French marshals - Maréchaux de France

The Marshal of France is a military distinction in contemporary France, not a military rank. It is granted to generals for exceptional achievements. It was one of the Great Officers of the Crown of France during the Ancien Régime and Bourbon Restoration and one of the Great Dignitaries of the Empire during the First French Empire (when the title was not "Marshal of France" but "Marshal of the Empire").

Napoleon I

Napoleon created twenty-six Marshals of the Empire:

• Louis Alexandre Berthier, Prince of Neufchatel and of Wagram, Duke of Valengin. (1753–1815) - Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Joachim Murat, Prince d'Empire, Grand Duke of Berg, King of Naples (1767–1815) - Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Bon Adrien Jeannot de Moncey, Duke of Conégliano (1754–1842), Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, Count Jourdan (1762–1833), Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• André Masséna, Duke of Rivoli, Prince of Essling (1758–1817), Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Pierre François Charles Augereau, Duke of Castiglione (1757–1816), Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Jean Baptiste Jules Bernadotte (1763–1844), Prince of Ponte Corvo, King of Sweden and Norway under the name Charles XIV John (1818-1844) - Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, Count Brune (1763–1815), Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Jean de Dieu Soult, Duke of Dalmatie (1769–1851), Marshal of the Empire in 1804, Marshal General of France in 1847
• Jean Lannes, Duke of Montebello (1769–1809) - Marshal of the Empire in 1804 †
• Édouard Adolphe Casimir Joseph Mortier, Duke of Trévise (1768–1835), Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Michel Ney, Duke of Elchingen, Prince of la Moscowa (1769–1815) - Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Louis Nicolas Davout, Duke of Auerstaedt, Prince of Eckmühl (1770–1823), Marshal of the Empire in 1804
• Jean-Baptiste Bessières, Duke of Istria (1768–1813), Marshal of the Empire in 1804 †
• François Christophe de Kellermann, Duke of Valmy (1737–1820), Marshal of the Empire in 1804 (Honorary)
• François Joseph Lefebvre, Duke of Danzig (1755–1820), - Marshal of the Empire in 1804 (Honorary)
• Dominique Catherine de Pérignon, Marquis of Grenade (1754–1818), Marshal of the Empire in 1804 (Honorary)
• Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier, Count Sérurier (1742–1819), Marshal of the Empire in 1804 (Honorary)
• Claude Victor, Duke of Bellune (1764–1841), Marshal of the Empire in 1807
• Jacques MacDonald, Duke of Tarento (1765–1840), Marshal of the Empire in 1809
• Nicolas Charles Oudinot, Duke of Reggio (1767–1847), Marshal of the Empire in 1809
• Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont, Duke of Ragusa (1774–1852), Marshal of the Empire in 1809
• Louis Gabriel Suchet, Duke of Albufera (1770–1826), Marshal of the Empire in 1811
• Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr, Marquis of Gouvion-Saint-Cyr (1764–1830), Marshal of the Empire in 1812
• Józef Antoni Poniatowski, Prince Poniatowski (1763–1813), Marshal of the Empire in 1813 †
• Emmanuel de Grouchy, marquis de Grouchy, (1766–1847), Marshal of the Empire in 1815

The names of many of these have been given to successive stretches of an avenue encircling Paris, which has thus been nicknamed the Boulevards des Maréchaux (Boulevards of the Marshals).

More info on: Marshals of France