View source for Jacques Lauriston

{{Short description|French soldier and diplomat (1768–1828)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox military person
| name          =Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law de Lauriston
| image         =Jacques Alexandre Law de Lauriston (Godefroid).jpg
| caption       =Portrait by [[Marie-Éléonore Godefroid]]
| birth_date    ={{birth date|1768|02|01|df=y}}
| death_date    ={{death date and age|1828|06|12|1768|02|01|df=y}}
| birth_place   =[[Pondicherry (city)|Pondicherry]], [[French India]]
| death_place   =Paris, France
| allegiance    ={{flag|Kingdom of France}}<br>{{flag|Kingdom of the French}}<br>{{flag|French First Republic}}<br>{{flag|First French Empire}}<br>{{flagdeco|France|1814}} [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon Restoration]]
| branch        =Artillery, staff
| serviceyears  =1786–1828
| rank          =[[List of Marshals of France|Marshal of France]]
| battles       =[[French Revolutionary Wars]]<br>[[Napoleonic Wars]]
| awards        =''[[Legion of Honour|Légion d'Honneur]]''<br>[[Order of Saint-Louis]]
| laterwork     =Diplomat
}}
'''Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law, marquis de Lauriston''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒak alɛksɑ̃dʁ bɛʁnaʁ lo}}; 1 February 1768 – 12 June 1828) was a French soldier and [[diplomat]] of Scottish and [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] descent, and a general officer in the French Army during the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. He was born in [[Pondicherry (city)|Pondicherry]] in [[French India]], where his father, [[Jean Law de Lauriston]], was Governor-General. Jean Law de Lauriston was a nephew of the financier [[John Law (economist)|John Law]]. Jacques' mother was a member of the Carvallho family of Portuguese traders.

[[Lauriston Castle]], in Scotland, was inherited by John Law in 1729. Lauriston is one of the [[names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe]].

==Early career==
Lauriston obtained his first commission about 1786, served with the artillery and on the [[general staff]] during the early campaigns of the [[French Revolution|Revolution]], and became [[brigadier]] of [[artillery]] in 1795. Resigning in 1796, he was brought back into the service in 1800 as ''[[aide-de-camp]]'' to [[Napoleon]], with whom, as a cadet, Lauriston had been on friendly terms. In the years immediately preceding the first empire, Lauriston was, successively, director of the La Fère artillery school and special envoy to Denmark before being selected to convey to England the ratification of the [[Peace of Amiens]] in 1802.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Lauriston, Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law, Marquis de|volume=16|page=287}}</ref>

In 1805, having risen to the rank of [[general of division]], he took part in the war against Austria. He occupied Venice and the [[Republic of Ragusa]] in 1806, was made governor-general of Venice in 1807, took part in the [[Erfurt]] negotiations of 1808, was ennobled as a count, and served with the emperor during the [[Peninsular War]] in Spain (1808–1809), where he commanded the division that besieged and won [[Pamplona]].  He fought under Viceroy [[Eugène de Beauharnais]] at the [[Battle of Raab]] in the Italian campaign and the subsequent advance to Vienna.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Fame and high command==
At the [[Battle of Wagram]] on 6 July 1809, Napoleon ordered Lauriston to form a grand battery to stop the surprise Austrian attack against his left flank. To provide time, the emperor directed General [[Étienne Marie Antoine Champion de Nansouty]]'s heavy cavalry to charge. While Nansouty's cuirassiers and carabiniers sacrificed themselves in futile attacks on the Austrians, Lauriston assembled 112 artillery pieces for his huge battery. He gathered all 60 guns from the [[Imperial Guard (Napoleon I)|Imperial Guard]], 24 guns from General [[Karl Philipp von Wrede]]'s Bavarian division, and 38 pieces from Eugène's Army of Italy. He advanced the batteries into grapeshot range, unlimbered the guns, and opened fire. In the face of this terrific blizzard of lead, the Austrian III ''Armeekorps'' of General [[Johann Kollowrat]] halted and edged back out of the firing range. The barrage allowed time for Napoleon to organize a successful counterattack.<ref>Bowden, Scotty & Tarbox,Charlie. ''Armies on the Danube 1809''. Arlington, Tex.: Empire Games Press, 1980. 132-133</ref>

[[File:Peaceatallcosts.JPG|thumb|250px|[[Napoleon]] and Lauriston in Moscow – an unflattering painting by [[Vasily Vereshchagin]], representing a Russian point of view]]

In 1811, Lauriston was made [[List of Ambassadors of France to Russia|ambassador to Russia]]. In 1812, he held a command in the ''[[Grande Armée]]'' and gained distinction through his firmness in covering the retreat from Moscow. He commanded the [[V Corps (Grande Armée)|V Corps]] at [[Battle of Lützen (1813)|Lützen]] and [[Battle of Bautzen (1813)|Bautzen]] during the [[German Campaign of 1813|German campaign]], but was captured during the disastrous retreat after the [[Battle of Leipzig]] in October 1813.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Lauriston was held as a prisoner of war until the fall of the empire. He then joined King [[Louis XVIII]] of France, to whom he remained faithful during the [[Hundred Days]]. His reward was a seat in the [[Chamber of Peers (France)|Chamber of Peers]] and a command in the [[Royal Guard]].<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1817, he was created a [[marquis]], and became commandant ''supérieur'' of the ''Département du Finistère et de la place de Brest''. In 1823, Lauriston was made a [[Marshal of France]] and he commanded a corps during the [[Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis|Spanish expedition]]. He died of a stroke in Paris on 11 June 1828. The name <small>'''LAURISTON'''</small> is inscribed on Column 13 of the [[Arc de Triomphe]].

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

{{commons category|Jacques Alexandre Law de Lauriston}}

{{Second ministry of Armand-Emmanuel du Plessis de Richelieu}}
{{Ministry of Joseph de Villèle}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lauriston, Jacques}}
[[Category:1768 births]]
[[Category:1828 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Pondicherry]]
[[Category:Government ministers of France]]
[[Category:Members of the Chamber of Peers of the Bourbon Restoration]]
[[Category:French generals]]
[[Category:Marshals of France]]
[[Category:French people of Scottish descent]]
[[Category:French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars]]
[[Category:Order of Saint Louis recipients]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:French invasion of Russia]]
[[Category:French prisoners of war in the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:19th-century French diplomats]]
[[Category:Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:State ministers of France]]
[[Category:French people of Portuguese descent]]
[[Category:Ambassadors of France to the Russian Empire]]
[[Category:Hundred Thousand Sons of Saint Louis]]