Napoleon in 1812

André Masséna was Prince of Essling and Duke of Rivoli.

The quality and quantity of his achievements during the Revolutionary War were evaluated to be next to Napoleon Bonaparte.

In fact, Masséna himself thought that his strategic and tactical abilities were not much inferior to Napoleon’s. Napoleon had heard it from Masséna himself (although it was in a different world) who had been openly speaking about it.

Of course, it was natural that his self-esteem was so high because his ability was excellent. It was not usually difficult to deal with him. But ferocious beasts could not be tamed by humans.

‘The maintenance of the corps is probably just an excuse to delay the launch of the march. He must have been dissatisfied with the fact that his corps was given the most dangerous task in the operation I led.’

The marshals of the Empire, who led independent corps in the Iberian Peninsula, were not given special instructions from France.

They voluntarily supplemented the soldiers of their corps and led their troops as independent military organizations, seeking (plundering) supplies and property on their way. The military operations had been carried out far away from France for a long time, and they became like warlords.

André Masséna, who had a clear vision of the situation and was obsessed with benefits, was even worse. Even the last reins had completely disappeared after Napoleon directly allowed him to autonomously command his corps and the military operations.

Of course that did not mean that André Masséna was a disloyal traitor. Napoleon, who had known him for a long time, knew the true meaning of Masséna’s love and loyalty to France better than anyone. However, Napoleon was not the object of his loyalty. But his will to defeat the coalition forces rebelling against the French order remained unchanged.

‘However, trying to take care of one’s own interests is also a matter of time and place. He has crossed the line I’ve set.’

He may not have been the original Napoleon of this world, but to him, ‘sabotaging the work of the state for his own personal gain’ was not acceptable.

After closing his eyes for a moment in silence, Napoleon opened them, revealing eyes he had never shown since he came to this world.

=

Later, Masséna recalled it like this: ‘A fierce look like an angry lion’… He had been going through all sorts of emergencies and dangerous situations for decades on the battlefields.

But even him, who could not be impressed by any enemy, felt the coolness of the air as if it were freezing when he looked at Napoleon’s eyes at that time.

Napoleon was like a beast. And it was the same for Masséna. Although the Emperor and the commander of the Imperial Army were in a superior-subordinate relationship, they did not attempt to invade each other’s territory. The Emperor respected him as an individual and respected his decisions. Masséna led the army faithfully under him and brought victory. That was how the Emperor and Masséna continued their relationship.

However, the Emperor had to invade his territory first.

‘You marched from Zaragoza to Guadalajara (a city in front of Madrid) to Burgos? Even if you had to avoid being detected by the coalition, it should have taken you 13 days at most?’

When he first accepted the Emperor’s order, Masséna was beyond belief.

He did not doubt the utility of the operation. In his view, this was fatal enough to destroy Wellesley’s Corps if it was done right. The problem was the mission and location of his own corps in this operation.

‘We’re tasked with the most dangerous and arduous mission. But we will be in a position that won’t get much fame or profit.’

Since ancient times, the unit that played the most decisive role in winning or losing battles had been regarded as the main character. Since he would be playing the role of raiding the enemy’s rear during the fierce battle, then the Masséna Corps would have a chance of being the main character.

With his troops, he had to march from Zaragoza to Burgos, but had to pretend to go to Madrid and then move north to deceive the Allies’ eyes. Of course, the distance of the march inevitably increased dramatically.

It should have taken them 13 days or so. But by doing so, his troops would have been exhausted from the march and would not have been able to play their role properly. Another one of Masséna’s complaints was that there were no cities or rich villages for his troops to rob on their way. (Because of his tendency to live a debauchery life, Masséna carried out brutal looting on every battlefield.)

‘He’s going to use my corps as a thorough supporting role! I don’t think I’ve ever done anything that would make the Emperor hate me!…’

With his own reasoning and instinctive senses, Masséna was able to see what role his corps would have played in the operation. That would have been to stop Wellesley’s Corps from retreating. Just this one thing. He was dissatisfied by the fact that they would have to go through really hard work for this mission and would not have earned any money or fame.

He showed his dissatisfaction with the operation itself and the way it was handled by preparing and moving his corps slowly.

If the Emperor had been the same as before, he would have noticed these signs and would have told him to do something else, or would have change the strategy altogether. But the Emperor had sent him a reminder and had ordered the operation to continue, and Masséna was now in Burgos’ command headquarters in anticipation of a reward.

But…

It did not take him long to realize that something was wrong by looking at the Emperor staring at him with eyes, facial expressions and atmosphere that he had never seen before. As Masséna was rather startled by a sight that he had never seen before, the Emperor opened his mouth.

“There’s nothing else to do if you really want to continue this battle of truth with me until the end. Marshal Davout!”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

As Louis Nicolas Davout answered quickly, the Emperor ordered in a cold tone.

“Start with the staff officers of the Masséna Corps, and bring all the lower-ranking officers and non-commissioned officers to the training ground in the village of La Buena!”

Recognizing the true meaning of his words, Masséna raised his head.

The Emperor glared at Masséna and continued.

“I’m going to confront each and every one of them personally and reveal the facts very carefully and meticulously. We are at war on the Iberian Peninsula? But there’s a corps in the Imperial Army that is suspected of thinking otherwise, or that war is not a big thing? I don’t need such thing at all! I will definitely be back in the war after I’ve covered up all this!”

“…”

Masséna could not hide his embarrassment anymore.

He had not thought that the Emperor would come out so tough. Why on earth would he do this? No way…

‘Is he trying to get rid of me? The Emperor?’

Now it was the other marshals except Masséna who tried to neutralize this extreme situation.

“Your, Your Majesty! Please calm down! His troops ran 500 kilometers hiding from the Allies’ eyes and came all the way here. The Prince of Essling has made a shameful mistake, but he should not be punished to this extend after such hard work.”

“There must have been some unavoidable circumstances. There’s no doubt about the loyalty of Marshal Masséna to the Empire, is there? Please reconsider it!”

“Prince of Essling, apologize to His Majesty quickly! The mistakes and laziness of the Prince almost left a major stain on the Imperial Army’s military operations!”

They tried to appease the Emperor and urged Masséna to apologize.

The situation itself was very unpleasant for Masséna, but there was nothing he could do as the pressure from the marshals continued to increase.

“…I was so conceited and obnoxious that I committed a great disrespect to His Majesty. Please forgive me.”

=

“His Majesty has ‘really’ changed a lot since I last saw him.”

Berthier nodded with a bitter smile at all the negative emotions expressed in André Masséna’s words and tone. After eventually bowing to the Emperor, Masséna suffered a great blow to his pride. Although he expressed strong dissatisfaction, he did not cross the last line at the end, but approached Berthier and secretly inquired why the Emperor had changed.

This was the difference between André Masséna and Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, who had been at odds with the Emperor and was now completely an enemy. Masséna knew how to step down.

Berthier had the highest military rank among the 26 marshals of the Empire chosen by Napoleon. There were older marshals, such as François Christophe Kellermann and Jean Mathieu Philibert Sérurier^[1], but they were now working hard to train recruits and officers from the rear.

There were also marshals with a higher political rank than Berthier’s, such as Joachim Murat and Józef Antoni Poniatowski who were kings.^[2] Nevertheless, Berthier had always been seen one level above the other marshals.

It was because he was the chief of staff of the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Berthier was the closest assistant of the Emperor whenever he entered the battle himself, and therefore was in a position to speak directly to the Emperor.

“The Prince of Essling stayed on the peninsula, so you probably didn’t know it until now… That’s right. His Majesty has changed a lot.”

How could he express the dynamic transformation that the Emperor had shown so far in one word?

Berthier was only tilting his head.

“Why do you seem to really like the Emperor’s new personality?”

“Because I actually do. But I don’t think the Prince of Essling does.”

The two men’s eyes met tensely in the air.

Among the 26 pillars supporting the French Imperial Army, the 26 marshals were different in their tendencies and values.

Some were blindly loyal to the Emperor, such as Bessières, Perrin, Davout, Soult and Mortier, others were centrist, such as Berthier, Moncey and Jourdan, and others followed the Emperor for their personal gain and fame, such as Murat, Masséna and Oudinot.^[3]

He had some idea why Masséna came to him, but… he did not feel the same way. Napoleon Bonaparte was now a leader whom many French soldiers, including him, could really trust and follow.

“Do you think His Majesty is trying to tame the Prince of Essling?”

“I can’t deny it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have given these insults and persecutions in front of his former comrades, would he?”

“Surely… the Prince must have felt that way. But I’d like to ask you a question on a more fundamental level.”

“I’m listening.”

Berthier continued to talk to Masséna, who crossed his legs and leaned his back against the chair.

“So far, the corps on the peninsula, including the one of the Prince, have not been fully loyal to their homeland. Rather, it looks like they think of orders as transactions and always expect rewards for executing them.”

“…Chief of Staff, what are you saying now!…”

“Listen to me. I’m not trying to speak ill of the commanders on the Iberian Peninsula, including the Prince.”

For some time now, the French corps on the peninsula had been moving for the interests of the troops instead of following the strategies that were best for France. When Fort Badajoz was in critical condition, their defenders asked various corps on the peninsula, including the Masséna Corps, for help.

The fortress of Badajoz, located between Seville and Madrid, was one of the key points on the peninsula that France should not lose. But the troops on the peninsula were busy looting other cities, so no one sent reinforcements. Eventually, Fort Badajoz fell and allowed the coalition to move to Madrid.

“Rather than a regular army of the great Empire… Doesn’t it look like the attitude of mercenaries?”

“…”

“I’m sure the Prince knows that His Majesty is good at political maneuvering. Perhaps this means that he will no longer allow the army members to act like warlords and mercenaries.”

Masséna listened to Berthier with a serious look on his face, and then left.

“Thank you for the coffee. I’ll see you later.”

Berthier murmured with a light sigh as he looked at where Masséna had left.

“I did as His Majesty instructed me to do. But I don’t know if these words will help soothe Masséna’s dissatisfaction.”

Berthier was a chief of staff with excellent strategic abilities, but he was not very talented in communication and with human relations.

All of this had been directed by the Emperor himself. Before Masséna came to visit him, the Emperor had called Berthier separately and had said:

‘The only marshal in Burgos that Masséna can call separately to complain about this situation is you. So I’d like to convey my message to Masséna through you… Do you mind?’

Berthier did not object to it. He could not refuse.

The comparison of Masséna’s troops to mercenaries was also exactly what the Emperor had told him to do.

[1] François Christophe Kellermann, Jean Mathieu Philibert Sérurier

[2] Joachim Murat was King of Naples and Józef Antoni Poniatowski was King of Poland (in the novel).

[3] For more information about the Marshals of the Empire: wiki

Berthier (painting by Andrea Appiani) and Masséna (painting by Flavie Renault):