"Dear Child of Victory"

1758 May 6 - Born at Nice
1775 August 18 - Enlisted in Regiment Royal-Italien
1789 August 10 - Marries Rosalie Lamarre at Antibes
1791 September 17 - Joins 2nd Battalion, Volontaires du Var
1793 December 20 - Promoted general de division
1795 November 22-24 - Defeats the Austrians at Loano
1796 April 12-21 - Defeats Austrians at Montenotte, Dego, and Mondovi
1796 August and November - Plays major role at Lonato, Castiglione and Arcole
1797 January 14 - Fights with distinction at Rivoli
1797 March 23 - Defeats the Archduke Charles at the Tarvisio Pass
1797 April 23 - Sent to report to the Directory on the Austrian campaign
1798 February 19 - Arrives in Rome to command French troops: faces a mutiny
1798 December 10 - Appointed to command l'Armee d'Helvetie
1799 April 5 - Appointed to command l'Armee de la Danube
1799 June 4-5 - Attacked unsuccessfully by the Archduke Charles at Zurich
1799 September 26 - Defeats Suvorov at second Battle of Zurich; completes success by October 6
1800 June 4 - Capitulates at Genoa after 60-day siege; repatriated
1800 August 13 - Relieved of command; retires to Rueil estate; unemployed
1804 May 19 - Appointed Marechal d'Empire (fifth in seniority)
1805 August 23 - Appointed to command l'Armee d'Italie
1805 October 20-31 - Defeats the Archduke Charles at Verona-Caldiero; occupies Laibach
1806 July 18 - Captures Gaeta
1808 March - Created duc de Rivoli
1809 May 21-22 - Commands IV Corps at Aspern-Essling with distinction
1809 July 5-6 - Injured by horse fall at Wagram; IV Corps pursues foe to Znaim (reached on 12)
1810 April 17 - Appointed to command l'Armee de Portugal of three corps
1810 August - Invades Portugal and captures Almeida
1810 September 27 - Defeated at Busaco; Wellington withdraws to Torres Vedras
1810 October 10 - Halted by lines of Torres Vedras
1810 November 14 - Withdraws to defensive position at Santarem-Rio Maior
1811 May 3-5 - Defeated by Wellington at Fuentes de Onoro; subsequently recalled
1815 March 9 - Transfer his allegiance to Louis XVIII
1815 April 10 - Transfers his allegiance to Napoleon
1815 July 3 - Appointed governor of Paris by the provisional goverment
1816 January 1 - Retired without pension by the Royal Council of Ministers
1817 April 4 - Dies in Paris; buried in Cementery Pere-Lachaise (April 10)

Masséna "[He] was once a very superior man who, by a very special dispensation, possessed that greatly desired coolness in the heat of an action; he came alive when surrounded by danger. Massena, who was endowed with rare courage and such remark-able tenacity, also had a talent that increased the greater the danger; when defeated, he was always ready to begin again as if he was in fact the victor".

N

by Gipsy