130-607: Louis-Nicolas d'Avout ( French pronunciation: [lwi nikɔla davu] ; 10 May 1770 – 1 June 1823), better known as Davout , 1st Prince of Eckmühl , 1st Duke of Auerstaedt , was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars . His talent for war, along with his reputation as a stern disciplinarian, earned him
260-553: A nation primarily located in Western Europe that share a common French culture , history , and language , identified with the country of France . The French people, especially the native speakers of langues d'oïl from northern and central France, are primarily descended from Romans (or Gallo-Romans , western European Celtic and Italic peoples ), Gauls (including the Belgae ), as well as Germanic peoples such as
390-646: A community of French Huguenots settled in South Africa . Most of these originally settled in the Cape Colony , but have since been quickly absorbed into the Afrikaner population. After Champlain's founding of Quebec City in 1608, it became the capital of New France . Encouraging settlement was difficult, and while some immigration did occur, by 1763 New France only had a population of some 65,000. From 1713 to 1787, 30,000 colonists immigrated from France to
520-474: A decisive contribution to the victory. Napoleon, who had great confidence in his abilities, finally promoted him to general of division and arranged his marriage to his sister Pauline's sister-in-law Aimée Leclerc, thus making him part of Napoleon's extended family, and gave him a command in the grenadiers of the Consular Guard . At the ascension of Napoleon as emperor in 1804, Davout was named as one of
650-577: A little. After a contentious council of war in which several of his generals forcefully argued for continuing the fight for a third day, Bennigsen at 23:00 decided to withdraw, and covered by the Cossacks, the Russians silently began to leave. The exhausted French did not even notice until 03:00 and were in no condition to pursue. After 14 hours of continuous battle, the only result was an enormous loss of life. Authors differ greatly in their assessments of
780-570: A majority of French people had other first languages (local languages such as Occitan , Catalan , Alsatian , West Flemish , Lorraine Franconian , Gallo , Picard or Ch'timi and Arpitan ). Today, many immigrants speak another tongue at home. According to historian Eric Hobsbawm , "the French language has been essential to the concept of 'France'," although in 1789, 50 percent of the French people did not speak it at all, and only 12 to 13 percent spoke it fairly well; even in oïl languages zones, it
910-516: A massive charge by Murat's 11,000-strong cavalry reserve. Aside from the Guard, that was the last major unbloodied body of troops remaining to the French. Thus began one of the greatest cavalry charges in history. Somewhat obscured by the weather, Murat's squadrons charged through the Russian infantry around Eylau and then divided into two groups. The group on the right, Grouchy's dragoons, charged into
1040-460: A position on his left rear on 3 February. That day, General of Division Jean François Leval clashed with Lieutenant-General Nikolay Kamensky 's 14th Division at Bergfried (Berkweda) on the Alle (Łyna) River , which flows roughly northward in the area. The French reported 306 casualties but claimed to have inflicted 1,100 on their adversaries. After seizing Allenstein (Olsztyn) , Soult moved north on
1170-486: Is also widely spoken, arguably the largest minority language in France as of the 21st century (a spot previously held by Breton and Occitan ). Modern French society is a melting pot . From the middle of the 19th century, it experienced a high rate of inward migration , mainly consisting of Spaniards , Portuguese , Italians , Arab-Berbers , Jews , Sub-Saharan Africans , Chinese , and other peoples from Africa ,
1300-623: Is estimated that 20,000 settlers were living in Saigon in 1945, and there were 68,430 European settlers living in Madagascar in 1958. 1.6 million European pieds noirs settlers migrated from Algeria , Tunisia and Morocco . In just a few months in 1962, 900,000 pied noir settlers left Algeria in the most massive relocation of population in Europe since the World War II . In
1430-399: Is happening as part of a background evolution and recent studies confirmed the results of their assimilation, showing that "North Africans seem to be characterized by a high degree of cultural integration reflected in a relatively high propensity to exogamy " with rates ranging from 20% to 50%. According to Emmanuel Todd the relatively high exogamy among French Algerians can be explained by
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#17327753957821560-468: Is impossible to be certain. According to estimates of the German historian Horst Schulz, the French lost 4,893 men killed, 23,598 wounded and 1,152 missing in action, for a total of 29,643. The French had gained possession of the battlefield, which was nothing but a vast expanse of bloodstained snow and frozen corpses, but they had suffered enormous losses and failed to destroy the Russian army. Riding over
1690-498: Is my home". Indeed, the country has long valued its openness , tolerance and the quality of services available. Application for French citizenship is often interpreted as a renunciation of previous state allegiance unless a dual citizenship agreement exists between the two countries (for instance, this is the case with Switzerland : one can be both French and Swiss). The European treaties have formally permitted movement and European citizens enjoy formal rights to employment in
1820-602: Is such a thing as a "French ethnic group". The discourse of ethno-nationalist groups such as the Front National (FN), however, advances the concept of Français de souche or "indigenous" French. The conventional conception of French history starts with Ancient Gaul, and French national identity often views the Gauls as national precursors, either as biological ancestors (hence the refrain nos ancêtres les Gaulois ), as emotional/spiritual ancestors, or both. Vercingetorix ,
1950-509: Is thought to have survived into the 6th century in France, despite considerable Romanization of the local material culture. Coexisting with Latin, Gaulish helped shape the Vulgar Latin dialects that developed into French, with effects including loanwords and calques (including oui , the word for "yes"), sound changes, and influences in conjugation and word order. Today, the last redoubt of Celtic language in France can be found in
2080-568: The Grande Armée , and the myth of Napoleon's invincibility was badly shaken. The French went on to decisively defeat Bennigsen's army at the Battle of Friedland , four months later. With the Prussian army routed at Jena-Auerstedt, Napoleon occupied the major cities of Germany and marched east in pursuit of the remaining forces opposed to him. These were largely Russians under the command of
2210-626: The École Militaire in Paris on 29 September 1785. He graduated on 19 February 1788 and was appointed a sous-lieutenant in the Royal-Champagne Cavalry Regiment in garrison at Hesdin ( Pas-de-Calais ). On the outbreak of the French Revolution , Davout embraced its principles. He was chef de bataillon in a volunteer corps in the campaign of 1792, and distinguished himself at the Battle of Neerwinden
2340-638: The Americas , with the exception of the Huguenots , due to a lower birthrate than in the rest of Europe. However, significant emigration of mainly Roman Catholic French populations led to the settlement of the Province of Acadia , Canada (New France) and Louisiana , all (at the time) French possessions, as well as colonies in the West Indies , Mascarene islands and Africa . On 30 December 1687,
2470-888: The Battle of Austerlitz , following a forced march of 48 hours to fall on the left flank of the Russian army , the III Corps bore the brunt of the allies' attack. In the subsequent War of the Fourth Coalition , Davout, with a single corps, with the intention to fall on the Prussian left wing, fought and won the Battle of Auerstädt against the main Prussian Army, under the Duke of Brunswick , which had more than twice as many soldiers at its disposal (more than 63,000, to Davout's 28,000). His actions in this battle earned him
2600-585: The Battle of Czarnowo . Russian resistance soon stiffened, and on 26 December, the two armies clashed at the Battles of Pułtusk and of Gołymin . After the fierce engagements, Napoleon's troops took up winter quarters in Poland to recuperate after a victorious but exhausting campaign. In January 1807, the new Russian army commander, Levin August von Bennigsen , attempted to surprise the French left wing by shifting
2730-433: The Battle of Mohrungen allowed Bernadotte's corps to escape serious damage and pull back to the southwest. With his customary inventiveness, Napoleon saw an opportunity to turn the situation to his own advantage. He instructed Bernadotte to withdraw before Bennigsen's forces and ordered the balance of the Grande Armée to strike northward. That maneuver might envelop the Russian army's left flank and cut off its retreat to
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#17327753957822860-499: The Battle of Waterloo . He received the command of the army assembled under the walls of Paris, and would have fought, had he not received the order of the provisional government to negotiate with the enemy. On 24 June 1815, Davout was sent by Joseph Fouché , the president of the provisional government, to the dethroned emperor at the Élysée Palace with a request to quit Paris, where his continued presence could lead to trouble and public danger. Napoleon received him coldly but left Paris
2990-525: The Danelaw in the region known today as Normandy in the 9th and 10th centuries. This later became a fiefdom of the Kingdom of France under King Charles III . The Vikings eventually intermarried with the local people, converting to Christianity in the process. The Normans, two centuries later, went on to conquer England and Southern Italy . Eventually, though, the largely autonomous Duchy of Normandy
3120-1169: The Franks , the Visigoths , the Suebi and the Burgundians who settled in Gaul from east of the Rhine after the fall of the Roman Empire , as well as various later waves of lower-level irregular migration that have continued to the present day. The Norsemen also settled in Normandy in the 10th century and contributed significantly to the ancestry of the Normans . Furthermore, regional ethnic minorities also exist within France that have distinct lineages, languages and cultures such as Bretons in Brittany , Occitans in Occitania , Basques in
3250-865: The French Basque Country , Catalans in northern Catalonia , Germans in Alsace , Corsicans in Corsica and Flemings in French Flanders . France has long been a patchwork of local customs and regional differences, and while most French people still speak the French language as their mother tongue , languages like Picard , Poitevin-Saintongeais , Franco-Provencal , Occitan , Catalan , Auvergnat , Corsican , Basque , French Flemish , Lorraine Franconian , Alsatian , Norman , and Breton remain spoken in their respective regions. Arabic
3380-568: The French Constitution , according to which "French" is a nationality , and not a specific ethnicity. France sits at the edge of the European peninsula and has seen waves of migration of groups that often settled owing to the presence of physical barriers preventing onward migration. This has led to language and regional cultural variegation, but the extent to which this pattern of migrations showed up in population genetics studies
3510-548: The French West Indies ( French Caribbean ), and in foreign countries with significant French-speaking population groups or not, such as the United States ( French Americans ), Canada ( French Canadians ), Argentina ( French Argentines ), Brazil ( French Brazilians ), Mexico ( French Mexicans ), Chile ( French Chileans ) and Uruguay ( French Uruguayans ). To be French, according to
3640-475: The Industrial Revolution . The pace of industrial growth attracted millions of European immigrants over the next century, with especially large numbers arriving from Poland , Belgium , Portugal , Italy , and Spain . In the period from 1915 to 1950, many immigrants came from Czechoslovakia , Hungary , Russia , Scandinavia and Yugoslavia . Small but significant numbers of Frenchmen in
3770-691: The Middle East and East Asia , and the government, defining France as an inclusive nation with universal values, advocated assimilation through which immigrants were expected to adhere to French values and cultural norms. Nowadays, while the government has let newcomers retain their distinctive cultures since the mid-1980s and requires from them a mere integration , French citizens still equate their nationality with citizenship as does French law. In addition to mainland France, French people and people of French descent can be found internationally, in overseas departments and territories of France such as
3900-677: The Saint-Domingue . In 1805, when the French were forced out of Saint-Domingue ( Haiti ), 35,000 French settlers were given lands in Cuba . By the beginning of the 17th century, some 20% of the total male population of Catalonia was made up of French immigrants. In the 18th century and early 19th century, a small migration of French emigrated by official invitation of the Habsburgs to the Austro-Hungarian Empire , now
4030-516: The Ulm Campaign and the combined Austrian and Russian armies at the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805. On 14 October 1806, Napoleon crushed the armies of the Kingdom of Prussia at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt and hunted down the scattered Prussians at Prenzlau , Lübeck , Erfurt , Pasewalk , Stettin , Magdeburg and Hamelin . In late January, Bennigsen 's Russian army went on
Louis-Nicolas Davout - Misplaced Pages Continue
4160-543: The United States Census , French people are not asked to define their ethnic appartenance, whichever it may be. The usage of ethnic and racial categorization is avoided to prevent any case of discrimination; the same regulations apply to religious membership data that cannot be compiled under the French Census. This classic French republican non- essentialist conception of nationality is officialized by
4290-560: The 14th Ligne, was unable to retreat and fought to the last man, refusing to surrender; its eagle was carried off by Captain Marbot . Its position would be marked by a square of corpses. Bennigsen took full advantage by falling on Saint-Hilaire's division with more cavalry and bringing up his reserve infantry to attack the devastated French centre. Augereau and 3,000 to.4,000 survivors fell back on Eylau, where they were attacked by about 5,000 Russian infantry. At one point, Napoleon himself, using
4420-401: The 1789 French Revolution . It replaced the ancient kingdom of France, ruled by the divine right of kings . The 1870 Franco-Prussian War , which led to the short-lived Paris Commune of 1871, was instrumental in bolstering patriotic feelings; until World War I (1914–1918), French politicians never completely lost sight of the disputed Alsace-Lorraine region which played a major role in
4550-590: The 1970s, over 30,000 French settlers left Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge regime as the Pol Pot government confiscated their farms and land properties. In the 1960s, a second wave of immigration came to France, which was needed for reconstruction purposes and for cheaper labour after the devastation brought on by World War II . French entrepreneurs went to Maghreb countries looking for cheap labour, thus encouraging work-immigration to France. Their settlement
4680-641: The 7th century BCE or earlier, and non-Celtic peoples including the Ligures , Aquitanians and Basques in Aquitaine. The Belgae , who lived in the northern and eastern areas, may have had Germanic admixture; many of these peoples had already spoken Gaulish by the time of the Roman conquest. Gaul was militarily conquered in 58–51 BCE by the Roman legions under the command of General Julius Caesar , except for
4810-598: The Franks, led by the Merovingian king Clovis I and his sons, had consolidated their hold on much of modern-day France. The other major Germanic people to arrive in France, after the Burgundians and the Visigoths , were the Norsemen or Northmen . Known by the shortened name " Norman " in France, these were Viking raiders from modern Denmark and Norway . They settled with Anglo-Scandinavians and Anglo-Saxons from
4940-540: The French Revolution, it divided social classes, with the peasants identifying with the native Gauls while the aristocracy identified with the Franks. During the early nineteenth century, intellectuals began using the identification with Gaul instead as a unifying force to bridge divisions within French society with a common national origin myth . Myriam Krepps of the University of Nebraska-Omaha argues that
5070-483: The French because of problems with the roads, the weather and the crush of troops hurrying towards the battle. During the night, Bennigsen withdrew some of his troops from the front line to strengthen his reserve. That resulted in the shortening of his right wing. Bennigsen had 67,000 Russian troops and 400 guns already assembled, but the French had only 49,000 troops and 300 guns. The Russians could expect to be reinforced by Von L'Estocq 's detachment of 9,000 Prussians,
5200-553: The French by Marshal Davout 's depleted III Corps (proud victors of Auerstedt but now only 15,000 strong) and Marshal Ney 's 14,000-strong VI Corps (for a total of 74,000 men), which was shadowing the Prussians. Bernadotte's I Corps was too far distant to take part. Dawn brought light but little warmth and no great improvement in visibility since the heavy snowstorms continued throughout the day. The opposing forces occupied two parallel ridges. The French were active early on probing
5330-399: The French captured the village, with heavy losses on both sides. The following day brought even more serious fighting. Early in the battle, a frontal attack by Napoleon failed, with catastrophic losses. To reverse the situation, he launched a massed cavalry charge against the Russians. That bought enough time for the French right wing to throw its weight into the contest. The Russian left wing
Louis-Nicolas Davout - Misplaced Pages Continue
5460-404: The French left on Windmill Knoll to the left of Eylau. Napoleon interpreted the Russian efforts on his left as a prelude to an attack on Eylau from that quarter. By then, Davout's III Corps had begun to arrive on the Russian left. To forestall the perceived Russian attack on Eylau and to pin the Russian army so that Davout's flank attack would be more successful, Napoleon launched an attack against
5590-405: The French remained in possession of the field, and Soult claimed that he had found 800 Russian dead there. Marching at night, Bennigsen retreated directly north to Wolfsdorf (Wilczowo) on the 4th. The next day, he fell back to the northeast, reaching Burgerswalde on the road to Landsberg (Górowo Iławeckie) . By early February, the Russian army was in full retreat and was relentlessly pursued by
5720-590: The French. After several aborted attempts to stand and fight, Bennigsen resolved to retreat to the town of Preussisch-Eylau and there make a stand. During the pursuit, perhaps influenced by the dreadful state of the Polish roads, the savage winter weather and the relative ease with which his forces had dealt with Prussia, Napoleon had allowed the Grande Armée to become more spread out than was his custom. In contrast, Bennigsen's forces were already concentrated. Marshal Soult 's IV Corps and Marshal Murat 's cavalry were
5850-555: The Gaulish chieftain who tried to unite the various Gallic tribes of the land against Roman encroachment but was ultimately vanquished by Julius Caesar , is often revered as a "first national hero". In the famously popular French comic Asterix , the main characters are patriotic Gauls who fight against Roman invaders while in modern days the term Gaulois is used in French to distinguish the "native" French from French of immigrant origins. However, despite its occasional nativist usage,
5980-403: The Gaulish identity has also been embraced by French of non-native origins as well: notably, Napoleon III , whose family was ultimately of Corsican and Italian roots, identified France with Gaul and Vercingetorix, and declared that "New France, ancient France, Gaul are one and the same moral person." It has been noted that the French view of having Gallic origins has evolved over history. Before
6110-479: The Guard in reserve. Through the afternoon Soult, Augereau and Murat managed to hold their ground while Davout, assisted by Saint-Hilaire, gradually bent the Russian left back further and further, pushing it to a right angle with the Russian centre. By 15:30, it seemed that the Russians' cohesion would soon break, as their left was in full retreat. For several crucial hours, Bennigsen could not be found. He had personally ridden to L'Estocq to urge that general to hasten
6240-953: The North and Northeast regions have relatives in Germany and Great Britain . Between 1956 and 1967, about 235,000 North African Jews from Algeria, Tunisia, and Morocco also immigrated to France due to the decline of the French empire and following the Six-Day War. Hence, by 1968, Jews of North African origin comprised the majority of the Jewish population of France. As these new immigrants were already culturally French they needed little time to adjust to French society. French law made it easy for thousands of settlers ( colons in French), national French from former colonies of North and East Africa , India and Indochina to live in mainland France. It
6370-478: The Roman army and obtained important commands. Their language is still spoken as a kind of Dutch ( French Flemish ) in northern France ( French Flanders ). The Alamans , another Germanic people immigrated to Alsace , hence the Alemannic German now spoken there. The Alamans were competitors of the Franks, and their name is the origin of the French word for "German": Allemand . By the early 6th century,
6500-400: The Russian centre and left, with Augereau's VII Corps on the left and Saint-Hilaire 's Division of Soult's IV Corps on the right. Augereau was very ill and had to be helped onto his horse. Fate intervened to turn the attack into a disaster. As soon as the French marched off a blizzard descended, causing all direction to be lost. Augereau's corps followed the slope of the land and veered off to
6630-436: The Russian position, particularly on the Russian right. Bennigsen, fearing that the French would discover that he had shortened his right, opened the battle by ordering his artillery to fire on the French. They replied and the ensuing artillery duel lasted for some time, with the French having the best of it because of their more dispersed locations. The start of the artillery duel galvanised Napoleon. Until then, he had expected
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#17327753957826760-461: The Russian reserves. A second wave of cavalry consisting of the Guards, and Grouchy's dragoons now charged the Russians as they attempted to reform and rode through both lines of infantry. Another group charged into the Russian infantry in the area in which Augereau's corps had made its stand. Not content with the heavy blows, the cavalry reformed, wheeled and charged back again. It finally retired under
6890-411: The Russians to continue their retreat, but he now knew that he had a fight on his hands. Messengers hurriedly were dispatched to Ney to order him to march on Eylau and to join the French left wing. Meanwhile, the French had occupied in force some fulling mill buildings within musket range of the Russian right wing. Russian jagers ejected them. Both sides escalated the fight, with the Russians assaulting
7020-682: The US and the UK) but as social conflicts born out of socioeconomic problems endangering proper integration. Historically, the heritage of the French people is mostly of Celtic or Gallic , Latin ( Romans ) origin, descending from the ancient and medieval populations of Gauls or Celts from the Atlantic to the Rhone Alps , Germanic tribes that settled France from east of the Rhine and Belgium after
7150-473: The aftermath of the conquest of Prussia. Davout's corps, about 15,000 strong, was now in position and began to drive in the Russian left. Despite the disarray of the Russian centre, Napoleon declined to follow up Murat's charge by advancing with the Guard. Such a move might have decisively won the battle, but Napoleon, well aware that 9,000 Prussians under L'Estocq and his chief of staff, Gerhard von Scharnhorst were still unaccounted for, judged it wise to retain
7280-438: The afternoon, the French were reinforced by Marshal Augereau 's corps and the Imperial Guard , giving him a force of about 45,000 soldiers in all. Under pressure of greatly superior forces, Bagration conducted an orderly retreat to join the main army. It was covered by another rearguard detachment in Eylau that was led by Barclay de Tolly . The rearguard action continued when French forces advanced to assault Barclay's forces in
7410-451: The army beyond the Loire and made his submission to the restored Bourbon monarchy on 14 July, and within a few days gave up his command to Marshal Jacques MacDonald . Upon the second restoration, Davout was deprived of his titles and was exiled to Louviers on 27 December 1815. When some of his subordinate generals were proscribed, he demanded to be held responsible for their acts, as executed under his orders, and he endeavoured to prevent
7540-456: The arrival of the Old Guard led by Édouard Mortier . Davout managed to successfully cross the Losvinka brook, albeit at the cost of his rearguard's sacrifice. Davout's jammed carriages, fell into the hands of the Cossacks. Among the booty captured by the Russians were Davout's war chest, a plethora of maps of the Middle East, Central Asia and India, and Davout's Marshal baton . The loss of his baton led him into disgrace and he would not meet with
7670-531: The battle of Wagram. Bernadotte then caught the eye of the Swedish ambassador, looking for a well-connected French officer to take on the role of heir to the Swedish throne. When Sweden threw in her lot against Napoleon in the War of the Sixth Coalition , Davout personally asked to be placed opposite Bernadotte's contingent, in order to gain retribution for the latter's betrayal. But with Davout assigned to defend Hamburg (which he did, up to and beyond Napoleon's abdication), they never did face each other in battle. Of
7800-400: The battles of Eylau and Friedland . Napoleon left him as governor-general of the newly created Duchy of Warsaw following the Treaties of Tilsit in 1807, and the next year awarded him with the title of Duke of Auerstädt . During the War of the Fifth Coalition in 1809, Davout took part in the Battle of Eckmühl , and also distinguished himself in the Battle of Wagram , where he commanded
7930-434: The broken Russians were cut to pieces by fresh regiments of cuirassiers. D'Hautpoult then rode through the Russian guns, chased off or sabered the gunners, and broke through the first line of Russian infantry. He meanwhile trampled a battalion that had attempted to stand. The cuirassiers forced their way through the second line of Russians, and it was only after 2,500 yards that the charge finally expended its force in front of
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#17327753957828060-435: The bulk of his army north from Nowogród to East Prussia . Incorporating a Prussian corps on his right, he first bumped into elements of the VI Corps of Marshal Michel Ney , who had disobeyed his emperor's orders and advanced far north of his assigned winter cantonments. Having cleared Ney's troops out of the way, the Russians rolled down on the isolated French I Corps under Marshal Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte . Tough fighting at
8190-447: The centuries to France, creating a variegated grouping of peoples. Thus the historian John F. Drinkwater states, "The French are, paradoxically, strongly conscious of belonging to a single nation, but they hardly constitute a unified ethnic group by any scientific gauge." The modern French are the descendants of mixtures including Romans , Celts , Iberians , Ligurians and Greeks in southern France, Germanic peoples arriving at
8320-485: The church tower as a command post, was nearly captured, but members of his personal staff held the Russians off for just long enough to allow some battalions of the Guard to come up. Counterattacked by the Guard's bayonet charge and Bruyère 's cavalry in its rear, the attacking Russian column was nearly destroyed. For four hours, the French centre was in great disorder, virtually defenceless and in imminent danger. With his centre almost broken, Napoleon resorted to ordering
8450-404: The city, as does a boulevard in Paris. Davout died in Paris on 1 June 1823. His remains rest in the Père Lachaise Cemetery , where an elaborate tomb marks his grave. Davout held the following honours and awards: Davout was known as a methodical person in both military and personal affairs. Within the army and among his social peers, he was often considered cold and distant; while respected, he
8580-474: The colonial link between France and Algeria. A small French descent group also subsequently arrived from Latin America ( Argentina , Chile and Uruguay ) in the 1970s. Most French people speak the French language as their mother tongue , but certain languages like Norman , Occitan languages , Corsican , Euskara , French Flemish and Breton remain spoken in certain regions (see Language policy in France ). There have also been periods of history when
8710-430: The condemnation of Ney. After half a year, the hostility of the Bourbons towards Davout faded and he became reconciled to the monarchy. In 1817, his rank and titles were restored and in 1819, he became a member of the Chamber of Peers . In 1822, Davout was elected mayor of Savigny-sur-Orge , an office he held for a year. His son Louis-Napoléon was also mayor of the city from 1843 to 1846. A main square bears their name in
8840-415: The consumption of horse meat in France. Larrey is quoted in French by Béraud. Antoine-Jean Gros painted Napoléon sur le champ de bataille d'Eylau in Paris in 1808. The battle is included in Leo Tolstoy 's War and Peace . The Battle of Eylau forms the early part of the novel The Schirmer Inheritance (1953) by Eric Ambler . The brutal battle and its immediate aftermath are depicted from
8970-416: The decline of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, a federation of Germanic peoples entered the picture: the Franks , from which the word "French" derives. The Franks were Germanic pagans who began to settle in northern Gaul as laeti during the Roman era. They continued to filter across the Rhine River from present-day Netherlands and Germany between the 3rd and 7th centuries. Initially, they served in
9100-425: The definition of the French nation and therefore of the French people. The decrees of 24 October 1870 by Adolphe Crémieux granted automatic and massive French citizenship to all Jewish people of Algeria. Successive waves of immigrants during the 19th and 20th centuries were rapidly assimilated into French culture . France's population dynamics began to change in the middle of the 19th century, as France joined
9230-411: The east bank of the Alle. Meanwhile, Napoleon threatened Bennigsen from the south with Marshal Pierre Augereau 's VII Corps and Ney's forces. Kamensky held the west bank with four Russian battalions and three Prussian artillery batteries. After an initial attack on Bergfried had been driven back, the French captured the village and bridge. A Russian counterattack briefly recaptured the bridge. That night,
9360-416: The east. By a stroke of luck, a band of Cossacks captured a messenger carrying Napoleon's plans to Bernadotte and quickly forwarded the information to General Pyotr Bagration . Bernadotte was left unaware, and a forewarned Bennigsen immediately ordered a retreat east to Jonkowo to avoid the trap. As Bennigsen hurriedly assembled his army at Jonkowo, elements of Marshal Nicolas Soult 's IV Corps reached
9490-501: The emperor again until his return from Elba . In April 1813, on his return from Russia with 4,000, the remains of 70,000 men, Davout commanded the military district of Hamburg and Dirk van Hogendorp left. (The French had initially been driven out by the Russians in March 1813.) He defended the poorly fortified and provisioned city, through the long Siege of Hamburg , only surrendering on direct order by King Louis XVIII , who had come to
9620-416: The end of the Roman Empire such as the Franks and the Burgundians , and some Vikings who mixed with the Normans and settled mostly in Normandy in the 9th century. According to Dominique Schnapper , "The classical conception of the nation is that of an entity which, opposed to the ethnic group, affirms itself as an open community, the will to live together expressing itself by the acceptation of
9750-473: The fall of the Roman Empire such as the Franks , Burgundians , Allemanni , Visigoths , and Suebi , Latin and Roman tribes such as Ligurians and Gallo-Romans , Basques , and Norse populations largely settling in Normandy at the beginning of the 10th century as well as " Bretons " (Celtic Britons) settling in Brittany in Western France . The name "France" etymologically derives from
9880-446: The fields of Eylau the following morning, Marshal Ney observed, Quel massacre! Et sans résultat! ("What a massacre! And without result!"). The Battle of Eylau was a major contrast to the decisive victories that characterized Napoleon's earlier campaigns, and would be a sign of the brutal slugfest for battles that were to come. By halting the French advance and leaving the two sides exhausted but evenly matched, it served only to prolong
10010-440: The first French formations to reach the plateau before Eylau at about 14:00 on the 7th. The Russian rearguard under Bagration occupied positions on the plateau about a mile in front of Eylau. The French promptly assaulted the positions and were repulsed. Bagration's orders were to offer stiff resistance to gain time for Bennigsen's heavy artillery to pass through Eylau and to join the Russian army in its position beyond Eylau. During
10140-560: The first article of the French Constitution , is to be a citizen of France, regardless of one's origin, race, or religion ( sans distinction d'origine, de race ou de religion ). According to its principles, France has devoted itself to the destiny of a proposition nation , a generic territory where people are bounded only by the French language and the assumed willingness to live together, as defined by Ernest Renan 's " plébiscite de tous les jours " ('everyday plebiscite') on
10270-418: The flank of the Russian cavalry attacking Saint-Hilaire's division and scattered them completely. Now led by Murat himself, the dragoons wheeled left against the Russian cavalry in the centre, and, joined by d'Hautpoult 's cuirassier division, drove the Russian cavalry back on their infantry. Fresh Russian cavalry forced Murat and the dragoons to retire, but d'Hautpoult's cuirassiers burst through everything, and
10400-476: The following spring. He had just been promoted to general of brigade when he was removed from the active list because of his noble birth. After he divorced his wife in 1794 he served in the Rhine campaign of 1796 , and accompanied General Louis Desaix in the Egyptian expedition of Napoleon Bonaparte . On his return, he did not take part in the Battle of Marengo , where his friend Desaix was killed while making
10530-573: The frail 68-year-old Field Marshal Count Mikhail Kamensky . The old marshal was unwilling to risk battle and continued to retreat, leaving the Grande Armée free to enter Poland almost unopposed. Nevertheless, as the French pressed aggressively eastward across the Vistula , they found the Russians defending the line of the Wkra River. The French seized a crossing over the Wkra on 23 December at
10660-400: The gigantic army with which Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812. In this, he commanded the I Corps , the strongest corps, numbering over 70,000. On 1 July he left Vilnius . On the order of Napoleon Davout secretly took over the command of Jérôme Bonaparte , occupied Minsk but had lost a third of his men due to sickness and desertion. Davout went very far in humiliating the 33rd regiment, which
10790-421: The heartened Russians soon launched a fresh attack against Davout. The Russian situation was also improved by the accurate fire of 36 guns under Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov . Over the next three hours, Davout was halted and forced back to a line running from the village of Kutschitten to near the village of Anklappen towards Saint-Hilaire's right by Eylau. Davout, alert to the danger, formed a battery of his guns on
10920-462: The heights of Klein Sausgarten and personally rallied his troops while his guns drove the Prussians back into the woods. With nightfall, exhaustion set in and fighting on the Russian left petered out. By then, the roar of cannons on the Russian right had announced Ney's arrival. Napoleon had not recalled Ney until 08:00 of the 8th, when he realised that the Russians intended to fight. Although Ney
11050-509: The island of Saint-Martin hold French nationality even though they do not speak French as a first language, while their neighbouring French-speaking Haitian immigrants (who also speak a French-creole) remain foreigners. Large numbers of people of French ancestry outside Europe speak other first languages, particularly English, throughout most of North America (with Quebec and Acadians in the Canadian Maritimes being notable, not
11180-530: The left, away from Saint-Hilaire. Augereau's advance struck the Russian line at the junction of its right and centre, coming under the fire of the blinded French artillery and then point-blank fire of the massive 70-gun Russian centre battery. Meanwhile, Saint-Hilaire's division, advancing alone in the proper direction, was unable to have much effect against the Russian left. Augereau's corps was thrown into great confusion with heavy losses, gives Augereau's official tally of 929 killed and 4,271 wounded. One regiment,
11310-497: The march of his Prussian corps to the battlefield. His mission was successful since L'Estocq's 9,000-man Prussian force, having lost a third of its strength to Ney's pursuit, approached the battlefield via the Russian right and passed completely behind the Russian position to its left wing. It gathered strength in doing so by collecting Russian stragglers and adding them to the 6,000 remaining Prussian troops. At 16:00, L'Estocq counterattacked by falling on Davout's exposed right flank, and
11440-592: The most difficult work. He was regarded by his contemporaries as one of the ablest of Napoleon's marshals. Upon the first restoration of the Bourbon monarchy , he retired into private life, openly displaying his hostility to the Bourbons , and when Napoleon returned from Elba, Davout rejoined him. Appointed Minister of War, he reorganized the French Army insofar as time permitted, and he was so indispensable to
11570-531: The name of her father to be given to a lighthouse. In 1897, the Phare d'Eckmühl was opened on the headland of Penmarc'h in Brittany. French people France: 67,413,000 French diaspora and ancestry : c. 30 million Asia Middle East Europe North America South America Oceania The French people ( French : Les Français , lit. 'The French') are
11700-656: The nations of Austria , Czech Republic , Hungary , Slovakia , Serbia and Romania . Some of them, coming from French-speaking communes in Lorraine or being French Swiss Walsers from the Valais canton in Switzerland , maintained for some generations the French language and a specific ethnic identity, later labelled as Banat (French: Français du Banat ). By 1788, there were eight villages populated by French colonists. The French First Republic appeared following
11830-451: The negotiating table. After a personal meeting between the two emperors, both sides signed the peace Treaties of Tilsit . They were much harsher on Prussia than the earlier peace offer and resulted in the loss of almost half of its territory. The surgeon-in-chief of Napoleon's Grand Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey , served the wounded with the flesh of young horses as soup and bœuf à la mode . The good results encouraged him to promote
11960-406: The next day and resided at Château de Malmaison until 29 June when he departed for Rochfort. In later years, Napoleon said of Davout bitterly that "he betrayed me too. He has a wife and children; he thought that all was lost; he wanted to keep what he had got, " while on another occasion he remarked that, "I thought that Davout loved me, but he loved only France." Subsequently, Davout retired with
12090-458: The nickname "The Iron Marshal" ( Le Maréchal de fer ). He is ranked along with Marshals André Masséna and Jean Lannes as one of Napoleon's finest commanders. His loyalty and obedience to Napoleon were absolute. During his lifetime, Davout's name was commonly spelled Davoust - this spelling appears on the Arc de Triomphe and in much of the correspondence between Napoleon and his generals. Davout
12220-471: The nickname 'Iron Marshal'. Napoleon after hearing reports about the alleged battle would mock Davout, telling his aide-de-camp “your Marshal must’ve been seeing double”, mocking Davout’s spectacle wearing. Historian François-Guy Hourtoulle writes: "At Jena, Napoleon won a battle he could not lose. At Auerstädt, Davout won a battle he could not win" . As a reward, Napoleon let Davout and his men enter Berlin first on 25 October 1806. Davout added to his renown in
12350-476: The northwestern region of Brittany , although this is not the result of a survival of Gaulish language but of a 5th-century AD migration of Brythonic speaking Celts from Britain . The Vulgar Latin in the region of Gallia took on a distinctly local character, some of which is attested in graffiti, which evolved into the Gallo-Romance dialects which include French and its closest relatives. With
12480-478: The offensive in East Prussia , pushing far to the west. Napoleon reacted by mounting a counteroffensive to the north, hoping to prevent their retreat to the east. After his Cossacks had captured a copy of Napoleon's orders, Bennigsen rapidly withdrew to the northeast to avoid being cut off. The French pursued for several days and found the Russians drawn up for battle at Eylau . In a vicious evening clash,
12610-467: The only, exceptions), Spanish or Portuguese in southern South America , and Afrikaans in South Africa . The adjective "French" can be used to mean either "French citizen" or "French-speaker", and usage varies depending on the context, with the former being common in France. The latter meaning is often used in Canada, when discussing matters internal to Canada. Generations of settlers have migrated over
12740-560: The original 18 Marshals of the Empire . Davout was the youngest and least experienced of the generals promoted to marshal, which earned him the hostility of other generals throughout his career. On 18 June 1805 he was present at the Battle of Blanc-Nez and Gris-Nez after joining a Batavian flotilla , headed for Boulogne, as an observer. As commander of the III Corps of the Grande Armée , Davout rendered his greatest services. At
12870-590: The other Marshals, Davout had the best relations with Michel Ney, Nicolas Charles Oudinot and Laurent Gouvion Saint-Cyr . His best friend was possibly Charles-Étienne Gudin de La Sablonnière , one of his subordinates, who was killed in battle in 1812. Davout was also noted for his loyalty to his long-time second wife Louise Aimée Julie Davout ( née Leclerc, sister of Charles Leclerc and sister-in-law of Pauline Bonaparte ) ( Pontoise , 19 June 1782 – Paris, 17 December 1868), whom he married in 1801 and who remained with him until his death. Their marriage
13000-456: The point of view of an ordinary soldier, a Prussian cavalry sergeant, who is severely wounded by a French saber in the later part of the confused fighting and whose only chance of saving his life is to desert and find shelter with Polish peasants in the neighborhood. In the novel Le Colonel Chabert of French author Honoré de Balzac , Eylau is the battle where the colonel describes having been mistakenly reported as killed. The Battle of Eylau
13130-443: The protection of the Guard cavalry. Murat had lost 1,000–1,500 well-trained troopers but relieved the pressure on Augereau, Saint-Hilaire and Soult, paralyzing the Russians long enough to allow Davout to deploy in strength. Rarely had French cavalry played such a pivotal part in a battle. That was in part because for the first time, Murat's men were now mounted on the best cavalry horses in Europe, which had been freshly requisitioned in
13260-516: The relative losses: estimates of Russian casualties range from about 15,000 to 20,000 killed or wounded and 3,000 men, 23 cannon and 16 colors captured. Count von Bennigsen estimated his losses at up to 9,000 dead and 7,000 wounded. The French lost somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000. Connelly suggests probably over 15,000. Franceschi gives 14,000 and Adams, Petre and Dwyer give 25,000–30,000 with five eagles lost. David G. Chandler suggested as many as 25,000 French casualties but concedes that it
13390-451: The right wing. He was later made Prince of Eckmühl following the campaign. In 1810 Davout travelled to Compiègne with Napoleon to collect the 18-year-old bride Marie-Louise of Austria . In 1810 he was sent to Hamburg when Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte left for Sweden; Davout was entrusted by Napoleon with the task of organizing the "corps of observation of the Elbe", which would become
13520-421: The rules of a unified public domain which transcends all particularisms". This conception of the nation as being composed by a "will to live together," supported by the classic lecture of Ernest Renan in 1882, has been opposed by the French far-right , in particular the nationalist Front National ("National Front" – FN / now Rassemblement National - "National Rally" - RN) party which claims that there
13650-462: The south-east which had already been conquered about one century earlier. Over the next six centuries, the two cultures intermingled, creating a hybridized Gallo-Roman culture . In the late Roman era, in addition to colonists from elsewhere in the Empire and Gaulish natives, Gallia also became home to some immigrant populations of Germanic and Scythian origin, such as the Alans . The Gaulish language
13780-639: The state sector (though not as trainees in reserved branches, e.g., as magistrates ). Seeing itself as an inclusive nation with universal values, France has always valued and strongly advocated assimilation . However, the success of such assimilation has recently been called into question. There is increasing dissatisfaction with, and within, growing ethno-cultural enclaves ( communautarisme ). The 2005 French riots in some troubled and impoverished suburbs ( les quartiers sensibles ) were an example of such tensions. However they should not be interpreted as ethnic conflicts (as appeared before in other countries like
13910-627: The throne after Napoleon's abdication in April 1814. The French restored their authority with many reprisals among the population. During the siege, he expelled up to 25,000 of Hamburg's poorest citizens out of the city into the cold winter, many of whom perished of cold and starvation. Between 1806 and 1814, when the French occupation came to an end by Davout's surrender, the population decreased by nearly one-half, to 55,000. Davout's military character has been interpreted as cruel and he had to defend himself against many attacks upon his conduct at Hamburg. He
14040-532: The town of Preussisch Eylau in East Prussia . Late in the battle, the Russians received timely reinforcements from a Prussian division of von L'Estocq . After 1945, the town was renamed Bagrationovsk as part of Kaliningrad Oblast , Russia . The engagement was fought during the War of the Fourth Coalition , part of the Napoleonic Wars . Napoleon's armies had smashed the army of the Austrian Empire in
14170-575: The town of Eylau. Historians differ on the reasons. Napoleon later claimed that was on his orders and that the advance had the dual aims of pinning the Russian force to prevent it from retreating yet again and of providing his soldiers with at least some shelter against the terrible cold. Other surviving evidence, however, strongly suggests that the advance was unplanned and occurred as the result of an undisciplined skirmish, which Marshals Soult and Murat should have acted to quell but failed to do so. Whether or not Napoleon and his generals had considered securing
14300-482: The town to provide the soldiers with shelter for the freezing night, the soldiers may have taken action on their own initiative to secure such a shelter. According to Captain Marbot , the Emperor had told Marshal Augereau that he disliked night fighting, that he wanted to wait until the morning so that he could count on Davout's Corps to come up on the right wing and Ney's on the left and that the high ground before Eylau
14430-511: The view of "a unified territory (one land since the beginning of civilization) and a unified people" which de-emphasized "all disparities and the succession of waves of invaders" was first imprinted on the masses by the unified history curriculum of French textbooks in the late 1870s. Since the beginning of the Third Republic (1871–1940), the state has not categorized people according to their alleged ethnic origins. Hence, in contrast to
14560-506: The war department that Napoleon kept him in Paris during the Waterloo campaign . To what degree his skill and bravery would have altered the fortunes of the campaign of 1815 can only be surmised, but Napoleon has been criticized for his failure to avail himself in the field of the services of the best general he then possessed. Davout directed the gallant, but hopeless, defense of Paris after
14690-561: The war. After the battle, Napoleon sent General Bertrand to the King of Prussia to offer a separate peace, which would see French forces withdraw from Prussia and her borders completely restored. Prussia, wishing to continue its alliance with Russia, quickly rejected that offer. Hostilities continued until the decisive French victory at the Battle of Friedland in June 1807 forced Tsar Alexander I to
14820-522: The willingness to live together, in Renan's 1882 essay " Qu'est-ce qu'une nation? "). The debate concerning the integration of this view with the principles underlying the European Community remains open. France has been historically open to immigration, although this has changed in recent years. Referring to this perceived openness, Gertrude Stein , wrote: "America is my country but Paris
14950-524: The word Francia , the territory of the Franks . The Franks were a Germanic tribe that overran Roman Gaul at the end of the Roman Empire . In the pre-Roman era, Gaul (an area of Western Europe that encompassed all of what is known today as France, Belgium, part of Germany and Switzerland, and Northern Italy) was inhabited by a variety of peoples who were known collectively as the Gaulish tribes . Their ancestors were Celts who came from Central Europe in
15080-425: Was a good easily defensible position on which to wait for reinforcements. Whatever the cause of the fight for the town, it rapidly escalated into a large and bitterly fought engagement, continuing well after night had fallen and resulting in about 4,000 casualties to each side, including Barclay, who was shot in the arm and forced to leave the battlefield. Among other officers, French Brig. Gen. Pierre-Charles Lochet
15210-468: Was a stern disciplinarian, who exacted rigid and precise obedience from his troops, and consequently his corps was more trustworthy and exact in the performance of its duty than any other. For example, Davout forbade his troops from plundering enemy villages, a policy he would enforce by the use of the death penalty. Thus, in the early days of the Grande Armée , the III Corps tended to be entrusted with
15340-538: Was also identified in the fourteenth century, consistent with the timing for the Black Death in Europe. Battle of Eylau The Battle of Eylau , or Battle of Preussisch-Eylau , was a bloody and strategically inconclusive battle on 7 and 8 February 1807 between Napoleon 's Grande Armée and the Imperial Russian Army under the command of General Levin August von Bennigsen near
15470-415: Was born in the small village of Annoux , Yonne , as the eldest son of Jean-François d'Avout (1739–1779), a cavalry officer and his wife (married in 1768) Françoise-Adélaïde Minard de Velars (1741–1810). Although a member of an impoverished minor French noble family , he was still educated in the nearby Brienne-le-Chateau , which had a military academy also attended by Napoleon, before also transferring to
15600-421: Was directed towards Bernadotte, who he perceived to have failed to come to his aid at Auerstadt, though close enough to observe the smoke and hear the cannon fire. His anger was so intense that Davout requested to settle the matter with a personal duel, averted only by Napoléon's personal intervention. Bernadotte was eventually sent back to Paris in disgrace after being caught by Napoleon retreating without orders at
15730-484: Was incorporated back into the royal domain (i. e. the territory under direct control of the French king) in the Middle Ages . In the crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem , founded in 1099, at most 120,000 Franks, who were predominantly French -speaking Western Christians, ruled over 350,000 Muslims, Jews, and native Eastern Christians. Unlike elsewhere in Europe, France experienced relatively low levels of emigration to
15860-671: Was loving and the couple seem to have been faithful to each other despite very long periods of separation. They had eight children, four of whom died in childhood: The title of duke went to the descendants of Louis-Nicolas' brother Charles Isidor (1774–1854) by his marriage in 1824 to Claire de Cheverry (1804–1895). He also had a sister Julie (1771–1846), married in 1801 to Marc-Antoine Bonnin de La Bonninière, 1st Count de Beaumont (1763–1830) , and another brother, Alexandre-Louis-Edme, 1st Baron d'Avout (1773–1820), married in 1808 to Alire Parisot (1786–1856). The youngest daughter, Adelaide-Louise, marquise de Blocqueville, left provision in her will for
15990-451: Was no exception. He defeated the Russians at Mohilev before he joined the main army at Smolensk , with which he continued throughout the campaign. During the retreat from Moscow he conducted the rear guard, which was deemed too slow by the emperor, and was replaced by Marshal Michel Ney in the Battle of Vyazma . His inability to hold out against Mikhail Miloradovich in the Battle of Krasnoi , threatened his forces with destruction, until
16120-500: Was not usually used except in cities, and even there not always in the outlying districts . Abroad, the French language is spoken in many different countries – in particular the former French colonies . Nevertheless, speaking French is distinct from being a French citizen. Thus, francophonie , or the speaking of French, must not be confused with French citizenship or ethnicity. For example, French speakers in Switzerland are not "French citizens". Native English-speaking Blacks on
16250-537: Was not well-liked. During times of peace, he preferred to spend time with his family and care for his home, rather than cultivate his high social standing. Because of his stubborn personality and limited social skills, he developed many enemies and antagonists within the army's officer corps, notably Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte , Joachim Murat (with whom he clashed strongly during the 1812 campaign), Louis-Alexandre Berthier and Baron Thiébault (who would harshly criticize Davout in his memoirs). Perhaps his fiercest anger
16380-641: Was officialized with Jacques Chirac 's family regrouping act of 1976 ( regroupement familial ). Since then, immigration has become more varied, although France stopped being a major immigration country compared to other European countries. The large impact of North African and Arab immigration is the greatest and has brought racial , socio-cultural and religious questions to a country seen as homogenously European, French and Christian for thousands of years. Nevertherless, according to Justin Vaïsse , professor at Sciences Po Paris , integration of Muslim immigrants
16510-417: Was shot and killed. At 22:00 Bennigsen ordered the Russians to retreat a short distance, leaving the town to the French. He later claimed he abandoned the town to lure the French into attacking his center the next day. Despite their possession of the town, most of the French spent the night in the open, as did all of the Russians. Both sides did without food—the Russians because of their habitual disorganization,
16640-422: Was soon bent back at an acute angle, and Bennigsen's army was in danger of collapse. A Prussian corps belatedly arrived and saved the day by pushing back the French right. As darkness fell, a French corps tardily appeared on the French left. That night, Bennigsen decided to retreat, leaving Napoleon in possession of a snowy battlefield covered with thousands of dead and wounded. Eylau was the first serious check to
16770-403: Was unclear until the publication of a study in 2019 that used genome wide data. The study identified six different genetic clusters that could be distinguished across populations. The study concluded that the population genetic clusters correlate with linguistic and historical divisions in France and with the presence of geographic barriers such as mountains and major rivers. A population bottleneck
16900-470: Was within marching distance of the battle, the heavy snow had muffled the sound of cannon fire, and he was completely unaware of the events until a messenger reached him around 10:30. Somewhat delayed by L'Estocq's rear guard, the leading division of Ney's corps did not reach the battlefield until around 19:00 and immediately swept forward into the Russian right and rear. Bennigsen counterattacked, and bitter fighting continued until 22:00, when both sides drew off
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