Editing Charles XIV John (section)

==Revolutionary Wars==
[[File:Jean-Baptiste-Jules Bernadotte, lieutenant au 36e régiment de ligne en 1792 (1764-1844).jpg|thumb|Bernadotte during the [[French Revolution]]]]
Following the outbreak of the [[French Revolution]], his eminent military qualities brought him speedy promotion.{{sfnp|Bain|1911|p=931}} Bernadotte's promotions came both from the esteem of his commanders as well as from his men; having been elected to the rank of lieutenant colonel and colonel by his men, though he refused both nominations in favor of traditional advancement.{{sfnp|Barton|1914|pp=50–52, 70–71}}

It was during this period of rapid advancement that the military qualities he became known for, daring assaults and [[wiktionary:gasconade|gasconades]], came to the fore. Of the latter, Bernadotte was gifted in his ability to inspire his men to prodigious feats of valor. He has been compared by historians to fellow Gascon, D'Artagnan.  One of his biographers asserts{{sfnp|Barton|1930}} that Dumas used Bernadotte as the model for his D'Artagnan. As Colonel and commander of the 71st Demi-Brigade, Bernadotte rallied his men, who were retreating in disorder before an [[Habsburg monarchy|Austrian]] attack, by tearing off his epaulettes, throwing them to the ground before his men and shouting “If you dishonor yourselves by flight, I refuse to remain your colonel!” Soldiers left the ranks, gathered his epaulettes, pressed them into his hands, formed ranks and reformed the line and counter-attacked.{{sfnp|Barton|1914|pp=76–77}}

By 1794 he was promoted to brigadier, attached to the [[Army of Sambre-et-Meuse]].{{sfnp|Bain|1911|p=931}} After [[Jean-Baptiste Jourdan|Jourdan]]'s victory at [[Battle of Fleurus (1794)|Fleurus]] (26 June 1794), where he distinguished himself with a decisive attack and seizure of key terrain that led to the Austrian retreat, he became a divisional general.{{sfnp|Barton|1914|pp=92–94}}

Bernadotte played key roles throughout the next 18 months during the three French invasions into Germany; often employed in the place of honor during offensives leading the vanguard, and in retreat as a defensive specialist commanding the rearguard.{{sfnp|Barton|1914|pp=98–101}}

At the [[Battle of Theiningen]] (1796), where the Austrians outnumbered the French three to one,{{sfnp|Barton|1914|pp=110–114}} Bernadotte's rear-guard successfully repulsed numerous attacks while inflicting heavy losses on the enemy, preventing the [[Archduke Charles]] from cutting off the retreat of the French army over the [[Rhine]] after its defeat by the Austrians at the [[Battle of Würzburg]].{{sfnp|Barton|1914|pp=110–114}}

At the beginning of 1797 he was ordered by the [[French Directory|Directory]] to march with 20,000 men as reinforcements to [[Napoleon Bonaparte]]'s army in Italy.{{sfnp|Ripley|Dana|1879|p=571}} His successful crossing of the Alps through the storm in midwinter was highly praised but coldly received by the [[Army of Italy (France)|Army of Italy]].{{sfnp|Barton|1930|p=42}}{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|p=42}} Upon receiving insult from [[Dominique Martin Dupuy]], the commander of [[Milan]], Bernadotte was to arrest him for insubordination.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|pp=42–43}} Dupuy was a close friend of [[Louis-Alexandre Berthier]] and this started a long-lasting feud between Bernadotte and Berthier, who would become Napoleon's chief of staff.{{sfnp|Barton|1930|p=44}}

He had his first interview with Napoleon in [[Mantua]] and was appointed the commander of the 4th division.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|p=43}} During the invasion of [[Friuli]] and [[Istria]], Bernadotte distinguished himself greatly at the passage of the [[Tagliamento]] where he led the vanguard, and at the capture of the fortress of [[Gradisca d'Isonzo|Gradisca]] (19 March 1797).{{sfnp|Ripley|Dana|1879|p=571}} After the [[Coup of 18 Fructidor|18th Fructidor]], Napoleon ordered his generals to collect from their respective divisions' addresses in favor of the coup d'état of that day; but Bernadotte sent an address to the Directory different from that which Napoleon wished for and without conveying it through Napoleon's hands.{{sfnp|Ripley|Dana|1879|p=571}}

After the [[Treaty of Campo Formio]], Napoleon gave Bernadotte a friendly visit at his headquarters at [[Udine]], but immediately after deprived him of half his division of the army of the Rhine, and commanded him to march the other half back to France.{{sfnp|Ripley|Dana|1879|p=571}} [[Paul Barras]], one of five directors, was cautious that Napoleon would overturn the Republic, so he appointed Bernadotte commander-in-chief of the Army of Italy in order to offset Napoleon's power.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|pp=60–61}} Bernadotte was pleased with this appointment but Napoleon lobbied [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord|Talleyrand-Périgord]], the [[Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (France)|Minister of Foreign Affairs]], to appoint him to the embassy of [[Vienna]] instead.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|p=61}} Bernadotte was very dissatisfied; he finally accepted the post in Vienna, but had to quit owing to the disturbances caused by his hoisting the [[Flag of France|tricolour]] over the embassy.{{sfnp|Bain|1911|p=931}}{{sfnp|Ripley|Dana|1879|p=571}}

[[File:Carl XIV John of Sweden & Norway as French Marshall bust 2010 Pau.jpg|thumb|Bust of a young Bernadotte at the Bernadotte Museum in [[Pau, Pyrénées-Atlantiques|Pau]], France]]
After returning from Vienna, he resided in Paris. He married [[Désirée Clary]] in August 1798, the daughter of a Marseilles merchant, and once engaged to Napoleon, and [[Joseph Bonaparte]]'s sister-in-law.{{sfnp|Ripley|Dana|1879|p=571}} In November of the same year he was made commander of the army of observation on the upper Rhine. Although solicited to do so by Barras and Joseph Bonaparte, he did not take part in [[Coup of 30 Prairial VII|the coup d'état of the 30th Prairial]].{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|p=84}} From 2 July to 14 September he was Minister of War, in which capacity he displayed great ability.{{sfnp|Ripley|Dana|1879|p=571}} His popularity and contacts with radical [[Jacobins]] aroused antipathy of him in the government.{{sfnp|Palmer|1990|p=88}} On the morning of 13 September he found his resignation announced in ''[[Le Moniteur Universel]]'' before he was aware that he had tendered it. This was a trick; played upon him by [[Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès|Sieyès]] and [[Roger Ducos]], the directors allied to Napoleon.{{sfnp|Ripley|Dana|1879|p=571}}

Though Bernadotte declined to help Napoleon Bonaparte stage his [[Coup of 18 Brumaire|''coup d'état'' of November 1799]], Napoleon was resolved to win over the "Obstacle Man" and showered him with honors. Napoleon acknowledged Bernadotte's administrative ability and influence by naming him a [[Conseil d'État (France)|Councillor of State]] in February 1800. In April 1800, despite his republican sympathies, Bernadotte was offered, and freely accepted, from April 1800 to 18 August 1801, the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the West in the rebellious [[Vendée]] where he successfully restored its tranquility.{{sfnp|Bain|1911|p=931}}{{sfnp|Ripley|Dana|1879|p=571}} This was seen as an appointment of trust as while Napoleon embarked on his summer Italian Campaign, where he ultimately prevailed at the [[Battle of Marengo]], he left Bernadotte not far from Paris with an army. In his farewell note to Bernadotte on his way to Italy, Napoleon wrote: "I am going to fling myself once more into the hazards of war. We do not know how it may turn out. If I fall, you will find yourself with 40,000 men at the gates of Paris. In your hands will be the fate of the Republic." As Bernadotte was brother-in-law to Joseph and close friends with his other brothers and sisters, Napoleon is thought to have been considering the welfare of his family in the possible event of his death on the battlefield, as well as the future of the country, by leaving his erstwhile rival in a position to seize the reins of government as, of his former rivals, only Bernadotte had the political and military skill and popularity to maintain the Republic.{{sfnp|Barton|1930|pp=14–19}}

In 1802, Napoleon Bonaparte proposed that Bernadotte head to New France to serve as governor of [[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]], which was to be transferred back to French control following the [[Third Treaty of San Ildefonso]]. In accepting the position, Bernadotte requested additional soldiers, settlers, and funding to support the colony, but Napoleon refused. In response, Bernadotte, declined the posting and instead was named plenipotentiary ambassador to the United States. His posting was cancelled after the [[Louisiana Purchase|Sale of Louisiana]].<ref>{{cite conference | url = https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00974220/document | title = Bernadotte, Bonaparte, and Louisiana: the last dream of a French Empire in North America | first = Jean-Marc | last = Olivier | date = 2010 | editor-last = Belaubre | editor-first = Christope | editor2-last = Dym | editor2-first = Jordana | editor3-last = Savage | editor3-first = John | book-title = Napoleon's Atlantic: The Impact of Napoleonic Empire in the Atlantic World | publisher = Brill | location = Leiden, Netherlands | pages = 141–150 | format = PDF | isbn = 978-9004181540 | access-date = 11 November 2018 | archive-date = 12 November 2018 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20181112101308/https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00974220/document | url-status = live }}</ref>