Француз маршалы: Жак Макдональдтың өмірі мен әскери жолы

French Marshal

Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre Macdonald, 1st duc de Tarente (17 November 176525 September 1840), was a Marshal of the Empire and military leader during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. While not as famous as the other marshals of Napoleon, he was nonetheless a first rate and successful general. Macdonald distinguished himself during the War of the First Coalition, with Macdonald being instrumental in the French victory during the Flanders campaign. He saw service in the Low Countries, Germany and Italy.

In 1784, Macdonald joined the Irish Legion, raised to support the revolutionary party in the Dutch Republic against the Kingdom of Prussia and was made lieutenant on 1 April 1785. After it was disbanded, he received a commission in Dillon's Regiment, Irish Brigade of the French Royal Army. Later, he was made governor of Versailles and acquiesced, even if he did not participate, in the events of the 18 Brumaire. On his return to Paris, Macdonald married the widow of General Joubert, and was appointed French ambassador to Denmark. Returning in 1805, he was associated with Moreau and thus incurred the dislike of Napoleon, who did not include him in his first creation of marshals.

He remained without employment until 1809, but then Napoleon made him military adviser to Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy and the commander of the Army of Italy. After meeting an unexpected defeat at Aspern Essling, Napoleon summoned Eugène's army north to join him, with Macdonald in tow. On the second day of Wagram, amid great pressure along the entire front, Napoleon ordered Macdonald to launch a desperate counterattack on the enemy centre. Macdonald promptly organised a gigantic three sided open backed infantry square, covered by Nansouty's cavalry, and hurled it against the Austrian lines. Despite sustaining terrible casualties from the Austrian artillery, this bold attack broke the Austrian centre and won the day. From 1830, he lived in retirement at his country home, the Chateau de Courcelles le Roy in Beaulieu sur Loire commune, Loiret, where he died on 25 September 1840, aged 74.

On 30 April 2010, a plaque was unveiled to the memory of Marshal of France Jacques Macdonald on the Outer Hebridean island of South Uist, the familial home of Macdonald. Macdonald had visited South Uist in 1825 in order to find out more about his family roots.

Macdonald was assessed in the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1911, which argued:<blockquote>Macdonald had none of that military genius that distinguished Davout, Masséna and Lannes, nor of that military science conspicuous in Marmont and St Cyr, but nevertheless his campaign in Switzerland gives him a rank far superior to such mere generals of division as Oudinot and Dupont. This capacity for independent command made Napoleon, in spite of his defeats at the Trebia and the Battle of Katzbach, trust him with large commands till the end of his career. As a man, his character cannot be spoken of too highly; no stain of cruelty or faithlessness rests on him. Richard Dunn Pattison praised Macdonald for his "keen military insight" while A. G. MacDonell called his career a string of defeats. John M. Keefe blamed his defeat at Katzbach on a general lack of staff officers in French armies not commanded by Napoleon, arguing that Macdonald had fought successfully in the rest of his career.