Achille Bazaine

France state institutions Monarchy and royalism 1811–1888 → Died in exile

Marshal of France whose Army of the Rhine was besieged in Metz and surrendered in October 1870, later condemned for treason

Enlisting as a private in 1831, he served in the Foreign Legion, Algeria, the Crimea and Italy, and in Mexico, where he led the taking of Puebla and rose to command the expeditionary corps; in 1864 he became Marshal of France and senator. Made commander-in-chief in August 1870, he pulled his army back to Metz after Mars-la-Tour, cutting himself off, and sent no reserves to Saint-Privat. After failed break-outs he refused to recognise the Government of National Defence and negotiated with the Prussians and Empress Eugénie for leave to use his army "to save France from itself". He capitulated with the starving Army of the Rhine, some 190,000 men, on 27 October and Gambetta denounced him as a traitor. Condemned to death by court-martial in 1873, commuted to twenty years, he escaped in 1874 and died in exile in Madrid in 1888.

Also known as: François Achille Bazaine