Duroc

Soldier, diplomat. One of the first companions and a friend of Napoleon Bonaparte

Duroc was a friend of Bonaparte. Alternately a confidential diplomat and an extremely brave soldier, he died in 1813. He did not have to choose between the master whom he served faithfully throughout his career and the new king of France.

Cadet when the revolution broke out, Duroc left the country briefly in 1792. He returned a short time later and became an aide de camp of Bonaparte in the army in Italy.

During the Egyptian campaign he strengthened his ties to the general; he was in on the coup d'etat of the eighteenth of brumaire. Having become the chief aide de camp of the first consul, he carried out diverse diplomatic missions. That did not prevent him from taking part in battles. Division general in 1803, grand marshal of the palace two years later, he served in the great army during the Austrian, Prussian, and Polish campaigns. He distinguished himself remarkably at Austerlitz. In Spain in 1808 and later at Erfurt he again put on his diplomatic hat.

He became a soldier again for the campaigns of the following years: Germany in 1809, Russia in 1812, Saxony the following year. He fought at Luetzen and at Bautzen. A cannon ball wounded him seriously on the twenty second of May, 1813, in Silesia. He just had time to say farewell to Napoleon before he died.