The Memoirs of Duke of Rovigo Vol. IV

As the tide of the French revolution swept away the noble privileges that had dominated the upper echelons of French society; many of high birth fled the country and deserted posts in the army and navy. Some officers stayed despite the danger in the face of revolutionary zealots, including both Napoleon and Anne-Jean-Marie-René Savary, the future general and Minister of Police, loyal to the state and sniffing advancement. Savary enlisted as a volunteer and was posted to the armies fighting along the Sambre and Meuse rivers and then along the Rhine, his distinguished services led him to be nominated as an aide-de-camp of General Louis Desaix. Desaix was known as a shrewd judge of characters both of men and of soldiers, and he took his aide-de-camp with him on the Egyptian expedition that was to be led by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte. It was here in the sands of the desert that Savary met the man he would serve faithfully for the next 17 years in the almost unbroken conflict that scarred Europe.

On his return from the less than successful Egyptian Campaign, he served admirably with his old commander Desaix during the Italian Campaign in 1800 culminating in the battle of Marengo and with the death of his patron Desaix. Napoleon struck by the obvious abilities of Savary and also by his loyalty to his fallen commander decided to take him into his confidence and appointed him to the post of head of his bodyguard within the Consular Guard. The debacle of the kidnapping and execution of the Duc D’Enghien cast a cloud over many involved, but not Savary who was promoted to Général de Division in 1805 shortly before the Austerlitz campaign. Once again he displayed great gallantry and courage during the fighting, but Napoleon saw that his abilities were also of use away from the field, and started to use him as a diplomat upon who he could always rely. After further missions, particularly in intrigues in Spain, Savary was handed the portfolio of the Ministry of Police in 1810, he discharged his duties with a zeal that would not have been out of place in the Spanish Inquisition. However he was at fault during the attempted coup d’état of General Malet in 1812 whilst the Grande Armée was struggling through the snows of Russia. He served on as a faithful servant of Napoleon until the bitter end after Waterloo in 1815, and was considered dangerous enough to be refused permission to go the Elba with his former master.

The Fourth and concluding volume covers the fall of Paris in 1814 and Napoleon’s first abdication, the Hundred Days campaign and Napoleon’s final fall from power in 1815.