Claude Étienne Guyot

Claude-Étienne Guyot
Count Claude-Étienne Guyot portrayed while he was a colonel in the Grande Armée. Painting by Antoine-Jean Gros.
Born	(1768-09-05)5 September 1768 Villevieux, France
Died	28 November 1837(1837-11-28) (aged 69) Paris, France
Allegiance	Kingdom of France (1791–1792), French First Republic, First French Empire, Bourbon Restoration
Service/branch	Cavalry
Years of service	1790–1816, 1830–1833
Rank	General of Division
Battles/wars	French Revolutionary Wars, Napoleonic Wars
Awards	Baron, later Count of the Empire
Other work	Chamberlain of the Emperor

Claude-Étienne Guyot, count of the Empire, (1768–1837) was a French general of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, noted for commanding cavalry.

Joining the army in November 1790 as a mere trooper of the chasseurs-à-cheval of Brittany, he subsequently served in the Army of the Rhine and of the Moselle, then in the Vendée, in Italy and in Germany, during the French Revolutionary Wars. In 1802 he became a captain of the first Regiment of chasseurs-à-cheval of the Consular Guard.

Guyot took part to the Wars of the Third and Fourth Coalition with the Grande Armée, holding the rank of squadron commander in the Guard chasseurs-à-cheval regiment and being noted for bravery at the Austerlitz and Eylau. He fought at the minor Battle of Waren-Nossentin on 1 November 1806. A colonel in the Imperial Guard in 1807, he was created a baron of the Empire the next year and given a position in Lefebvre-Desnouettes's Guard light cavalry, commanding the Emperor's escort during the latter's brief campaign in Spain. In 1809, after the bloody battle of Aspern-Essling, Guyot was given the function of colonel commander of the Guard chasseurs-à-cheval and six weeks later he led a famous charge at the battle of Wagram. This action would bring him the rank of brigadier general. A Chamberlain of Emperor Napoleon I from March 1810, he was subsequently sent to Spain, where he won a promotion to general of division in 1811. During the Russian campaign and subsequent War of the Sixth Coalition, Guyot would serve as commander of the Guard chasseurs-à-cheval. In the 1813 campaign in Saxony, he was wounded at the battle of Lützen and led a brilliant charge at the battle of Bautzen, before being made prisoner at the battle of Kulm, in August. Released after an exchange of prisoners, Guyot took part to the epic battle of Leipzig, before being created a count of the Empire in November of that year. The 1814 campaign in France saw general Guyot at the heart of the action, commanding cavalry at La Rothière, Champaubert and Craonne.