Michel Ney, 1st Prince de la Moskowa, 1st Duke of Elchingen was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Portrait by François Gérard, 1805
Ney's birthplace in Saarlouis
Michel Ney as a sous-lieutenant in the 4th Hussars in 1792 by Adolphe Brune, 1834
Ney at the Battle of Eylau
Marshal of the Empire was a civil dignity during the First French Empire. It was created by Sénatus-consulte on 18 May 1804 and to a large extent reinstated the formerly abolished title of Marshal of France. According to the Sénatus-consulte, a Marshal was a grand officer of the Empire, entitled to a high-standing position at the court and to the presidency of an electoral college.
Napoleon and several of his Marshals (recognisable by their white-feathered bicornes) at the Battle of Borodino in 1812. Painting by Vasily Vereshchagin
Official uniform of a Marshal of the Empire. It was designed by painter Jean-Baptiste Isabey and designer Charles Percier.
Image: Robert Lefevre 20
Image: Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Prince de Ponte Corvo, roi de Suède, Maréchal de France (1763 1844)