At the outbreak of the
French Revolution, he had just finished his studies at the
Prytanée National Militaire, and he entered the army as a volunteer. During the
expedition to Egypt, Bonaparte named him colonel (1798), then brigadier-general, and after the
Battle of Austerlitz his
aide-de-camp. His life was henceforth closely bound up with that of Napoleon, who had the fullest confidence in him, honoring him in 1808 with the title of count and at the end of 1813, with the title of
Grand Marshal of the Palace. '' by
Horace Vernet, 1821. Bertrand and his family are on the leftIt was Bertrand who in 1809 directed the building of the bridges by which the French army crossed the
Danube at
Wagram. In 1811, the Emperor appointed Bertrand governor of the
Illyrian Provinces and during the German campaign of 1813, he commanded
IV Corps which he led in the battles of
Großbeeren,
Dennewitz,
Wartenburg and
Leipzig. In 1813, after the
Battle of Leipzig, it was due to his initiative that the French army was not totally destroyed. He accompanied the Emperor to
Elba in 1814, returned with him in 1815, held a command in the
Waterloo campaign, and then, after the defeat, accompanied Napoleon to
Saint Helena. Condemned to death in 1816, he did not return to France until after Napoleon's death, and then
Louis XVIII granted him amnesty allowing him to retain his rank. Bertrand was elected
deputy in 1830 but defeated in 1834. In 1840 he was chosen to accompany the
Prince of Joinville to St. Helena to retrieve and bring Napoleon's remains to France, in what became known as the
retour des cendres. During his
exile on St Helena he compiled Napoléon's confidences in a book entitled "Les cahiers de Sainte Hélène". The manuscript was codified and later decodified and commented by Paul Fleuriot de Langle. According to historians, this document is more accurate than Las Cases' "Memorial de Sainte Hélène" which reached a much larger amount of readers in the 19 century as it was designed for propangada purposes. Bertrand's fourth child, Arthur, born on St. Helena, quickly became a favorite of Napoleon's. Arthur is otherwise best known for his affair with French actress
Mademoiselle Rachel, with which he had a son. == Personal life ==