Marmont - Napoleonův maršál s cejchem zrádce – Šťovíček Michal (2021)

Auguste-Frédéric-Louis Viesse de Marmont is one of the more overlooked marshals of Napoleon, although his life was no less colorful than the fates of the most famous ones. As a typical rural nobleman, he owed his rise to the French Revolution and, above all, to his meeting with the five years older Napoleon Bonaparte, who quickly and permanently took a liking to him. He then served him faithfully for 20 years, consistently and diligently (though not without occasional mutual displeasure) – as a soldier in campaigns in Italy, Egypt, Austria, Spain, Germany, France, and also as a civil administrator of the province of Illyria created by Napoleon. He attained the rank of captain at the age of 19, divisional general at 26, and marshal at 35 – coincidentally on our soil, for his contribution to the victory in Napoleon's second battle in Moravia. However, all of Marmont's abilities and merits were subsequently overshadowed and erased by a single act in the last days of Napoleon's rule, which suddenly made him one of the black sheep of the Napoleonic epic. His name fell into disgrace and was used for 100 years as a synonym for traitor. This act is also essentially the only one that has stuck in the collective memory of contemporaries and future generations regarding him. This book does not attempt to elevate...