Joachim Murat

Murat, Joachim 

Born Mar. 25, 1767, in La Bastide-Fortuniére, now La Bastide-Murat, Lot; died Oct. 13, 1815, in Pizzo, Calabria. French military figure; marshal of France (1804); duke of Berg and Cleves (1806); king of Naples (from 1808). Son of an innkeeper.

Murat enlisted in the cavalry in 1787 and was promoted to officer in 1792. He distinguished himself during the suppression of a royalist mutiny on Oct. 4, 1795, and became an adjutant under Napoleon Bonaparte. Murat was promoted to brigadier general for distinction in the Italian campaign of 1796 and major general for the expedition to Egypt in 1799. As commander of the grenadiers, Murat assisted Bonaparte in his seizure of power on 18 Brumaire (Nov. 9), 1799. In 1800 he married Napoleon’s sister Caroline. Murat fought in all the Napoleonic wars and displayed outstanding abilities in commanding cavalry units and exceptional bravery. In 1808 he cruelly suppressed an uprising in Madrid. After becoming king of Naples, Murat tried to pursue an independent policy, but from 1810 this caused a deterioration in his relations with Napoleon.

In the 1812 campaign in Russia, Murat commanded the 28th Cavalry Corps and was defeated at Tarutino. After Napoleon’s departure for France, he commanded the retreating Napoleonic army. In 1813 he fought in the battles of Dresden and Leipzig. He went, subsequently, to Naples and in January 1814, in an attempt to retain the throne, entered into a secret alliance with Austria and Great Britain, thereby betraying Napoleon. However, at the Congress of Vienna of 1814–15, Murat’s claims received no support, and in the Hundred Days he sided with Napoleon, was defeated in Italy, and escaped to Corsica. Later he landed with a small detachment in Calabria in an attempt to regain the throne but was captured, sentenced by an Austrian court martial, and shot.

REFERENCES

Sukhomlinov, V. A. Miurat Ioakhim—Napoleon korol’ Obeikh Sitsilii. St. Petersburg, 1896.
Gamier, J. P. Murat, roi de Naples. Paris, 1959.
Lucas-Dubreton, J. Murat. Paris, 1944.