Joseph Barbanègre (; 22 August 1772 – 7 November 1830) was a French General and a Baron of the

First French Empire The First French Empire or French Empire (; ), also known as Napoleonic France, was the empire ruled by Napoleon Bonaparte, who established French hegemony over much of continental Europe at the beginning of the 19th century. It lasted from ...

. He was governor of the Fortress of Huningue during the siege of the 1815 and held out until the end of hostilities, surrendering the place with full military honours on 26 August 1815.

Biography

Barbanègre was born in

Pontacq Pontacq (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques Departments of France, department in south-western France. The town is placed near the Ousse River valley and the Pyrenees, lying close to Lourdes, a pilgrimage site. The ...

(

Béarn Béarn (; ; or ''Biarn''; or ''Biarno''; or ''Bearnia'') is one of the traditional provinces of France, located in the Pyrenees mountains and in the plain at their feet, in Southwestern France. Along with the three Northern Basque Country, ...

). He was initially a sailor, then a captain in the 5th Battalion of the Lower Pyrenees, and Battalion Chief in the

Consular Guard The Consular Guard (), also known as the Guard of the Consuls (), was a French military unit responsible for the protection of the members of the Consulate, the executive government of France during the late First Republic. It was created by Firs ...

, He was then promoted to colonel of the 48th Infantry Regiment of the line on 29 August 1805, with whom he fought like a hero at Austerlitz, Iéna, and Eylau. He participated in all the Napoleonic campaigns, becoming Brigadier General after the

Peace of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit (), also collectively known as the Peace of Tilsit (; ), were two peace treaties signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland, at the end of the War of ...

, 21 March 1809. He powerfully contributed to win battles at Eckmühl,

Regensburg Regensburg (historically known in English as Ratisbon) is a city in eastern Bavaria, at the confluence of the rivers Danube, Naab and Regen (river), Regen, Danube's northernmost point. It is the capital of the Upper Palatinate subregion of the ...

, and

Wagram Deutsch-Wagram (literally "German Wagram", ), often shortened to Wagram, is a village in the Gänserndorf District, in the state of Lower Austria, Austria. It is in the Marchfeld Basin, close to the Vienna city limits, about 15 km (9 mi) north ...

. He attained the rank of

Commander of the Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

on 25 December 1805. On 20 August 1809 he became

Baron of the Empire As Emperor of the French, Napoleon I created titles in a newly established ' (imperial nobility) to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution. Like many others, both befo ...

. In 1812 he joined the Grande Armée to Moscow; in

Minsk Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...

, Borisov and

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

he had to organize supplies for the army. He joined Ney, who left the city on 17 November 1812. He was wounded in the

Battle of Krasnoi The Battle of Krasnoi (at Krasny or Krasnoe) unfolded from 15 to 18 November 1812 marking a critical episode in Napoleon's arduous retreat from Moscow.Lieven, p. 267. Over the course of six skirmishes the Russian forces under field marshal K ...

, but succeeded to escape with Ney when crossing the

Dnieper The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with ...

. He defended

Stettin Szczecin ( , , ; ; ; or ) is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major seaport, the largest city of northwestern Poland, and se ...

in 1813. But it was defending Fortress of Huningue against some 25,000 Austrians in 1815 which made him most famous, holding out with only several hundred men. On the 28 June shortly after word of Napoleon's abdication became known, and the French Provisional Government had requested a ceasefire, Barbanègre ordered the bombardment of

Basel Basel ( ; ), also known as Basle ( ), ; ; ; . is a city in northwestern Switzerland on the river Rhine (at the transition from the High Rhine, High to the Upper Rhine). Basel is Switzerland's List of cities in Switzerland, third-most-populo ...

, something that contemporaries on the

Seventh Coalition The Hundred Days ( ), 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 of King Louis XVIII o ...

side considered to be a war crime. He died in Paris, aged 58, and is buried in

Père Lachaise Cemetery Père Lachaise Cemetery (, , formerly , ) is the largest cemetery in Paris, France, at . With more than 3.5 million visitors annually, it is the most visited necropolis in the world. Buried at Père Lachaise are many famous figures in the ...

in the area reserved for marshals and generals of the Empire. In his home village of Pontacq there is a street bearing his name and a statue erected in his honor on the town hall square.

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Biography

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Further reading