Édouard Jean-Baptiste Milhaud (; 10 July 1766 – 10 December 1833) was a French politician and general. He distinguished himself throughout the

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (sometimes called the Great French War or the Wars of the Revolution and the Empire) were a series of conflicts between the French and several European monarchies between 1792 and 1815. They encompas ...

and is considered one of the best generals of cavalry of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's army.

Early life and career

Born in Arpajon-sur-Cère as the son of Louis Amilhaud and Marguerite Daudé, Milhaud was commissioned as an officer in 1789. During the French Revolution, Milhaud took part in the

Storming of the Bastille The Storming of the Bastille ( ), which occurred in Paris, France, on 14 July 1789, was an act of political violence by revolutionary insurgents who attempted to storm and seize control of the medieval armoury, fortress, and political prison k ...

and was elected to the National Convention (which aimed at giving France a new political constitution) and in the of

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

he voted for the death of the king. He defended

Jean-Paul Marat Jean-Paul Marat (, , ; born Jean-Paul Mara; 24 May 1743 – 13 July 1793) was a French political theorist, physician, and scientist. A journalist and politician during the French Revolution, he was a vigorous defender of the ''sans-culottes ...

against the attacks of the

Girondins The Girondins (, ), also called Girondists, were a political group during the French Revolution. From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnards, they initiall ...

. In 1793 he was sent as a commissary to the armies of the Rhine and the Ardennes where he distinguished himself in his severity and his zeal in applying revolutionary ideological principles. Sent to the Army of the Pyrenees, he was successful in aiding Dugommier in restoring order. He was recalled the next year and made a member of the military committee.

French Revolutionary Wars

After the fall of Robespierre, Milhaud was threatened with arrest but saved from this fate by his colleagues on the military committee. His political role effectively over, he was recalled to the army and he became commandant of the 5th dragoons and was sent to the Army of Italy. Milhaud saw action at the Battle of Mondovì and Battle of Castiglione. He then distinguished himself at Brenta, Primolano and in the

battle of Bassano The Battle of Bassano was fought on 8 September 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, in the territory of the Republic of Venice, between a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces led by Count Dagobert von Wurmser. The ...

. The following year he was again accused because of his role during the Terror but the Council of Elders decided not to act on the accusation. Milhaud took an active part in the conspiracy leading up to 18 brumaire which was the day of the ''coup d'état'' by which General

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

overthrew the

French Directory The Directory (also called Directorate; ) was the system of government established by the Constitution of the Year III, French Constitution of 1795. It takes its name from the committee of 5 men vested with executive power. The Directory gov ...

. Promoted to general de brigade in January 1800 he was employed in the Army of England and was made commander of the 8th military division in the

Vaucluse Vaucluse (; or ) is a department in the southeastern French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. It had a population of 561,469 as of 2019.

Napoleonic Wars

During the

War of the Third Coalition The War of the Third Coalition () was a European conflict lasting from 1805 to 1806 and was the first conflict of the Napoleonic Wars. During the war, First French Empire, France and French client republic, its client states under Napoleon I an ...

Milhaud served under

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also ; ; ; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French Army officer and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the military titles of Marshal of the ...

in the 1805 campaign. He captured the towns of Linz and Enns in November and fought at the

Battle of Austerlitz The Battle of Austerlitz (2 December 1805/11 Frimaire An XIV French Republican calendar, FRC), also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors, was one of the most important military engagements of the Napoleonic Wars. The battle occurred near t ...

. On the outbreak of the

War of the Fourth Coalition The War of the Fourth Coalition () was a war spanning 1806–1807 that saw a multinational coalition fight against Napoleon's First French Empire, French Empire, subsequently being defeated. The main coalition partners were Kingdom of Prussia, ...

in 1806, Milhaud took part in the Battle of Schleiz and distinguished himself at the Battle of Jena and again at Prenzlau against the Prussian army. On 28 October 1806, he forced 6,000 Prussian troops of the corps of Prince Hohenlohe to capitulate at Pasewalk. At the end of 1806 he was promoted to general of division and in 1807 he fought against the Russians at the

Battle of Golymin The Battle of Golymin took place on 26 December 1806 during the War of the Fourth Coalition at Gołymin, Poland, between around 17,000 Russian Empire, Russian soldiers with 28 guns under Prince Dmitriy Vladimirovich Golitsyn, Golitsyn and 38, ...

and then distinguished himself at the Battle of Eylau and during the capture of Konigsberg His performance brought him to the attention of

, and having already been awarded the

Légion d'honneur 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 10 March he was made a Count of the Empire. From 1808 until 1811, he fought in the

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

. Milhaud was placed in command of several regiments of

Dragoon Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat wi ...

s and first saw significant action at the Battle of Gamonal and then at the Battle of Almonacid. November, 1809, in the lead up to the Battle of Ocaña, the cavalry of Milhaud and

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, made up of eight regiments, numbering almost 3,000 men, riding at the head of the French army, crossed the

Tagus The Tagus ( ; ; ) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales between Cuenca and Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally westward, and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon. Name T ...

river at

Aranjuez Aranjuez () is a city and municipality of Spain, part of the Community of Madrid. Located in the southern end of the region, the main urban nucleus lies on the left bank of the Tagus, a bit upstream of the discharge of the Jarama. , the munici ...

and engaged four divisions of horsemen under Manuel Freire de Andrade, over 4,000 sabres, moving at the head of Areizaga's column. The French cavalry swept the Spanish from the field, inflicting hundreds of casualties and then proceeded to take part in the main battle on November 19, which resulted in a crushing Spanish defeat. According to

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

(1908), "the collision of Milhaud and Freire brought about the largest cavalry fight which took place during the whole Peninsular War". Oman, Charles (1908)
''A History of the Peninsular War'', Vol. III, pp. 86, 90-91.
''Project Gutenberg''. Retrieved 20 February 2023. He continued to lead his units in 1810, winning fame for crushing a gang of guerrillas led by Juan Martín Díez and inflicting a stinging defeat on Joaquín Blake at Baza. In July 1811, as part of Marshal

Soult Marshal General of France, Marshal General Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duke of Dalmatia (; 29 March 1769 – 26 November 1851) was a French general and statesman. He was a Marshal of the Empire during the Napoleonic Wars, and served three times as P ...

's Army of the South, Milhaud served at the head of 1,595 Dragoons in General Sebastiani's IV Corps. Oman, Charles (1911)
''A History of the Peninsular War'', Vol. IV, p. 638.
''Project Gutenberg''. Retrieved 20 February 2023. Milhaud returned to France in July, 1811, with the permission of his commander Jean-de-Dieu Soult. In November 1811 he was put on disability but in June 1812 he was recalled to active service and made commandant of the 25th military division. During the invasion of Russia, he became for a short time the military commandant of Moscow. In 1813 he commanded a cavalry corps at the Battle of Leipzig. He fought, on October 10, 1813, in the plain of Zeitz, one of the best fights of cavalry mentioned in French military annals, and in which he completely destroyed regiments of Austrian ''Latour'' and ''Hohenzollern'' Dragoons, as well as the ''Kaiser'' Chevau-légers. During Napoleon's retreat to the borders of France, Milhaud successfully prevented an allied attempt to cut off the French escape at

Eckartsberga Eckartsberga () is a town in the Burgenlandkreis district of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. It is situated west of Naumburg. It is part of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municipality") An der Finne. Since 2009 it has included the former municipa ...

and took part in the Battle of Hanau. Based on his experience with these commands, in 1814 Milhaud became Inspector General of the cavalry. He served throughout the Campaign in north-east France (1814), winning the admiration of his superiors for his conduct in engagements like the Battle of Brienne, Battle of La Rothière, Battle of Mormant and for defeating a Russian cavalry unit commanded by Sergey Nikolaevich Lanskoy in the Battle of Saint-Dizier (January 1814). During the first Restoration he was given command of the 15th military division by

Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...

. Milhaud remained a staunch supporter of Napoleon and during the Hundred Days, he was one of the first to rally to the emperor, and in the

Waterloo campaign The Waterloo campaign, also known as the Belgian campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North (France), Army of the North and two War of the Seventh Coalition, Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied arm ...

he commanded the IV Cavalry Corps. At the Battle of Ligny on 16 June 1815 with his cuirassier divisions he broke the centre of the Prussian army and helped to win Napoleon's last victory. Two days later at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

18 June his divisions took part in the great general cavalry assault on the allied centre, a plan he had opposed but had to execute. The attacks ultimately proved a failure. After the second restoration Milhaud was banished by King

as a regicide. After the July Revolution in 1830, he was called back to France, and died on 10 December 1833 in Aurillac.

References

Bibliography

* Niemann, August (Hrsg.): ''Militär-Handlexikon''. Adolf Bonz & Comp., Stuttgart, 1881.

Early life and career

French Revolutionary Wars

Napoleonic Wars

References

Bibliography

Further reading