Jean-Baptiste Girard (21 February 1775 at

Aups Aups (; Provençal oc, Aups in the classical norm, ''Aup'' in the Mistralian norm, )However, after the preposition ''a ~ à'' 'to', the forms are ''as Aups ~ à-z-Aup'' and are pronounced is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alp ...

, in

Var Var or VAR may refer to: Places * Var (department), a department of France * Var (river), France * Vār, Iran, village in West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Var, Iran (disambiguation), other places in Iran * Vár, a village in Obreja commune, Ca ...

– 27 June 1815 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a French

général is the French word for general. There are two main categories of generals: the general officers (), which are the highest-ranking commanding officers in the armed forces, and the specialist officers with flag rank (), which are high-level offic ...

and

baron d'Empire As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles of nobility to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both before and since, Napoleon found that th ...

, who fought in the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars (french: Guerres de la Révolution française) were a series of sweeping military conflicts lasting from 1792 until 1802 and resulting from the French Revolution. They pitted French First Republic, France against Ki ...

and the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

Biography

Girard entered the

French Revolutionary Army The French Revolutionary Army (french: Armée révolutionnaire française) was the French land force that fought the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792 to 1804. These armies were characterised by their revolutionary fervour, their poor equipment ...

during the Spring of 1794. He saw active service with the ''Army of Italy'' and by 1797 he had been promoted to captain. At Marengo in 1800 Girard commanded a brigade. In 1806 after

Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a popu ...

he was promoted to general de brigade. Created a baron of the Empire by the

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

on 26 October 1808. In 1809 Girard was promoted to general de division. Girard saw service in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...

, during which he commanded French forces at Arroyo dos Molinos. Girard was wounded at the Beresina and at

Lützen is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Geography Lützen is situated in the Leipzig Bay, approximately southwest of the Leipzig city limits and northeast of Weißenfels. The town has access to the Bundesstraße 8 ...

. He commanded the Franco-Allied troops in the

Battle of Hagelberg The 'Battle of Hagelberg (also: ''Battle of Lübnitz'') took place on 27 August 1813, following the Battle of Grossbeeren and in the run-up to the Battle of Leipzig during the War of the Sixth Coalition. A Prussian force of mostly Landwehr m ...

which resulted in a French defeat and Girard becoming a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

until 1814. During the

Hundred Days The Hundred Days (french: les Cent-Jours ), also known as the War of the Seventh Coalition, marked the period between Napoleon's return from eleven months of exile on the island of Elba to Paris on20 March 1815 and the second restoration ...

, Girard rallied to

Napoleon I Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. Created a Peer of France (a member of the Hundred Days Chamber of Peers) this made him ipso facto a Count of the Empire. Girard was given command of the 7th Infantry Division. He was mortally wounded in the

Battle of Ligny The Battle of Ligny, in which French troops of the Armée du Nord under the command of Napoleon I defeated part of a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blücher, was fought on 16 June 1815 near Ligny in what is now Belgium. The result was a ta ...

, where his division bore the brunt of the fighting on the French left. Girard was created Duke of Ligny by

on 21 June 1815 (one of the Emperor's last official acts) in recognition of his services at Ligny. However, the letters patent were not delivered, and thus the title was not recognized by the Second Bourbon Restoration. He succumbed to his wounds in Paris on 27 June 1815. Generals of the First French Empire Grand Officiers of the Légion d'honneur 1775 births 1815 deaths French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars French military personnel killed in the Napoleonic Wars Dukes of the First French Empire Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe {{france-mil-bio-stub