Whose Business Is to Die (48 page)

Major James SINCLAIR
– A United Irishman who refused to give up the struggle, the man who calls himself Sinclair serves as an officer in Napoleon’s Irish Legion. For more than a year he acted as a spy, pretending to be a British officer so that he can infiltrate partisan bands. Williams and Hanley unmasked him, but he remains at large.

Major Emile BERTRAND
– An engineer officer and the current keeper of Jenny Dobson.

Captain GILLET
– Dragoon officer commanding General La Tour-Maubourg’s escort squadron.

Major LEGROS
– French garrison commander.

Marshal Jean-de-Dieu SOULT, Duke of Dalmatia – Born in 1769, he served in the ranks of the Royal Army before rising rapidly in the Revolutionary Army and was a general by 1799. He served in Italy and on the Rhine, and was chosen as one of the first batch of marshals in 1804. He played a distinguished role at Austerlitz, Jena and Eylau, before being sent to Spain. He led the pursuit of Sir John Moore’s army, but was evicted from Portugal by Sir Arthur Wellesley later in 1809. In 1810 he led the invasion of Andalusia, and has been placed in command of the French armies in the south.

General Honoré-Theodore-Maxime GAZAN – Divisional commander and acting chief of staff to Marshal Soult.

General Jean-Baptiste GIRARD – Acting commander of V Corps under Marshal Soult, he is an experienced and gifted soldier, but this is his first taste of command at this level.

General Marie-Victor Nicholas LA TOUR-MAUBOURG – Formerly in charge in Estremadura and then the commander of the cavalry in Marshal Soult’s army. As an aristocrat he had made his way through the ranks of the Revolutionary and Imperial armies by his own achievements.

General François-Jean WERLÉ – Commander of a strong brigade in Marshal Soult’s army and an old friend, the general had risen from the ranks.

KING JOSEPH Bonaparte – As Napoleon’s older brother, Joseph has reluctantly been moved from the comfort of his kingdom in Naples to Spain, where he finds himself less welcome. A man of strong literary and philosophical tastes, he has done his best to win popularity. Recently he has lifted a ban on bullfighting imposed by the chief minister of his Spanish predecessor.

Marshal Andrea MASSÉNA, Prince of Essling, Duc de Rivoli – Born in Nice in 1758 (which was then part of the Kingdom of Sardinia and not in France), Masséna was the son of a shopkeeper and served in the ranks of the French army for fourteen years, but did not become an officer until the Revolution. From then on, his rise was rapid, and he was a general by 1793. He served with great distinction, particularly in a succession of campaigns fought in Italy. Napoleon dubbed him the ‘spoiled favourite of victory’ and was willing to trust him with independent commands. In 1809 he helped to stave off utter defeat at the Battle of Aspern-Essling. The rigours of campaigning and an unhealthy lifestyle made him appear even older than his sixty-one years, and Masséna hoped to retire to the comfort of his estates. Alongside his reputation as a soldier, he had earned another as a rapacious plunderer, and loot has supplemented official rewards to make him an extremely wealthy man. Although perhaps past his best by the time he came to Spain, Wellington had immense respect for Marshal Masséna’s skill. After capturing Ciudad Rodrigo and Almeida, he advanced deep into Portugal, but was stopped at the lines of Torres Vedras and eventually forced to retreat.

Marshal VICTOR, Duke of Belluno – Victor originally served in the ranks of the artillery, and then won rapid promotion during the Revolutionary Wars so that within three years he led an entire division. He has fought and beaten the Austrians, Prussians, Russians and recently the Spanish and is a capable, if extremely aggressive, commander. However, at Talavera and Barrosa his divisions were defeated by the British.

Also by Adrian Goldsworthy

FICTION

Run Them Ashore

All in Scarlet Uniform

Send Me Safely Back Again

Beat the Drums Slowly

True Soldier Gentlemen

NON-FICTION

Augustus: From Revolutionary to Emperor

Antony and Cleopatra

The Fall of the West: The Death of the Roman Superpower

Caesar: The Life of a Colossus

In the Name of Rome:

The Men Who Won the Roman Empire

The Complete Roman Army

Cannae: Hannibal’s Greatest Victory

The Punic Wars

Roman Warfare

The Roman Army at War, 100 BC–AD 200

Copyright

A Weidenfeld & Nicolson ebook

First published in Great Britain in 2015

by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

This ebook first published in 2015

by Weidenfeld & Nicolson

Copyright © Adrian Goldsworthy 2015

The moral right of Adrian Goldsworthy to be identified as the author

of this work has been asserted in accordance with the

Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of the publisher, nor to be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book

is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 978 0 2978 7187 3

The Orion Publishing Group Ltd

Carmelite House

50 Victoria Embankment

London EC4Y 0DZ

An Hachette UK Company

www.orionbooks.co.uk