BESSIERES, JEAN BAPTISTE, duke of Istria (1768 I 813) , French marshal, served for a short time in the "Constitu tional Guard" of Louis XVI. and as a non-commissioned officer took part in the war against Spain. In the Army of the Eastern Pyrenees and in the Army of the Moselle he repeatedly distin guished himself for valour, and in 1796, as captain, he served in Bonaparte's Italian campaign. He accompanied Napoleon in the invasion of Styria in command of the "Guides," who formed the nucleus of the later Consular and Imperial Guard. As chef de brigade he next served in the Egyptian expedition. Returning to Europe with Napoleon, he was present at Marengo (1800) as second-in-command of the Consular Guard. Promoted general of division in 1802 and marshal of France in 1804, he made the most famous campaigns of the Grande Armee as colonel-general of the Guard Cavalry (18o5, 1806, 1807) . In 18o5 he had re ceived the Grand Eagle of the Legion of Honour, and in 1809 was created duke of Istria. With the outbreak of the Peninsular War, Marshal Bessieres had his first opportunity of an inde pendent command and his crushing victory over the Spaniards at Medina del Rio Seco (1808) justified Napoleon's choice. When disaster in other parts of the theatre of war called Napoleon him self to the Peninsula, Bessieres continued to give the emperor the very greatest assistance in his campaign. In 1809 he was again with the Grande Armee in the Danube valley. At Essling his repeated and desperate charges checked the Austrians in the full tide of their success. At Wagram he had a horse killed under him. Replacing Bernadotte in the command of the Army of the North, he successfully opposed the British Walcheren expedition, and in 181I he was back again in Spain. As Massena's second in-command he was present at the battle of Fuentes d'Onoro, but Napoleon who looked on him as an able commander and a true friend never detached him for very long, and in 1812 he commanded the Guard Cavalry at Borodino and in the retreat from Moscow. At the beginning of the 1813 campaign he was appointed to the command of the whole of Napoleon's cavalry. Three days after the opening of the campaign, while recon noitring the defile of Poserna-Rippach, Bessieres was killed by a musket-ball. As a commander, especially of cavalry, Bessieres left a reputation excelled by very few of Napoleon's marshals, and his dauntless courage and cool judgment made him a safe leader in independent command. He was personally beloved to an extraordinary extent amongst his soldiers, and (unlike most of the French generals of the time) amongst his opponents. It is said that masses were performed for his soul by the priests of insurgent Spain, and the king of Saxony raised a monument to his memory.
His younger brother, BERTRAND, BARON BESSIERES 18 5 5) , was a distinguished divisional leader under Napoleon. His last public act was his defence of the unfortunate Ney.