However, the French Royal Italian Legion accepted him and he served in the army for 14 years. He was quite smart and quickly learned how to read and write. In 1789, he became a sergeant major when he asked to be voluntarily discharged. The outbreak of the Great Revolution retained this talent: He was selected as an officer of the National Guard and volunteered for the campaign in 1791. By 1794, Massena had been promoted to the rank of major general.
He may have lacked education or good manners, but in 1796, Colonel Thibaux of the Italian Army in Nice, to which he had been assigned, commented on him: His face reflected his intelligence and energy, and he had eyes as sharp as an eagle's. He was deeply respected by his colleagues and they trusted him. His performance was unusually dignified and full of adventurous spirit. His actions were decisive... and concise. Massena and Napoleon, who was also short and spoke Italian, did not get along easily. Both of them were arrogant, strong, and independent.
If Massena's youth was lacking in spirit, then Augero was like a veritable rose altar. Augero was born in Paris in 1757, the son of a servant. He had spent his childhood on the streets of Paris without the care and supervision of his parents. The consequences could be imagined. At the age of 17, he was recruited into the army. Soon, the tall and uneducated Augero had no place in the barracks because he had seriously contradicted his superiors. The bandit Augeiro, as his own army had come to call him, had switched sides again and joined the private corps. Instead of being grateful for being taken in, he turned over a new leaf and went to Switzerland.
Now, except for the old King of Princes, Frederick, no one wanted this scoundrel anymore, on the condition that he join the army as a private. A few years later, Augerot was absent again-perhaps he had been dismissed. The optimistic scoundrel decided to leave the gray skies of Prussia to enjoy the blue waters of Italy, and spent a few years under the command of the King of Sicily in Napoli. This time, he did not slack off. After taking off his military uniform, he became a fence craftsman and married the daughter of a Greek merchant. After the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, he returned to France to join the Paris National Guard. Two years later, he transferred to the voluntary corps. After another year, this former sergeant became a major general! Two years after he participated in the battle of the Western Pyrenees, he met General Corsica, who was a head shorter than him but equally arrogant. They didn't like each other at first sight (in a heated argument, Napoleon had said to him, General, you're just a head taller than I am, but if you're rude to me, I'll make up the difference at once.）。
As for Selurier, he was a completely different person under Napoleon. The fifty-four-year-old Selurier was born in Laon and was the son of a royal mole hunter in the stables of Louis Fifteen. He was awarded a military rank for his meritorious service in the battle of 1755 and officially joined the army to fight for seven years. Since then, he had not been promoted because he was not of noble birth. Thanks to the revolution, he became a colonel in 1792 and was already a major general when he was transferred to Nice a year ago. He was one of the few generals in the Napoleonic Empire who had been a professional soldier before the revolution.
Bertier, who was born in Versailles in 1753, was also a professional soldier during the Louis Fifteen era. His father was an engineer in the royal army and was made a noble in 1763. Unlike Augero and Massena, Bertier was well-educated. Despite his emotional and sensitive nature, he was still popular with the salon. In 1770, he was appointed a military engineer and served in the Lafayette Army during the American Revolutionary War. After the revolution, he served as a major general in the Versailles National Guard and was now the chief major general officer of Napoleon in Nice. From then on, he was at Napoleon's side and completely obedient to him, even though he was constantly insulted by the officer until the spring of 1814. However, Bertier had never been on good terms with most of the French military commanders, and they did not like him.
The one with the lowest rank was Napoleon's old friend, the current adjutant, Marmont. He was born into a noble Burgundian family in Sena in 1774. After graduating from the Royal Military Academy in 1790, he became a second lieutenant and then entered the artillery school in Chalon. He had met Napoleon at the Battle of Toulon and had been a close friend ever since.
Murat's background was different from the others. He was born in 1767, the son of a property manager. Because of his wealthy family, he received a good education in a church school and left home to become a cavalry at the age of 20. The revolution made him a second lieutenant in 1782 and a major the following year. During the Portuguese incident, he served in Napoleon's army and was promoted to colonel in 1796 and senior adjutant of Napoleon. He was tall and had broad shoulders. He was handsome and liked to boast about his skills in playing with women. He had a special hobby for strange clothes. Because he had seduced Joseph, his relationship with Napoleon had deteriorated. Since then, Murat's relationship with Napoleon had been fragile. In 1800, he married Napoleon's younger sister, Caroline.
The rest of the officers who worked with Napoleon would also be awarded the marshal's scepter in the future. Bessie, the son of a hairdresser, was born in Lotte in 1768. Like Murat, he had received a good education when he was young and later entered the medical school of Montepila. At the age of 19, his father's bankruptcy forced him to drop out of school and become a hairdresser who was also a surgeon and a dental practitioner. The revolution made him the deputy commander of the local National Guard. He was Murat's good friend and fully supported the revolution. Later, he joined the West Pyrenees Army as an ordinary soldier and was once again elected as an officer. He met Augello for the first time and was recommended by Augello to Nice to join the Italian Expeditionary Force.
Jean Lana soon became Napoleon's favorite officer. He was born in 1769 in Lectou, where his peasant father had neither money nor interest in educating his children. He seemed to have no future. Fortunately, one of his brothers was a priest who could teach him reading, writing, and arithmetic. Therefore, unlike Augero and Massena, he was not illiterate even though he had just learned to write. Like most working-class children, he had been an apprentice in a dye workshop since he was a child. This work made him feel the pain of living under someone else's roof, so he worked hard to learn by himself. Like most of Napoleon's future generals-before his physical appearance was deformed by his many wounds in the battlefield-the young and handsome Lana had risen from a nobody to a celebrity because of the revolution. He joined the revolutionary army just to return to civilian life. He worked in the weaving workshop until 1792. At the age of 23, he was appointed as a second lieutenant and promoted to a major in the spring of 1796. At that time, he was still unknown to Napoleon.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。