Jacques Le Coustumier: Le maréchal Victor

Of Napoleon’s marshals, very few had not been the subject of a biography. With this work, Claude Perrin known as “Victor”, finally benefits from one of the most glaring deficiencies of the Napoleonic historiography. Born in the Lorraine, he signed up voluntarily aged seventeen years as a gunner of the king, then was named brigadier general in Toulon the same day as Bonaparte, thus binding his fate to that of the First Consul. After Marengo, Friedland, (where he was appointed marshal), the Spanish campaign, he joined the Grand Army in Russia, where he distinguished himself by ensuring the passage of the Berezina and rescuing the last French troops. Wounded in March 1814, he was not involved in the intrigues against the Emperor at Fontainebleau. Like most other marshals, he pledged allegiance to the king and would remain faithful to him during the Hundred Days. Minister of War, he remained legitimist until 1830, when he opposed Louis-Philippe. Plagued by his injuries, he died in 1841, three months after the return of the Ashes.

Paris : Editions of the Fondation Napoléon – Nouveau Monde Editions, 2004, Series Biographie, 425 pages. Language: French.

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