Horace François Bastien, baron Sébastiani
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Horace François Bastien baron Sébastiani (1772-1851) was a French soldier, diplomat, and politician.
[edit] Biography
Born in Corsica but forced to leave during the civil disturbances in 1789, he entered the French army and took part in the French Revolutionary Wars, including campaigns in Corsica, 1793, in the Alps, 1794-1797, and the Battle of Marengo, 1800.
Sébastiani supported Napoleon Bonaparte in the 18 Brumaire coup (November 9, 1799), and, in 1802, was given his first diplomatic assignments in the Ottoman Empire and Ottoman Egypt. Sébastiani was promoted to brigadier general in 1803, and général of division after the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805.
Ambassador to the Porte in 1806, he convinced Selim III to declare war on Russia after bringing the latter's attention to the anti-Ottoman conspiracy in Wallachia, formed around Prince Constantine Ypsilantis; the actual conflict started when Russia considered Ypsilantis' deposition to go against the letter of the Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca, and assigned Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich to reinstate the ruler (see Russo-Turkish War, 1806-1812).
During the Anglo-Turkish War in 1807, Sébastiani helped the Ottomans in the successful defence of Istanbul against the British squadron of Admiral Sir John Thomas Duckworth. But the deposition of Selim put an end to French diplomatic success, and Sébastiani was recalled in April 1807.
He became Count of the Empire, commanded a corps in the Peninsular War, notably at the Battle of Almonacid, and served during Napoleon's invasion of Russia and in the German campaign of 1812-1813. Sébastiani accepted the Bourbon Restoration government in 1814, but rejoined Napoleon during the Hundred Days in 1815. After the Battle of Waterloo, he left France for a short time.
Starting in 1819, he was a prominent member of the Chamber of Deputies. After the July Revolution, he held the posts of Naval Minister, Foreign Affairs (being the one to utter the famous words "Order reigns in Warsaw" after the crushing of the November Uprising), and later, Minister of State. He was ambassador to the Two Sicilies in 1833 and to the United Kingdom in 1835-1840. Sébastiani was made Marshal of France in 1840, and a Peer of France in 1842; a commander of the forces in Paris, he was unable to deal with the outbreak of the 1848 Revolution. His last years were clouded by the death of his daughter at the hands of her husband.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
- Neagu Djuvara, Între Orient şi Occident. Ţările române la începutul epocii moderne, Humanitas, Bucharest, 1995, p.284
