nearly four years thereafter, he advocated on behalf of Algerian colonists to the Chamber of Deputies^[17] and defended his actions while in military command in Algeria.^[1] He advocated for continued occupation, arguing that France's "national honour would be tainted" by withdrawal, not only on account of such an event but also because he believed that France's withdrawal would lead to the massacre of the Jewish population of Algeria.^[19]

Clauzel wrote and advised the national assembly and the government on what policy France should take to secure her interests now that the occupation had become permanent, as well as providing information about the physical and human geography of Algeria.^[1][19] Amongst these suggestions was support to allow Jews to hold positions in local governance and the judiciary, which they had not done under the Deylical rule.^[19]

Drawing on his own experiences farming in Alabama, Clauzel publicised Algeria as a "Mediterranean Alabama" – suggesting that the climate would be suitable for the cultivation of cotton, sugar, and other colonial produce that France would otherwise have to import.^[20]

His first posting to Algeria would also seem Clauzel embroiled in a controversy over property rights over a number of prioperties in Algeria including the Maison-Carrée and the Ferme de l’Agha a property that before the conquest had belonged to the Agha of a company of Janissary cavalry. The farm was seized by French forces under General Loverdo [Fr] immediately after the fall of Algiers, it was converted into a military hospital. But later Clauzel would purchase the farm, despite the fact that as commander of French forces he had forbid the purchase of any “corporation property” (biens de corporation) - that is land belonging to the deylick, waqf endowments for mosques or religious schools or a military estate.^[11]

Critics accused Clauzel of abusing his position to enrich himself with property and investigations into the legality of property transactions made during and just after the conquest including Clauzel's were undertaken. Clauzel defended himself publicly relying upon his extensive military record such as his time in Italy (refusing gifts from the King of Sardinia beyond a painting he donated. As well as the expedition to Saint-Domingue (where he was offered houses and plantations as well as local funding for entertainment expenses at his residence by civic organisations but refused them all instead supporting the need for funding new defences for the town.^[11]

Clauzel argued that his purchases were for public good - aimed at encouraging colonialism, stability and trust and emphasized that, despite opportunities for personal enrichment, he remained relatively poor.^[11]

He argued that contested properties were either regulated by official decree, with purchases coming before his own decree to forbid sales or authorised by the Minister after his departure. His character and prior public service were central to his defence against accusations of misappropriation. The estates would stay in Clauzel's ownership but the farm had suffered damage from years of use by soldiers quartered there.^[11]

By summer 1835, an uneasy truce had broken down, and hostilities between France and Abd al-Qadir had erupted as Makhzen tribes from around Oran sought French protection. On 28 June, a French column was surprised between the low hills around Maqta. The disastrous Battle of Maqta provoked popular outrage in France, and the then governor, General Trèzel, was replaced by Clauzel, who once again returned to North Africa.^[1][2] Despite early successes, such as at the Battle of Habra and the capture of Mascara, both in December 1835, and then Tlemcen in January 1836.^[2] These victories were, however, spoiled as Clauzel struggled to strike a decisive blow against Abd al-Qadir and by political missteps, such as his imposition of a massive indemnity upon Tlemcen, thereby failing to turn his conquests into allies. The French presence in the Algerian hinterland remained extremely limited.^[17]

In the western theatre of Algeria, it took until the summer of 1836 for the French to force a decisive battle against Al-Qadir's forces at the Sikkak River, where a ten-thousand-strong contingent of regulars and tribal warriors was routed by General Thomas-Robert Bugeaud.^[17]

In the east, Clauzel mustered forces to strike at the Beylik of Constantine, supported in raising funds and gathering equipment by the Oran-based merchant Jacob Lasry.^[21][22] However, weather and determined resistance from Ahmad Bey saw the 1836 attempt to seize Constantine fail.^[1] Public and political opinion turned on Clauzel, leading to his recall in February 1837. With French policy shifting to a policy of 'restricted, progressive and peaceful' occupation,^[17] such a policy entailed making peace with Abd al-Qadir's sovereignty with the Treaty of Tafna so they could concentrate forces to avenge Clauzel's defeat.^[23] Clauzel's successor was General Charles Marie Denys de Damrémont, who would die during the ultimately successful siege of Constantine later in 1837.^[17]

Upon his return to France, he retired from active service, vigorously defending his actions before the deputies before withdrawing from public life. Historian James McDougall argues in his History of Algeria that General Bugeaud's actions to conclude a treaty subsequent to Clauzel's removal with Abd al-Qadir were short-sighted and only gave a defeated enemy time to regroup while extracting meaningless concessions but necessary if France was to strike at Constantine with the limited forces in theatre. MacDougall elsewhere argues Clauzel's arrangements with Tunisian rulers failed to completely understand Algeria as a unique political entity with its own challenges.^[17]

Other assessments note the lack of political support in France which limited the success of Clauzel's actions in Algeria.^[1][15]

He lived in retirement until his death from apoplexy at Château du Secourieu in Haute-Garonne in 1842.^[1][2]

Due to his donation to the Lourve of the Dropsical Woman and because it was the first painting to be donated to the Louvre Clauzel's name is at the top of the list on the plaque visible in the rotunda of Apollo.^[7]

Clauzel's name is one of 660 French generals whose names are inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe, his name appearing at the top of column 34 on the west side. When asked on Saint Helena which of his generals was the most skilful, Napoleon named Clauzel along with Marshal Suchet and Étienne Maurice Gérard.^[24]