Chronology              Picture                         Trattato di Casa Lanza

 Gioacchino Murat

Grand Duke of Clévers-Berg, King of Naples,
Marshal of the Empire

Born in Bastide-Fortunière in 1767, son of an innkeeper, Murat entered the seminary that leaves in the February of 1787; for three years it is a landlord up to 1790 when it is enlisted in the Chasseurs à Cheval, becoming part of the Constitutional Guard of Louis XVI. When the corps was disbanded in 1792, here enlisted, rapidly becoming an official, in the army of the eastern Pyrenees. The 4^th of October 1795, Chef d'Escaadron in the Chasseurs à Cheval, he assisted Bonapart in the repressing the realistic uprising in Paris. He follows Napoleon to Italy (1796-97) and Egypt (1798) where July 1798 he fought in the battles of Alexandria (2) and the Pyramids (21 July 1798). With the rank of general de division he participated in the expedition to Syria, and was instrumental in the victories at Nazareth and Abukir (25). He played an important role in the Coup d'Etat of 9th of November 1799. He married Napoleon's sister, Carolina, in the February of 1800. Commander in Chief of the cavalry at the battle of Marengo, and during 2^nd Italian campaign, he became Governor of the Cisalpine Republic, then Governor of Paris. In 1804 Marshal of the empire, Grand Duke of Cléves and of Berg (1806); commander of the cavalry reserve, he played a decisive role in the campaigns of 1805, 1806, 1807, (where he personally led the charge at Eylau) and in the invasion of Spain. In 1808 he became King of Naples. Commander of the cavalry of the Grand Armèe of 1812 and 1813 the took part in the German campaign at Dresden, Wachau and Lipsia. In January of 1814 it abandoned Napoleon's cause, signed a treaty with the allies and marched against the troops of prince Eugene de Beauharnais. In 1815 he returned to Napoleon, but was defeated by the Austrians (2 May 1815) at Tolentino. Having taken refuge in Corsica, he attempted a landing in Calabria, where he was captured and executed on the 13^th of October 1815.