Napoleon & Empire

Great Officers

The Great Officers of the Empire include Marshals, Inspectors general and Colonels general. They bear the title of Excellency.

Marshals

The title of Marshal is civilian, not military. It gives its holders the fifth rank in the imperial hierarchy behind the Emperor and Empress, the Imperial family, the Dignitaries and the Ministers.

Theoretically, the number of active marshals must not exceed sixteen. The rule will be respected. Lannes dies in 1809; the same year, Berthier, Murat and Jourdan abandon their title; Bernadotte mimics them in 1810; Bessieres and Poniatowski disappear in 1813.

View the slideshow of portraits of Napoleon's marshals.

May 19, 1804 : Alexandre Berthier
May 19, 1804 : Joachim Murat
May 19, 1804 : Bon Adrien Jannot de Moncey
May 19, 1804 : Jean-Baptiste Jourdan
May 19, 1804 : André Masséna
May 19, 1804 : Charles Pierre François Augereau
May 19, 1804 : Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte
May 19, 1804 : Jean de Dieu Soult
May 19, 1804 : Guillaume Marie-Anne Brune
May 19, 1804 : Jean Lannes
May 19, 1804 : Adolphe Édouard Casimir Joseph Mortier
May 19, 1804 : Michel Ney
May 19, 1804 : Louis-Nicolas Davout
May 19, 1804 : Jean Baptiste Bessières
May 19, 1804 : François Etienne Christophe Kellermann
May 19, 1804 : François Joseph Lefebvre
May 19, 1804 : Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon
May 19, 1804 : Jean-Mathieu Philibert Sérurier
July 19, 1807 : Claude Victor Perrin dit Victor
July 12, 1809 : Étienne Jacques Joseph Alexandre Macdonald
July 12, 1809 : Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont
July 12, 1809 : Nicolas Charles Oudinot
July 8, 1811 : Louis-Gabriel Suchet
August 27, 1812 : Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr
October 16, 1813 : Józef Antoni Poniatowski
April 15, 1815 : Emmanuel de Grouchy

Inspectors General

Inspectors General are seven in number: three Generals and two then four Admirals.

First Inspector General of Artillery

January 4, 1800 - September 16, 1802 : François-Marie d'Aboville
September 16, 1802 - January 30, 1804 : Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont
January 30, 1804 - December 27, 1810 : Nicolas Marie Songis des Courbons
January 29, 1811 - December 21, 1812 : Jean Ambroise Baston de Lariboisière
January 3, 1813 : Jean-Baptiste Eblé (appointed three days after his death, whose news had not yet been received by the Emperor)
March 29, 1813 - June 22, 1815 : Jean Barthélémot de Sorbier

First Inspector General of Military Engineering

January 4, 1800 - September 4, 1808 : Armand Samuel de Marescot
October 25, 1808 - June 22, 1815 : Jean-François-Aimé Dejean

First Inspector General of Gendarmery

December 3, 1801 - March 22, 1815 : Bon Adrien Jannot de Moncey
March 22, 1815 - June 22, 1815 : Anne-Jean-Marie-René Savary

Inspector General of the Ocean Coasts

July 6, 1804 - March 18, 1805 : Étienne Eustache Bruix
April 18, 1808 - June 22, 1815 : Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume

Inspector General of the Mediterranean Coasts

July 6, 1804 - August 19, 1804 : Louis-René-Madeleine de Latouche-Tréville
February 1, 1805 - April 1, 1814 : Denis Decrés

Inspector General of the Coasts of the Ligurian Sea

April 7, 1813 - April 1, 1814 : Maxime Julien Émeriau de Beauverger

Inspector General of the Northern Coasts

March 23, 11 - June 2, 1812 : Jean Guillaume de Winter
April 7, 1813 - April 1, 1814 : Charles Henri Verhuell

Colonels General

Colonels General are nine in number.

The function of colonel General of the Swiss is illusory because the body disappeared with the monarchy. The four Colonels-General of the Imperial Guard, however, have real activities. They are at the head of the organization and administration of the guard. Their service is normally done by quarter but is most often exercised by Bessieres.