Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy (18 March 18234 January 1883) was a French
general
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of highest military ranks, high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers t ...
, notable for his successes during the
Franco-Prussian War and as a governor of
Algeria
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, relig ...
.
Biography
Born in
Nouart
Nouart () is a commune in the Ardennes department in northern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Ardennes department
The following is a list of the 449 communes of the Ardennes department of France.
The communes cooperate ...
in the department of
Ardennes
The Ardennes (french: Ardenne ; nl, Ardennen ; german: Ardennen; wa, Årdene ; lb, Ardennen ), also known as the Ardennes Forest or Forest of Ardennes, is a region of extensive forests, rough terrain, rolling hills and ridges primarily in Be ...
, France, the son of a cavalry officer, Chanzy was educated at the naval school at
Brest
Brest may refer to:
Places
*Brest, Belarus
**Brest Region
**Brest Airport
**Brest Fortress
* Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria
* Břest, Czech Republic
*Brest, France
** Arrondissement of Brest
**Brest Bretagne Airport
** Château de Brest
*Br ...
, but enlisted in the artillery. He subsequently attended the military academy
Saint Cyr, and was commissioned in the ''
Zouaves
The Zouaves were a class of light infantry regiments of the French Army serving between 1830 and 1962 and linked to French North Africa; as well as some units of other countries modelled upon them. The zouaves were among the most decorated unit ...
'' during 1843. He participated in a good deal of fighting in Algeria, and was promoted lieutenant in 1848, and to captain in 1851. He became ''chef de bataillon'' in 1856, and served in the
Second Italian War of Independence
The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Sardinian War or Italian War of 1859 ( it, Seconda guerra d'indipendenza italiana; french: Campagne d'Italie), was fought by the Second French Empire and t ...
, being present at the battles of
Magenta
Magenta () is a color that is variously defined as pinkish- purplish-red, reddish-purplish-pink or mauvish-crimson. On color wheels of the RGB (additive) and CMY (subtractive) color models, it is located exactly midway between red and blue. I ...
and
Solferino
Solferino ( Upper Mantovano: ) is a small town and municipality in the province of Mantua, Lombardy, northern Italy, approximately south of Lake Garda.
It is best known as being close to the site of the Battle of Solferino on 24 June 1859, par ...
. He participated with the
Syria
Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...
n campaign of 1860–61 as a lieutenant-colonel, and as colonel commanded the 45th Regiment at Rome in 1864. He returned to Algeria as general of brigade, assisted to quell the Arab insurrection, and commanded the subdivisions of Bel Abbes and
Tlemçen in 1868.
Although Chanzy had acquired a good professional reputation, he was in disfavor at the war office because of suspected contributions to the press, and when the war with Prussia began he was refused a brigade command. After the revolution, however, the government of national defence recalled him from Algeria, made him a general of division, and gave him command of the
XVI Corps of the
Army of the Loire.
The Loire army won the greatest success of the French during the entire war at
Coulmiers
Coulmiers () is a commune in the Loiret department in north-central France.
History
This was the site of the defeat of the Prussian Army in the Battle of Coulmiers, November 9, 1870.
See also
*Communes of the Loiret department
The following ...
, and followed this with another victorious action at
Patay; in both engagements General Chanzy's corps performed the best. After the
Second Battle of Orléans and the separation of the two wings of the French army, Chanzy was appointed to command that of the west, designated the second army of the Loire. His enemies, Grand Duke
Friedrich Franz II of
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
The Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was a duchy in northern Germany created in 1701, when Frederick William and Adolphus Frederick II divided the Duchy of Mecklenburg between Schwerin and Strelitz. Ruled by the successors of the Nikloting Hous ...
, Prince
Frederick Charles of
Prussia
Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...
, and
General von der Tann, all regarded Chanzy as their most formidable opponent.
Chanzy displayed conspicuous moral courage and constancy, not less than technical skill, in the fighting from the
Battle of Beaugency to the Loire.
Nevertheless, his army of badly armed conscripts suffered a great defeat at the
Battle of Le Mans
The Battle of Le Mans was a German victory during the Franco-Prussian War that ended French resistance in western France.
Background
After capturing the armies of the French Empire at Sedan and Metz in the fall of 1870, the German armies un ...
in January 1871. Chanzy successfully retired to
Laval
Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of:
People
* House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne
* Laval (surname)
Places Belgium
* Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...
behind the
Mayenne
Mayenne () is a landlocked department in northwest France named after the river Mayenne. Mayenne is part of the administrative region of Pays de la Loire and is surrounded by the departments of Manche, Orne, Sarthe, Maine-et-Loire, and Ille-et ...
but his forces had been depleted severely.
He was made a grand officer of the
Legion of Honour
The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...
, and was elected to the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...
. At the beginning of the
Commune rebellion, Chanzy, then in Paris, was captured by the insurgents, by whom he was forced to give his parole not to serve against them. It was said that he would otherwise have been appointed instead of
Patrice MacMahon
Marie Edme Patrice Maurice de MacMahon, marquis de MacMahon, duc de Magenta (; 13 June 1808 – 17 October 1893) was a French general and politician, with the distinction of Marshal of France. He served as Chief of State of France from 1873 to 1 ...
to command the army of Versailles. A ransom of £40,000 was also paid by the government for him.
In 1872, Chanzy became a member of the committee of defence and commander of the VII Corps, and in 1873 was appointed
governor of Algeria and commander of
XIX Corps, where he remained for six years. In 1875, he was elected a
life senator, in 1878 received the grand cross of the Legion of Honour, and in 1879, without his consent, was nominated for the presidency of the republic, receiving a third of the total votes.
From 1879 to 1882 Chanzy was
ambassador to Russia, during which time he received many tokens of respect, not only from the Russians, but also from the
German emperor, William I, and
Prince Bismarck
Otto, Prince of Bismarck, Count of Bismarck-Schönhausen, Duke of Lauenburg (, ; 1 April 1815 – 30 July 1898), born Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck, was a conservative German statesman and diplomat. From his origins in the upper class of ...
. He died suddenly, while commanding the VI Corps (stationed nearest to the German frontier), at
Châlons-sur-Marne now Châlons-en-Champagne, only a few days after
Leon Gambetta
Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to:
Places
Europe
* León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León
* Province of León, Spain
* Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again fro ...
, and he received a state funeral.
Chanzy was the author of ''La Deuxième
Armée de la Loire
The Armée de la Loire was a French army of the Franco-Prussian War. It was formed in October 1870 by Léon Gambetta, interior minister and minister for war in the Government of National Defence, then taking refuge in Tours after the French d ...
'' (1872). Statues of General Chanzy have been erected at Nouart and Le Mans.
Chanzy was immortalized in
Anatole France's classic fiction
The Wicker Work Woman.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chanzy, Antoine
1823 births
1883 deaths
People from Ardennes (department)
French generals
French life senators
French military personnel of the Franco-Prussian War
19th-century French diplomats
Ambassadors of France to the Russian Empire
Governors general of Algeria
Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur
Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint-Charles