Leipzig 1813

Murat's Final French Charge

When Joachim Murat led the grand charge on October 16, 1813 of the French reserve cavalry in a fantastic attempt to capture the Russian Tsar and end the Sixth Coalition's increasingly likely attempt to defeat Napoleon's Empire of the French and his auxiliaries, little did he realize that this grand effort would be his last as a leader of French cavalry---ending a partnership with Napoleon which had gone back to Napoleon's efforts to support the revolution with a whiff of grapeshot back in 1795. The end of this nearly20 year partnership with Napoleon would also mark the start of a two-year descent by Murat into a destructive whirlpool of intrigue; betrayal and fantastic attempts to unify Italy from which Murat was finally led to his death. Joachim Murat has come down to us after 200 years of history as a flamboyant cavalry general who has

become more known for his ermine capes and his plumed hats than for than for his leadership as both a political ruler and important military leader. However, his efforts subsequent to his active involvement with Napoleon, albeit flawed, showed a tremendous amount of moral courage and dedication to higher political ideals which had some inspiration in the subsequent unification of Italy 50 years after his death. Despite his flashy style and his vainglorious manner, he was truly a man of the revolution, and he worked to establish the nouveau regime throughout Italy and especially Naples. The Napoleonic Code was introduced; and the vast landed estates were broken up to provide economic and social opportunity to all Neapolitans. As the King of Naples, Murat had his vision of what his world was take a dramatic change. Prior to 1808, he was primarily Napoleon's cavalry general; an in-law to the Emperor via his marriage to Napoleon' younger sister Caroline; and the Grand Duke of Berg, a German client state in the Confederation of the Rhine. There was never any doubt that Murat's loyalties and responsibilities were to Napoleon and France. However, the elevation of Murat to the throne of Naples would quickly change that his perception of his own responsibilities and lead Murat to become an Italian patriot and staunch opponent of the entrenched reactionary elements from within Italy and from outside such as the Austrians and British. His opposition to these elements would ultimately lead to his premature passing just two years after the Battle of Leipzig. The change in Murat's world-view led him to abandon his post as Commander-in-Chief of La Grande Armee in early 1813, after the disastrous Russian campaign and return to Naples to reassess his position and strengthen his power in the first half of that fateful year. After flirting with switching sides for a time, Murat decided to stay with Napoleon and returned to La Grande Armee in August, at the conclusion of the Armistice, where once again, he would take up command of the Reserve Cavalry.His command at Dresden proved his worth, and his charge of 54 squadrons into the heart of the Coalition forces on the second day of that battle proved to be the decisive act assuring the French victory.Napoleon's decision to bring Murat back and had paid a large dividend. The Dresden experience seemed to move Murat back to his old Cavalry general self Despite the great victory at Dresden, the French position in Central Germany began to deteriorate in the weeks that followed the August battle. Napoleon's marshals and generals, when independent of the great man, could not defeat the detachments the Coalition had sent to disrupt and dismember the French position in Germany; and the Coalition strategy of avoiding immediate confrontation with Napoleon and savaging his subordinates put the Coalition in charge of the strategic situati on by virtually surrounding the French in Saxony and forcing Napoleon to come to battle in mid-October in a most disadvantageous position. The failures of Ney; Vandamme; Oudinot and MacDonald to protect the perimeter of France's central German position meant that Napoleon would be faced with a rapidly converging Coalition set of armies that he would not be able to address in his usual manner of defeating each in detail. Near the Saxon town of Liebertwolkwitz on October 14, 1813, Murat receives orders to Napoleon to delay the Coaliti on

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