Mélac

Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac (about 1630, Sainte-Radegonde, Gironde – 10 May 1704) was a career soldier in the French army under King Louis XIV and war minister Louvois.

He became notorious for mercilessly and brutally executing the French policy of devastating the enemy's lands rather than seeking major military engagements. The southwestern part of Germany—the Palatinate, the Margraviate of Baden, and the Duchy of Württemberg—especially suffered from Mélac's execution of Louvois's order, "brûlez le Palatinat!" (French: "Burn the Palatinate down!"). Under his command, numerous German towns and villages were set on fire and the livelihood of the population was destroyed. In present southwestern Germany, Mélac's name became a synonym for "murderer and arsonist". As a lasting result, until today, "Mélac" has also been turned into a common dog's name in this part of Germany. He is considered the godfather of the French–German enmity that ultimately contributed to causing the two World Wars.

In contrast to the general German viewpoint, Saint-Simon in his famous Mémoires describes Mélac as an excellent soldier and a very pleasant person to his friends and to his superior officers, albeit he admits that the general was sometimes of too fiery a temperament, to the occasional detriment of his military success, and easily nettled by those whom he considered disrespectful towards him, and even that he had a "mania for making himself terrifying to the enemy."

1630: Born around that year in Sainte-Radegonde, about 15 kilometers southeast of Libourne in today's Département of Gironde. He must have joined the military at an early age. Sources are scarce, as his file in the French military archives of Vincennes, as well as the Mélac family archive, are "strangely lost".

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