>Sammi Brie at 06:05, 22 April 2021

2021-04-22T06:05:18Z

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{{Short description|French general and colonial administrator}}
{{moresources|date=February 2020}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}
[[File:Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen.jpg|thumb|Général Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen.]]
'''Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen''' (13 April 1769 – 9 September 1832) was a French general who served during the [[French Revolutionary Wars]], as Governor General of [[Puducherry (union territory)|Pondicherry]] and the [[Isle de France (Mauritius)|Isle de France]] (now [[Mauritius]]) and as commander of the Army of Catalonia during the [[Napoleonic Wars]].

==French Revolution==
Decaen, born in [[Caen]], served as a gunner in the [[French Navy]] before the [[French Revolution]]. In 1792 Decaen enlisted in the ''Calvados'' battalion. He served under [[Jean Baptiste Kléber|Kléber]] in the [[siege of Mainz (1793)|siege of Mainz]]. Promoted to adjudant-general, Decaen served in the uprising of the [[Vendée]]. He fought under the generals [[Jean Baptiste Camille Canclaux|Canclaux]], [[Jean-Baptiste Annibal Aubert du Bayet|Dubayet]], [[Jean Victor Marie Moreau|Moreau]] and Kléber. Promoted to [[general of brigade]], Decaen was captured in the attack on Frantzenthal. After having given his parole he was exchanged.

In 1796 he served under Moreau in the operations near the Rhine and he distinguished himself in the passage of the river and the [[siege of Kehl (1796)|siege of Kehl]], for which he was awarded a sword of honor by the [[French Directory]]. In 1800 he captured [[Munich]] and that December he commanded a division in the [[Battle of Hohenlinden (1800)|Battle of Hohenlinden]]. In that battle, he reacted "confidently and aggressively"<ref>Arnold, p 245</ref> in a confusing situation in heavy forest during a snowstorm. His attack defeated the southernmost Austrian column and contributed greatly to the overall French success. For his role at Hohenlinden he was promoted to general of division ([[Major-General]]).

==Service to the Empire==

===In Pondicherry===
Possibly singled out for "exile" by [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] for his association with Moreau's [[Army of the Rhine and Moselle|Army of the Rhine]], Decaen was sent on a difficult mission to the French establishment in [[India]] in 1802. From 1803 to 1810, he defended the remote [[Île Bourbon]] (Réunion) and [[Isle de France (Mauritius)|Isle de France]] (Mauritius) against all the efforts of the [[British Empire|British]]. Ultimately overwhelmed by superior numbers, he obtained an honorable capitulation. He released [[Matthew Flinders]] from house arrest in April 1810, a few months before the [[Battle of Grand Port]] (August) and the capitulation to the British on 3 December of the same year.

===Spain and fall of the Empire===
Upon his return he was made a count and made the head of the Army of [[Catalonia]] from October 1811 to January 1814, fighting in Spain. From his headquarters in [[Barcelona]], he reported to Marshal [[Louis Gabriel Suchet]]. He formed the Catalan guides and gained their high regard. At Suchet's request, he sent the troops who raised the [[Siege of Tarragona (1813)|Siege of Tarragona]]. In 1814, he tried in vain to keep the British out of [[Bordeaux]]. After the first abdication of Napoléon I he recognized [[Louis XVIII]] and he was appointed as governor of the 11th military division (Bordeaux). Decaen made an unsuccessful effort to maintain the royal authority in that city after the return of [[Napoleon I]] from [[Elba]] in 1815.

After the royal princes had left France, Decaen rejoined the emperor's side and during the [[Hundred Days]], he commanded troops in the south of France, for which he was imprisoned for five months after the [[Bourbon Restoration in France|Bourbon restoration]] which occurred after [[battle of Waterloo|Waterloo]]. After his release he retired to civil life until he was recalled to activity by [[Louis-Philippe I]] in 1830. He died two years later.

== Honours ==
[[File:Arc de Triomphe mg 6867.jpg|thumb|Inscription on the Arc de Triomphe (western pillar, column 33)]]
* Name inscribed on the [[Arc de Triomphe]]

==Footnotes==
<references/>

==References==
* Arnold, James R. ''Marengo & Hohenlinden.'' Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Pen & Sword, 2005. {{ISBN|1-84415-279-0}}
* Glover, Michael. ''The Peninsular War 1807-1814.'' London: Penguin, 2001. {{ISBN|0-14-139041-7}}

==Titles==
{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box | before= Second British Occupation<br>(23 August 1793 – 1802) | title=[[Gouverneur Général de l'Inde française]] | after=[[Louis Binot|Louis François Binot]] | years=18 June 1802–August 1803<br>('''Restored''')}}
{{succession box | before= François Louis Magallon de la Morlière<br> (Governor General) | title=Captain General of [[Mauritius]] | after=[[Robert Townsend Farquhar]]<br>(Governor General) | years=26 September 1803–3 December 1810}}
{{s-end}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Decaen, Charles Mathieu Isidore}}
[[Category:1769 births]]
[[Category:1832 deaths]]
[[Category:French generals]]
[[Category:French commanders of the Napoleonic Wars]]
[[Category:French colonial governors and administrators]]
[[Category:Governors of French India]]
[[Category:Counts of the First French Empire]]
[[Category:People from Caen]]
[[Category:French Republican military leaders of the French Revolutionary Wars]]
[[Category:Names inscribed under the Arc de Triomphe]]

Charles Mathieu Isidore Decaen - Revision history

>Sammi Brie at 06:05, 22 April 2021