GENERAL BRUNE

This blister pack contains a two piece model of General Brune on horseback as First Consul in 1800. Guillaume Marie Anne Brune, 1st Comte Brune (13 March 1763 – 2 August 1815) was a French soldier and political figure who rose to Marshal of France.The son of a lawyer, he was born at Brive-la-Gaillarde, Corrèze. Brune settled in Paris before the French Revolution, studied law, and became a political journalist. Following the French Revolution he joined the Cordeliers and was a friend of Georges Danton. He was appointed Brigadier General in 1793 and took part in the fighting of the 13 Vendémiaire (5 October 1795) against royalist insurgents in Paris.In 1796 he fought under Napoleon Bonaparte in the Italian campaign, and was promoted Général de Division for good service in the field. He commanded the French army which occupied Switzerland in 1798 and established the Helvetic Republic, and in the following year he was in command of the French troops in defence of Amsterdam against the Anglo-Russian Invasion of Holland under the Duke of York, which was completely successful – the invaders were defeated in the Battle of Castricum, and compelled, after a harsh retreat, to re-embark. He rendered further good service in Vendée and in the Italian Peninsula during the years 1799 – 1801 (winning the Battle of Pozzolo).