Francois Joseph Lefebvre was full of interesting fun facts. François-Joseph Lefebvre, duke de Dantzig (October 20, 1755, Rouffach, France—September 14, 1820, Paris), French commander who served as one of Napoleon’s 18 imperial marshals in May 1804.
Lefebvre, the son of an Alsatian miller, began his military career in the French Guards in 1773 after working as a clerk, Francois Joseph Lefebvre interesting fun facts. He was a sergeant during the start of the French Revolution in 1789 and was quickly promoted from captain to divisional general between September 1792 and January 1793.
Between 1793 and 1796, he commanded the Army of the Rhine’s vanguard, distinguished himself at the battles of Fleurus (June 1794), which repelled the Austrians, and Duisburg (July 1796). (September 1795), interesting fun facts about Francois Joseph Lefebvre.
He was named governor of Paris the next year after serving as commander of the Army of the Sambre and Meuse for a short time in 1798, Francois Joseph Lefebvre biography. Napoleon used his position as governor to persuade him to support the coup d’état of 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9, 1799), which culminated in Napoleon’s appointment as the first consul.
Francois Joseph Lefebvre interesting fun facts
1. Lefebvre was the son of a Hussar from Rouffach, Alsace.
2. In 1793, he was promoted to Brigadier General and took part in the Battle of Fleurus (24 June 1794).
3. He took command of the Army of Sambre-et-Meuse after General Louis Lazare Hoche died (September 1797).
4. At the age of 17, he joined the French army and, like his close friend Michel Ordener, supported the French Revolution.
5. He married Cathérine Hübscher in 1783, and they had 14 children, none of them survived him (his last son died in battle in 1812).
6. On March 5, 1819, Louis XVIII reinstated his peerage. He died in 1820 and was interred in the Père-Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, beside André Masséna.
7. He never forgot how hard he worked to get his position and fortune.
8. In March 1799, he led the Danube Army’s vanguard under Jourdan, despite being debilitated by ringworm for the first week of the campaign, and Dominique Vandamme temporarily taking his position.
9. “Come down in the courtyard, and I’ll have 10 shots at you with a musket at 30 paces,” Lefebvre remarked when a friend expressed jealousy of his land. If I make a mistake, the entire estate is yours.” “I had a thousand shots shot at me from far closer range before I received all this,” Lefebvre said when his buddy refused the offer.
10. He was a Sergeant in the Gardes Françaises in 1789, and he joined the revolution along with the rest of the regiment.
11. Later, during the Battle of Ostrach, where the Advance Guard took the brunt of the early combat, he was injured.
12. Lefebvre led the Paris soldiers in November 1799 and agreed to aid Napoleon Bonaparte in his coup d’état.
13. Bonaparte made him a senator in the year 1800.
14. Lefebvre fought in the Peninsula War in 1808.
15. He led the Bavarian army at the battles of Eckmühl and Wagram in 1809.
16. He supported the Emperor’s deposition in the Senate and was appointed Peer of France by Louis XVIII (4 June 1814) during the First Restoration, but he rallied to Napoleon during the Hundred Days.
17. During the Second Restoration, he was barred from the House of Peers. He did, however, keep his marshal position.
18. In 1804, Napoleon promoted him to Marshal of the Empire.
19. During the German campaign of 1805, Lefebvre commanded an Old Guard division.
20. On 14 October 1806, Lefebvre led the Imperial Guard troops at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt.
21. He besieged and conquered Danzig in 1807 as commander of the X Corps, earning him the title of Duc de Danzig (Duke of Danzig).
22. Lefebvre was made a senator in 1800 and a marshal in 1804, and he carried Charlemagne’s sword at Napoleon’s imperial coronation.
23. He and his illiterate wife, Catherine Hubscher, who was dubbed Madam Sans-Gêne (“Overfamiliar,” or “Cheeky”) for her unrestrained behavior, made beautiful figures at court, but he desired active service.
24. On October 14, 1806, Lefebvre led the imperial infantry guard at Jena, and on April 27, 1807, he seized Danzig, earning him the title Duke de Dantzig in 1808.
25. In 1808 he served in Spain, and the following year he fought at Eckmühl and Wagram as leader of Bavarian soldiers.
26. He fought in Russia in 1812. Despite his opposition to the Allied troops’ invasion of France in 1814 in an attempt to topple Napoleon, he voted in favor of Napoleon’s abdication in the Senate, for which Louis XVIII created him a peer of France.
27. During the Hundred Days, he rejoined Napoleon in his bid to reclaim his empire, but was stripped of his title when the Bourbons were restored for the second time in July 1815.
We hope you have enjoyed these Francois Joseph Lefebvre interesting fun facts and biography.
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