Ney, Michel, << nay, mee SHEHL >> (1769-1815), a French general, was one of Napoleon I’s great soldiers. Ney was fiercely brave, but he was not effective as an independent commander.
Ney served with great distinction in the campaign of 1792, when the French Army of the North defeated the Prussians and Austrians. He soon distinguished himself by his cool courage and military skill. Napoleon made him a marshal of France in 1804. Ney received the title Duke of Elchingen for defeating the Austrians at Elchingen in 1805. He fought at Jena and Eylau and commanded an army at Friedland, where the French defeated the Russians in 1807. His conduct at Friedland won him Napoleon’s praise. He took charge of Napoleon’s army for the march into Russia in 1812 and became Prince of Moscow. Napoleon left the army after its defeat and hastened back to France. But Ney remained with the Grand Army during the terrible retreat from Russia.
After Napoleon was forced from power in 1814, Ney abandoned him and became a supporter of King Louis XVIII, who succeeded Napoleon. But Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815 and landed on the coast of France. Ney told King Louis that he would “bring Napoleon back in an iron cage” and started out with an army. He met Napoleon, who was marching toward Paris with a new army. But emotion swayed Ney. He embraced Napoleon and joined him in the march on Paris. The king fled as the army approached, and Ney and Napoleon entered the capital together.
The period of Napoleon’s return to power, called the Hundred Days, ended in his defeat. Ney led the last French charge at Waterloo in 1815. But he was seized, tried for treason and rebellion, and condemned to death. He was shot on Dec. 7, 1815. Ney was born on Jan. 10, 1769, in Saarlouis, in the Saar Basin in what is now Germany.
