Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult 1812 1st Duc de Dalmatie 29 March 1769 26 November 1851 Hand of Iron French general statesman Empire
Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult, 1st Duc de Dalmatie (29 March 1769 - 26 November 1851), the Hand of Iron, was a French general and statesman, named Marshal of the Empire in 1804. He was one of only six officers in French history to receive the distinction of Marshal General of France. He also served as Prime Minister of France three times. In 1812, after the Duke of Wellington's great victory of Salamanca, he was obliged to evacuate Andalusia. In the subsequent Siege of Burgos campaign, Soult was able to drive Wellington's Anglo-Allied army back to Salamanca. There, Soult failed to attack Wellington despite a 80,000 to 65,000 superiority of numbers, and the British army retired to the Portuguese frontier. Soon after, he was recalled from Spain at the request of Joseph Bonaparte, with whom, as with the other marshals, he had always disagreed. In March 1813 he assumed the command of IV Corps of the Grande Armée and commanded the centre at Lützen and Bautzen, but he was soon sent, with unlimited powers, to the South of France to repair the damage done by the great defeat of Vitoria. His campaign there is the finest proof of his talents as a general, although he was repeatedly defeated by the Allies under Wellington, for his soldiers were but raw conscripts, while the Allies were the veterans of many campaigns. His last offensives into Spain were turned back by Wellington in the Battle of the Pyrenees (Sorauren) and by Freire's Spaniards at San Marcial. Pursued onto French soil, Soult was maneuvered out of several positions at Nivelle, Nive, and Orthez, before dealing Wellington a final bloody blow at Toulouse.
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