Joseph Marie Servan de Gerbey (14 February 1741 – 10 May 1808) was a French general. During the

Revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

he served twice as Minister of War and briefly led the '' Army of the Western Pyrenees''. His surname is one of the

names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe The following is a list of the 660 names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe, in Paris. Most of them represent generals who served during the French First Republic (1792–1804) and the First French Empire (1804–1815). Underlined names signify ...

, on Column 33.

Biography

Joseph Marie Servan de Gerbey by Louis Lafitte

Servan was born in the village of

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

in south-eastern France. His older brother was the lawyer and publicist

Joseph Michel Antoine Servan Joseph Michel Antoine Servan (November 3, 1737 – 1807) was a French publicist and lawyer. He was born at Romans (Dauphiné). After studying law he was appointed ''avocat-general'' at the '' parlement'' of Grenoble at the age of twenty-seven. In ...

. He volunteered for the regiment of

Guyenne Guyenne or Guienne (, ; oc, Guiana ) was an old French province which corresponded roughly to the Roman province of '' Aquitania Secunda'' and the archdiocese of Bordeaux. The name "Guyenne" comes from ''Aguyenne'', a popular transformation o ...

on 20 December 1760. He rose to Engineering Officer, then Deputy Governor of the pages of King

Louis XVI Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...

, then colonel, then brigadier general on 8 May 1792. He was recommended as Minister of War by the

Girondin The Girondins ( , ), or Girondists, were members of a loosely knit political faction during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnard ...

leadership, and served a brief term from 9 May to 12 June 1792. Servan assumed the office in a time of war, the first year of the

War of the First Coalition The War of the First Coalition (french: Guerre de la Première Coalition) was a set of wars that several European powers fought between 1792 and 1797 initially against the constitutional Kingdom of France and then the French Republic that suc ...

. Within days of his appointment he oversaw the dismissal of the royal

Garde du Corps A ''Garde du Corps'' (French for lifeguard) is a military unit, formed of guards. A '' Garde du Corps'' was first established in France in 1445. From the 17th century onwards, the term was used in several German states and also, for example, in th ...

and the Swiss Guards; he also abolished corporal punishment in the army. His most momentous action as minister, however, was his proposal to bring armed volunteers from the provinces to

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 ...

. These citizen-soldiers, called '' fédérés'', were intended to complement the grand festivities set for the anniversary of the

fall of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille (french: Prise de la Bastille ) occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, when revolutionary insurgents stormed and seized control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison known as the Bastille. At ...

. Servan also planned to give them military training before using them to supplement the army at the front. The scope and length of their stay in the capital was undefined, and the proposal was highly contentious: some, like the king, saw it as a plot to stack Paris full with anti-monarchists, while others, like

Maximilien Robespierre Maximilien François Marie Isidore de Robespierre (; 6 May 1758 – 28 July 1794) was a French lawyer and statesman who became one of the best-known, influential and controversial figures of the French Revolution. As a member of the Esta ...

, feared the outsiders might be used as a provincial counterweight to the radical Parisian

sans-culottes The (, 'without breeches') were the common people of the lower classes in late 18th-century France, a great many of whom became radical and militant partisans of the French Revolution in response to their poor quality of life under the . T ...

.Schama, pp.604–605. King Louis used his

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princip ...

prerogative to veto Servan's proposal. Amid much criticism for his use of the unpopular veto power, the king fought back and dismissed the entire Girondin ministry, including Servan. Radical agitators seized the issue, and the invitation to the ''fédérés'' ignited a storm of citywide unrest. Eventually thousands of the provincial volunteers arrived regardless of the king's disapproval, and they were given a warm welcome by members of the Assembly, including Robespierre himself. The ''fédérés'' issue helped lead to the insurrection of 10 August after which Servan was reappointed as Minister of War.Soboul, p. 259. Another of Servan's ministerial initiatives was the deletion of the eighth verse of the anthem ''

La Marseillaise "La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song was written in 1792 by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in Strasbourg after the declaration of war by France against Austria, and was originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du R ...

'' in 1792. Servan claimed its references to God undermined the

Republic A republic () is a "state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th c ...

. Arrested during

the Terror The Reign of Terror (french: link=no, la Terreur) was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the First Republic, a series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour, ...

, he was released on 3 February 1795 and reinstated in the army. Under the

Consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth coun ...

, he was Chairman of Records as well as Commander of the

Legion of Honor 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 ...

. Servan retired on 3 May 1807, and died the following year in Paris at the age of 67. His name in inscribed on the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...

, on the west side.

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Biography

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Further reading