Louis Alexandre Berthier (French Marshal), chief of staff and minister of war under Napoleon I [2], converted the emperor’s plans into orders to the field commanders. His abilities to coordinate supply and logistics for large, rapidly moving forces proved so exceptional that it often appeared that Berthier knew Napoleon’s desires before the emperor expressed them. Napoleon described his chief of staff as “the man who has served me longest and has never failed me” and claimed that he would not have lost at Waterloo if Berthier had been present. Berthier joins this list of influential military leaders not as a battlefront captain but as the first professional staff officer who made his mark through his mastery of staff coordination and support.
Born in Versailles, France, on November 20, 1753, Berthier entered the royal army at age thirteen and served with his father, who was the director of military survey. In 1780, Berthier sailed to America as a staff officer in Jean de Rochambeau’s army, which supported the rebel colonists. Back in France at the outbreak of his own country’s revolution, Berthier found himself dismissed from the army in 1793 for his former Royalist service.
Reinstated in the French army during a general amnesty to officers who had served the crown in March 1795, with the rank of general of brigade, Berthier assumed the duties of chief of staff of the Army of the Alps and Italy. Three months later, Berthier advanced to the rank of general of division and joined Napoleon as his chief of staff. From that point, the two officers were inseparable until Napoleon’s first abdication in 1814, becoming so professionally linked and interdependant that the soldiers often referred to Berthier as “the Emperor’s wife.”
As the Grand Army’s chief of staff, Berthier directed the six generals and eight colonels responsible for planning, administration, and logistics. Napoleon awarded Berthier multiple tides, wealth, and the additional responsibility of minister of war from 1799 to 1807. In 1804, Napoleon promoted his chief of staff to field marshal.
Berthier played an important role in the French campaigns in Egypt and throughout Europe. On the few occasions in which he was directly exposed to combat, he performed bravely, but Berthier’s primary contributions were made far behind the batde lines. His ability to reduce complex batde plans of his superiors to simple orders for field commanders and to communicate changes in the midst of combat were unprecedented. Just as important was his ability to keep the huge Grand Army supplied and armed.
During the Austerlitz campaign, for example, Berthier supported the rapid five-week march of two hundred thousand men from northern France through Ulm and Vienna to Austerlitz. While the soldiers, in accordance with the traditions of the times, still demanded food and shelter from residents of the villages and countryside through which they moved, Berthier established a series of supply depots along the way to supplement their fare and speed the march. When the soldiers arrived at their destination, carrying several days’ rations and extra ammunition, they were prepared for immediate combat.
Berthier again displayed his skills in managing to maintain discipline and control of subordinate leaders during the difficult retreat from Russia in 1812. Because of Berthier’s organizational skills, Napoleon could rally his army to victories in 1813 at Lutzen, Bautzen, and Leipzig. But the Grand Army, war weary, still faced a growing enemy force. Shortly after suffering wounds at Brienne on January 29, 1814, Berthier determined that for the good of France and its citizens the long war should end, and he joined a group of marshals seeking peace. On April 11 they forced Napoleon’s abdication and exile to Elba.
Upon the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, Berthier retained his rank and honors. When Napoleon escaped his island exile and returned to France, many of his former marshals and most of the army rallied to his side. Berthier did not. Instead, he personally escorted King Louis XVIII to safety and then retired to his Bavarian estate.
Napoleon, gready disappointed by Berthier’s defection before his first abdication, was even more disturbed that his friend and confidant refused to join him during the Hundred Days conflict. Berthier’s absence proved more than just a personal loss, for Napoleon’s new army never achieved the discipline and greatness of his original force. Indeed, Water-loo might have turned out differently had Berthier been there to issue correct orders and to supply the army properly.
On June 1, 1815, Berthier, sixty-one, died as the result of a fall from a high window at his Bamberg estate. Evidence indicated that his death was accidental, but some reports speculate that assassins pushed him, while still others attribute his death to remorseful suicide over betraying his emperor. Napoleon reportedly grieved the passing of Berthier as if nothing had ever come between them.
Berthier’s staff organization of subordinate officers responsible for operational planning and coordination of various logistic supply and transportation functions was far from perfect, but its success has provided a model for armies since, including Germany, the United States, and other twentieth-century powers. A large measure of credit for Napoleon’s vast successes belongs to his Chief of Staff.