Bertrand, Comte Clauzel
Command Ratings
Commands
- Commands the Reserve Division of Left Wing at Novi (1799, age 27)
- Commands the Second Division of XI Corps at Wagram (1809, age 37)
- Commands the First Division of VIII Corps at Bussaco (1810, age 38)
- Commands the Second Division of Army of Portugal at Salamanca (1812, age 40)
- Commands the Clausel Division of French Army of Portugal at Salamanca (1812, age 40)
- Commands the Clausel's Column of French Army at Sorauren (1813, age 41)
Bertrand, Comte Clauzel (1772–1842) was a French general and later Marshal of France, whose career embodied both the turbulence of the Napoleonic era and the political oscillations of post-imperial France. Born in Mirepoix, Foix, he joined the National Guard in 1789 and quickly advanced during the Revolutionary Wars, serving in the Pyrenees and Italy before participating in the ill-fated Saint-Domingue expedition. Promoted général de division, he distinguished himself in Spain, notably at Salamanca in 1812 where he assumed command after Marmont’s wounding, and later led the retreat of the Army of Portugal. In 1813–14 he commanded in the Pyrenees, fighting at Orthez, Aire, and Toulouse. After Napoleon’s fall, Clauzel’s shifting allegiances led to exile in the United States, where he lived until an amnesty in 1820 allowed his return. Under the July Monarchy he was elevated to Marshal of France and served as Governor-General of Algeria, though his failure at Constantine in 1836 tarnished his reputation. A deputy and political figure in his later years, he supported the transfer of Napoleon’s remains to the Invalides. Clauzel died in 1842, remembered as a capable if sometimes unlucky commander, whose name is inscribed on the Arc de Triomphe.
Commissioned 1789; served in the Pyrennes in the 90s; X rank in 1799; X 99 Novi; XX rank in 1802; XX 02 Haiti; XX 09 Wagram, Znaim; XX 10-13 Spain – Bussaco, Salamanca (wounded), XXX 13-14 Sorauren, Vittoria, L, Orthez; XX 15 Vendee. (1772-1842)