Bourbaki was born at
Pau in extreme southwestern France, the son of Greek colonel
Constantin Denis Bourbaki, who died in the
Greek War of Independence in 1827. He was educated at the
Prytanée National Militaire, entered
École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr, and in 1836 joined the
Zouaves (light infantry), becoming lieutenant of the
Foreign Legion in 1838 and
aide-de-camp to King
Louis Philippe.
Early commands It was in the African expedition that Bourbaki first came to the fore. In 1842 he was captain in the
Zouaves; 1847, colonel of the
Turcos; in 1850, lieutenant-colonel of the 1st
Zouaves; 1851, colonel; 1854, brigadier-general. In the
Crimean War he commanded a portion of the Algerian troops; and at the
Alma,
Inkerman and
Sevastopol Bourbaki's name became famous. In 1857 he was appointed general of division, placed in command in 1859 at
Lyon. His success in the
war in Italy was second only to that of
MacMahon, and in 1862 he was proposed as a candidate for
the vacant Greek throne, but declined the proffered honour.
Imperial Guard In 1870 the Emperor
Napoleon III entrusted Bourbaki with the command of the
Imperial Guard, and he played an important part in the fighting around
Metz. His conduct at the
Battle of Gravelotte in August 1870 was questioned because, while the Prussians were exhausted from the fighting, and the French were poised to mount a counter-attack, Bourbaki refused to commit the reserves of the French Imperial Guard to the battle because he considered it a defeat. A curious incident of the
siege of Metz, during the
Franco-Prussian War, is connected with Bourbaki's name. A certain Edmond Régnier, a French businessman with no political background or connections, appeared at
Hastings on the 21 September to seek an interview with the refugee
empress Eugénie, and failing to obtain this he managed to get from the young
Prince Imperial a signed photograph with a message to the emperor Napoleon. This he used, by means of a safe-conduct from
Bismarck, as credentials to
Marshal Bazaine, to whom he presented himself at Metz, telling him on the empress's alleged authority that peace was about to be signed and that either
Marshal Canrobert or General Bourbaki was to go to Hastings for the purpose. Bourbaki at once went to England, with
Prussian connivance, as though he had an official mission, only to discover from the empress at Hastings that a trick had been played on him. As soon as he could manage he returned to France but was refused re-entrance into Metz on a technicality, because his Prussian-provided passport was outdated by a few days.
Armée de l'Est Bourbaki offered his services to
Léon Gambetta, a lawyer and republican politician who had proclaimed the
Third French Republic in September 1870. Bourbaki was given the command of the Northern Army, but was recalled on 10 November and transferred to the Army of the Loire. In command of the hastily trained and ill-equipped
Army of the East, Bourbaki made an attempt to raise the
siege of Belfort, which, after an initial victory in the
Battle of Villersexel ended in the defeat of the French in the three-day
battle of the Lisaine. Other German forces under Prussian Field Marshal
Edwin Freiherr von Manteuffel now closed upon Bourbaki, and he was eventually driven over the Swiss frontier with a remnant of his forces. His troops were in desperate condition, owing to lack of food; and out of 150,000 men under him when he started, only 87,000 men with 12,000 horses escaped into Switzerland. They crossed the western border of Switzerland at
Les Verrières,
Sainte-Croix,
Vallorbe and in the
Vallée de Joux at the beginning of February 1871. They were disarmed and detained for six weeks before being repatriated in March. This episode is memorialized in the
Bourbaki Panorama, a large panoramic painting now in
Lucerne, Switzerland. Rather than submit to the humiliation of a probable surrender, Bourbaki had delegated his functions to General
Justin Clinchant on 26 January 1871, and tried to commit suicide that night. He fired a pistol at his forehead, but the bullet somehow "flattened as if against a cast-iron plate" and his life was saved. General Clinchant carried Bourbaki into
Switzerland, where he recovered sufficiently to return to France. In July 1871, he again took the command at Lyon where he subsequently became military governor.
Later service In 1881, owing to his political opinions, he was placed on the retired list. In 1885 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the French Senate. ==Notes==