Joachim Murat, King of Naples, Marshal of France.
'Joachim Napoléon Murat, King of Naples and Sicily, Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg and Cleves' (born 'Joachim Murat') (
Italian: 'Gioacchino Murat';
March 25,
1767 –
October 13,
1815),
Prince Murat,
Grand Duke of
Cleves and
Berg,
Marshal of France, was
King of Naples and
Sicily from
1808 to
1815. He received his titles in part by being the brother-in-law of
Napoleon Bonaparte, through marriage to Napoleon's youngest sister,
Caroline Bonaparte.
Life
Joachim Murat was born
March 25,
1767, in
La Bastide-Fortunière,
France, to Pierre Murat-Jordy, an innkeeper, and Jeanne Loubières.
Murat enlisted in the
cavalry at the age of 20. In
1791, he joined the King's Constitutional Guard, but left it soon for the regular army. In
1792 he became an officer. He was a staunch supporter of the notorious revolutionary
Jacobin Jean-Paul Marat, and thus believed in a philosophy championing a strong
centralized government in the form of a
republic. In the war-torn, troubled times in the autumn of
1795, three years after the French King was deposed, royalist and counter-revolutionaries organized an armed uprising. On
October 3, Général
Napoleon Bonaparte—at the time a relative unknown, was in the right place at the right time (he was stationed in Paris), for he was named commander of the three-year old French National Convention's defending forces. Napoleon tasked Captain Murat with the gathering of some artillery from a remote suburb outside the control of the government's forces. This difficult task, completed barely in time, was a contribution that became a historical turning point.
The ruthless use of these cannon on
October 4 allowed Napoleon to save the members of the
National Convention who were the target of the armed and organized mob. This constitutional convention, after an overly long period of emergency rule, was finally striving to establish a more stable and permanent government in the very uncertain period after the
Reign of Terror. This desperate effort led to Napoleon's political rise (as a
Barras supporter) from a little known Brigadier (General) of Artillery.
Murat managed to take the cannons of the ''Camp des Sablons'' and almost miraculously transport them 'in time' to the heart of Paris while avoiding the rioters, thus ensuring the success of the repression and the transition to power of the
Directory. Barras became the most powerful of the directors as a result of his control of the military, with Napoleon as his iron-fisted advisor backed up by officers like Murat. For this success Joachim Murat was made ''chef de brigade'' (colonel) and thereafter remained one of Napoleon's best officers.
In
1796 with the situation in the capital and government apparently stabilized and the war going poorly (See also:
French Revolutionary Wars), Napoleon lobbied to join the armies attempting to secure the revolution against the invading monarchist forces. Murat then went with Bonaparte to northern Italy, initially as his aide-de-camp, and was later named commander of the cavalry during the many campaigns against the Austrians and their allies. These forces were waging war on France and seeking to restore a Monarchy in Revolutionary France. His valour and his daring cavalry charges later earned him the rank of
général in these important campaigns, the battles of which became famous as Napoleon constantly used speed of maneuver to fend off and eventually defeat individually superior opposing armies closing in on the French forces from several directions. Thus, Murat's skills in no small part helped establish Napoleon's legendary fame as a general's general, and enhance his popularity with the French people.
Of the three field armies staving off the Monarchists, Napoleon's worst-equipped and worst-supplied forces alone managed to remain undefeated during the 1796-1798 time frame. When he finally mounted an offensive against the last continental opponent, Austria, from the south, the latter sued for peace, leaving only Britain to contest the revolutionary ideas of the French Republic.
Murat commanded the cavalry of the French
Egyptian expedition of 1798, again under Napoleon. The expedition's strategic goal was to threaten Britain's rich holdings in India. (Some had been taken from France during the
Seven Years' War.) However, the overall effort ended prematurely due to lack of logistical support with the defeat of the French fleet due to British
sea power (See:
Battle of the Nile.) After the sea battle, Napoleon led his troops on land toward Europe (via Palestine and thence Ottoman Turkey), but was recalled by the Directory (at least in part) as it feared an invasion by Britain. Abbé Sieyès also saw Napoleon as an ally against a resurgent Jacobin movement, and so the expeditionary army was turned over to a subordinate.
The remaining non-military expedition staff officers, including Murat, and Napoleon returned to France, fleeing and somehow eluding various British fleets in five
frigates. A short while later, Murat played an important, even pivotal, role in Bonaparte's 'coup within a coup' of
18 Brumaire (9 November)
1799 when Napoleon first assumed national power. Along with two others (including Director Abbé Sieyès), Napoleon set aside the
five-man directory government, establishing the three-man
French Consulate government.
Murat married
Caroline Bonaparte on
January 20,
1800 thus becoming a son-in-law of
Letizia Ramolino as well as brother-in-law to
Joseph Bonaparte,
Napoleon I of France,
Lucien Bonaparte,
Elisa Bonaparte,
Louis Bonaparte,
Pauline Bonaparte and
Jérôme Bonaparte.
His brother-in-law Napoleon made him a
Marshal of France on
May 18,
1804. Napoleon also granted him the title of "First Horseman of
Europe". He was appointed Grand Duke of
Berg and
Cleves on
March 15,
1806 and held this title till
August 1,
1808. He was named King of
Naples on
August 1,
1808.
Murat was equally useful in
Napoleon's invasion of Russia (
1812), and in the
Battle of Leipzig (
1813). However, after France's defeat at Leipzig, Murat reached an agreement with the
Austrian Empire in order to save his own throne.
During the
Hundred Days, he realized that the European Powers, meeting as the
Congress of Vienna, had the intention to remove him and give back the
Kingdom of Naples to its pre-Napoleonic rulers. Murat deserted his new allies, and, after issuing a proclamation to the ''Italian patriots'' in Rimini, moved north to fight against the Austrians in the
Neapolitan War to strengthen his rule in Italy by military means. He was defeated by
Frederick Bianchi, a general of
Francis I of Austria, in the
Battle of Tolentino (
May 2 -
May 3,
1815).
He fled to
Corsica after Napoleon's fall. During an attempt to regain Naples through an insurrection in
Calabria, he was arrested by the forces of his rival,
Ferdinand IV of Naples, and was eventually executed by firing squad.
:"When the fatal moment arrived, Murat walked with a firm step to the place of execution, as calm, as unmoved, as if he had been going to an ordinary review. He would not accept a chair, nor suffer his eyes to be bound. "I have braved death (said he) too often to fear it." He stood upright, proudly and undauntedly, with his countenance towards the soldiers; and when all was ready, he kissed a
cornelian on which the head of his wife was engraved, and gave the word — thus, "Save my face — aim for the chest — fire!""
Murat is buried in
Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Children
He and Caroline were parents to four children:
★
Napoleon Achille Murat (
1801 -
1847). He was married to
Catherine Willis Gray in
1826.
★ Laetitia Josephine Murat (
1802 -
1859). She was married to
Guido-Taddeo, Marquess Pepoli in
1823.
★
Prince Napoleon Lucien Charles Murat (
May 16,
1803 -
April 10,
1878). He was an associate of his first cousin
Napoleon III of France. He married Caroline Georgina Fraser in
1831.
★ Louise Julie Murat (
March 22,
1805 -
1889). She married
Giullio, Count Rasponi.
References
★ Information about Murat's work in Tuileries found in ''Blundering to Glory'' by Owen Connelly. pg. 20-21.
See also
★
Neapolitan War
Trivia
★ One of his direct descendants is American actor
Rene Auberjonois.
External links
★
Napoleonic Literature
★
"Murat," in Naples Encyclopedia.
★
Friends of Murat museum
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