Armand-Augustin-Louis de Caulaincourt with his St.Anna cross and two sash ribbons of St.Andrew and St.Alexander Nevsky orders.
Armand-Augustin-Louis, Marquis de Caulaincourt (9 December 1773 – 19 February 1827), Duc de Vicence, general, diplomat and close advisor to Napoleon I was fluent in a number of languages, including Russian. After the peace of Lunéville in 1801 he was sent to Saint Petersburg by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte. His mission was primarily to check British influence in the Russian court.
On his return he was named aide-de-camp of Napoleon. At this juncture an event occurred which was to profoundly affect his life. In 1804 Caulaincourt had been sent by Napoleon across the Rhine to seize some agents of the British government who were in Baden. He was used to pass on orders calling for the seizure and transport to Paris of Louis Antoine de Bourbon, the Duke of Enghien. Once in Paris the Duke of Enghien was tried for treason by a military tribunal and summarily executed. Caulaincourt, an aristocrat, had been used as a means to deliver a fellow aristocrat to his death. When Caulaincourt returned to Paris he learned of the Duke's execution, and wept openly over it. He was incensed that he had been used in this way, and the event forever gave supporters of the Bourbon monarchy a means by which to impugn Caulaincourt's integrity and honor. The shroud of idealism which had earlier colored his view of Napoleon was forever pulled away. From then on, though he treated Napoleon with courtesy, there was always a reserve, and he made a point to be frank in informing the Emperor of what he felt were the true motives behind the Emperor's policies. The event was a point of shame that would haunt Caulaincourt for the rest of his days.
After the establishment of the empire he received various honors and in 1808 was given the title of Duke of Vicenza, a duché grand-fief. In 1807, Napoleon sent him as ambassador to St. Petersburg, where Caulaincourt endeavored to maintain the alliance of Tilsit between France and Russia. During this time he developed a friendship with the Tsar Alexander I. His tasks as ambassador included attempting to arrange a marriage between Napoleon and one of the sisters of the Tsar. Though nothing came of it, he was able to manage the negotiations without engendering an embarrassing rebuff upon the Emperor. In 1811, with Napoleon preparing to declare a change in policy with Russia, Caulaincourt was sent for to return to France. Napoleon wrote the Tsar to say the Duke was recalled to France because of the Duke's "poor state of health."
"After a year in Petersburg, I accompanied Emperor Alexander to Erfurt, hoping and even being sure that I would never return to Russia. During my stay in Erfurt, the Emperor Napoleon talked to me quite often about business, but cut off the conversation every time I tried to talk about my return to Paris".
Armand de Caulaincourt
Napoleon's campaign in Russia
Excerpt from 1st Volume of
Fastes de la légion-d'honneur.
"Ce prince fut tellement satisfait de ses rapports diplomatiques avec lui, qu'il lui en donna publiquement un témoignage en le décorant, le 13 octobre, à Erfurth, de la grand'- croix de l'ordre de Saint-André".
/The emperor was so pleased with his diplomatic reports that decided to award him on October 13 in Erfurt with a large cross of the Order of St. Andrew/.
In 1812, Caulaincourt strongly advised Napoleon against his proposed campaign into Russia. He was unsuccessful in dissuading the Emperor. He accompanied Napoleon as Grand Écuyer, or Master of the Horse, in which he was tasked with maintaining the horses of the Emperor and his close guard, and he had charge of the despatch riders and orderlies. He rode at the Emperor's left side, and was prepared to surrender his horse to him in case there was need. He was with the Emperor at the Battle of Borodino, when Caulaincourt's younger brother, Major-General Auguste-Jean-Gabriel de Caulaincourt, was killed while pressing forward the assault following the capture of the great redoubt.
During the French occupation of Moscow that followed, Caulaincourt repeatedly warned the Emperor of the dangers of wintering in Russia. The Emperor wanted to send him to St. Petersburg to negotiate terms of an armistice, but Caulaincourt declined, noting that the Tsar would not negotiate peace terms with the French while they were still in Moscow. During the subsequent French retreat from Moscow, Caulaincourt noted the disintegration of the army, and implored Napoleon to return directly to France to stabilize the political situation in Europe. Napoleon eventually did so, choosing Caulaincourt to travel alongside him in December 1812.
The following month Caulaincourt was assigned the position of Grand Marshal of the Palace and charged with all diplomatic negotiations. He assumed this position following the death of the previous office holder, General Geraud Duroc. Caulaincourt signed the armistice of Pleswitz, June 1813, which suspended hostilities between France and Prussia and Russia for seven weeks. In the following negotiations, he represented France at the congress of Prague in August 1813, and at the Treaty of Fontainebleau on 10 April 1814. The provision for Napoleon on the island of Elba after his abdication is credited to Caulaincourt, who reportedly was able to influence the Tsar Alexander I for this disposition. During the First Restoration of the Bourbons that followed, Caulaincourt lived in obscure retirement.
With Napoleon's escape from Elba and his regaining power in France, Caulaincourt was chosen to serve as Napoleon's minister of foreign affairs. Caulaincourt tried to persuade Europe of the emperor's peaceful intentions during the Hundred Days, but he was unsuccessful in this, culminating in the War of the Seventh Coalition. Following Napoleon's second fall from power Caulaincourt's name was on the list of those proscribed for arrest and execution in what came to be known as the Second White Terror during the Second Restoration of the Bourbons. His name was removed from the list by the personal intervention of the Tsar Alexander I.
