Boulevards of the Marshals (Paris)

The Boulevards of the Marshals (French: Boulevards des Maréchaux) are a collection of thoroughfares that encircle the city of Paris, France near its outermost margins. Most bear the name of a marshal of the First Empire (1804–1814) who served under Napoleon I.

Only Étienne Eustache Bruix (1759–1805), a French admiral; (1912–2003), a distinguished general of the French Foreign Legion; and (1898–1980), an air force general, were not marshals of the First Empire. Nonetheless, they have boulevards named for them that are parts of the 'belt'.

There are seven legitimate marshals of the First-Empire period who have not been immortalized by having their names attached to boulevards comprising the ring. Most of these men were relieved of the honor, Marshal of the Empire, by having disputes with Napoleon or by changing sides during the periods when Napoleon was in exile, during the Hundred Days, or during the Bourbon Restoration. Bernadotte left Napoleon's service to become the elected King of Sweden, where he reigned as Charles XIV John. The 'missing' marshals are:

Of the seven marshals without a boulevard, only three of them (Bernadotte, Marmont, and Grouchy) have no street at all named after them in Paris. Augereau, Moncey, Oudinot, and Perignon have streets named for them: Rue Augereau in the 7th arrondissement, Rue Moncey in the 9th, in the 7th, and the , which traverses the 7th and 15th arrondissements. The other three marshals are considered "traitors to France" so they are not honored by the city.

There is a slight discontinuity in the loop around the city near the Garigliano Bridge: between the , in the 15th arrondissement, and in the 16th. On the right-bank side of the Garigliano Bridge (16th arrondissement), one may take the a little more than a hundred meters to meet the , which leads to Boulevard Murat, or, if one chooses to continue on Exelmans, one will meet the near the . Technically, the Boulevard Exelmans is not part of the Boulevards of the Marshals; he, Rémi Joseph Isidore Exelmans, was aide-de-camp to Marshal Murat during the First-Empire period, but he became a marshal in his own right during the Second Empire (1851).

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