Amédée Courbet
Encyclopedia
Anatole-Amédée-Prosper Courbet (26 June 1827, Abbeville
, Somme
– 11 June 1885) was a French admiral who won a series of important land and naval victories during the Tonkin campaign
(1883–86) and the Sino-French War
(August 1884–April 1885).
in 1828 as the youngest of three children. His father died when he was nine years old. He was a Polytechnician
.
From 1849 to 1853 Courbet served as a midshipman (aspirant) on the corvette Capricieuse (capitaine de vaisseau Roquemaurel). Capricieuse circumnavigated the globe during this period and cruised for several months along the China Coast, giving Courbet his first experience of the seas in which, thirty years later, he would win fame. After his return to France he was posted to the brick Olivier, attached to the Levant naval division. In December 1855, at Smyrna, he intervened to quell a mutiny aboard the Messageries impériales packet Tancrède, and was subsequently commended for his conduct by the navy ministry. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant de vaisseau in November 1856.
From 1864 to 1866 Courbet served on the two-deck broadside ironclad battleship Solferino as aide de camp and secretary to Admiral Bouët-Willaumez, commander of the escadre d’évolutions. He was promoted capitaine de frégate in August 1866 and posted to the ironclad frigate Savoie as chief of staff to Admiral de Dompierre d’Hornoy, commander of the North Sea and English Channel naval division. In March 1870 he was posted to the Antilles naval division as captain of the despatch vessel Talisman. This posting, which gave him no opportunity for action during the Franco-Prussian War, was his first independent command. He returned to France in May 1872.
In early 1873 Courbet returned to the Antilles as second officer on the frigate Minerve. He was promoted capitaine de vaisseau in August 1873. Between December 1874 and January 1877 he commanded the School of Underwater Defences (école des défenses sous-marines) at Boyardville (Ile d’Oléron
). From 1877 to 1879 he was posted to the ironclad Richelieu, where he again served as chief of staff to Admiral de Dompierre d’Hornoy, now commander-in-chief of the escadre d’évolutions.
In May 1880 Courbet succeeded Admiral Olry as governor of New Caledonia
. He returned to France in the autumn of 1882, where he was promised command of the Levant naval division by Admiral Bernard Jauréguiberry
, the navy minister. Jauréguiberry was replaced as navy minister in January 1883 when Charles Duclerc
's cabinet was replaced by the brief administration of Armand Fallières
, and Courbet was instead appointed commander of the division navale d’essais in the Mediterranean. In April 1883 he hoisted his flag aboard the ironclad Bayard
at Cherbourg.
In June 1883 Courbet was transferred from the division navale d’essais and given command of a new Tonkin Coasts naval division (division navale des côtes du Tonkin). The French government was attempting to impose a protectorate in Tonkin (northern Vietnam) at this period, in the face of bitter opposition from Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army
. The Black Flag Army was covertly armed and supplied by China, and the role of the new naval division was to cut the flow of weapons and ammunition to the Black Flags by blockading the Gulf of Tonkin. The Tonkin Coasts naval division included the ironclads Bayard and Atalante from Courbet's Mediterranean command and the cruiser Châteaurenault from Algiers. Courbet was also given two torpedo boats, Nos. 45 and 46, and was ordered to take over the seagoing vessels of the Cochinchina naval division on his arrival in Tonkin. Courbet arrived at Along Bay in July 1883.
In August in response to the death of the Vietnamese emperor Tự Đức and a consequent succession crisis, the French government approved an operation to coerce the Vietnamese court at Huế. On 18 August Courbet's naval division bombarded the Thuan An forts at the entrance to the River of Perfumes, and on 20 August, in the Battle of Thuan An
, a landing force of sailors and marine infantry overran the Vietnamese defences and captured the forts. Courbet's victory, which enabled the French to occupy Huế whenever they wanted, compelled the Vietnamese court to submit to French authority and sign the Treaty of Huế
, which recognised the French protectorate in Tonkin.
. The Son Tay Campaign
was the fiercest campaign the French had yet fought in Tonkin. Although the Chinese and Vietnamese contingents at Son Tay played little part in the defence, Liu Yongfu's Black Flags fought ferociously to hold the city. On 14 December the French assaulted the outer defences of Son Tay at Phu Sa, but were thrown back with heavy casualties. Hoping to exploit this reverse, Liu Yongfu attacked the French lines the same night, but the Black Flag attack also failed disastrously. After resting his troops on 15 December, Courbet again assaulted the defences of Son Tay on the afternoon of 16 December. This time the attack was thoroughly prepared by artillery, and delivered only after the defenders had been worn down. At 5 p.m. a Foreign Legion battalion and a battalion of marine fusiliers captured the western gate of Son Tay and fought their way into the town. Liu Yongfu's garrison withdrew to the citadel, and evacuated Son Tay under cover of darkness several hours later. Courbet had achieved his objective, but at considerable cost. French casualties at Son Tay were 83 dead and 320 wounded. The fighting at Son Tay also took a terrible toll of the Black Flags, and in the opinion of some observers broke them once and for all as a serious fighting force.
's cabinet approved this recommendation, and Courbet was replaced in command of the expeditionary corps on 16 December 1883 by General Charles-Théodore Millot
—ironically, on the very day on which he captured Son Tay. He resumed command of the Tonkin Coasts naval division, and for the next six months played a most unwelcome subordinate role, hunting down bands of Vietnamese pirates in the Gulf of Tonkin while Millot was winning glory in the Bac Ninh campaign
.
Courbet's luck changed in June 1884. On 27 June, in response to the news of the Bac Le ambush
, the Tonkin Coasts naval division and the Far East naval division were amalgamated into a Far East Squadron
. The new squadron, which would remain in existence throughout the Sino-French War, was placed under Courbet's command, with Admiral Sébastien Lespès
(the commander of the Far East naval division) second in command. Courbet's squadron initially included the ironclads Bayard (the flagship), Atalante, La Galissonnière and Triomphante, the cruisers Châteaurenault, d'Estaing, Duguay-Trouin and Volta, the light frigates Hamelin and Parseval, the gunboats Lynx, Vipère, Lutin and Aspic, the troopships Drac and Saône and Torpedo Boats Nos. 45 and 46. In July 1884 Courbet was ordered to concentrate part of the squadron at Fuzhou, to threaten the Fujian fleet
(one of China's four regional fleets) and the Foochow Navy Yard.
Negotiations between France and China to resolve the crisis over the Bac Le ambush
broke down in mid- August and on 22 August Courbet was ordered to attack the Chinese fleet at Fuzhou. In the Battle of Fuzhou (also known as the Battle of the Pagoda Anchorage) on 23 August 1884, Courbet's Far East Squadron
annihilated China's outclassed Fujian fleet and severely damaged the Foochow Navy Yard. Nine Chinese ships were sunk in less than an hour, including the corvette Yangwu, the flagship of the Fujian fleet. Chinese losses may have amounted to 3,000 dead, while French losses were minimal. Courbet then successfully withdrew down the Min River to the open sea, destroying several Chinese shore batteries from behind as he took the French squadron through the Min'an and Jinpai passes.
, the French minister to China, but both men were overruled.
On 1 October Lieutenant-Colonel Bertaux-Levillain landed at Keelung with a force of 1,800 marine infantry, forcing the Chinese to withdraw to strong defensive positions which had been prepared in the surrounding hills. The French force was too small to advance beyond Keelung. Meanwhile, after an ineffective naval bombardment on 2 October, Admiral Lespès attacked the Chinese defences at Tamsui
with 600 sailors from his squadron's landing companies on 8 October, and was decisively repulsed by forces under the command of the Fujianese general Sun Kaihua (孫開華). The French were now committed to a prolonged Keelung Campaign
, and Courbet's squadron was tied down in a largely ineffective blockade of Formosa.
, both ships were crippled during a daring French torpedo attack, Yuyuan by a French spar torpedo and Chengqing by Chinese artillery fire. Both ships were subsequently scuttled by the Chinese.
as a defensive victory.
was an important victory, which would have prevented the Chinese from further reinforcing their army in Formosa, but it came too late to affect the outcome of the war. A proposal to use the Far East squadron to make a landing in the Gulf of Petchili was cancelled on the news of the French defeat in the Battle of Bang Bo (24 March 1885) and the subsequent retreat from Lang Son
, and Courbet was on the point of evacuating Keelung to reinforce the Tonkin expeditionary corps, leaving only a minimum garrison at Makung in the Pescadores, when hostilities came to an end in April 1885.
during the brief French occupation. He had already suffered a severe bout of dysentery in April 1885, and his health declined rapidly during the next two months. On 8 June he walked with his head bared under the hot sun of the Pescadores in the funeral procession of sous-commissaire Dert, a marine infantry officer who had just died of cholera, and this duty critically weakened him. He died aboard his flagship Bayard in Makung harbour on the night of 11 June 1885. Admiral Sébastien Lespès assumed command of the Far East Squadron, and presided at a memorial service for Courbet at Makung on 13 June.
On 23 June Bayard left Makung, to a 19-gun salute from more than thirty French warships, to take Courbet's body back to France for a state funeral in Paris. After a two-month voyage back to France that included stops at Singapore, Mahé (in the Seychelles), Aden, Suez, Alexandria and Bône, Bayard reached the coast of Provence on 24 August and joined the French Mediterranean fleet in the harbour of Les Salins d'Hyères. Courbet's coffin was ceremoniously landed on 26 August, and taken in state to Paris aboard a special train. At Avignon and other stations on the route to Paris patriotic crowds lined the route, eager to pay their last respects to France's most famous admiral. A state funeral for Courbet was held at Les Invalides on 27 August. The funeral oration was pronounced by Charles Émile Freppel, bishop of Angers, one of the most fervent supporters of Jules Ferry
's policy of colonial conquest in Tonkin. Courbet's body was then taken by train to his home town of Abbeville
in Picardy, where a burial service was held on 1 September. Following a further oration by bishop Freppel, the final eulogy to Courbet was delivered in Abbeville's collegiate church of Saint Vulfran by the recently appointed navy minister, Admiral Charles-Eugène Galiber.
Colonel Thomazi, commenting on the French government's choice of Courbet to command the Tonkin Seas naval division in 1883, gave a perceptive analysis of Courbet's approach to leadership:
Enseigne de vaisseau Louis-Marie-Julien Viaud (1850–1923), who served under Courbet's command in Tonkin and described his experiences in a number of popular articles published under the pen name Pierre Loti
, discerned Courbet's more human side:
Three ships of the French Navy
have been named after Admiral Courbet: an ironclad (Courbet
, in service from 1882 to 1909), a battleship (Courbet
, in service from 1913 to 1944), and a modern stealth frigate, Courbet (F 712), presently in active service.
Abbeville
Abbeville is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Location:Abbeville is located on the Somme River, from its modern mouth in the English Channel, and northwest of Amiens...
, Somme
Somme
Somme is a department of France, located in the north of the country and named after the Somme river. It is part of the Picardy region of France....
– 11 June 1885) was a French admiral who won a series of important land and naval victories during the Tonkin campaign
Tonkin campaign
The Tonkin Campaign was a armed conflict fought between June 1883 and April 1886 by the French against, variously, the Vietnamese, Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and the Chinese Guangxi and Yunnan armies to occupy Tonkin and entrench a French protectorate there...
(1883–86) and the Sino-French War
Sino-French War
The Sino–French War was a limited conflict fought between August 1884 and April 1885 to decide whether France should replace China in control of Tonkin . As the French achieved their war aims, they are usually considered to have won the war...
(August 1884–April 1885).
Early years
Courbet was born in AbbevilleAbbeville
Abbeville is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Location:Abbeville is located on the Somme River, from its modern mouth in the English Channel, and northwest of Amiens...
in 1828 as the youngest of three children. His father died when he was nine years old. He was a Polytechnician
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
.
From 1849 to 1853 Courbet served as a midshipman (aspirant) on the corvette Capricieuse (capitaine de vaisseau Roquemaurel). Capricieuse circumnavigated the globe during this period and cruised for several months along the China Coast, giving Courbet his first experience of the seas in which, thirty years later, he would win fame. After his return to France he was posted to the brick Olivier, attached to the Levant naval division. In December 1855, at Smyrna, he intervened to quell a mutiny aboard the Messageries impériales packet Tancrède, and was subsequently commended for his conduct by the navy ministry. He was promoted to the rank of lieutenant de vaisseau in November 1856.
From 1864 to 1866 Courbet served on the two-deck broadside ironclad battleship Solferino as aide de camp and secretary to Admiral Bouët-Willaumez, commander of the escadre d’évolutions. He was promoted capitaine de frégate in August 1866 and posted to the ironclad frigate Savoie as chief of staff to Admiral de Dompierre d’Hornoy, commander of the North Sea and English Channel naval division. In March 1870 he was posted to the Antilles naval division as captain of the despatch vessel Talisman. This posting, which gave him no opportunity for action during the Franco-Prussian War, was his first independent command. He returned to France in May 1872.
Oléron
Île d'Oléron is an island off the Atlantic coast of France , on the southern side of the Pertuis d'Antioche strait....
). From 1877 to 1879 he was posted to the ironclad Richelieu, where he again served as chief of staff to Admiral de Dompierre d’Hornoy, now commander-in-chief of the escadre d’évolutions.
In May 1880 Courbet succeeded Admiral Olry as governor of New Caledonia
New Caledonia
New Caledonia is a special collectivity of France located in the southwest Pacific Ocean, east of Australia and about from Metropolitan France. The archipelago, part of the Melanesia subregion, includes the main island of Grande Terre, the Loyalty Islands, the Belep archipelago, the Isle of...
. He returned to France in the autumn of 1882, where he was promised command of the Levant naval division by Admiral Bernard Jauréguiberry
Bernard Jauréguiberry
Jean Bernard Jauréguiberry was a French admiral and statesman.A native of Bayonne, Jauréguiberry entered the French Navy in 1831. He rose steadily through the ranks, becoming a lieutenant in 1845, a commander in 1856, and a captain in 1860...
, the navy minister. Jauréguiberry was replaced as navy minister in January 1883 when Charles Duclerc
Charles Duclerc
Charles Théodore Eugène Duclerc was a French journalist and politician of the Third Republic. He was a member of the editorial board of the National newspaper. Duclerc served as Minister of Finance from May through June in the Provisional government of France...
's cabinet was replaced by the brief administration of Armand Fallières
Armand Fallières
Clément Armand Fallières was a French politician, president of the French republic from 1906 to 1913.He was born at Mézin in the département of Lot-et-Garonne, France, where his father was clerk of the peace...
, and Courbet was instead appointed commander of the division navale d’essais in the Mediterranean. In April 1883 he hoisted his flag aboard the ironclad Bayard
French battleship Bayard (1880)
The Bayard was an early stationary battleship of the French Navy, lead ship of her class. Bayard had a wooden hull and a full rigging, as well as a side armour and steam machinery.- Active service :...
at Cherbourg.
Command of Tonkin Coasts Naval Division
Black Flag Army
The Black Flag Army was a splinter remnant of a bandit group recruited largely from soldiers of ethnic Zhuang background, who crossed the border from Guangxi province of China into Upper Tonkin, in the Empire of Annam in 1865. They became known mainly for their fights against French forces in...
. The Black Flag Army was covertly armed and supplied by China, and the role of the new naval division was to cut the flow of weapons and ammunition to the Black Flags by blockading the Gulf of Tonkin. The Tonkin Coasts naval division included the ironclads Bayard and Atalante from Courbet's Mediterranean command and the cruiser Châteaurenault from Algiers. Courbet was also given two torpedo boats, Nos. 45 and 46, and was ordered to take over the seagoing vessels of the Cochinchina naval division on his arrival in Tonkin. Courbet arrived at Along Bay in July 1883.
In August in response to the death of the Vietnamese emperor Tự Đức and a consequent succession crisis, the French government approved an operation to coerce the Vietnamese court at Huế. On 18 August Courbet's naval division bombarded the Thuan An forts at the entrance to the River of Perfumes, and on 20 August, in the Battle of Thuan An
Battle of Thuan An
The Battle of Thuan An was a clash between the French and the Vietnamese during the period of early hostilities of the Tonkin Campaign...
, a landing force of sailors and marine infantry overran the Vietnamese defences and captured the forts. Courbet's victory, which enabled the French to occupy Huế whenever they wanted, compelled the Vietnamese court to submit to French authority and sign the Treaty of Huế
Treaty of Hué (1883)
The Treaty of Huế, concluded on 25 August 1883 between France and Vietnam, recognised a French protectorate over Annam and Tonkin. Dictated to the Vietnamese by the French administrator François-Jules Harmand in the wake of the French military seizure of the Thuan An forts, the treaty is often...
, which recognised the French protectorate in Tonkin.
Command of Tonkin Expeditionary Corps
In October 1883 Courbet was placed in command of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps. In December 1883 he struck at Son TaySon Tay
Sơn Tây is an urban district and city in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. It was the capital of Son Tay province before merging with Ha Dong province in 1965...
. The Son Tay Campaign
Son Tay Campaign
The Son Tay Campaign was a campaign fought by the French to capture the strategically important city of Son Tay in Tonkin from Liu Yongfu's Black Flag Army and allied contingents of Vietnamese and Chinese troops...
was the fiercest campaign the French had yet fought in Tonkin. Although the Chinese and Vietnamese contingents at Son Tay played little part in the defence, Liu Yongfu's Black Flags fought ferociously to hold the city. On 14 December the French assaulted the outer defences of Son Tay at Phu Sa, but were thrown back with heavy casualties. Hoping to exploit this reverse, Liu Yongfu attacked the French lines the same night, but the Black Flag attack also failed disastrously. After resting his troops on 15 December, Courbet again assaulted the defences of Son Tay on the afternoon of 16 December. This time the attack was thoroughly prepared by artillery, and delivered only after the defenders had been worn down. At 5 p.m. a Foreign Legion battalion and a battalion of marine fusiliers captured the western gate of Son Tay and fought their way into the town. Liu Yongfu's garrison withdrew to the citadel, and evacuated Son Tay under cover of darkness several hours later. Courbet had achieved his objective, but at considerable cost. French casualties at Son Tay were 83 dead and 320 wounded. The fighting at Son Tay also took a terrible toll of the Black Flags, and in the opinion of some observers broke them once and for all as a serious fighting force.
Command of Far East Squadron
The 1883 campaigns in Tonkin had been conducted, like most French colonial enterprises, by the troupes de marine, and had been overseen by the navy ministry. In December 1883, however, in view of the increasing commitment of troops from Algeria to Tonkin, the army ministry insisted on appointing a general from the regular army to command of the Tonkin Expeditionary Corps, which would be henceforth be constituted as a two-brigade infantry division with the normal complement of artillery and other supporting arms. Jules FerryJules Ferry
Jules François Camille Ferry was a French statesman and republican. He was a promoter of laicism and colonial expansion.- Early life :Born in Saint-Dié, in the Vosges département, France, he studied law, and was called to the bar at Paris in 1854, but soon went into politics, contributing to...
's cabinet approved this recommendation, and Courbet was replaced in command of the expeditionary corps on 16 December 1883 by General Charles-Théodore Millot
Charles-Théodore Millot
Charles-Théodore Millot was a French general who distinguished himself in the Franco-Prussian War and the Tonkin campaign...
—ironically, on the very day on which he captured Son Tay. He resumed command of the Tonkin Coasts naval division, and for the next six months played a most unwelcome subordinate role, hunting down bands of Vietnamese pirates in the Gulf of Tonkin while Millot was winning glory in the Bac Ninh campaign
Bac Ninh campaign
The Bac Ninh Campaign was one of a series of clashes between French and Chinese forces in northern Vietnam during the Tonkin campaign...
.
Courbet's luck changed in June 1884. On 27 June, in response to the news of the Bac Le ambush
Bac Le ambush
The Bac Le ambush was a clash during the Tonkin campaign in June 1884 between Chinese troops of the Guangxi Army and a French column sent to occupy Lang Son and other towns near the Chinese border. The French claimed that their troops had been ambushed by the Chinese...
, the Tonkin Coasts naval division and the Far East naval division were amalgamated into a Far East Squadron
Far East Squadron
The French Far East Squadron was an exceptional naval grouping created for the duration of the Sino-French War .- Background :...
. The new squadron, which would remain in existence throughout the Sino-French War, was placed under Courbet's command, with Admiral Sébastien Lespès
Sébastien Lespès
Sébastien-Nicolas-Joachim Lespès was a French admiral who played an important role in naval operations during the Sino-French War , as second-in-command of Admiral Amédée Courbet's Far East Squadron.- Early career :...
(the commander of the Far East naval division) second in command. Courbet's squadron initially included the ironclads Bayard (the flagship), Atalante, La Galissonnière and Triomphante, the cruisers Châteaurenault, d'Estaing, Duguay-Trouin and Volta, the light frigates Hamelin and Parseval, the gunboats Lynx, Vipère, Lutin and Aspic, the troopships Drac and Saône and Torpedo Boats Nos. 45 and 46. In July 1884 Courbet was ordered to concentrate part of the squadron at Fuzhou, to threaten the Fujian fleet
Fujian Fleet
The Fujian Fleet was one of China's four regional fleets during the closing decades of the nineteenth century. The fleet was almost annihilated on 23 August 1884 by Admiral Amédée Courbet's Far East Squadron at the Battle of Fuzhou, the opening engagement of the Sino-French War .-Composition:The...
(one of China's four regional fleets) and the Foochow Navy Yard.
Min River operations, August 1884
Bac Le ambush
The Bac Le ambush was a clash during the Tonkin campaign in June 1884 between Chinese troops of the Guangxi Army and a French column sent to occupy Lang Son and other towns near the Chinese border. The French claimed that their troops had been ambushed by the Chinese...
broke down in mid- August and on 22 August Courbet was ordered to attack the Chinese fleet at Fuzhou. In the Battle of Fuzhou (also known as the Battle of the Pagoda Anchorage) on 23 August 1884, Courbet's Far East Squadron
Far East Squadron
The French Far East Squadron was an exceptional naval grouping created for the duration of the Sino-French War .- Background :...
annihilated China's outclassed Fujian fleet and severely damaged the Foochow Navy Yard. Nine Chinese ships were sunk in less than an hour, including the corvette Yangwu, the flagship of the Fujian fleet. Chinese losses may have amounted to 3,000 dead, while French losses were minimal. Courbet then successfully withdrew down the Min River to the open sea, destroying several Chinese shore batteries from behind as he took the French squadron through the Min'an and Jinpai passes.
Operations in Formosa, October 1884
In late September 1884, much to his distaste, Courbet was ordered to use the Far East Squadron to support the landing of a French expeditionary corps at Keelung and Tamsui in northern Formosa (Taiwan). Courbet argued vigorously against a campaign in Formosa and submitted alternative proposals to the navy ministry for a campaign in northern Chinese waters to seize Port Arthur or Weihaiwei. He was supported by Jules PatenôtreJules Patenotre des Noyers
Jules Patenôtre des Noyers , French diplomat, was born at Baye .Educated at the École Normale Supérieure, he taught for some years in the Algiers lycée before he joined the diplomatic service in 1871. He took service from 1873 to 1876 in the North of Persia...
, the French minister to China, but both men were overruled.
On 1 October Lieutenant-Colonel Bertaux-Levillain landed at Keelung with a force of 1,800 marine infantry, forcing the Chinese to withdraw to strong defensive positions which had been prepared in the surrounding hills. The French force was too small to advance beyond Keelung. Meanwhile, after an ineffective naval bombardment on 2 October, Admiral Lespès attacked the Chinese defences at Tamsui
Battle of Tamsui
The Battle of Tamsui , fought on 8 October 1884, was a significant French defeat during the Sino-French War.- Background :...
with 600 sailors from his squadron's landing companies on 8 October, and was decisively repulsed by forces under the command of the Fujianese general Sun Kaihua (孫開華). The French were now committed to a prolonged Keelung Campaign
Keelung Campaign
The Keelung Campaign was a controversial military campaign undertaken by the French in northern Formosa during the Sino-French War. After making a botched attack on Keelung in August 1884, the French landed an expeditionary corps of 2,000 men and captured the port in October 1884...
, and Courbet's squadron was tied down in a largely ineffective blockade of Formosa.
Battle of Shipu Bay, February 1885
After several months of inactivity, Courbet won a series of victories in the spring of 1885. Courbet's squadron had been reinforced substantially since the start of the war, and he now had considerably more ships at his disposal than in October 1884. In early February 1885 part of his squadron left Keelung to head off a threatened attempt by part of the Chinese Southern Seas fleet to break the French blockade of Formosa. On 11 February Courbet's task force met the cruisers Kaiji, Nanchen and Nanrui, three of the most modern ships in the Chinese fleet, near Shipu Bay, accompanied by the frigate Yuyuan and the composite sloop Chengqing. The Chinese scattered at the French approach, and while the three cruisers successfully made their escape, the French succeeded in trapping Yuyuan and Chengqing in Shipu Bay. On the night of 14 February, in the Battle of ShipuBattle of Shipu
The Battle of Shipu was a French naval victory during the Sino-French War . The battle took place on the night of 14 February 1885 in Shipu Bay , near Ningbo, China.- Background :...
, both ships were crippled during a daring French torpedo attack, Yuyuan by a French spar torpedo and Chengqing by Chinese artillery fire. Both ships were subsequently scuttled by the Chinese.
Blockade of Ningbo, March 1885
Courbet followed up this success on 1 March by locating Kaiji, Nanchen and Nanrui, which had taken refuge with four other Chinese warships in Zhenhai Bay, near the port of Ningbo. Courbet considered forcing the Chinese defences, but finally decided to guard the entrance to the bay to keep the enemy vessels bottled up there for the duration of hostilities. A brief and inconclusive skirmish between the French cruiser Nielly and the Chinese shore batteries on 1 March enabled the Chinese general Ouyang Lijian, charged with the defence of Ningbo, to claim the so-called Battle of ZhenhaiBattle of Zhenhai
The so-called Battle of Zhenhai was a minor confrontation on 1 March 1885 between Admiral Amédée Courbet's Far East Squadron and Chinese warships and shore batteries near the coastal city of Zhenhai, 12 miles downstream of Ningbo, during the Sino-French War...
as a defensive victory.
Rice blockade, March–June 1885
In February 1885, under diplomatic pressure from China, Britain invoked the provisions of the 1870 Foreign Enlistment Act and closed Hong Kong and other ports in the Far East to French warships. The French government retaliated by ordering Courbet to implement a 'rice blockade' of the Yangzi River, hoping to bring the Qing court to terms by provoking serious rice shortages in northern China. The rice blockade severely disrupted the transport of rice by sea from Shanghai and forced the Chinese to carry it overland, but the war ended before the blockade seriously affected China's economy.Pescadores campaign, March 1885
A major French victory at Keelung in early March 1885 enabled Courbet to detach a marine infantry battalion and a marine artillery section from the Keelung garrison to capture the Pescadores Islands in late March. Courbet directed operations in person, and this brief colonial campaign was fought in the traditional style, by ships of the French navy and by the troupes de marine. Strategically, the Pescadores CampaignPescadores Campaign
The Pescadores Campaign in late March 1885 was one of the last campaigns of the Sino-French War . It was fought to capture a strategically important island group off the western coast of Taiwan...
was an important victory, which would have prevented the Chinese from further reinforcing their army in Formosa, but it came too late to affect the outcome of the war. A proposal to use the Far East squadron to make a landing in the Gulf of Petchili was cancelled on the news of the French defeat in the Battle of Bang Bo (24 March 1885) and the subsequent retreat from Lang Son
Retreat from Lang Son
The Retreat from Lang Son was a controversial, and almost certainly unnecessary, French strategic withdrawal in Tonkin at the end of March 1885 that brought down the government of the French premier Jules Ferry and brought the Sino-French War to an end in circumstances of considerable...
, and Courbet was on the point of evacuating Keelung to reinforce the Tonkin expeditionary corps, leaving only a minimum garrison at Makung in the Pescadores, when hostilities came to an end in April 1885.
Courbet's death and state funeral, June–September 1885
The French occupied the Pescadores until July 1885. Courbet and several dozen other French soldiers and sailors died of choleraCholera
Cholera is an infection of the small intestine that is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The main symptoms are profuse watery diarrhea and vomiting. Transmission occurs primarily by drinking or eating water or food that has been contaminated by the diarrhea of an infected person or the feces...
during the brief French occupation. He had already suffered a severe bout of dysentery in April 1885, and his health declined rapidly during the next two months. On 8 June he walked with his head bared under the hot sun of the Pescadores in the funeral procession of sous-commissaire Dert, a marine infantry officer who had just died of cholera, and this duty critically weakened him. He died aboard his flagship Bayard in Makung harbour on the night of 11 June 1885. Admiral Sébastien Lespès assumed command of the Far East Squadron, and presided at a memorial service for Courbet at Makung on 13 June.
On 23 June Bayard left Makung, to a 19-gun salute from more than thirty French warships, to take Courbet's body back to France for a state funeral in Paris. After a two-month voyage back to France that included stops at Singapore, Mahé (in the Seychelles), Aden, Suez, Alexandria and Bône, Bayard reached the coast of Provence on 24 August and joined the French Mediterranean fleet in the harbour of Les Salins d'Hyères. Courbet's coffin was ceremoniously landed on 26 August, and taken in state to Paris aboard a special train. At Avignon and other stations on the route to Paris patriotic crowds lined the route, eager to pay their last respects to France's most famous admiral. A state funeral for Courbet was held at Les Invalides on 27 August. The funeral oration was pronounced by Charles Émile Freppel, bishop of Angers, one of the most fervent supporters of Jules Ferry
Jules Ferry
Jules François Camille Ferry was a French statesman and republican. He was a promoter of laicism and colonial expansion.- Early life :Born in Saint-Dié, in the Vosges département, France, he studied law, and was called to the bar at Paris in 1854, but soon went into politics, contributing to...
's policy of colonial conquest in Tonkin. Courbet's body was then taken by train to his home town of Abbeville
Abbeville
Abbeville is a commune in the Somme department in Picardie in northern France.-Location:Abbeville is located on the Somme River, from its modern mouth in the English Channel, and northwest of Amiens...
in Picardy, where a burial service was held on 1 September. Following a further oration by bishop Freppel, the final eulogy to Courbet was delivered in Abbeville's collegiate church of Saint Vulfran by the recently appointed navy minister, Admiral Charles-Eugène Galiber.
Courbet's leadership
Courbet was a cautious, methodical commander, who calculated the odds carefully before committing his men to battle. Wherever possible he sought to minimise French casualties, and on several occasions he cancelled an attack which he had previously ordered. He was a deeply private individual, who discouraged familiarity from his subordinates, both officers and men. At the same time, he was deeply respected and loved. One of the sailors of the Far East Squadron summed up the reason why he was so popular: 'Admiral Courbet is a great man. He doesn't get his men killed for nothing!'Colonel Thomazi, commenting on the French government's choice of Courbet to command the Tonkin Seas naval division in 1883, gave a perceptive analysis of Courbet's approach to leadership:
Rear Admiral Courbet, then aged 56, had enjoyed rapid promotion, although by a remarkable chance he had never taken part in any military operation. He had been in the Levant during the Crimean War, and had taken part neither in the Italian War nor the China and Mexico expeditions. In 1870 and 1871 he had been in the Antilles. But his naval career had been extremely active. He had sailed all of the world's oceans, had exercised numerous commands, and had won the reputation of a first-class tactician. He had not wished to specialise in one particular branch of naval science, but had studied them all deeply, from astronomy and gunnery to engines and torpedoes. He was the model of a well-rounded officer, familiar with everything which concerned his profession.
He was as judicious as wise, as helpful as intelligent. He studied with minute care the problems to be resolved, weighed his decision carefully, and when he had made it carried it out with inflexible energy. His orders were short and lucid, and he never shrank from accepting responsibility. While chary in his praises, he was a fair man, and recognised good service in others. As a result he was able to get the best out of his subordinates, and they in turn had complete confidence in him. He was one of those rare men who were born to command others. It is certain that in any other career he would have displayed the same superiority and authority as in the navy. Circumstances would highlight his magnificent leadership qualities.
Enseigne de vaisseau Louis-Marie-Julien Viaud (1850–1923), who served under Courbet's command in Tonkin and described his experiences in a number of popular articles published under the pen name Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti
Pierre Loti was a French novelist and naval officer.-Biography:Loti's education began in his birthplace, Rochefort, Charente-Maritime. At the age of seventeen he entered the naval school in Brest and studied at Le Borda. He gradually rose in his profession, attaining the rank of captain in 1906...
, discerned Courbet's more human side:
He set a very high price on the lives of the sailors and soldiers, which after two years seemed not to be rated at their true value in far-off France, and begrudged spilling a drop of French blood. His battles were concerted and worked out in advance with such minute precision that the results, often devastating, were always obtained with very small losses on our side. In battle he was stern and unbending, but when the fighting was over he became a different man, a very gentle man, who made his rounds of the hospitals with a fine, sad smile. He wanted to see the wounded, even the most humble of them, and to shake their hands; and they died the happier, comforted by his visit.
Courbet's memory
The old Haymarket Square (Place du Marché-au-Blé) in Courbet's home town of Abbeville was renamed Place de l'Amiral Courbet by the city authorities in July 1885, shortly after the news of Courbet's death reached France. An extravagant baroque statue of Courbet was erected in the middle of the square at the end of the nineteenth century. The statue was damaged in a devastating German bombing raid during the Second World War.Three ships of the French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
have been named after Admiral Courbet: an ironclad (Courbet
French battleship Courbet (1882)
The Courbet was an ironclad first-rank battleship of the French Navy.She served in the Mediterranean squadron, and later in the Northern squadron. She had a sister ship, the Dévastation.- See also :* French ship Courbet for eponymous ships...
, in service from 1882 to 1909), a battleship (Courbet
French battleship Courbet (1911)
Courbet was the lead ship of her class, the first dreadnoughts built for the French Navy. She was completed before World War I and named in honour of Admiral Amédée Courbet. She spent the war in the Mediterranean, helping to sink the Austro-Hungarian protected cruiser in August 1914...
, in service from 1913 to 1944), and a modern stealth frigate, Courbet (F 712), presently in active service.
Decorations
- Légion d'honneurLégion d'honneurThe Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...
- Knight (22 October 1857)
- Officer (30 December 1868)
- Commander (23 July 1879)
- Grand Officer (20 December 1883)
- Médaille militaireMédaille militaireThe Médaille militaire is a decoration of the French Republic which was first instituted in 1852.-History:The creator of the médaille was the emperor Napoléon III, who may have taken his inspiration in a medal issued by his father, Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland...
(13 September 1884)