Jean-Baptiste Jourdan (29 April 1762-23 November 1833) was a French general who fought for the French First Republic in the French Revolutionary Wars and for the First French Empire in the Napoleonic Wars. Jourdan gained renown for his 1794 victory at the Battle of Fleurus, although he was nicknamed "the Anvil" for suffering several defeats on the Rhine front in 1800. Under Napoleon I, he was created a "Marshal of the Empire" and commanded troops during the Peninsular War.
Biography[]
Jourdan at Fleurus, 1794
As a young apprentice in the silk trade, Jourdan enlisted with the French forces sent to fight in the American Revolutionary War. On his return, he settled into the life of a provincial tradesman in his native Limoges, until the Revolution opened new opportunities. Volunteering a second time for the army, he became a junior officer by 1792 and, with startling rapidity, was promoted to general the following year. Jourdan owed his appointment to Lazare Carnot, a member of the revolutionary Committee of Public Safety, who saw Jourdan as a handy propaganda tool - a general of lowly social origins to lead the revolutionary war effort. When the Army of the North defeated the Austrians at Wattignies in October 1793, Jourdan was officially in command, but Carnot was on the spot pulling the strings.
Victory and Disaster[]
Jourdan in Spain, 1811
In the winter of 1793, Jourdan narrowly escaped the guillotine and returned to civilian life in Limoges. Restored to command in 1794, he had his finest hour in June, when he defeated a combined Austrian and Dutch army at Fleurus. From this peak, Jourdan's military career waned. A string of defeats earned him the nickname "the anvil" - because he was hammered so often. Nonetheless, Napoleon made him a marshal in 1804 and he won the confidence of the emperor's brother, Joseph. When Joseph was placed on the Spanish throne in 1808, Jourdan became his chief-of-staff. He achieved little in this role because none of Napoleon's other marhsals accepted his authority. He fought Wellington twice, at Talavera in 1809 and Vitoria in 1813.