Franz Joseph Hausmann lived during one of the most important phases of Bavarian history and personally experienced many of the dramatic events that transformed that realm in the first fifteen years of the nineteenth century. Born in 1789, the year of the French Revolution, Franz first entered the army in 1799, the same year that Prince-Elector Maximilian IV Joseph assumed the Wittelsbach throne. Franz left active service in 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo, and finally departed the army in 1818 when the last Allied occupation troops came home from France. Through these years in uniform, he fought in every major Central European campaign of the French Empire: in 1805 against Austria and Russia, in 1806-07 against Prussia and Russia, in 1809 against Austria, in 1812 against Russia, and in 1813 against the combined Allied powers. Finally, in 1814, after Bavaria had changed sides and joined the Grand Alliance against Napoleon, he participated in the invasion of France with the Bavarian Corps of the Allied Main Army. Altogether this comprises a remarkable collection of military experiences for a young man of 25.
Through all the many trials and glories of these years, Franz maintained a detailed march journal and, from 1812, kept up a regular and lively correspondence with his parents, who were then living in Neuburg on the Danube. It is these often lengthy letters which form the foundation of this book. Though we know that some of the letters of 1812-14 have not survived because there are gaps in the sequence of numbers that Franz gave them, those that have remained provide unique insights into military life during the Napoleonic epoch, and we are pleased to offer them to the public for the first time.
The letters are supplemented by what Franz’s family calls his ‘military diaries’. Though some entries are nothing more than daily march destinations and distances, others provide rare first-hand glimpses into little-known corners of the period: the Bavarian combat experience in the Austerlitz campaign in 1805, for example, or the siege of Thorn (Torun) in 1813. To take advantage of these military diaries and to place the letters in context, we have structured this volume to include chapters on all of Franz’s campaigns from 1805 to 1814. Each section begins with an historical overview and commentary on the Bavarian participation in the campaign; this is followed by the ‘military diaries’ for that year and, for 1812 through 1814, by the letters themselves.
The letters and diaries, written in a simple, practical style, come from a collection of Franz’s papers held by his great-granddaughter, Cynthia Joy Hausmann. The diaries had been a part of Franz’s life from his earliest years. After leaving Aachen with his parents when his regiment (the 4th Grenadiers) was being relocated to Bavaria, the boy-cadet Franz, not quite ten years old, began in January 1799 to record his daily marches, probably with his father’s help, from just before Essen all the way to Munich and later to Neuburg on the Danube. While on campaign from 1805 through 1814, Franz evidently kept rough notes from which he transcribed the diaries at some subsequent date. As Cynthia has discovered, it is clear in some places that several pages were written at one sitting, and one passage, the entry of 16 May 1809, contains a comment that was obviously added later, ‘The fate that befell the town of Schwaz and several villages can be seen today in the ruins that are still standing there.’
Wilhelm Hausmann was also an important influence in his son’s letters. We cannot assert with certainty, but may assume with considerable confidence that Franz’s comprehensive letters begin in 1812 because this was the first campaign in which Franz was separated from his father. A sergeant-major in the same regiment as Franz (now the 7th Line Infantry), Wilhelm had entered service in 1777 and participated in all of Bavaria’s wars up to and including 1809. He and his young son thus campaigned together in 1805, 1806-07 and 1809. On 24 April 1809, however, at the Battle of Neumarkt in Bavaria, Wilhelm took an Austrian musket ball in his right foot. This painful wound and his performance during the fighting earned him the award of the French Legion of Honour, but his injury ended his active service with the field army. Wilhelm remained in uniform, but had to stay behind when Franz rode off to war against Russia in the spring of 1812, promising the old soldier that he would maintain an accurate account of his travels and engagements. For the information that follows, then, we may be grateful to a father’s care and a loving son’s unswerving dedication.
As a final introductory note for those who think of the Napoleonic era as a piece of ancient history only one step removed from the Roman Empire, it is worth recalling that Cynthia Hausmann is only Franz’s great-grand-daughter. Considering that most of us have probably known one or more of our grandparents and some have even been blessed to know great-grandparents, this little observation helps bring home the fact that the age of Napoleon is not all that far removed in time from our own after all.
John H. Gill, 1998