Marshal Bazaine

François Achille Bazaine
François Achille Bazaine on campaign in Mexico by Jean-Adolphe Beauce.
Nickname(s)	Achille
Born	(1811-02-13)13 February 1811 Versailles, France
Died	23 September 1888(1888-09-23) (aged 77) Madrid, Spain
Allegiance	Kingdom of France  French Second Republic  Second French Empire  French Third Republic
Service/branch	French Army
Years of service	1831–1873
Rank	Marshal of France (Dignity of the State)
Commands held	Governor of Tlemcen, Algeria 1848 1st Regiment, 1st Foreign Legion 1er R.E.L.E 1851 Foreign Legion Brigade (1st & 2nd Foreign), Crimea 1854 Governor of Sevastopol 1855 Army Inspector General 1857 French Forces in Mexico 1864 Commander-in-Chief Imperial Guard Paris 1867 III Army Corps, Army of the Rhine 1870 Commander-in-Chief French Forces, Franco-Prussian War 1870
Battles/wars	First Carlist War Crimean War Franco-Austrian War French intervention in Mexico Franco-Prussian War
Awards	Grand-Croix of the Légion d'honneur Médaille Militaire Grand Ciordon of the Order of Léopold of the Belgians Companion of the Order of the Bath
Other work	Senator of the Second French Empire

François Achille Bazaine (13 February 1811 – 23 September 1888) was an officer of the French army. Rising from the ranks, during four decades of distinguished service (including 35 years on campaign) under Louis-Philippe and then Napoleon III, he held every rank in the army from Fusilier to Marshal of France. He became renowned for his determination to lead from the front, for his impassive bearing under fire and for personal bravery verging on the foolhardy, which resulted in him being wounded on numerous occasions and having his horse shot from under him twice. From 1863 he was a Marshal of France, and it was in this role that he surrendered the last organized French army to Prussia during the Franco-Prussian war, during the siege of Metz.

Sentenced to death by the government of the Third Republic following the war, his sentence was commuted to 20 years imprisonment in exile, from which he subsequently escaped. He eventually settled in Spain where aged 77, he died alone and impoverished in 1888. To the Foreign Legion he remains a hero and to this day is honoured as one of their bravest soldiers.

His father général de corps d'armée Pierre-Dominique Bazaine, a polytechnic (promotion X1803), meritorious engineer of Napoleon I and director of the Institute of Communications Channels of the Russian Empire. François Achille Bazaine was born at Versailles, on February 13 1811, from an affair prior to his father's marriage, with Marie-Madeleine, Josèphe dit Mélanie Vasseur. His elder brother Pierre-Dominique Bazaine was a renowned engineer. Achille Bazaine conducted studies at the institute of Bader (or Barbet), then the college of Saint-Louis.