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89-586: Akbar was born in Umerkot Fort when his father Humayun was fleeing from the Suris. After the 1843 invasion by Charles Napier , Sindh was divided into provinces and was assigned a Zamindars , also known as Wadaras, to collect taxes for the British . The district is administratively subdivided into the following Tehsils : At the time of the 2017 census, Umerkot had a sex ratio of 929 females per 1000 males and

178-604: A British sloop approached Corunna with a letter for the commandant of the city, requesting information about the fate of Napier on behalf of his family. After an agreement between Ney and Napier, the latter was released on a convalescence leave at home for three months, under parole to return to Ney's quarters wherever he was on the first of July 1809. Napier volunteered to return to the Iberian Peninsula in 1810 to fight again against Napoleon in Portugal , notably in

267-632: A Napier Road (now Shahrah-e-Altaf Hussain), Napier Street (now Mir Karamali Talpur Road) and Napier Barracks (now Liaquat Barracks) on Sharah-e-Faisal . In the port area, there is also a Napier Mole . In Manora, the St. Paul's Church , erected in 1864, is a memorial to Napier. Karachi Grammar School named its second-oldest house "Napier". There is a residential area in Quetta named Napier Lines. The Indian city of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh state has

356-581: A citation on the order of the day of 2 June 1799. On the 10th of the same month, he hunted down, at the head of the 110th Demi-Brigade , the Austrians , occupying Mount Albis. Crossing the Linth River on 22 September, Soult led the enemy to suffer a loss of 4,000 men, then he came to meet the Russians who advanced on Kaltbrunn , forcing the surrender of a body of 2,000 men, seized Weesen and pushed

445-691: A country notary from southern France, Soult enlisted in the French Royal Army in 1785 and quickly rose through the ranks during the French Revolution . He was promoted to brigadier general after distinguishing himself at the Battle of Fleurus in 1794, and by 1799 he was a division general. In 1804, Napoleon made Soult one of his first eighteen Marshals of the Empire. Soult played a key role in many of Napoleon's campaigns, most notably at

534-610: A declaration of war by the United States as the regiment was leaving England. In 1813, Lieutenant-Colonel, Sir Thomas Sydney Beckwith arrived in Bermuda to command a force tasked with raiding the Atlantic Seaboard of the United States, specifically in the region of Chesapeake Bay , with Napier as his Second-in-Command. Beckwith split the force into two brigades, one, composed of the 102nd Regiment, Royal Marines, and

623-523: A feudal jagir system where the husbandman was a mere slave. These oppressive practices had led many Sindh farmers to abandon their farms and move to the desert. Napier challenged this oppression. Napier opposed the slavery custom where, according to William's memoir, young girls would be dragged from "their homes for the harems of the great". His efforts to respect the rights of women and children required him to battle numerous Amirs who previously exercised "unmitigated cruelty and debauchery". In 1903,

712-460: A formidable army in a remarkably short time. An exception to this good logistical record was launching the Battle of the Pyrenees offensive when his soldiers only had four days' rations. Tactically, Soult planned his battles well, but often left too much to his subordinates. Wellington said that "Soult never seemed to know how to handle troops after a battle had begun" . An example of this was at

801-512: A literacy rate of 35.07%: 48.36% for males and 20.87% for females. 243,537 (22.69%) lived in urban areas. 364,105 (33.92%) were under 10 years of age. In 2023, the district had 222,649 households and a population of 1,159,831. Umerkot is the only Hindu majority district in Pakistan. Hindus form around 55% and Muslims form around 45% of Umerkot's population. The Umarkot Shiv Mandir in Umerkot

890-582: A major general of the Bombay Army , during which period he led the British military conquest of Sindh , before serving as the governor of Sindh, and Commander-in-Chief in India . Charles James Napier was the eldest son of Colonel George Napier , and his second wife, Lady Sarah Lennox , with this being the second marriage for both parties. Lady Sarah was the great-granddaughter of King Charles II . Napier

979-502: A marble stands in the Crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral . In his bronze, he is shown bareheaded, in military uniform, with his cloak thrown back. His left hand is grasping his sword by the scabbard and raised above his waist, while his right, extended, holds a scroll symbolic of the government awarded to Scinde during his tenure of office. The monument was erected without ceremony on 26 November 1855 and paid for by means of public subscriptions,

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1068-550: A neighbourhood called Napier Town. and his brothers: Jean-de-Dieu Soult Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult , 1st Duke of Dalmatia ( French: [ʒɑ̃dədjø sult] ; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman. He was a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars , and served three times as President of the Council of Ministers (prime minister) of France. Son of

1157-528: A plan to take into account altered circumstances on the battlefield – Soult's performance in the closing months of the Peninsular War is often regarded as proof of his fine talents as a general. Repeatedly defeated in these campaigns by the Allies under Wellington, it was the case that many of his soldiers were raw conscripts while the Allies could count greater numbers of veterans among their ranks. Soult

1246-519: A republican. He died three years later in his castle in Soult-Berg, near Saint-Amans-la-Bastide where he was born, a few days before the coup of 1851 . In his honor, the town was renamed Saint-Amans-Soult in December 1851. He is one of the eighteen Marshals of the Empire (out of twenty-six) who belonged to Freemasonry . Soult published a memoir justifying his adherence to Napoleon during

1335-572: A task which was brilliantly executed. From 26 to 29 December he was present at the Second Battle of Wissembourg . He was appointed chief of staff of the avant-garde on 27 January 1794, provisional battalion commander on 7 February 1794, titular battalion commander on 3 April and adjutant-general brigade chief ( adjudant-général chef de brigade ) on 14 May. On 19 March 1794 the Army of the Moselle

1424-574: A unit recruited from French prisoners of war, was under Napier's command, and the other under Lieutenant-Colonel Williams of the Royal Marines. Embarking aboard naval vessels engaged on the American coast on the 8 June, 1813, they took part in raids on the Atlantic coast of the United States, including the Battle of Craney Island on 22 June 1813. Minus the two companies of Frenchmen, they left

1513-758: A while as the Commander-in-Chief in India. He also quarrelled repeatedly with Lord Dalhousie , the Governor-General of India . The source of the dispute was Dalhousie's behaviour on India's north-west frontier. Dalhousie had requested repeated punitive raids against villagers who had not paid taxes. Napier was opposed to these tactics but accompanied a column of East India Company troops under Sir Colin Campbell and Punjab troops under George Lawrence. The Punjab troops were not under Napier's command and began burning villages on Lawrence's orders. "This

1602-506: Is list of Umerkot District's dehs, organised by taluka:       This Sindh location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Charles James Napier General Sir Charles James Napier , GCB ( / ˈ n eɪ p i ər / NAY -pee-ər ; 10 August 1782 – 29 August 1853) was an officer and veteran of the British Army's Peninsular and 1812 campaigns, and later

1691-581: Is now part of Oaklands Catholic School of Waterlooville . Napier died on 29 August 1853 and his remains were buried in the Royal Garrison Church in Portsmouth . Napier enforced the British prohibition of suttee, or sati practice. This was the custom of having a widow burning alive on the funeral pyre of her husband. While rarer during the time Napier ruled Sindh, Napier judged that these immolations were motivated by profits for

1780-451: Is one of the oldest and most sacred Hindu temples in the Sindh . The annual Maha Shivratri celebration of the temple is one of the biggest religious festivals in Pakistan and is attended by around 250,000 people. Languages of Umerkot district (2023) At the time of the 2023 census, 95.13% of the population spoke Sindhi , 1.8% Punjabi and 1.4% Urdu as their first language. The following

1869-475: The 25th Bombay Rifles (which as the 25th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry had formed part of Napier's force in the conquest of Sindh ) was renamed the 125th Napier's Rifles . Since amalgamated, it is now the 5th Battalion (Napier's) of the Rajputana Rifles . A bronze in honour of Napier by George Gamon Adams (1821–1898) surveys from its plinth the southwest corner of Trafalgar Square , while

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1958-530: The Army of Helvetia under the orders of General André Masséna (another future Marshal ). It was at this time that he built the bases of his military reputation, in particular during the First Battle of Zurich of 2–5 June 1799; then he subdued the insurgent cantons, drove the rebels on the Reuss and drove them back to in the valley of Urseren - relieving Frauenfeld , Altikon , Audelfinden . He obtained

2047-508: The Battle of Albuera , where he brilliantly turned Beresford's flank to open the battle, yet when he found himself facing unexpected opposition from British and Spanish troops, he allowed his generals to adopt a clumsy attack formation and was beaten. Another example of his strengths and weaknesses can be seen at the Battle of the Nive . Soult recognized Wellington's strategic dilemma and took advantage by launching surprise attacks on both wings of

2136-446: The Battle of Austerlitz , where his corps delivered the decisive attack that secured French victory. He was subsequently created Duke of Dalmatia and from 1808, he commanded French forces during the Peninsular War . Despite several initial victories, for instance at the Battle of Ocaña , Soult was eventually outmaneuvered and driven out of Spain by the coalition forces under the command of Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington). He

2225-523: The Battle of Corunna , in which he was wounded and left for dead on the battlefield. Napier was rescued, barely alive, by a French Army drummer named Guibert, and taken as a prisoner of war . Nevertheless, Napier was awarded an Army Gold Medal after he was returned to British hands. Napier recuperated from his wounds while he was being held near the headquarters of the French Marshal Soult and afterwards Michel Ney . On 21 March 1809,

2314-515: The Battle of Gamonal , Soult was detailed by the emperor to pursue Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore 's British army. At the Battle of Coruña , in which Moore was killed, Soult failed to prevent British forces escaping by sea. For the next four years, Soult remained in Spain engaged in the Peninsular War . In 1809, he invaded Portugal and took Porto , but was isolated by General Francisco da Silveira 's strategy of contention. Busying himself with

2403-513: The Battle of Hyderabad , and then the subjugation of the Sindh , and its annexation by its eastern neighbours as the Sind Division . His orders had been only to put down the rebels: by conquering the whole Sindh Province, he greatly exceeded his mandate. Napier was supposed to have despatched to his superiors the short, notable message, " Peccavi " , the Latin for "I have sinned" (which

2492-621: The Battle of the Côa , where he had two horses shot out from under him, in the Battle of Bussaco , in the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro , and in the Battle of Badajoz (1812) (the second siege of Badajoz) in Extremadura , Spain, in which he was a lieutenant colonel in command of the 102nd Regiment of Foot . For his deeds at Bussaco and at Fuentes de Oñoro, Napier won the silver medal with two clasps . Napier subsequently served in Bermuda , where

2581-405: The Battle of the Pyrenees ( Sorauren ) and by General Manuel Freire 's Spaniards at San Marcial . Pursued onto French soil, Soult was maneuvered out of several positions at Nivelle , Nive , and Orthez , before suffering what was technically a defeat at Wellington's hands at the Battle of Toulouse . He nevertheless inflicted severe casualties on Wellington and was able to stop him from trapping

2670-531: The Duke of Wellington , reputedly caught him by the arm and exclaimed "I have you at last!" Once again at the head of the government (1839–1840), he was at the same time the holder of the Foreign Affairs portfolio. He participated in the ceremonies for returning the ashes of Napoleon in December 1840. President of the Council for almost seven years, from 1840 to 1847, he left the effective management of

2759-708: The Hundred Days , and his notes and journals were arranged by his son Napoleon Hector , who published the first part Mémoires du maréchal-général Soult (Memories of Marshal-General Soult) in 1854. Le Noble's Mémoires sur les operations des Français en Galicie (Memories of the Operations of the French in Galicia) are supposed to have been written from Soult's papers. Although often found wanting tactically – even some of his own aides questioned his inability to amend

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2848-616: The Ionian Islands , from 1822 to 1830, and wrote a book about the island. Later he served on a diplomatic mission to Greece during its War of Independence , a conflict in which he had great sympathy for the Greeks. He also wrote two more books on Greece and the Ionian Islands. In 1835, Napier was designated Governor of the planned new colony of South Australia , but he resigned the position, recommending William Light for

2937-453: The Siege of Luxembourg from 22 November to 7 June 1795. He took a brilliant part in the battles of Altenkirchen on 4 June 1796, of Friedberg on 10 July 1796, and in the Battle of Stockach against the army of Charles of Austria on 25 March 1799. The rank of division general was attributed to him on 4 April 1799, provisionally, and it is confirmed on the following 21 April. Soult passed to

3026-707: The first insurrection of the city's silk workers, the canuts . Order is restored, but Soult becomes very unpopular within the Republican camp. In his play Napoléon Bonaparte ou Trente ans de l'histoire de France (Napoleon Bonaparte or Thirty Years of the History of France), Dumas Père represents him in a dreadful appearance during the Hundred Days . In 1834, when a new insurrection broke out in April in Lyon, Marshal Soult received from Lieutenant-General Aymar, commander of

3115-603: The wars of Revolutionary France . Soult's superior education ensured his promotion to the rank of sergeant after six years of service, and in July 1791 he became instructor to the first battalion of volunteers of the Bas-Rhin . On 17 January 1792 his colonel appointed him instructor in the 1st battalion of Haut-Rhin volunteers, with the rank of second lieutenant ( sous-lieutenant ). The war period, which began in April 1792, offered him many opportunities to stand out and he rose through

3204-653: The 102 Regiment was posted in 1812 to the Bermuda Garrison , stationed at St. George's Garrison . Bermuda, part of British North America and in the process of becoming an Imperial fortress , was the main base in winter of the North America Station of the Royal Navy , and his brother Henry Napier, at the time a naval lieutenant serving on a frigate that belonged to the station, was frequently in Bermuda. The American War of 1812 commenced with

3293-686: The Anglo-Allied Army. But French tactical execution was poor and the British general managed to fend off Soult's blows. Sloppy staff work marred his tenure as Napoleon's chief of staff in the Waterloo campaign. In the early twentieth century the British named the Royal Navy monitor HMS Marshal Soult after him. On 26 April 1796, Soult married Johanna Louise Elisabeth Berg (1771–1852), the daughter of Johann Abraham Berg (1730–1786) by his marriage to Wilhelmine Mumm in Solingen . She died at

3382-579: The British Army in January 1794, but quickly transferred to the 89th and did not immediately take up his commission, but returned to school in Ireland. In 1799, aged 17, he took up active service in the army as aide-de-camp to Sir James Duff . Napier commanded the 50th (Queen's Own) Regiment of Foot during the Peninsular War in Iberia against Napoleon Bonaparte . Napier's activities there ended during

3471-513: The Cabinet to his minister of foreign affairs, François Guizot, who logically succeeded him when he left the government, for health reasons. For five years (1840–1845), he combined his function with that of minister of war. On 26 September 1847 Louis-Philippe restored for him the honorary dignity of Marshal General of the king's camps and armies, however modifying this title into the unique Marshal General of France . In 1848, Soult declared himself

3560-573: The Chesapeake and landed at Halifax, Nova Scotia, on 20 September, 1813. The Royal Marine battalion and Royal Marine Artillery were to go to Quebec under the command of Beckwith, leaving Napier a brigade of 1,000 infantry and three artillery pieces. It had been proposed to move the 102nd to operations in the American south, but this was not carried out. Napier transferred by exchange to the 50th Regiment of Foot in September, 1813. The 102nd Regiment

3649-571: The Empire . He commanded a corps in the advance on Ulm , and at Austerlitz he led the decisive attack on the Allied centre. Soult played a great part in many of the famous battles of the Grande Armée , including the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805 and the Battle of Jena in 1806. However, he was not present at the Battle of Friedland because on that same day he was capturing Königsberg . After

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3738-580: The First Consul welcomed him with the highest distinction. On 5 March 1802 he was one of the four generals called to command the Consular Guard with the post of colonel general. He thereafter pledged allegiance to the new regime. In August 1803, Soult was entrusted with the command-in-chief of the Camp of Boulogne . Soult, a former drill instructor, imposed a rigorous discipline there, which ensured

3827-720: The French forces. After Napoleon's first abdication in 1814, Soult declared himself a royalist, received the Order of Saint Louis , and acted as minister of war from 26 November 1814 to 11 March 1815. When Napoleon returned from Elba , Soult at once declared himself a Bonapartist , was made a peer of France , and acted as chief of staff to the emperor during the Waterloo campaign , in which role he distinguished himself far less than he had done as commander of an over-matched army. In his book, Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles , Bernard Cornwell summarizes

3916-568: The administration clashed with the policies of the directors of the British East India Company , and Napier was accordingly removed from office and returned home in disgust. Napier was again dispatched to India during the spring of 1849, in order to obtain the submission of the Sikhs . However upon arriving once again in India, Napier found that this had already been accomplished by Lord Gough and his army. Napier remained for

4005-647: The age of 71. However his quarrel with Dalhousie was not over. In his posthumously published Defects, Civil and Military of the Indian Government (Westerton, 1853) he detected and condemned the growing superciliousness of the English in India towards the Indians; "The younger race of Europeans keep aloof from Native officers … How different this from the spirit which actuated the old men of Indian renown," he wrote. He proposed that British officers should learn

4094-528: The area. As a leftist who in principle agreed with the Chartist demands for Democracy, Napier made efforts to keep violence to a minimum and calm tensions in the area as best he could whilst still obeying his orders. Napier privately blamed "Tory injustice and Whig imbecility" for the conflicts, and pitied the Chartists rather than feared them. In 1842, at the age of 60, Napier was appointed Major General to

4183-781: The command of the British Indian Army within the Bombay Presidency . Here Lord Ellenborough 's policy led Napier to Sindh Province (Scinde), for the purpose of quelling the insurrection of the Muslim rulers who had remained hostile to the British Indian Empire following the First Anglo-Afghan War . Napier's campaign against these chieftains resulted in victories in the Battle of Miani (Meanee) against General Hoshu Sheedi and

4272-455: The command of the right wing. Soult distinguished himself for his active part in the defense of the country of Genoa . On 6 April, in an initial sortie, at the head of several battalions, he crossed the Austrian army and relieved General Gardanne . The enemy was repulsed beyond Piotta , and Soult pursued General Suvorov into the Alps, seizing Sassello and returning to Genoa with numerous prisoners, cannons, and flags. During another sortie,

4361-455: The conclusion of the Treaties of Tilsit , he returned to France and in 1808 was anointed by Napoleon as 1st Duke of Dalmatia (French: Duc de Dalmatie ). The awarding of this honour greatly displeased him, for he felt that his title should have been Duke of Austerlitz, a title which Napoleon had reserved for himself. In the following year, Soult was appointed as commander of the II Corps with which Napoleon intended to conquer Spain. After winning

4450-408: The effectiveness of French troops during future campaigns, and also earned him the nickname "Bras de Fer" ("Iron Arm"). Even Napoleon wondered if he was being too severe, to which assertions Soult replied: "Those who can't handle what I myself endure will be left behind in the depots. Those that can will be fit to conquer the world." In May 1804, Soult was made one of the first eighteen Marshals of

4539-439: The enemy back to Lake Constance . He won a significant victory at the battle of the Linth (25 to 26 September). Moreover, he had the honour of coordinating the actions of Gazan 's and Molitor 's divisions, which halted the advance of Suvorov 's army at the battle of Näfels . When in 1800 the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte entrusted Masséna to reorganize the Army of Italy , he insisted that Soult be his deputy; giving him

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4628-408: The general pushed in against the Austrian army, trapping a division at Monte-Facio. But, during a fight in Montecreto on 13 April 1800, a gunshot shattered his leg; lying on the battlefield wounded, he was robbed and taken prisoner, spending days in agony in a filthy hospital. This experience traumatized Soult, and he would never again place himself so forward in the battleline. He was rescued after

4717-417: The guarantor of the Treaty of the XXIV articles , he had the Antwerp expedition carried out by Marshal Gérard , who seized the city after heroic resistance from the Dutch (December 1832) and returned it to Belgium, its country of attribution. In April 1838, Louis-Philippe chose Soult to represent him at the coronation of Queen Victoria . He received a triumphant welcome in London – where his former enemy,

4806-400: The language of the natives and that native officers be appointed as ADCs and Companions of the Bath. "The Eastern intellect is great, and supported by amiable feelings", he wrote, "and the Native officers have a full share of Eastern daring, genius and ambition; but to nourish these qualities they must be placed on a par with European officers." When revolt broke out in 1857, Napier's Defects

4895-447: The most numerous contributors being private soldiers. Some controversy was raised in October 2000 when Ken Livingstone , the newly elected mayor of London, requested that the statue of Napier and that of Major General Sir Henry Havelock be moved to less prominent positions, stating as his reason "I have not a clue who two of the generals there are or what they did", but these requests did not result in any action. His remains lie in

4984-467: The mountains, pursued by General William Beresford and Silveira. After the Battle of Talavera , Soult was made chief of staff of French forces in Spain with extended powers, and on 19 November 1809, won a great victory at the Battle of Ocana . In 1810, he invaded Andalusia , which he quickly overran. However, because he then turned to seize Seville , the capture of Cádiz eluded him, saying, "Give me Seville and I will answer for Cádiz." This led to

5073-457: The now-ruined Royal Garrison Church , Portsmouth . His tomb is immediately outside the west door of the church. A loose plaque in the church is thought to have indicated the burial place of Napier, inside what is now the west wall. The city of Napier in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand is named after him. The suburb of Meeanee commemorates his victory in the Battle of Miani . The city of Karachi in Sindh (Pakistan) earlier had

5162-400: The numerous Hindus were plundered people and their faith was condemned by Balochis and Sindhis alike. They were eager for peace and protection. Napier removed the Amirs from power, dismantled their private assembly of armed men, proclaimed that taxes previously collected by the Amirs from the peasants be paid to the English instead, and that slavery was abolished throughout the land. This

5251-413: The opinions of several historians that Soult's presence in the Army of the North was one of several factors contributing to Napoleon's defeat, because of the animosity between him and Marshal Michel Ney , the other senior commander, and because, in spite of his experience as a soldier, Soult lacked his predecessor Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier 's administrative skills. The most glaring instance of this

5340-452: The other marshals, he had always disagreed. In March 1813, Soult assumed command of the IV Corps of the Grande Armée and commanded the centre at Lützen and Bautzen , but he was soon sent, with unlimited powers, to the South of France to repair the damage done by the defeat at Vitoria . It is to Soult's credit that he was able to reorganise the demoralised French forces. His last offensives into Spain were turned back by Wellington in

5429-438: The political settlement of his conquests in French interests and, as he hoped, for his own ultimate benefit as a possible candidate for the Portuguese throne, he attracted the hatred of Republican officers in his army. Unable to move, he was eventually driven from Portugal in the Second Battle of Porto by Lieutenant-General Sir Arthur Wellesley (later made Duke of Wellington ), making a painful and almost disastrous retreat over

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5518-418: The post. However, John Hindmarsh had already been lobbying for the position and had gained influential support, and was appointed to it. Napier became the General Officer Commanding of the Northern District in England in April 1839. In April 1839, Napier was put in command of 6,000 troops in the Northern District, with one of his designated tasks being to confront the many Chartist protests active in

5607-424: The priests; when told of an actual Sati about to take place, he informed those involved that he would stop the sacrifice. The priests complained that this was a customary religious rite, and that customs of a nation should be respected. As recounted by his brother William , he famously replied: Napier opposed slavery . According to the memoir on Napier by William , the Sindh cultivator was bonded and oppressed, and

5696-411: The prolonged and futile Siege of Cadiz , a strategic disaster for the French. In 1811, Soult marched north into Extremadura and took Badajoz . When the Anglo-Portuguese army laid siege to the city, he marched to its rescue and fought and nearly won the famous and bloody Battle of Albuera on 16 May. In 1812, after Wellington's great victory at Salamanca , Soult was obliged to evacuate Andalusia. In

5785-415: The ranks with regularity. Adjutant-major on 16 July 1792, captain on 20 August 1793, provisional adjutant to the staff of General Lazare Hoche to the Army of the Moselle on 19 November 1793. He took part in the Battle of Kaiserslautern from 28 to 30 November, which allowed the recapture of Wissembourg and the relief of Landau . Hoche gives Soult the command of a detached body to take Marsthal's camp,

5874-447: The rearmament of the French military. The strength of the Army of the Restoration numbered only a little over 200,000 men and Soult sought to double its size, carrying the necessary reforms from 1831 to 1832. The first law of this important military reform was that creating the Foreign Legion , on 9 March 1831; a force of foreign volunteers which could only be used outside the territory of metropolitan France, especially aimed at garrisoning

5963-464: The recently conquered Algiers . The Legion, when created, was loathed by the army and considered a lower posting; the force being colloquially called as the "Bastard of Soult". Louis-Philippe, worried about having to rely solely on the National Guard to maintain public order, instructed Marshal Soult to reorganize the line army without delay. Soult wrote a report to the king, presented to the Chamber of Deputies on 20 February 1831, in which he criticized

6052-423: The recruitment Gouvion-Saint-Cyr law of 1818: the voluntary system combined with the drawing of ballots and the possibility of being replaced had not made it possible to increase the number of manpower sufficiently, and that the promotion procedures helped to maintain over-staffing. Soult proposed the main lines of a military policy aimed at increasing the army's strength, reducing said over-staffing and ensuring

6141-427: The subsequent Siege of Burgos , he was able to drive Wellington's Anglo-allied Army back to Salamanca. There, the Duke of Dalmatia, as Soult was now known, failed to attack Wellington despite superiority in numbers, and the British Army retired to the Portuguese frontier. Soon after, he was recalled from Spain at the request of Joseph Bonaparte (who had been installed by his brother as King of Spain) with whom, as with

6230-401: The supply of arms and ammunition. Following the creation of the Legion on 9 March, Soult passed the laws of 11 April 1831 on military pensions, of 21 March and 14 April 1832, on army recruitment and promotion, and of 19 May 1834 on the status of officers. Soult also oversaw the construction of the fortifications of Paris. In 1831, he was sent by Louis-Philippe to Lyon with 20,000 men to crush

6319-478: The title Marshal General of France . Soult again declared himself a Republican after Louis Philippe's overthrow in the French Revolution of 1848 . He died in 1851. Soult was born in Saint-Amans-la-Bastide (now called Saint-Amans-Soult in his honor, near Castres , in the Tarn department) and named after John of God . He was the son of a country notary named Jean Soult (1726–1779) by his marriage to Brigitte, daughter of Pierre François de Grenier de Lapierre. He

6408-411: The troops in the city, a desperate telegraphic dispatch about evacuating the city. The Duke of Dalmatia's firm response was not long in coming, chastising the general and ordering him to hold all his positions and to man the walls and be buried beneath them. While he was minister of war, he held the presidency of the Council of Ministers (or Prime Minister) for the first time in 1832–1834. France being

6497-525: The victory at Marengo on 14 June 1800. Appointed military commander of Piedmont , then in the midst of a rebellion, Soult managed to put down the so-called Barbets insurrection . He even managed to discipline the rowdy hordes and use them for his service. Soult then received command of the southern part of the Kingdom of Naples . Shortly before the Treaty of Amiens , General Soult returned to Paris, where

6586-548: The villagers to a level of fear that they were slaves of the chief to whose estate their village belonged. Napier continued the old system of kardars , but made them official collectors giving them government salaries, allowing villagers to file complaints against any kardar . While stationed at Karachi , Napier found that the land was owned by the state, Amirs were collecting land taxes with "shocking cruelty – mutilations and tortures", with land tax rates between half and two-thirds. The due collectors enjoyed hereditary tenures in

6675-479: Was a Catholic . Jean-de-Dieu Soult was expected to have a promising career as a lawyer. However, on 16 April 1785, at the age of sixteen, he enlisted as a private in the Royal-Infanterie regiment, to help his mother financially after the death of his father. His younger brother, Pierre-Benoît Soult , followed his example three years later, and would also become a French general. Jean Soult fought in

6764-545: Was a pun on I have Sindh ). This pun appeared under the title 'Foreign Affairs' in Punch magazine on 18 May 1844. The true author of the pun was, however, Englishwoman Catherine Winkworth , who submitted it to Punch , which then printed it as a factual report. Later, Napier made several comments on the Sindh adventure to the effect of: "If this was a piece of rascality, it was a noble piece of rascality!" On 4 July 1843, Napier

6853-410: Was a skillful military strategist. An example was his drive to cut off Wellington's British army from Portugal after Talavera, which nearly succeeded. Though repeatedly defeated by Wellington in 1813–1814, he conducted a clever defence against him. Soult's armies were usually well readied before going into battle. After Vitoria , he reorganized the demoralized French forces of Joseph Bonaparte into

6942-537: Was again defeated by Wellington at Toulouse in 1814, days after Napoleon's first abdication. Soult declared himself a royalist following the Bourbon Restoration , but rejoined Napoleon during the Hundred Days . He was Napoleon's chief of staff during the Waterloo campaign in 1815, where the emperor suffered a final defeat. Following the second restoration, Soult went into exile in Germany. In 1819 he

7031-505: Was appointed Knight Grand Cross in the military division of the Order of the Bath , in recognition of his leading the victories at Miani and Hyderabad. He was also in 1843 given the colonelcy of the 97th (The Earl of Ulster's) Regiment of Foot , transferring later in the year to be colonel of the 22nd (The Cheshire) Regiment of Foot . Napier was appointed Governor of the Bombay Presidency by Lord Ellenborough. However, under his leadership

7120-603: Was as impolitic as it was dishonourable to the character of British soldiers," protested Napier, "yet no power was entrusted to me, and I had been sufficiently cautioned against interfering with the Punjab civil authorities." Napier returned home to England for the last time. He was still suffering with physical infirmities which were results of his wounds during the Peninsular War, and he died about two years later at Oaklands, near Portsmouth , England, on 29 August 1853, at

7209-693: Was born at the Whitehall Palace in London . When he was only three years old his father took up an administrative post in Dublin , moving his family to live in Celbridge in County Kildare , Ireland, within walking distance of Lady Sarah's sister, Lady Louisa Conolly. His early education was at the local school in Celbridge . At the age of twelve, he joined the 33rd Infantry Regiment of

7298-416: Was hailed as a prophetic work which correctly identified many of the seething tensions in the sub-continent. The problem was as one of his contemporaries observed "Had he made his representations with sober moderation, eschewing all offensive exaggeration, his warnings and suggestions would have commanded attention. Instead they were pooh-poohed as the emanations of a distempered mind." Napier's former house

7387-676: Was his written order, according to Napoleon's instructions, to Marshal Emmanuel de Grouchy to position his force on the British Army's left flank in order to prevent reinforcement by the Prussians. Cornwell decries the wording of Soult's order as "almost impenetrable nonsense" , and Grouchy misinterpreted the order, instead marching against the Prussian rearguard at Wavre . Following the Second Bourbon Restoration in 1815, Soult went into exile in Germany, but in 1819 he

7476-609: Was in Maine at the cessation of hostilities (the Treaty of Ghent was signed on 24 December 1814 by the negotiators, ratified by the Prince Regent on 27 December, and by the United States President on 17 February, ending the war). After three years at New Brunswick, it embarked in the autumn of 1817 to return to England under the command of Major Gustavus Rochford. Napier served as governor of Kefalonia in

7565-516: Was promoted to brigadier general by the representatives on mission. For the next five years, Soult was employed in Germany under Generals Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (a veteran of the American War of Independence and a future Marshal ), Jean Victor Marie Moreau , Jean-Baptiste Kléber and François Lefebvre (also a future Marshal ). He took part in the Battle of Aldenhoven on 2 October 1794. He moved to Jacques Hatry 's division and took part in

7654-474: Was recalled and in 1820 again made a Marshal of France . He once more tried to show himself as a fervent royalist and was made a peer in 1827. After the revolution of 1830 he declared himself a partisan of Louis Philippe , who welcomed his support and revived for him the title of Marshal General of France , previously held only by Turenne , Claude Louis Hector de Villars , and Maurice de Saxe . As Minister of War (1830 to 1834), Soult organized and oversaw

7743-545: Was recalled to France and returned to royal favour, and in 1830 he was made minister of war after the July Revolution . Soult oversaw reforms of the French military and was responsible for the creation of the French Foreign Legion . Under King Louis Philippe , he was three times French prime minister from 1832 to 1834, almost a year between 1839 and 1840 and from 1840 to 1847. In 1847, he was awarded

7832-505: Was replaced by the Army of the Rhine under the command of General Jean-Baptiste Jourdan . This army immediately returns to the campaign. Two battles were fought in Arlon on 17, 18 and 29 April, then on 21 May , in which Soult took an active part. After the Battle of Fleurus of 1794 , in which he distinguished himself for coolness, he joined the Army of Sambre and Meuse on 28 June. Soult

7921-432: Was vehemently opposed by Balochi masters, but welcomed by slave-girls of the harems . Napier found that the Sindh was divided into land parcels called kardarats , under a headman called kardar , who were under an Arabian cadi . The cadi had powers to summarily fine and imprison, and in practice exercised powers of life, death and torture. The kardar collected land taxes and customs, frequently fining and torturing

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