Nicolas Jean-de-Dieu Soult - Political Career

Political Career

The political career of Marshal Soult was by no means as creditable, and it has been said of him that he had character only in the face of the enemy. After the first abdication of Napoléon (1814) he declared himself a Royalist, received the Order of St. Louis, and acted as minister of war from 3 December 1814 to 11 March 1815. When Napoléon returned from Elba, Soult at once declared himself a Bonapartist, was made a peer of France and acted as major-general (chief of staff) to the Emperor in the campaign of Waterloo, in which role he distinguished himself far less than he had done as commander of an over-matched army.

At the Second Restoration (1815) he was exiled, but not for long, for in 1819 he was recalled and in 1820 again made a Marshal of France. He once more tried to show himself a fervent Royalist and was made a peer in 1827. After the revolution of 1830 he made out that he was a partisan of Louis Philippe, who welcomed his support and revived for him the title of Marshal-General (previously only held by Turenne, Claude Louis Hector de Villars and Maurice de Saxe). He served as minister of war from 1830 to 1834, as Prime Minister from 1832 to 1834, as ambassador extraordinary to London for the coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838 – where the Duke of Wellington reputedly caught him by the arm and exclaimed 'I have you at last!' -, again as Prime Minister from 1839 to 1840 and 1840 to 1847, and again as minister of war from 1840 to 1844. In 1848, when Louis Philippe was overthrown, the aged Marshal-General the Duc de Dalmatie again declared himself a republican. He died at his castle of Soultberg, near his birthplace.