Jean-de-Dieu Soult

The son of a country notary in southern France, Soult enlisted in 1785 and rose fast through the revolutionary wars, making brigadier general after Fleurus in 1794 and defeating the Austrians at Linth River in 1799 as their commander died at the battle's start. Napoleon named him Marshal in 1804; his corps broke the Allied center at Austerlitz and earned him the title Duke of Dalmatia. From 1808 he commanded in the Peninsular War, winning early battles like Ocaña but fighting inconclusive clashes at Corunna and Albuera before Wellington's better-supplied coalition forced him out of Spain. He fought on at Toulouse in 1814 even after Napoleon's abdication, declared for the Bourbons, flipped back for the Hundred Days, then served as chief of staff at Waterloo - a role where he proved less capable than in the field. Exiled to Germany after 1815, he was recalled in 1819, became Minister of War in 1830, created the French Foreign Legion, and served three terms as prime minister under Louis Philippe before declaring himself a Republican when that king fell in 1848. He died in 1851 as Marshal General of France, having amassed a large art collection - much of it taken fr