Editing Antoine Drouot

{{Short description|French officer (1774–1847)}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [[Count]]
| name          = Antoine Drouot
| image = Image:General Antoine Drouot.jpg
| caption = Portrait by [[François-Séraphin Delpech]], {{Circa}} 1833
| office1 = [[Principality of Elba|Governor of the Principality of Elba]]
| term_start1 = 11 April 1814
| term_end1            =  26 February 1815
| predecessor1         = ''Position established''
| successor1           = ''Position abolished''
| monarch1 = [[Napoleon I]]
| birth_date    = {{birth-date|11 January 1774}}
| birth_place   = [[Nancy, France|Nancy]], [[Grand Est]], [[Kingdom of France]]
| death_date    = {{death-date and age|24 March 1847|11 January 1774}}
| allegiance    = {{flag|First French Republic}}<br>{{flag|First French Empire}}
| branch        = {{army|FR}}
| serviceyears  = 1793–1815
| rank          = [[Divisional general| Général de division]]
| commands      = 
| battles       = {{tree list}}
* '''[[French Revolutionary Wars]]'''
** [[Battle of Hohenlinden]]
* '''[[Napoleonic Wars]]'''
** [[Battle of Trafalgar]]
** [[Battle of Wagram]]
** [[Battle of Borodino]]
** [[Battle of Lützen (1813)|Battle of Lützen]]
** [[Battle of Bautzen (1813)|Battle of Bautzen]]
** [[Battle of Waterloo]]
{{tree list/end}}
| awards  = [[Légion d'Honneur]]
}}
General '''Antoine Drouot, Comte Drout''' (11 January 1774 – 24 March 1847) was a French officer who fought in the [[French Revolutionary Wars|French Revolutionary]] and [[Napoleonic Wars]].{{sfn|Héquet|1855||p=802}}

Drouot is one of a select group who were present at both the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] (1805) and the [[Battle of Waterloo]] (1815).{{sfn|Summerville|2007|p=121}}{{efn|Accompanying Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo was, General [[Miguel Ricardo de Álava y Esquivel|Álava]] the Spanish ambassador to the Netherlands who had fought against the [[Royal Navy]] at Trafalgar,{{sfn|Summerville|2007|p=5}} and at least one battalion of French soldiers present at Waterloo had served as marines at Trafalgar.{{sfn|Cornwell|2015|p=42}} }} Deouot's [[Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe|name is inscribed]] on the western pillar under the [[Arc de Triomphe]].

==Biography==
Born in [[Nancy, France]],{{sfn|Thomas|1892|p=791}} the son of a baker,{{sfn|Héquet|1855|p=802}} Drouot trained as an artilleryman and took part in the battles of the [[French Revolution]] where he rose through the ranks and was a captain of artillery at the [[Battle of Hohenlinden]] in 1800.{{sfn|Thomas|1892|p=791}}

Later he had an illustrious career in the many [[Napoleonic Wars|battles of the Empire]], notably, [[Battle of Wagram|Wagram]] (1809) and [[Battle of Borodino|Borodino]] (1812). For his conduct at the battles of [[Battle of Lützen (1813)|Lützen]], [[Battle of Bautzen (1813)|Bautzen]] in 1813, where he commanded the artillery of the Imperial Guard, he was made a [[general of division]] and [[aide-de-camp]] to the Emperor [[Napoleon]].{{sfn|Thomas|1892|p=791}}

Drouot was with Napoleon during his exile to the island of [[Elba]] (1814–1815), who made him governor of the island.{{sfn|Thomas|1892|p=791}} He accompanied Napoleon back to France in 1815 and was with him at the start of the [[Hundred Days]]. He was with the Imperial Guard for the [[Waterloo Campaign]],{{sfn|Thomas|1892|p=791}} and on the eve of the [[Battle of Waterloo]] he took command of the Imperial Guard when [[Marshal Mortier]] who would generally assume command fell ill with [[sciatica]],{{sfn|Summerville|2007|p=122}} He was with Napoleon when at the end of the battle just before the rout when Napoleon briefly took command of a square of grenadier Guards, near [[Decoster's house]], and left the field with Napoleon. Later in the campaign (after [[Abdication of Napoleon, 1815|Napoleon had abdicated for the second time]]), he was commandant of the Imperial Guard in Paris.{{sfn|Thomas|1892|p=791}}

After the [[Waterloo Campaign: Waterloo to Paris (2–7 July)#Formal surrender of Paris|surrender of Paris]] and the restoration of King [[Louis XVIII]], Drouot stood trial for treason in which he defended himself skilfully. He was acquitted and granted a state pension. In his retirement he did what he could for the veterans of the Imperial Guard and died in 1847.{{sfn|Summerville|2007|p=123}}

==Assessment==
[[File:Arc_de_Triomphe_mg_6847.jpg|thumb|Western Pillars of the [[Arc de Triomphe]].]]

In his biography in ''[[Nouvelle Biographie Générale]]'' Ch. Héquet wrote "France was astonished in 1814 to learn, that she had possessed for a long time the best officer of artillery in Europe".{{sfn|Thomas|1892|p=791}}{{sfn|Héquet|1855|p=802}} Napoleon called Drouot ''le Sage de la Grande Armée'' (the sage of the Grand Army).{{sfn|Thomas|1892|p=791}}

Drouot is one of a select group who were present at both the [[Battle of Trafalgar]] (1805) and the [[Battle of Waterloo]] (1815).{{sfn|Summerville|2007|p=121}}{{efn|Accompanying Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo was, General [[Miguel Ricardo de Álava y Esquivel|Álava]] the Spanish ambassador to the Netherlands who had fought against the [[Royal Navy]] at Trafalgar,{{sfn|Summerville|2007|p=5}} and at least one battalion of French soldiers present at Waterloo had served as marines at Trafalgar.{{sfn|Cornwell|2015|p=42}} }} 

Drouot's [[Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe|name is inscribed]] on the western pillar under the [[Arc de Triomphe]].

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist|30em}}

==References==
*{{citation|last=Cornwell|first=Bernard|title=Waterloo: The History of Four Days, Three Armies and Three Battles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z6N3CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT42|date=23 February 2015|publisher=Lulu.com|isbn=978-1-312-92522-9|page=42}}
*{{citation |last=Héquet |first=Ch. (de Nancy) |year=1855 |title=Drouot |editor-first=Ferdinand |editor-last=Hoefer |editor-link=Ferdinand Hoefer |encyclopedia=[[Nouvelle Biographie Générale]] |volume=9 |location=Paris |pages=[https://archive.org/stream/nouvellebiograph14hoef#page/n410/mode/1up 802]–803 |language=fr}}
*{{citation |last=Summerville |first=Christopher J. |chapter=Alava |year=2007|title=Who was who at Waterloo: A Biography of the Battle |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=q_cXSrh0C_IC&pg=PA4 |publisher=Longman |isbn=978-0-582-78405-5 |pages=5, 121–123}}

'''Attribution'''
*{{Citation |last=Thomas |first=Joseph |year=1892 |title=Universal pronouncing dictionary of biography and mythology (Aa, van der – Hyperius)|volume=1|location=Philadelphia |publisher=J.B. Lippincott |page=[https://archive.org/stream/universaldict01thomrich#page/791/mode/1up 791] |url=https://archive.org/details/universaldict01thomrich}} Endnotes:
** J Nollet-Fabert (1850),''Biographic du Général Drouot'';
**Henri Le Page(1847), ''Le Général Drouot'';
**Lacoruaire (1847), ''E'oge du Général Drouot''.

==External links==
* [http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/artillery_Napoleon.html French Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Drouot, Antoine}}
[[Category:1774 births]]
[[Category:1847 deaths]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:French generals]]
[[Category:French military personnel of the French Revolutionary Wars]]
[[Category:Peace commissioners of the French Provisional Government of 1815]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Nancy, France]]
[[Category:Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe]]
[[Category:People of the Battle of Waterloo]]