War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy [821]
Caulaincourt, Armand Augustin Louis, Marquis of (1772–1827): French diplomat and general, made duke of Vicenza in 1808. In 1801 Napoleon sent him to Petersburg to congratulate Alexander I on his accession, and he served as ambassador to Russia in 1807–11. He advised Napoleon against invading Russia, but accompanied the emperor as his aide-de-camp throughout the campaign.
Chateaubriand, Viscount François-René de (1768–1848): French writer and diplomat, emigrated to England in 1792, returned to France in 1800, but was on bad terms with Napoleon. Under the restoration, he was ambassador to London and minister of foreign affairs. His fame rests on his books, above all his Mémoirs d’outre-tombe (“Memoirs from Beyond the Grave”), written from 1811 to 1841 and published after his death.
Chernyshov, Alexander Ivanovich (1785–1857): Russian adjutant general and cavalry commander, began his career at Austerlitz; after the peace of Tilsit, he was Russian military and diplomatic representative in Paris. Became an imperial adjutant in 1811, and commanded a partisan detachment during the French retreat in 1812. Minister of war from 1827 to 1852, and chairman of the State Council.
Chichagov, Pavel Vassilievich (1765–1849): Russian admiral and statesman, became assistant minister of the navy under Alexander I, was appointed to the new State Council, and became the emperor’s adjutant general. In 1812 commanded the Danube flotilla, took part in the battle at the Berezina, and was blamed for allowing the French to cross the river. In 1813 he left Russia for medical treatment abroad and never returned.
Claparède, Michel-Marie (1770–1842): Was with Napoleon in the Italian campaign, fought at Austerlitz and Jena, and as a major general at Wagram in 1809. In the Russian campaign, he commanded a Polish corps which saw action at Borodino and the Berezina.
Clausewitz, Karl Philipp Gottfried von (1780–1831): Prussian general and military theoretician. After fighting against Napoleon, he worked at reforming the Berlin military academy. Opposed to Prussia’s forced alliance with the French, he served in the Russian army from 1812–1814, after which he wrote his book The Year 1812. His best-known work is the treatise On War.
Compans, Jean-Dominique (1769–1845): French general, chief of staff of the army of Italy in 1798. Badly wounded at Austerlitz, he won the rank of major general at Jena, and saw the entire campaign in Russia. Napoleon considered him one of his best generals.
Consulat: The government established after Napoleon’s bloodless coup d’état of 18 Brumaire (9 November 1799), which provided for rule by three consuls, of whom Napoleon was named first consul. In 1802 Napoleon had himself named consul for life. The Consulat was abolished when he was made emperor in 1804.
Convention: The revolutionary national assembly that replaced the legislative assembly on 21 September 1792 and governed France until 1795. It condemned Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette to death, and in 1793 entrusted dictatorial power to the Committee of Public Safety, which ruled by terror. It was replaced in 1795 by the Directoire.
Corvisart, Baron Jean-Nicolas (1755–1821): French physician, taught medicine at the Collège de France in 1797. In 1804 he became personal physician to Napoleon, who raised him to the nobility. Corvisart tended Napoleon from then until his exile to St. Helena in 1815.
Czartoryski, Prince Adam Adamovich (1770–1861): A Polish prince, descended from the distinguished old Lithuanian family of the Jagellons, who became a close confidant of the young Alexander I, served as Russian minister of foreign affairs in 1804–1806, and tried to persuade the emperor to restore the kingdom of Poland.
Davout, Louis-Nicolas (1770–1823): Served with Napoleon in the Egyptian campaign, fought