Title says it all, who're your favourite army commanders from the armies of the Napoleonic wars? By this I don't just mean the obvious ones like Napoleon and Welligton etc, try to select a more obscure one, one who is often overlooked. So choose your favourite marshals, generals, etc. I'll start off.
FranceMarshal Louis Nicolas Davout, Duc de Auerstadt, Prince of EckmuhlOne of Napoleon's best Marshals, his outstanding victory at Auerstadt was an amazing victory considering he was outnumbered by over double his numbers, not too mention it put the bulk of the Prussian army in dissary, sadly this victory is overshadowed by Napoleon's victory at Jena. Through training and discipline, he made the III Corps one of the finest Corps in the Grande Armee, his leading skills were legendary, giving him the nickname of "The Iron Marshall" his administritive skills were also very good. Davout participated in many of the key battles in Europe and performed fantastically, he is one of, if not THE best Marshal of France in my opinion.
Marshal Michel Ney, Duc d'Elchingen, Prince de la MoskowaNey is unfortunatley mostly remembered for his poor performance in the Waterloo campaign, what is often forgotten is that he was truly one of the greatest leaders in the Grande Armee, from the start of his career to Napoleon's abdication he was charasmatic, unbelievably brave and he could make decisions quickly, making his attacks decisive and effective. His greatest moment is probably during the retreat from Russia, when he without a horse lead a large group of survivors out of Russia, he managed to slip past the Russian army and showed tremendous bravery throughout. When Napoleon saw him, he declared him "The Bravest of the Brave". He has his own legend of being the last man to leave Russia, though that cannot be literal it is true that Ney made sure to save as many lives as he could. Despite his performance in the Waterloo campaign, Ney was truly a great leader and the bravest of men.
Marshal Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, Duc de TréviseReliable, talented and brave, and the tallest of Napoleon's marshals at 6,6". During the Austerlitz campaign, Mortier won great acclaim for his courageous handling of a small force of men at Durrenstein. His 5000 men were left behind by Marshal Murat's pursuit of the Russians after Ulm and found themselves attacked by some 40,000 enemy troops. Mortier's men fought tenaciously and extricated themselves from the suicidal position. Both sides lost some 3000 men. After Austerlitz, he took over V Corps, then later VIII Corps. He led the Young Guard in 1812 and after and he led them to victory after victory in the campaigns of 1812-1814. He was fiercley loyal to Napoleon, even when the other marshals (including Ney) told the Emperor he should abdicate, Mortier still supported him, upon Napoleon's return he welcomed him with open arms but was sadly taken with illness and could not participate in the Waterloo Campaign, it'd would've been interesting to see what he could have provided. Gotta love Mortie.
Great BritainLieutenant General Thomas Picton & Major General Robert CraufordToo me, these two men are quite interesting and of course they were great commanders, they were incredibly similar, both enforced rigid discipline in the divisions, both had fiery tempers, they were also incredibly skilled in administrating their divisions and of course many of the men in their divisions were inspired by their commanders. Crauford inherited the nickname "Black Bob Crauford" in referance to his temper and discpline. Despite their many similarities however, both these men hated each other, Picton even refused to support Crauford on some occasions during engagments, they constantly disagreed and did not get along, it exasperated Wellington to some extent. Another similarity of these two is that they both died in action, Crauford died at Ciuiad Rodrigo and Picton at Waterloo.
Anyway, Crauford was in charge of the Light Division, which he handled with great skill, for example, he forced marched them many miles too Talavera, and though they missed the battle it was still quite an acheivment as forced marches were very difficult for British forces to perform at the time. Picton commanded the 3rd Division, he handled it so well that it gained the nickname "The Fighting 3rd". These two are probably my favourite British generals of the period.
AustriaArchduke Charles, Duke of TeschenI consider Charles as an incredibly skilled and capable commander during the Napoleonic period, he conducted operations with high skill and in the changing art of warfare Napoleon was introducing, as part of Austrian plans to start another offensive against France, Charles attempted to modernise and reorganise the Austrian army between 1808-09. He did this with some succsess, alas he could not prevail in some areas, the Generals under his command were very reluctant to accept these new changes such as the
corps d'armee system. Charles was also plagued by Phillip von Stadion's quite unrealistic and impractical aims for a war with France, Charles had little hope of success against the French in 1809, but later when the war happened he still performed well at Aspern-Essling.
I consider Charles as an Austrian commander who stands out from others, he was intelligent, good at managing but still restricted by the Austrian slowness at embracing the new military structures.
PrussiaGebhard Leberecht von BlücherI chose Blucher mainly because he can be a little overlooked sometimes, but to be honest the reason I like Blucher so much is that he was...pretty badass. I mean he was about 72 when he fought in the Waterloo campaign, he'd fought in many wars before that, but the fact this old geezer led his army the way he did at his age is quite cool. That and he was trampelled by a great deal of cavalry at Ligny and lay there for several hours, when he was found he was only relieved for a few hours and was then back too it. Now that had to of taken a lot just to even carry on after that ordeal, but the old guy just carried on, 1# Badass ofver 70! Another fun fact about Gebhrard was that apparently he was quite the womaniser, what a lad! Anyway, Blucher was a skilled and charasmatic leader, he was also a born cavalryman, he was in the cavalry for his early career and incredibly skilled in handling his regiment the Red Hussars.
RussiaPrince Pyotr BagrationBagration was an incredibly skilled General and my favourite Russian general along with Kutusov, he handled the rearguard action during the Ulm Campaign fantastically, and though at Hollabrunn he lost two thirds of his army, he had delayed the French for 18 hours, a vital amount of time. He performed excellently during the Russian wars against Sweden in 1808 and the Ottomans in 1809. His next command would be in the 1812 campaign, where he was mortally wounded at Borodino and died, fun fact, when viewing the advance of the battalions of the 57e de Ligne, "Les Terribles", Bagration shouted "Bravo! Bravo!" in the way the regiment advanced. Bagration was a fine general, as I say he's my favourite along with ol' One Eye Kutusov.
Well, those are my favourites, so far, I'm sure as I learn more about other generals I'll like some of them too.
So go ahead, post your favourite Napoleonic generals for whatever reason, be it their skill as a general, or something awesome about them!
