Bertrand Clauzel

Bertrand, Comte Clauzel (French pronunciation: [bɛʁtʁɑ̃ kɔ̃t klozɛl]; 12 December 1772 – 21 April 1842), was a French soldier who served in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He saw service in the Low Countries, the Italian Peninsula, Haiti, and the Iberian Peninsula, where he achieved short periods of independent command.

Clauzel spent the years 1815–1820 in exile in the United States before returning to France and becoming politically active in the republican and liberal opposition to the absolutist governments of Charles X.

Clauzel would later become a Marshal of France under the Orléans monarchy, following the July Revolution. Clauzel would return to active service in the French conquest of Algeria, first during the initial French expedition and later as governor. Napoleon listed Clauzel amongst his most skilful generals.

Early life and family

Bertrand Clauzel was born on the 12 of December 1772 in Mirepoix, in the County of Foix.

Bertrand's father, Gabriel Clauzel, was a bankrupt wholesale merchant who had been disinherited by his own father. Gabriel had embraced the Revolution and served as a member of the Committee of Surveillance of Mirepoix. A deputy to the National Convention would later write that "his presence alone frightens the enemies of the new regime."

Bertrand joined the Mirepoix National Guard at the end of July 1789; the Guard was deployed by his father Gabriel to invest the episcopal palace of Mirepoix and harass the bishop in 1790.

In his extended family Bertrand had an uncle, Jean-Baptiste Clauzel, who was a politician in Ariège during the revolutionary period.