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Special pages :
Bosquet
| Author(s) | Friedrich Engels Karl Marx |
|---|---|
| Written | 29 September 1857 |
Reproduced from The New American Cyclopaedia
Source : Marx-Engels Collected Works, Volume 18
The first part of this article was written by Marx, as is seen from the extant excerpts; they are in the main from The English Cyclopaedia (Vol. V, London, 1856) and Steger’s Ergänzungs-Conversationslexikon (Vol. 10, Leipzig and Meissen).
The passage on Bosquet’s participation in the Crimean war of 1853-56 belongs to Engels. It reproduces almost word for word part of a letter to Marx of September 22, 1857, in which Engels described Bosquet’s role in the major Crimean operations, in compliance with Marx’s request in his letters of September 17 and 21, 1857.
Bosquet, Marie Joseph, a marshal of France, born in 1810, at Pau, in the department of Basses Pyrenees. He entered the polytechnic school of Paris in 1829, the military school at Metz in 1831, became lieutenant of artillery in 1833, and in that capacity went to Algeria with the 10th regiment of artillery, in 1834. There on one occasion, when a small French detachment found itself in a very critical position, the commanding officer being at a loss how to disengage his troops, young Bosquet stepped forward and proposed a plan which led to the total discomfiture of the enemy. He was appointed lieutenant in 1836, captain in 1839, major in 1842, lieut.-colonel in 1845, colonel, and soon after, under the auspices of the republican government, general of brigade, in 1848. During the campaign of Kabylia in 1851,[1] he was wounded, at the head of his brigade, while storming the defile of Monagal. His promotion to the rank of general of division was put off in consequence of his reserve toward Louis Napoleon, but when troops were sent to the war in Turkey[2] he obtained the command of the second division.
At the battle of the Alma[3] he executed the flanking attack of the French right wing upon the Russian left, with a speed and energy praised by the Russians themselves, and even succeeded in bringing his artillery through pathless and apparently impracticable ravines up to the plateau. It must, however, be added that on this occasion his own numerical force greatly surpassed that of the enemy. At Balaklava he hastened to disengage the English right wing, so that the remainder of the English light cavalry was enabled to retreat under the cover of his troops, while the Russians were compelled to stop their pursuit.[4] At Inkermann[5] he was ready early in the morning to support the English with 3 battalions and 2 batteries. This offer being declined, he posted as reserves, in the rear of the English right wing, 3 French brigades, with 2 of which, at 11 o’clock, he advanced to the line of battle, thus forcing the Russians to fall back. But for this succor, the English would have been completely destroyed, since they had all their troops engaged and no more reserves to draw upon, while the Russians had 16 battalions not yet touched. As chief of the corps destined to cover the allied forces on the slope of the Tchernaya, Bosquet constantly distinguished himself by quickness, vigilance, and activity. He took part in the storming of the Malakoff,[6] and after that event was made a marshal, and in 1856 a senator.
- ↑ See this volume, p. 69.— Ed,
- ↑ A reference to the Crimean war of 1853-56.— Ed,
- ↑ See this volume, pp. 14-18.— Ed.
- ↑ The battle of Balaklava (Crimea) between the Russian army an d th e allied Anglo-French an d Turkis h forces took place on Octobe r 25, 1854. Units of the Russian army tried to cut off th e British an d Turkis h forces besieging Sevastopol from their base in Balaklava. The y succeeded in inflicting serious losses on them, especially on the British cavalry, but failed to achieve th e main objective. For a description of this battle see Engels' article "Th e Wa r in the East " (present edition, Vol. 13, pp . 518-27).
- ↑ See Note 149.
- ↑ A reference to the storming of the Sevastopol fortifications by French and British troops on September 8, 1855, as a result of which the French managed to capture the Malakhov (Malakoff) Hill, the defenders' main strong point. After an eleven months defence the Russian garrison abandoned Sevastopol by order of the command which considered its further defence useless. The storming of Sevastopol on September 8 is described by Engels in his articles "The Fall of Sevastopol" and "The Great Event of the War" (see present edition, Vol. 14, pp. 519-23 and 546-52).