1833 Mémoires du Maréchal Michel Ney Marshal Napoleon War Memoires Diary Rare

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1833 Mémoires du Maréchal Michel Ney Marshal Napoleon War Memoires Diary Rare:
$465.00

Mémoires du Maréchal Ney

Tome Premier & Tome Second

PUBLIÉS PAR SA FAMILLE

By Maréchal Michel Ney, Duc d’Elchingen, Prince de la Moscowa

(Memoirs of Marshal Ney, Duke of Elchingen and Prince of Moscowa) - In French language.

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Two volumes of „Mémoires du Maréchal Ney“(Memoires of Marshal Ney), written by Michel Ney, French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. Ney’s reputation as a commander significantly rose after The Battle of Elchingen (1808) where the French army under his command easily defeated the Austrian army. After this battle Ney was given the title Duc d’ Elchingen (Duke of Elchingen). Marshall Ney reached the peak of his war fame during the campaign of invasion on Russia (1812) where his bravery delighted Napoleon who gave him the nickname „the bravest of the brave”. In 1813 Ney gains the victory title Prince De La Moscowa (Prince of the Moskva). These memoires are describing all important events concerning Napoleonic Wars: battles, retreats, military correspondences, etc. Extremely rare and limited edition, printed for Marshal Ney’s family. Not available for a sale on the Web, only three more copies of this edition available in public libraries,

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Brussels, Louis Hauman, 1833.

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Pp.: 411
Pp.: 426 with one folded map (Theatre de la guerre)

Size: Octavo (8 vo): 6,29“ (160 mm) x 4,3“ (110 mm)

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Binding: Original quarter leather binding. Paper stickers on spine covers of both volumes, signs of wear, bumped edges.

Condition: Stamp by the previous owner on the flyleaf, ink inscription by the previous owner on the title page (vol 1). Stamp and ink inscription on the title page (vol 2). Both volumes have minor stains due to aging.

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For condition and details see the scans.

For any additional questions feel free to contact us, we are eager to respond to all of your questions!

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:

Michel Ney

Michel Ney (10 January 1769 – 7 December 1815), popularly known as Marshal Ney, was a French soldier and military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of the Empire created by Napoleon. He was known as Le Rougeaud (\"red faced\" or \"ruddy\") by his men and nicknamed le Brave des Braves (\"the bravest of the brave\") by Napoleon.

French Revolutionary Wars

Michel Ney as a sous-lieutenant in the 4th Hussars in 1792, Adolphe Brune (1802-1875), 1834

Life as a civil servant did not suit Ney, and he enlisted in the Colonel-General Hussar Regiment in 1787. Under the Bourbon Monarchy entry to the officer corps of the French Army was restricted to those with four quarterings of nobility (i.e., several generations of aristocratic birth). However, Ney rapidly rose through the non-commissioned officer ranks. He served in the Army of the North from 1792 to 1794, with which he saw action at the Cannonade of Valmy, the Battle of Neerwinden, and other engagements.

After the dissolution of the monarchy in September of 1792, Ney was commissioned as an officer in October, transferred to the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse in June 1794, and wounded at the Siege of Mainz. Ney was promoted to général de brigade in August 1796, and commanded cavalry on the German fronts. On 17 April 1797, during the Battle of Neuwied, Ney led a cavalry charge against Austrian lancers trying to seize French cannons. The lancers were beaten back, but Ney’s cavalry were counter-attacked by heavy cavalry. During the mêlée, Ney was thrown from his horse and captured in the vicinity of the municipality of Dierdorf; on 8 May he was exchanged for an Austrian general. Following the capture of Mannheim, Ney was promoted to general de division in March 1799. Later in 1799, Ney commanded cavalry in the armies of Switzerland and the Danube.[citation needed] At Winterthur Ney received wounds in the thigh and wrist. After recovering he fought at Hohenlinden under General Moreau in December 1800.[citation needed] From September 1802, Ney commanded French troops in Switzerland and performed diplomatic duties.

Napoleonic War

On 19 May 1804, Ney received his Marshal\'s baton, emblematic of his status as a Marshal of the Empire, the Napoleonic era\'s equivalent of Marshal of France. In the 1805 campaign, Ney took command of VI Corps of the Grande Armée and was praised for his conduct at Elchingen. In November 1805, Ney invaded the Tyrol, capturing Innsbruck from Archduke John. In the 1806 campaign, Ney fought at Jena and then occupied Erfurt. Later in the campaign, Ney successfully besieged Magdeburg. In the 1807 campaign, Ney arrived with reinforcements in time to save Napoleon from defeat at Eylau, although the battle ended in a draw. Later in the campaign, Ney fought at Güttstadt and commanded the right wing at Friedland. On 6 June 1808, Ney was created Duke of Elchingen. In August 1808, he was sent to Spain in command of VI Corps and won a number of minor actions. In 1809, he routed an Anglo-Portuguese force under Sir Robert Wilson at Baños. In 1810, Ney joined Marshal Masséna in the invasion of Portugal, where he took Ciudad Rodrigo from the Spanish and Almeida from the British and Portuguese, brusquely defeated a British force on the River Côa, and fought at Bussaco. During the retreat from Torres Vedras, Ney engaged Wellington\'s forces in a series of lauded rearguard actions (Pombal, Redinha, Casal Novo, Foz d\'Arouce) through which he delayed the pursuing enemy forces long enough to allow the main French force to retreat unmolested. He was ultimately removed from his command for insubordination.

Russia to Fontainebleau

Ney was given command of III Corps of the Grande Armée during the 1812 invasion of Russia. At Smolensk, Ney was wounded in the neck but recovered enough to later fight in the central sector at Borodino. During the retreat from Moscow, Ney commanded the rearguard (and was anecdotally known as \"the last Frenchman on Russian soil\" because of it). After being cut off from the main army fighting the Battle of Krasnoy, Ney managed to escape in a heavy fog over the Dniepr, not without heavy losses and to rejoin it in Orsha, which delighted Napoleon. For this action Ney was given the nickname \"the bravest of the brave\" by Napoleon.[] Ney fought at Beresina and helped hold the vital bridge at Kovno (modern-day Kaunas), where legend portrays Ney as the last of the invaders to cross the bridge and exit Russia. On 25 March 1813, Ney was given the title of Prince de la Moskowa.[4] During the 1813 campaign Ney fought at Battle of Weissenfels, was wounded at Lützen, and commanded the left wing at Bautzen. Ney later fought at Dennewitz and Leipzig, where he was again wounded. In the 1814 campaign in France, Ney fought various battles and commanded various units. At Fontainebleau Ney became the spokesperson for the Marshals\' revolt on 4 April 1814, demanding Napoleon\'s abdication. Ney informed Napoleon that the army would not march on Paris; Napoleon responded \"the army will obey me!\" to which Ney answered, \"the army will obey its chiefs\".

When Paris fell and the Bourbons reclaimed the throne, Ney, who had pressured Napoleon to accept his first abdication and exile, was promoted, lauded, and made a peer by the newly enthroned Louis XVIII. Although Ney had pledged his allegiance to the restored monarchy, the Bourbon court looked down on him because he was a commoner by birth.