André Masséna, duc de Rivoli, prince d’Essling

André Masséna, duc de Rivoli, prince d’Essling (born May 6, 1758, Nice, France—died April 4, 1817, Paris) was a leading French general of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.

Orphaned at an early age, Masséna enlisted in the Royal Italian regiment in the French service in 1775. At the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, he was a sergeant at Antibes. He soon became a captain in the Revolutionary government’s army of Italy at Nice, and in December 1793 he was made general of a division.

During the next two years in campaigns against the Austrians in Italy, Masséna displayed a genius for maneuvering his forces over difficult terrain. Becoming Napoleon’s most trusted lieutenant during the Italian campaign of 1796–97, he won the Battle of Rivoli (January 14, 1797), a key victory in the successful drive against Mantua. After Rome fell to the French in February 1798, Masséna was sent as an assistant to the French commander there. A week after his arrival, his troops mutinied and forced his recall. Nevertheless, in March 1799 he was made commander of the French army in Switzerland. He defeated a large Russian army in the Second Battle of Zürich on September 25 and then prevented another Russian army from advancing into Italy. These victories saved France from the immediate threat of invasion.

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Shortly after Napoleon came to power in the coup d’etat of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799), Masséna was sent to command the badly demoralized army of Italy. He restored his troops’ fighting spirit, and, by holding out against Austrian besiegers at Genoa from April 21 to June 4, he enabled Napoleon to maneuver into position behind the enemy and win the Battle of Marengo (June 14), forcing the Austrians to evacuate most of northern Italy. (Napoleon gave Masséna the nickname “l’Enfant chéri de la Victoire” [“the Dear Child of Victory”].)

Although he was made a marshal in 1804, Masséna had little respect for Napoleon’s imperial regime. He reconquered Calabria from the British in 1806 and in 1808 was made duc de Rivoli. In 1809 he displayed stunning heroism in two important battles against the Austrians—at Aspern-Essling (near Vienna) on May 21–22 and at Wagram on July 5–6. Napoleon rewarded him with the title of prince d’Essling in January 1810. Three months later Masséna, in poor health, was given command of the French forces that were fighting the British in Portugal. The British commander, Arthur Wellesley, duke of Wellington, defeated him at Buçaco, Portugal, on September 27, 1810, and at Fuentes de Oñoro, Spain, on May 5, 1811. Masséna was then relieved of his command. He was in Paris in 1815 but took no part in the Hundred Days of Napoleon; instead he supported the restoration of King Louis XVIII to the French throne.