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Nicolas Jean de Dieu Soult, duc de Dalmatie (March
29, 1769 - November 26, 1851), generalissimo of
France, was born at Saint-Arnans-la-Bastide (now
in department of the Tarn), and was the son of a
country notary at that place.
==Early military career==
He was fairly well-educated, and intended for the
bar, but his father's death when he was still a
boy made it necessary for him to seek his fortune,
and he enlisted as a private in the French
infantry in 1785. His superior education ensured
his promotion to the rank of sergeant after six
years' service, and in July 1791 be became
instructor to the first battalion of volunteers of
the Bas-Rhin. He served with his battalion in
1792. By 1794 he was adjutant-general (with the
rank of chef de brigade). After the Battle of
Fleurus (1794), in which he greatly distinguished
himself for coolness, he was promoted general of
brigade by the representatives on mission.

For the next five years he was constantly employed
in Germany under Jean-Baptiste Jourdan|Jourdan,
Jean Victor Marie Moreau|Moreau, Jean-Baptiste
Kléber|Kléber and François Lefebvre|Lefebvre,
and in 1799 be was promoted general of division
and ordered to proceed to Switzerland. It was at
this time that he laid the foundations of his
military fame, and he particularly distinguished
himself in André Masséna|Masséna's great Swiss
campaign, and especially at the Second Battle of
Zurich. He accompanied Masséna to Genoa, and
acted as his principal lieutenant throughout the
protracted siege of that city, during which he
operated with a detached force without the walls,
and after many successful actions he was wounded
and taken prisoner at Monte Cretto on April 13
1800.
==Marshal of France==
The victory of Battle of Marengo | Marengo
restoring his freedom, he received the command of
the southern part of the kingdom of Naples, and in
1802 he was appointed one of the four generals
commanding the consular guard. Though he was one
of those generals who had served under Moreau, and
who therefore, as a rule, disliked and despised
Napoleon I of France | Napoleon Bonaparte, Soult
had the wisdom to show his devotion to the ruling
power (sociology) | power; in consequence he was
in August 1803 appointed to the command-in-chief
of the camp of Boulogne-sur-Mer|Boulogne, and in
May 1804 he was made one of the first marshals of
France. He commanded a corps in the advance on
Ulm, and at battle of Austerlitz|Austerlitz he led
the decisive attack on the allied centre.

He played a great part in all the famous battles
of the Grande Armée, except the Battle of
Friedland (on the day of which he forced his way
into Königsberg), and after the conclusion of the
Peace of Tilsit he returned to France and was
created (1808) duke of Dalmatia. In. the following
year he was appointed to the command of the II
corps of the army with which Napoleon intended to
conquer Spain, and after winning the Battle of
Gamonal he was detailed by the emperor to pursue
John Moore (general)|Sir John Moore, with whom he
only caught up at A Coruña|Corunna.

For the next four years Soult remained in Spain,
and his military history is that of the Peninsular
War. In 1809, after his defeat by Sir John Moore,
he invaded Portugal and took Oporto, but was
isolated by General Silveira strategy of
contention. Busying himself with the political
settlement of his conquests in the French
interests and, as he hoped, for his own ultimate
benefit as a possible candidate for the throne, he
atractted the hate of Republican officers in his
Army. Unable to move, he was eventually dislodged
from Oporto by Arthur Wellesley, making a painful
and almost disastrous retreat over the mountains,
persecuted by Beresford and Silveira. After the
Battle of Talavera (1809) he was made chief of
staff of the French troops in Spain with extended
powers, and on November 19 1809 won the great
victory of Ocafia.

In 1810 he invaded Andalusia, which he speedily
reduced, with the exception of Cádiz. In 1811 he
marched north into Extremadura, and took Badajoz,
and when the Anglo-Portuguese army laid siege to
it he marched to its rescue, and fought the famous
battle of Albuera (May 16). In 1812, however, he
was obliged, after the Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke
of Wellington|Duke of Wellington's great victory
of Battle of Salamanca|Salamanca, to evacuate
Andalusia, and was soon after recalled from Spain
at the request of Joseph Bonaparte, with whom, as
with the other marshals, he had always disagreed.

In March 1813 he assumed the command of the IV
corps of the Grande Armée and commanded the
centre at Battle of LĂĽtzen (1813)|LĂĽtzen and
Battle of Bautzen|Bautzen, but he was soon sent,
with unlimited powers, to the south of France to
repair the damage done by the great defeat of
Vittoria. His campaign there is the finest proof
of his talents as a general, although he was
repeatedly defeated by the English and the
Portuguese under Wellington; his strategy was
faulty and his soldiers were but raw conscripts,
while the Allies were the veterans of many
campaigns. He was successively defeated at the
Battle of the Pyrenees, at Vera, Nivelle, Nive,
Orthez and Toulouse.


==Political career==
Such was the military career of Marshal Soult. His
political career was by no means so creditable,
and it has been said of him that he had character
only in front of the enemy. After the first
abdication of Napoleon (1814) he declared himself
a Royalist, received the order of St Louis, and
acted as minister for war from December 3 1814 to
March 11 1815. When Napoleon returned from Elba,
Soult at once declared himself a Bonapartist, was
made a peer of France and acted as major-general
(chief of staff) to the emperor in the battle of
Waterloo|campaign of Waterloo, in which role he
distinguished himself far less than he had done as
commander of an over-matched army.

At the Second Restoration (1815) he was exiled,
but not for long, for in 1819 he was recalled and
in 1820 again made a marshal of France. He once
more tried to show himself a fervent Royalist and
was made a peer in 1827. After the July Revolution
| revolution of 1830 he made out that he was a
partisan of Louis Philippe, who welcomed his
support and revived for him the title of
marshal-general (therefore only held by Turenne,
Villars and Maurice de Saxe). He served as
minister for war from 1830 to 1834, as Prime
Minister from 1832 to 1834, as ambassador
extraordinary to London for the coronation of
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom | Victoria in
1838, again as Prime Minister from 1839 to 1840
and 1840 to 1847, and again as minister for war
from 1840 to 1844. In 1848, when Louis Philippe
was overthrown, Soult again declared himself a
republican. He died at his castle of Soultberg,
near his birthplace.

Soult himself wrote but little. He published a
memoir justifying his adhesion to Napoleon during
the Hundred Days, and his notes and journals were
arranged by his son Napoleon Hector (1801 - 1857),
who published the first part (MĂ©moires du
maréchal-général Soult) in 1854. Le Noble's
Mémoires sur les operations des Français en
Galicie are supposed to have been written from
Soult papers.
==Bibliography==
See A Salle, Vie politique du maréchal Soult
(Paris, 1834); A de Grozelier, Le Maréchal Soult
(Castres, 1851); A Combes, Histoire anecdotique du
maréchal Soult (Castres, 1869).
{| border="2" align="center"
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Preceded
by:
Casimir Pierre PĂ©rier
|width="40%" align="center"|Prime Minister of
France
1832-1834
|width="30%" align="center"|Followed
by:
Etienne-Maurice, Comte GĂ©rard
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:
Louis,
Comte Molé
|width="40%" align="center"|Prime Minister of
France
1839-1840
|width="30%" align="center"|Followed
by:
Adolphe Thiers
|-
|width="30%" align="center"|Preceded
by:
Adolphe Thiers
|width="40%" align="center"|Prime Minister of
France
1840-1847
|width="30%" align="center"|Followed
by:
François Guizot
|}
1911