Editing Adolphe Niel

{{One source|date=February 2012}}

{{Infobox military person
|name=Adolphe Niel
|image=Adolphe_Niel.jpg
|caption=
|birth_date={{birth-date|4 October 1802|4 October 1802}} 
|death_date={{death-date|13 August 1869|13 August 1869}} (aged 66)
|birth_place=[[Muret]], France
|death_place=Paris, France
|nickname=
|allegiance=France
|branch=[[French Army]]
|serviceyears=1827–1869
|rank=[[Marshal of France]]
|unit=
|commands=IV Corps, Army of Italy
|battles=[[Crimean War]]<br/>[[Second Italian War of Independence|Franco-Austrian War]]
|awards=[[Légion d'honneur|Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor]]<br/>[[Médaille militaire]]
|relations=
|laterwork=[[Minister of Defence (France)|Minister of War]]
}}

'''Adolphe Niel''' (4 October 1802{{snd}}13 August 1869) was a [[French Army]] general and [[Politician|statesman]].

==Biography==
He was born at [[Muret]], Haute-Garonne and entered the [[École Polytechnique]] in 1821. Niel entered the engineer school at [[Metz]], became lieutenant in the Engineers Corps in 1827, and captain in 1833. He fought in the [[French conquest of Algeria]], participating in the [[Siege of Constantine|storming of Constantine]]. There Niel led the engineer detachment with one of the storming parties, and his conduct gained for him the rank of ''chef de bataillon'' in 1837. Niel was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1840 and to colonel in 1846. His next war service was as chief of staff to General [[Jean-Baptiste Philibert Vaillant|Vaillant]] during the 1849 siege of Rome, after which he was made general of brigade and director of engineer services at headquarters.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Niel, Adolphe|volume=19|page=670}}</ref>

In 1851, Niel became a member of the Committee of Fortifications. He became a member of the council of state in 1852 and in 1853 was promoted to [[general of division]]. In the first part of the [[Crimean War]], Niel was employed in the expedition to the [[Baltic Sea]] and directed engineering operations against [[Battle of Bomarsund|Bomarsund]]. Early in 1855 Niel was sent to the [[Crimean Peninsula|Crimea]], where he succeeded General Michel Bizot as chief of engineers. For some years Niel had been the most trusted military adviser of [[Napoleon III of France|Napoleon III]], and he was now empowered to advise the generals on the spot in accordance with the wishes of the sovereign and the home government.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Niel managed to carry out this delicate and difficult task with as much success as could be expected, and he directed siege operations at the [[Battle of Malakoff]]. His reward was the grand cross of the ''[[Légion d'honneur]]''. From 1855 to 1859 Niel was employed at headquarters and also served in the [[French Senate]]. In the war against the [[Austria]]ns, Niel commanded the [[IV Corps (France)|IV Corps]] and took part in the [[Battle of Magenta]] and the [[Battle of Solferino]]. Niel was made a marshal of France on the field at Solferino.<ref name="EB1911"/>

After he served for some years in a home command, Niel became [[Minister of Defence (France)|minister of war]] and held the position from 1867 to 1869. In this capacity he drafted and began to carry out a far-reaching scheme of army reform, based on universal service and the automatic creation of large reserves which needed only time to mature.<ref name="EB1911"/> Under his system, those men who had purchased exemption from [[conscription]] into the army would nonetheless be called up into a new service, the [[Garde Mobile]]. He also was able to rearm the whole of the army with the ''[[chassepot]]'' rifle, but not the Garde Mobile. He did not live to complete the development of his system.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Niel died in Paris during an operation for a bladder stone, and a year later the [[Franco-Prussian War]] destroyed the old imperial army upon which the new formations were to have been grafted.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Decorations==
*''[[Légion d'honneur]]''
**Knight (21 October 1838)
**Officer (17 March 1845)
**Commander (10 May 1852)
**Grand Officer (28 August 1854)
**Grand Cross (22 September 1855)
*[[Médaille militaire]] (4 July 1859)
*Honorary Companion of the [[Order of the Bath]] (UK)
*Honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (UK, 3 January 1856)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Shaw |first1=William Arthur |title=The Knights of England: A Complete Record from the Earliest Time to the Present Day |date=1970 |publisher=Genealogical Publishing Com |isbn=9780806304434 |page=241 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l4xUsPyL6koC&q=Adolphe+Niel+Honorary&pg=PA241 |accessdate=21 May 2019 |language=en}}</ref>
*[[Crimea Medal]] (UK)
*[[Baltic Medal]] (UK)
*Grand Cross of the [[Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]] (Sardinia)

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-bef|before= [[Jacques Louis Randon]]}} 
{{s-ttl|title=[[Minister of Defence (France)|Minister of War]]|years=20 January 1867{{snd}}13 August 1869}} 
{{s-aft|after=[[Charles Rigault de Genouilly]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Third Cabinet of Napoleon III}}
{{Fourth Cabinet of Napoleon III}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Niel, Adolphe}}
[[Category:1802 births]]
[[Category:1869 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Muret]]
[[Category:Bonapartists]]
[[Category:Ministers of war of France]]
[[Category:French senators of the Second Empire]]
[[Category:Marshals of France]]
[[Category:École Polytechnique alumni]]
[[Category:French military engineers]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the Crimean War]]
[[Category:Honorary Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus]]
[[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Gregory the Great]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of the Medjidie]]