French cavalry general (1755–1811), Michel Ordener distinguished himself in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He commanded the Horse Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard and was created a Count of the Empire.
Michel Ordener(1787 — 1862)
Michel Ordener
France
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Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born on 2 May 1755 in Drusenheim (Bas-Rhin)
- Commanded the Horse Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard from 1801
- Took part in major Napoleonic battles including Austerlitz (1805)
- Created Count of the Empire by Napoleon I
- Died on 30 July 1811 in Paris
Works & Achievements
Ordener forged and led the most prestigious elite cavalry unit of the Empire. His Horse Grenadiers took part in the major battles of the Napoleonic decade and represented the pinnacle of the military art of the era.
A secret mission entrusted by Napoleon: cross the Rhine, enter foreign territory, and capture the Bourbon prince. This major political act helped eliminate royalist opposition and consolidate the authority of the Consular regime.
The Horse Grenadiers under Ordener played a role in Napoleon's most celebrated victory, protecting the Emperor and taking part in the decisive charges against the Austro-Russian allies.
Ordener led his elite cavalry during Napoleon's lightning successes against Prussia at Jena, and then during the pursuit into Poland, contributing to the expansion of the Empire toward Eastern Europe.
Anecdotes
In March 1804, Napoleon entrusted Ordener with a secret and delicate mission: to cross the Rhine frontier, enter the territory of the Duchy of Baden, and arrest the Duke of Enghien, a Bourbon prince suspected of plotting against the Consul. Ordener crossed the Rhine under cover of night at the head of two hundred dragoons, captured the duke at Ettenheim without resistance, and brought him back to France. This abduction on foreign soil provoked outrage across all of Europe, and the duke's execution at Vincennes scandalized the royal courts.
The Horse Grenadiers of the Imperial Guard commanded by Ordener were nicknamed by the enemy the 'Gods on Horseback': tall men mounted on carefully selected black horses, they wore the bearskin cap and the full dress uniform of blue and red. At the Battle of Austerlitz in December 1805, these elite cavalrymen played a decisive role in protecting the Emperor and pursuing the routed enemy.
The son of a simple Alsatian craftsman from Rosheim, Michel Ordener enlisted at a very young age in the royal army. The Revolution opened unprecedented opportunities for talented soldiers of common origin: Ordener rose through every rank on merit and bravery, from simple grenadier to the rank of general, embodying the revolutionary meritocracy that transformed the French army.
Ordener served without interruption from the first revolutionary armies of 1792 through the great Napoleonic victories. Present during the campaigns in Germany and Prussia, he earned a reputation as a reliable and courageous soldier, which Napoleon rewarded by naming him Count of the Empire in 1810, granting him a new nobility born of military merit rather than birth.
Primary Sources
In accordance with the orders I had received, I crossed the Rhine during the night of 14 to 15 Ventôse with the detachment of dragoons under my command, and proceeded to Ettenheim where I arrested the former Duke of Enghien.
Citizen Ordener, colonel of the mounted grenadiers, will proceed with all speed to Strasbourg and from there cross the Rhine at Rheinau to make for Ettenheim and seize the Duke of Enghien, Dumouriez, and others.
The mounted grenadiers of the Guard, under the orders of General Ordener, charged with remarkable impetuosity and contributed to breaking the center of the enemy army, routing the Russian battalions that were still holding out.
Napoleon, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, hereby grant to Michel Ordener, divisional general, commander of our mounted grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, the title of Count of the Empire with the rights and prerogatives attached thereto.
Key Places
A small Alsatian town where Michel Ordener was born in 1755 into a family of craftsmen. His origins in this border region between France and the Germanic world shaped his career as a soldier defending the Rhine frontier.
A small town in the Duchy of Baden, on foreign soil, where the Duke of Enghien resided. It was here that Ordener carried out his most famous and most controversial mission in March 1804: the arrest of a Bourbon prince on German territory.
A former royal residence converted into a state prison under the Empire. The Duke of Enghien, arrested by Ordener, was held there, tried before a military tribunal, and shot in the moat on 21 March 1804.
The headquarters where Ordener commanded his elite regiment, oversaw the training of cavalrymen, and ensured the horses were kept in readiness between campaigns. The Guard was garrisoned in the outlying districts of the capital.
The major Alsatian city and strategic stronghold that served as the staging point for the Ettenheim mission. Ordener died there on 10 January 1811, in a city he had known intimately since his Alsatian childhood.