Teodoro Lechi
Encyclopedia
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
and a military advisor to King Carlo Alberto
Charles Albert of Sardinia
Charles Albert was the King of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1849. He succeeded his distant cousin Charles Felix, and his name is bound with the first Italian statute and the First War of Independence...
of Sardinia
Kingdom of Sardinia
The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...
. He was the brother of Giuseppe Lechi
Giuseppe Lechi
Giuseppe Lechi , Italian general, jacobin and patriot.-Biography:Being the first son of Faustino Lechi and his wife Doralice Bielli, the general Giuseppe Lechi was already considered a man of great light and shadows , reckless and unscrupulous similar to his uncle the Count Galliano Lechi, who was...
, a brilliant and famous (or notorious) Napoleonic general, and Angelo, also a Napoleonic officer.
Biography
Teodoro Lechi was born in BresciaBrescia
Brescia is a city and comune in the region of Lombardy in northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella and the Naviglio, with a population of around 197,000. It is the second largest city in Lombardy, after the capital, Milan...
, the 14th son of 19 of Fausto Lechi and his wife Doralice Bielli. He enlisted in the Brescian Legion on 18 March 1797, at the event of the city revolution. He immediately sided for Napoleon and entered in the new Presidential Guard of the Italian Republic that after few time became the "Guardia Reale" (Royal Guard), achieving the rank of Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
in 1803.
Lechi spent nearly two years (1803–1805) in Paris, where he received the convenient military training. Returned to Lombardy, he became commander of the Grenadiers of the Royal Guard of the new Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène de Beauharnais
Eugène Rose de Beauharnais, Prince Français, Prince of Venice, Viceroy of the Kingdom of Italy, Hereditary Grand Duke of Frankfurt, 1st Duke of Leuchtenberg and 1st Prince of Eichstätt ad personam was the first child and only son of Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais and Joséphine Tascher de la...
. The same year he was made Esquire of the King of Italy and receives from Napoleon himself the Eagles
French Imperial Eagle
French Imperial Eagle refers to the figure of an eagle on a staff carried into battle as a standard by the Grande Armée of Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars....
and the banners of the Guard.
With Prince Eugene, Lechi fought at Austerlitz
Austerlitz
- People :* Austerlitz * Fred Astaire, born Frederick Austerlitz* Robert Austerlitz , linguist, specialist in the Proto-Finno-Ugric language- Places :...
(1805), in Veneto, in Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
, in Albania, in Hungary and became Brigade general
Brigadier General
Brigadier general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries, usually sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general. When appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is typically in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000...
in 1809. After the battle of Wagram
Battle of Wagram
The Battle of Wagram was the decisive military engagement of the War of the Fifth Coalition. It took place on the Marchfeld plain, on the north bank of the Danube. An important site of the battle was the village of Deutsch-Wagram, 10 kilometres northeast of Vienna, which would give its name to the...
(December 1809) he was entitled Baron of the French Empire
Nobility of the First French Empire
Napoleon Bonaparte created titles of nobility to institute a stable elite in the First French Empire, after the instability resulting from the French Revolution....
. On 10 February 1812 he left for the Campaign of Russia
French invasion of Russia
The French invasion of Russia of 1812 was a turning point in the Napoleonic Wars. It reduced the French and allied invasion forces to a tiny fraction of their initial strength and triggered a major shift in European politics as it dramatically weakened French hegemony in Europe...
, participating to every battle, comprised those of the retreat.
Austrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
, despite awareness of the decline of the Napoleonic age, as commanding officer of the IV Division of the Army of Italy. On 27 April 1814, after the armistice signed by Eugène de Beauharnais, Lechi was protagonist of a somewhat singular ritual: for fidelity to the Guard, he burned the banners and the Eagles
French Imperial Eagle
French Imperial Eagle refers to the figure of an eagle on a staff carried into battle as a standard by the Grande Armée of Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars....
(except for one Eagle, that he jealously would conserve for more the 30 years), and ate the remaining ashes with his own officers.
Refusing to swear loyalty to the Austrian Empire, Teodoro retired to private life.
It is in the event of the Five Days of Milan
Five Days of Milan
The Five Days of Milan was a major event in the Revolutionary Year of 1848 and the start of the First Italian War of Independence. On March 18th, the city of Milan, rose, and in five days of street fighting drove Marshal Radetzky and his men from the city....
that, the now 72 years old, Teodoro Lechi returned to action: on 28 March 1848 he assumed the command of the Civic Guard. A man of experience, he advised the Minister of the war Antonio Franzini to make use of the railway lines in order to transport the troops and to assault Verona
Verona
Verona ; German Bern, Dietrichsbern or Welschbern) is a city in the Veneto, northern Italy, with approx. 265,000 inhabitants and one of the seven chef-lieus of the region. It is the second largest city municipality in the region and the third of North-Eastern Italy. The metropolitan area of Verona...
; the suggestion, which was not received, would have probably changed the fortunes of the First Italian War of Independence
First Italian War of Independence
The First Italian War of Independence was fought in 1848 between the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Austrian Empire. The war saw main battles at Custoza and Novara in which the Austrians under Radetzky managed to defeat the Piedmontese....
.
At the end of the war Teodoro Lechi moved to Piedmont
Piedmont
Piedmont is one of the 20 regions of Italy. It has an area of 25,402 square kilometres and a population of about 4.4 million. The capital of Piedmont is Turin. The main local language is Piedmontese. Occitan is also spoken by a minority in the Occitan Valleys situated in the Provinces of...
, where he was appointed General of the Army by King Carlo Alberto
Charles Albert of Sardinia
Charles Albert was the King of Piedmont-Sardinia from 1831 to 1849. He succeeded his distant cousin Charles Felix, and his name is bound with the first Italian statute and the First War of Independence...
.
For gratitude, the former Jacobin
Jacobin (politics)
A Jacobin , in the context of the French Revolution, was a member of the Jacobin Club, a revolutionary far-left political movement. The Jacobin Club was the most famous political club of the French Revolution. So called from the Dominican convent where they originally met, in the Rue St. Jacques ,...
veteran delivered to the King of Sardinia the only remaining Napoleonic Eagle
French Imperial Eagle
French Imperial Eagle refers to the figure of an eagle on a staff carried into battle as a standard by the Grande Armée of Napoleon I during the Napoleonic Wars....
which survived the ritual of 1814. This eagle is now preserved inside the Museo del Risorgimento in Milan.
In 1859 General Lechi returned to Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, now an Italian city liberated from the Austrians, where he died, in 1866, at the age of 88.
Teodoro Lechi was portrayed by Stendhal
Stendhal
Marie-Henri Beyle , better known by his pen name Stendhal, was a 19th-century French writer. Known for his acute analysis of his characters' psychology, he is considered one of the earliest and foremost practitioners of realism in his two novels Le Rouge et le Noir and La Chartreuse de Parme...
in "The Charterhouse of Parma
The Charterhouse of Parma
The Charterhouse of Parma is a novel published in 1839 by Stendhal.-Plot summary:The Charterhouse of Parma tells the story of the young Italian nobleman Fabrice del Dongo and his adventures from his birth in 1798 to his death...
" (1839) as "Count of Pietranera". Napoleon Bonaparte informally called Teodoro "mon beau général".
External links
- http://www.storiadimilano.it/Personaggi/Milanesi%20illustri/personaggi_avventurosi.htm
- http://www.alfamodel.it/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=99