Louis Gabriel Suchet
Louis Gabriel Suchet, 1st Duc d'Albufera (2 March 1770 – 3 January 1826) was a Marshal of France and one of Napoleon's most brilliant generals.
| Louis Gabriel Suchet, 1st Duc d'Albufera | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Allegiance |  France |
| Service/branch | army |
| Years of service | 1792–1815 |
| Rank | Général de division |
| Battles/wars | French Revolutionary Wars
|
| Awards | Marshal of France |
| Other work | author |
Early career
He was the son of a silk manufacturer at Lyon, where he was born, originally intended to follow his father's business; but as a volunteer in the cavalry of the national guard at Lyons in 1792 his military ability got him rapid promotion. As chef de bataillon he was present at the Siege of Toulon in 1793, where he took General O'Hara prisoner.
|A divisional commander in the campaigns against the Third and Fourth Coalitions Suchet was one of the few senior French officers serving in Spain who managed to preserve their reputation intact. In the campaigns of 1805 and 1806 he greatly enhanced his reputation at Austerlitz, Saalfeld, Jena, Pułtusk and Ostrolenka. He obtained the title of count on 19 March 1808, married on 16 November of the same year Mlle. Honorine Anthoine de Saint-Joseph (Marseille, 26 February 1790 – Paris, 13 April 1884), a niece of Julie Clary, the wife of Joseph Bonaparte, and soon afterwards was ordered to Spain. He was named commander of the army of Aragon and governor of that region, and in two years brought the area into complete submission. Beaten by the Spanish at Alcañiz, he sprung back and soundly defeated the army of Blake at María on 14 June 1809, and on 22 April 1810 defeated Henry Joseph O'Donnell, Count of La Bisbal at Lleida.
He was made marshal of France (8 July 1811). In 1812 he captured Valencia, for which he was rewarded with the ducal victorious title of duc d'Albufera da Valencia in 1813.
The restored Bourbon king Louis XVIII made him a peer of France on 4 June, with a seat in the upper house, but, having commanded one of Napoleon's armies on the Alpine frontier during the Hundred Days, he was deprived of his peerage on 24 July 1815. He died near Marseille on 3 January 1826.
Personal life
He married in 1808 Honorine de Saint-Joseph (1790 – 1884) and had 3 children:
- Louise-Honorine (1811 – 1885)
- Louis-Napoleon (1813 – 1877)
- Anne-Marie (1820 – 1835)
Foods
Carême named several dishes after Albufera, including
- Poularde Albufera, a chicken dish designed to be accompanied by
- Albufera Sauce
Louis Gabriel Suchet Media
Suchet's birthplace in Lyon
Suchet as a lieutenant-colonel of the 4th Ardèche Battalion in 1792, by Vincent-Nicolas Raverat (1834)
Suchet receiving the surrender of Tortosa on 2 January 1811 (detail), by Jean-Charles-Joseph Rémond (c. 1836)
Portrait of Marshal Suchet in Spain by Vicente López Portaña, c. 1813
Suchet's grave in the Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris
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