Édouard Mortier , duc de Trévise Adolphe Édouard Casimir Joseph Mortier , 1st Duc de Trévise ( 13 February 176828 July 1835 ) was a French general and Marshal of France under Napoleon I . Biography . Mortier was born at Le Cateau - Cambrésis on 13 February 1768 , son of Charles Mortier ( 17301808 ) and wife Marie Anne Joseph Bonnaire ( b . 1735 ) , and entered the army as a sub - lieutenant in 1791 . He served in the French Revolutionary Wars in the campaigns of 1792 and 1793 on the north - eastern frontier and in the Netherlands , and subsequently on the Meuse and the Rhine . In the war against the Second Coalition in 1799 , he was promoted successively general of brigade and " général de division " . During the Second Battle of Zurich , he led a force of 8 , 000 in the attack from Dieticon on Zurich . His conduct of the French occupation of Hanover , bringing about the Convention of Artlenburg , led Napoleon to include Mortier in the first list of marshals created in 1804 . He commanded a corps of the " Grande Armée " in the Ulm campaign in which he distinguished himself . In the campaign of the middle Danube , which culminated in the Battle of Austerlitz , Napoleon placed him in command of a newly formed VIII . Corps , composed of divisions from the other Corps . Mortier over - extended his line of march on the north shore of the Danube and failed to heed Napoleon ' s advice to protect his north flank . A combined force of Russians and Austrians , under over - all command of Mikhail Kutuzov enticed Mortier to send Théodore Maxime Gazan ' s 2nd Division into a trap and French troops were caught in a valley between two Russian columns . They were rescued by the timely arrival of a second division , under command of Pierre Dupont de l ' Étang ' s 1st Division , which covered a day ' s march in a half day . The Battle of Dürrenstein ( 11 November 1805 ) extended well into the night . Both sides claimed victory , the French lost more than a third of the participants , and Gazan ' s division experienced over 40 percent losses . The Austrians and Russians also had heavy losses — close to 16 percent . After Austerlitz , Napoleon dispersed the Corps and Gazan received the Legion of Honor , but Mortier was simply reassigned . In 1806 Mortier was again in Hanover and north - western Germany . In 1807 he served with the " Grande Armée " in the Friedland campaign , in the siege of Stralsund , and in the siege of Kolberg . In 1808 , Napoleon created him duke of Treviso ( " Trévise " in French ) a duché grand - fief ( a rare , but nominal , hereditary honor , extinguished in 1946 ) in his own Kingdom of Italy , and shortly after he commanded an army corps in Napoleon ' s campaign for the recapture of Madrid . Mortier remained in Spain for two campaigns , winning the victory of Ocaña in November 1809 . In 1812 and 1813 he commanded the Imperial Guard , and in the defensive campaign of 1814 he rendered brilliant services in command of rearguards and covering detachments . In 1815 , after the flight of Bourbon king Louis XVIII of France , he rejoined Napoleon during the " Cent Jours " and was given command of the Imperial Guard , but at the opening of the Battle of Waterloo he was unable to continue due to severe sciatica . After the second Bourbon Restoration he was for a time in disgrace , but in 1819 he was readmitted to the Chamber of Peers and in 1825 received the Order of the Holy Spirit , the kingdom ' s highest . In 1830 – 1831 he was Ambassador of France to Russia at St Petersburg , and in 1834 – 1835 minister of war and president of the council of ministers . In 1835 , while accompanying Louis - Philippe to a review , Marshal Mortier and eleven others were killed by the ' infernal machine ' – an apparatus of 25 musket barrels firing simultaneously aimed at the king by Giuseppe Marco Fieschi , a disgruntled vagabond and outcast . Louis Philippe bitterly mourned him , and wept openly at the marshal ' s funeral . He married Eve Anne Hymmès ( Coblence , 19 August 1779Paris , 13 February 1855 ) , by whom he had issue :