Dumouriez

General of the French Revolution (1739-1823) - Biography

Isabelle Henry, Alain Rutherford

• Publisher: Editions L'Harmattan
• Year: 2023
• eBook ISBN: 9782140325205
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Charles François du Perrier, otherwise known as Dumouriez, was born at Cambrai at the peak of Louis XV's reign. A penniless but highborn French gentryman, he engaged while still in his prime in the dreadful Seven Years' War from which he returned badly wounded. As the new Revolution began to take a hold Dumouriez ingratiated himself into the royal close circle until the king appointed him as his Minister for Foreign Affairs, but his astute counsel failed to protect Louis from his eventual downfall. A period of warring on France's national frontiers resulted in Dumouriez taking full command of the North' and the full glory of the great victories of the dual battles of Valmy and Jemmappes. However the suspicious of the Jacobins by now in power in Paris were aroused and incited them to have him arrested and face the guillotine. He succeeded in evading their clutches by abandoning army and country, preferring exile elswhere in Europe and in England where he died.

Table of contents

• Couverture
• 4e de couverture
• Titre
• Copyright
• 1. Early childhood
• 2. Upbringing and education
• 3. Seven Years’ War and father’s illness
• 4. Return to Saint-Germain-en-Laye and the battlefield; injury and Order of Saint-Louis
• 5. Encounter with Marguerite de Broissy at Pont-Audemer
• 6. Saint-Lô; Bullioud’s death and a suicide attempt
• 7. Dumouriez meets Favier and Choiseul; departure for Italy and Corsican assignment
• 8. Departure for Spain advocated by Choiseul; a rough crossing and encounter with the duc d’Ossun and Mlle Marquet; proposal to Marguerite de Broissy and return to Versailles
• 9. Departure for the Corsican war theatre; father’s death and return to France
• 10. Brief stay with the family
• 11. Mission to Poland; Choiseul falls out of favour; return to France
• 12. A critical situation in Sweden; meeting with de Broglie for a covert mission to Hamburg and arrest
• 13. Inprisonment at the Bastille and trial
• 14. Transfer to Caen Prison; meeting with Marguerite de Broissy and fresh marriage proposal
• 15. Death of Louis XV; incarceration at Caen
• 16. Wedding at Pont-Audemer; meeting with Montbarrey and the Lys project; removal to Rouen
• 17. Reception at the du Perriers
• 18. Meeting with General de Saint-Germain and coastal defence study for Normandy
• 19. Italian and German translations; report on the Normandy defences
• 20. Arrival in Cherbourg
• 21. Initial reports and studies on the Cherbourg port project
• 22. Controversy over two different combat orders
• 23. The churchwardens affair
• 24. Submission of Cherbourg defence project to king; visit to Mme de Schomberg
• 25. Reception at Tourlaville château
• 26. Marguerite Dumouriez loses her first child; Cessart cones assembled for the Cherbourg port facility
• 27. Move to rue des Bastions; Dumouriez meets Rivarol
• 28. Affair with Baroness de Beauvert; initiation to freemasonry and independence of America
• 29. Life at Court; arrival in Cherbourg of Dumouriez’ mistress
• 30. Louis XVI’s visit to Cherbourg
• 31. Marriage with Marguerite Dumouriez breaks down
• 32. Revolution in France; incident at Cherbourg docks
• 33. Dumouriez’ appointment as head of a militia; rioting in town and end of the mission
• 34. Birth of the Jacobin party; appointment of Dumouriez to the rank of brigadier-general; reception at “Hôtel de Noailles” ; royal household arrives in the Tuileries
• 35. Stay at Fervaques Abbey; appointment as commander-inchief of the French Army of the West
• 36. Arrival at Nantes and the Vendée episode
• 37. Return to Paris; Dumouriez meets Mme Roland; appointment as Minister for Foreign Affairs; final advice to king before proceeding to the war front
• 38. Letter to La Fayette explaining the hasty departure; the tenth of August and sack of the palace
• 39. Initial contact with an ill-equipped army; first letters from Baroness de Beauvert after her flight north
• 40. Encounter with the duc de Chartres; speech at the Assembly and the Montansier company’s move to the war front
• 41. Victory at Valmy and Jemappes; triumphal entry into Brussels
• 42. Recognition and promotion by the Assembly of Baptiste, his valet, to the rank of captain
• 43. Assembly requested to authorize subsidies; altercation with Pache the new War Minister; death of Louis XVI
• 44. First signs of distrust at the Assembly; brief visit to Paris before returning to the battlefield with Chartres and the Fernig girls
• 45. Capture of three redoubts from the enemy followed by French rout; Dumouriez ordered by Paris to abandon Antwerp and altercation with three commissioners
• 46. Assembly’s mistrust of Dumouriez; battle of Neerwinden lost and evacuation of Holland; exchange of letters with aide-de-camp de Tilly
• 47. Altercation with three deputies and first counter-revolutionary plan
• 48. Surrender demanded by War Minister Bernonville and the three Assembly commissioners; Dumouriez arrested by government envoys
• 49. First signs of mistrust from Dumouriez’ officers; his address to the army
• 50. Pursuit by the Republican army and Dumouriez’ desertion to the enemy with his chiefs of staff
• 51. Dumouriez embarks on a life of exile; parts company with Baptiste; letter from Rivarol to his sister; Metternich’s proposals; Dumouriez’ departure for England and assassination attempt at Ostend
• 52. Fouquier-Tinville; deaths of Queen, Philippe Égalité, Mme Roland and comtesse du Barry; assassination of Marat by Charlotte Corday; end of the Reign of Terror
• 53. Louis XVIII; coup d’état project; publication of Dumouriez’ Mémoires; Bonaparte’s arrival on the political scene
• 54. Napoleon’s initial victories; Dumouriez contacts M. de Charette; clandestine meeting with Mme de Schomberg in Paris; establishment of the Consulate; unsuccessful attempt to bring together the Bourbon and Orléans families; meeting with Russian Czar
• 55. Dumouriez writes to Nelson; assassination of the duc d’Enghien
• 56. Dumouriez moves over to England and contacts Pitt; arrival of the Saint-Martin couple; French émigrés in London; battle of Austerlitz
• 57. Dumouriez contacts Orléans in England; memoir entitled Tableau de l’Europe sent to Chancellor Vansittart; plan to send Orléans out to South America
• 58. Louis XVIII arrives in England; war in Spain; Dumouriez’ advice to Wellington on the French army and reply
• 59. Arrival at Turville Park; visit by cousin du Perrier; news of the family; Dumouriez’ last will and testament; correspondence with Orléans; Dumouriez dies 1823
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