This edition contains historical portraits of the most famous military leaders of the West who fought against Russia in Patriotic War 1812 and the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. In general historical works, there are references to all these figures, but nothing more. Therefore, both historians and a wide range of readers will undoubtedly be interested in learning more about the life and work of Napoleon's marshals, military leaders of the Third Reich. The final part presents the generals of the Great French Revolution, who fought for new ideals and brought liberation from feudal oppression to the peoples.
First of all, each character is shown as a military leader with all his advantages and disadvantages, his role and place in history are defined, and the qualities of the commander as a person are revealed.
Lafayette Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roque Gilbert
French military and political leader Lafayette (Lafayette) Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roque Gilbert (09/06/1757, Chavagnac, Haute-Loire department, - 05/20/1834, Paris), Marquis de Motier, lieutenant general (1789). He came from a noble and wealthy aristocratic family.
He received a brilliant education and upbringing for his time. The uprising of 13 English colonies that began in 1775 North America against the mother country aroused general enthusiasm in France. One of the ardent admirers of the North American rebels was the young French aristocrat Lafayette. Brought up in the spirit of enlightenment literature, the second half of XVIII century, an ardent admirer of the ideas of J. Rousseau and the French encyclopedists, he equipped a ship at his own expense and, at the head of a detachment of volunteers, went to North America to fight for the freedom and independence of the American people (1777). An active participant in the war of the British colonies in North America for independence (1775-1783).
At first, the actions of the detachment led by Lafayette were not entirely successful. But despite a series of setbacks, Lafayette soon showed himself to be a brave and capable commander. He was increasingly trusted with the solution of responsible combat missions, with which he, as a rule, successfully coped.
Within a few months, Lafayette gained fame as one of the most talented officers american army. He especially distinguished himself in the Battle of Brandiwine (September 11, 1777), where he was wounded.
At the beginning of 1780, already covered with military glory, Colonel Lafayette, accompanied by the famous American politician B. Franklin made a trip to his homeland. Upon arrival in France, he was immediately arrested for unauthorized departure abroad and spent more than a week in custody. But then followed an enthusiastic meeting with him in Paris and a favorable reception from King Louis XVI, who by this time had already openly sided with the United States, numerous meetings with political and public figures in the capital and provinces.
Lafayette and Franklin managed to persuade the king to recognize the independence of the United States. After that, he returned to America again. In 1780, at only 22 years old, Lafayette became a general in the American army. He covered himself with glory during the siege of Yorktown, which ended on October 19, 1781 with the surrender of the 7,000th English corps of General C. Cornwallis. After this defeat of the British, the largest of the war, the intensity of hostilities in the United States declined sharply, and Lafayette soon returned to France.
After the conclusion of peace between the United States and England, he made a third trip to North America (1784). This time she became a triumphal procession for him. Throughout the country he was honored as a national hero. Such an interesting historical fact. During the First World War, American troops arrived in Europe to fight on the side of the Entente (1917). As soon as he landed in France, the commander of the American expeditionary forces in Europe, General D. Pershing, exclaimed: "Lafayette, I'm here!"
In 1787, Lafayette participated in the assembly of French notables. On it, he joined the opposition, who opposed the government's proposal to lay part of the taxes on the privileged classes. Elected in 1789 to the Estates General from the nobility of Languedoc (their opening took place on May 5, 1789), Lafayette was among those few nobles who advocated the joint work of all classes of French society.
On June 17, 1789, the deputies of the third estate, representing the common people, that is, the bulk of the French people, proclaimed themselves the National Assembly. Lafayette actively supported this truly revolutionary action and on June 25 defiantly joined the Third Estate. On July 9, 1789, the National Assembly was transformed into the Constituent Assembly. After 3 days, Lafayette presented to this meeting the first draft of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen", compiled by him on the model of the American Declaration of 1776. And on July 14, 1789, the rebellious people stormed the royal fortress-prison Bastille, which was considered a stronghold of absolutism. This day went down in history as the beginning of the French Revolution.
The day after the fall of the Bastille, the king, against his will, was forced to agree to the appointment of Lafayette as commander of the National Guard of Paris, the formation of which began immediately with the outbreak of the revolution. By this time, Lafayette was one of the most influential people in the country, his popularity among the people was unusually great. Being in a halo of glory as a hero of the struggle for the freedom of the American people, he also became one of the main figures of the French Revolution.
With his appointment to the post of commander of the National Guard - the main armed force of the capital - his influence increased even more.
An important role in the rise of Lafayette was played by his personal qualities: fiery commitment to the ideals of the revolution, purity of thoughts, nobility of deeds, decisiveness of actions and eloquence of the people's tribune. All this appealed to the people.
However, this situation did not last long. As a liberal who did not want to completely sacrifice his noble privileges, Lafayette dreamed of combining monarchy and order with freedom and the triumph of democratic principles. Therefore, as the revolution deepened, he, remaining in the position of a firm supporter of the constitutional monarchy and liberal values, tried to the best of his ability and ability to slow down its further development, playing a leading role in the Feuillants Club (the party of the big bourgeoisie and the liberal nobility, which advocated a constitutional monarchy; before the overthrow of the monarchy in the summer of 1792 was the ruling party, then moved to the counter-revolutionary camp).
In the midst of the political struggle between the supporters of the constitutional monarchy and the revolutionary democrats, Lafayette acted as a kind of "honest broker", trying to reconcile the warring parties on the basis of half-hearted solutions. He did not succeed, and only aroused distrust of him on both sides. On October 5, 1789, against his will, Lafayette had to move the National Guard to Versailles in order to force the king to move to Paris.
When riots broke out in the capital on the night of September 6, accompanied by pogroms and violence, he quickly suppressed them with the most decisive measures. The riots of the lower classes, the radicalism of the Jacobin speakers, their calls for violence deeply resented Lafayette, but he liked the way the king and his entourage acted even less. As a result, he aroused against himself, on the one hand, extreme hostility royal court, especially the queen, and on the other hand, the hatred of the revolutionary radicals. The leader of the latter, J. Marat, openly called for immediate reprisals against Lafayette.
When the king fled Paris on June 20, 1791, despite the measures taken by Lafayette for his return, suspicions fell on him (totally unfounded) in facilitating the flight. M. Robespierre in the Jacobin Club directly accused him of this.
The popularity of Lafayette was greatly shaken. It almost came to naught when, on his orders, on July 17, 1791, the National Guard shot a popular demonstration on the Champ de Mars in Paris.
In November 1791, by decision of the Legislative Assembly (it was replaced by the Constituent Assembly on October 1, 1791), the post of commander of the National Guard of Paris was abolished. Lafayette put forward his candidacy for the mayor of Paris, but lost in the elections to the representative of the revolutionary democracy, J. Pétion (November 1791).
At the end of 1791, Lafayette was sent to the northern border, and then appointed commander of the troops gathered in the Metz region.
By the spring of 1792, these troops formed the Army of the Center, and Lafayette was placed in command. While on the border, he followed the developments in Paris with increasing irritation and anxiety, sent letters to the Legislative Assembly protesting against his decisions, but they did not want to listen to him there. Then, in June 1792, he left his headquarters and personally appeared in the Legislative Assembly with the address of the officers of his army, demanding on their behalf to “curb” the Jacobins, ban “terrorist clubs”, restore the constitution of 1791 (the first constitution in the history of France, adopted September 3, 1791) and the authority of the laws, as well as protect royal dignity. Most of the deputies reacted to the demarche undertaken by General Lafayette with extreme hostility, and he himself was immediately identified as the "new Cromwell." However, the proposal of the enraged radicals to remove him from the post of army commander and put him on trial in the Legislative Assembly did not pass.
In the royal palace, Lafayette was also met very dryly. "Better death than help from Lafayette," said the Queen. The general's visit to the king led nowhere. In such conditions, he did not consider it possible to take any action in defense of the monarchy. Pursued by the hatred of the Jacobins and the suspicions of the royalists, Lafayette returned to the army.
As commander of the army in the first campaign (1792) of the Revolutionary Wars, Lafayette essentially did nothing. The war began in difficult conditions for France. Treason and espionage have built a nest for themselves in the very heart of the country's armed forces - in Paris and in the royal palace. The generals who led the armies acted sluggishly and indecisively, under various pretexts, evaded active actions. At the very first clashes with the interventionists in the spring of 1792 (the war began on April 20, 1792), the French troops were defeated. In morale and combat, they were unstable. Rumors about the betrayal of the generals caused distrust in the command, the collapse of discipline, and panic. Failures at the front, low combat effectiveness of the troops, betrayal and betrayal sharply aggravated the already tense situation in the army and the country. Encountering no serious resistance, the interventionist armies occupied almost all the border fortresses of France and opened the way for an attack on Paris. France and the revolution at this tragic moment were saved only by the fact that the enemy acted extremely slowly. His troops advanced as if in a parade, accurately observing the distances and intervals between units and subunits, often stopping to level. Huge convoys, numbering many thousands of wagons, slowed down the offensive of the invaders. Their troops, at best, passed no more than 7-8 km per day. Nevertheless, a serious danger loomed over the French capital. The enemy was approaching Chalon (a city 150 km east of Paris). In this situation, the Northern and Central armies, located respectively in the areas of Sedan and Metz, were ordered to withdraw inland, to Chalon, in order to block the enemy's path to Paris there. On August 10, 1792, as a result of a popular uprising in Paris, the monarchy in France fell. Upon learning of this, Lafayette refused to recognize the republic and arrested the commissioners of the Legislative Assembly, who arrived in the Central Army to swear allegiance to the Republic by its soldiers and officers. The Legislative Assembly outlawed Lafayette and ordered his arrest and trial by a revolutionary tribunal. On August 19, Lafayette's attempt to move troops against Paris and crush the revolution ended in failure. The troops refused to obey him. After that, leaving the army, he fled to Holland, but on the way he fell into the hands of the Austrians. They declared him a prisoner of war and imprisoned him in the Olmutz fortress (Moravia), where Lafayette harsh conditions spent more than 5 years. He received freedom only after the conclusion between France and Austria of the Campoformian peace (October 17, 1797). After coup d'état On 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799) and the coming to power of Napoleon Bonaparte, he returned to France (1800). Until 1815, he led a private life and kept away from politics. Only once, during the plebiscite of 1802, which decided the issue of establishing a life consulate for Napoleon Bonaparte, Lafayette addressed Bonaparte with a private letter in which he expressed his protest against the introduction of a life consulate. In 1815, during the "Hundred Days" of Napoleon, the 57-year-old Lafayette re-entered the political arena, being elected to the Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of Parliament), where he joined the liberal opposition. Napoleon tried to win him over by offering him a peerage of France and a seat in the upper house (house of peers), but Lafayette rejected the offer. Even then, his desire was to call Louis Philippe of Orleans to the throne and establish a constitutional monarchy in France. During the 2nd Restoration, Bourbonov retained his seat in the chamber, where he was a member of the faction of left-wing deputies, resolute opponents of the ruling regime. He was one of the leaders of the bourgeois-liberal opposition. Established by Lafayette and his associates, the "Society of Friends of the Liberty of the Press" was closed by the government 2 years after its founding (1821). But the "Secret Action Committee" behind it lasted a little longer. Various kinds of provocations were repeatedly undertaken against Lafayette. Thus, the unsuccessful attempt of the royalists to intervene in the case of the murder of the Duke of Berry received a wide response. In 1823, along with his liberal faction, Lafayette left Parliament. The reason for such a step on the part of the liberals was the expulsion of the deputy Maniel from the chamber. After that, Lafayette made his new triumphal trip to America. In 1825, he was again elected to the Chamber of Deputies, where he again became one of the leaders of the bourgeois-liberal opposition to the Bourbon regime. On July 29, 1830, when the July Revolution of 1830 began, Lafayette, at the request of the people, assumes command of the National Guard. Her transition to the side of the insurgent people led to the overthrow of King Charles X, the deposition of the Bourbons and the victorious completion of the revolution. Lafayette these days has once again become the most popular man in Paris and the master of the minute. He was a member of the Provisional Government formed after the overthrow of the Bourbons, in which he played a key role. Using his influence, he spoke out against the proclamation of the republic and in many ways contributed to the preservation of the monarchy, offering to transfer the crown to Louis Philippe of Orleans, since the latter, in his opinion, "is the best of the republics." The new king retained the post of commander of the National Guard for the aged Lafayette and showered him with all sorts of favors. But already in September of the same year, Lafayette, dissatisfied with the general direction of the policy of the new government and the king, left his post, submitting a letter of resignation. In 1833 he founded the opposition Union for the Defense of Human Rights. He died in Paris at the age of 76 (1834). In 1883, in the homeland of Lafayette in the city of Le Puy (the main city of the Haute-Loire department), a monument was erected to him.
An aristocrat by birth and a liberal by conviction, with the beginning of the French Revolution, Lafayette cast aside all class prejudices, decisively broke with his class and went over to the side of the revolution. During this period, he acts as an uncompromising supporter of the transformation of society on a democratic basis. However, his "revolutionary" had its limits. Being a firm supporter of the constitutional monarchy, as the revolution deepened and the broad masses of the people were drawn into it, demanding radical changes in the social and state structure, he gradually slid into the counter-revolutionary camp, not sharing the demands of the bulk of the French people. The shooting of a people's demonstration on the Champ de Mars in Paris in the summer of 1791, carried out on his orders, put an end to this issue. From that moment on, the revolutionary image of Lafayette as one of the leaders of the French Revolution faded completely. Therefore, his betrayal of revolutionary France, after a republic was proclaimed instead of a constitutional monarchy in the country, was a completely natural and logical event. Lafayette's attempt to turn the wheel of history back ended in failure - the army did not support him, the counter-revolutionary coup did not take place. Having lost power and influence, he realized that in new France he has no place. At the same time, he was rejected by the opponents of the revolution. His liberalism, faith in the ideals of democracy and admiration for liberal-bourgeois values aroused the sharp hostility of orthodox royalists, who saw in him, first of all, a renegade, a traitor to the interests of his class. Thus, at one of the most critical moments of the revolution, Lafayette found himself, as it were, between two fires - forces sharply antagonistic in nature - supporters of the revolution and its enemies, each of which did not want to have anything to do with him. By this time, Lafayette's associates had already lost their power and influence in the country, and he himself found himself in complete isolation. His fame and fame as one of the most popular political figures in France in the period 1789-1791 proved to be transient phenomena. Flashing on the political horizon of France like a dazzling star, Lafayette's glory swept rapidly across the pre-stormy sky and just as quickly disappeared into the black clouds approaching the country. Lafayette remained true to his principles to the end of his days. With enviable constancy and perseverance, he defended them both during the "Hundred Days", and during the years of the 2nd Restoration of the Bourbons, and in the days July Revolution 1830 and the following years. At the end of his days, Lafayette, it would seem, managed to realize his ideas, which he carried through his long and turbulent life. But again, he was disappointed. The regime established with his active and most direct participation actually turned out to be far from the one that would meet his expectations. And the “eternal oppositionist” again found himself in a confrontation with the authorities.
As a military leader, Lafayette became famous during the war of the North American colonies of England for their independence. As a young officer, and then a general in the US Army, he showed himself to the best of his ability. Reflections of this heroic glory accompanied him all his life. Like-minded people considered Lafayette "a hero of the New and Old Worlds." The latter, from a military point of view, is perhaps a big stretch. Lafayette played an outstanding role during the French Revolution, first of all, as a politician. It was in this incarnation that his name went down in history. As for his military merits before the French Revolution, they look incomparably more modest. As an army commander, he did not particularly show himself in anything, except, of course, for a political confrontation with the government and an attempt to overthrow it through an armed rebellion. When this venture ended in failure, Lafayette abandoned his army and fled the country, but was captured by the enemy. On this his military career in the French army, in which he, in fact, never served, except for the last 8 months, and ended. Let's note at the same time: it ended ingloriously. So "heroism" here, even with the most inflamed imagination, does not smell at all. We are not talking about the glorious victories of the French troops under the leadership of Lafayette, which are not visible at all. The command of Lafayette of the National Guard in the early years of the revolution is more likely to be in the sphere of political activity, since this paramilitary structure did not participate in any hostilities at that time, but only served as an armed support for the regime ruling at that time. It should be noted that in this post, Lafayette proved to be a firm and resolute military leader. He was characterized by such qualities as prudence and consistency in his actions and deeds. To the number positive qualities Lafayette should be attributed to his unshakable fidelity to his principles and ideals, which he worthily carried through his whole life, not deviating from them one iota, not flattered by any promises and benefits, no matter how tempting they may seem. In this regard, Lafayette is an example of a person and politician worthy of respect.
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roque Gilbert du Motier Lafayette
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roque Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757-1834) - French politician who hosted Active participation in the struggle of Americans for independence (1775 - 1783). At the head of a volunteer detachment, he went to America and took part in hostilities against the British. Returning to France in 1779, he energetically contributed to the intervention of France in the war and participated in the development of a plan of military action. This gave him great popularity in the North American States, where many cities and towns are named after him. In France, Lafayette was elected from the nobility to the States General in 1789 and was one of the first to go over to the side of the third estate. Commanded the National Guard. His draft declaration of rights was put by the Constituent Assembly as the basis of the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen". Leader of the Constitutionalists. In August 1792, being the commander of the Northern Army, he protested against the overthrow of the king. Displaced from all posts, he was forced to flee abroad. Returning to France after the coup of 18 Brumaire, he continued his political activities as a representative of the liberal party. During the July Revolution of 1830, he contributed to the accession to the throne Louis Philippa .Reprinted from the site
The French Revolution
http://liberte.da.ru/
La Fayette, Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roque Gilbert Motier de (6.IX.1757 - 20.V.1834), Marquis, - French politician. Born into a wealthy aristocratic family. Fascinated by the ideas of the French enlighteners, Lafayette left for America in August 1777 to fight in the ranks of the American colonists who rebelled against the English crown. In 1780 he was promoted to general in the American army. In 1789 he was elected to the Estates General and after the storming of the Bastille on July 14 he became commander of the National Guard. At the beginning of the revolution, Lafayette's popularity as a "hero of the New and Old Worlds" was very great. However, as the revolution deepened, Lafayette, who remained on the positions of liberal-constitutional monarchism, quickly ruled and intensified attempts to slow down the development of the revolution. He took an active part in the anti-democratic "Society of 1789", and then - in the Feuillants club. During the Varennes crisis (see Varennes flight), Lafayette led the shooting on July 17, 1791, of an anti-monarchist demonstration on the Champ de Mars in Paris. Appointed in 1792 as commander of one of the armies, he tried to put pressure on the Legislative Assembly, and then, on August 19, 1792, move troops to revolutionary Paris. Failing in these counter-revolutionary attempts, Lafayette fled the army, hoping to get into the Netherlands, but was captured by the Austrians and held prisoner by them until 1797. Returning to France, he did not participate in political life. He began to play a political role again only during the years of the Restoration, acting as one of the leaders of the liberal-bourgeois opposition. He gained the greatest influence during the days of the July Revolution of 1830, contributed to the preservation of the monarchy and the transfer of the throne to Louis Philippe of Orleans.
A. Z. Manfred. Moscow.
Soviet historical encyclopedia. In 16 volumes. - M.: Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973-1982. Volume 8, KOSHALA - MALTA. 1965.
References: Tuckerman B., Life of general La Fayette, v. 1-2, N. Y., 1889.
Read further:
The French Revolution(chronological table)
Literature:
Bogucharsky V.Ya. Marquis Lafayette - figure of three revolutions M. 1899
Cherkasov P.P. Lafayette. Political biography. M. "Thought" 1991.
Tuckerman, B., Life of general La Fayette, v. 1-2, N. Y., 1889.
1757 — 1834
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette went through three revolutions, and by no means an ordinary participant in them. He was their romantic hero, but at the same time, in the whirlwind of events, he never lost his mind and common sense, speaking out both against the cruelties of the revolutionary crowds and against their despotic suppression. And at the same time, he not only remained alive (which in itself is surprising for a person of such a warehouse), but also remained in the memory of his descendants for a long time.
He was from a wealthy old knightly family, proud of his ancestor who fought alongside Joan of Arc, and his father who fell during the Seven Years' War in Canada. He was still a teenager when his mother died, and a week later his grandfather, a former captain of the royal musketeers, and Gilbert inherited their fortunes. At seventeen, he married fifteen-year-old Adrienne from a ducal family, and her dowry, of course, was huge. It was possible not to think about the material side of life in the future. After graduating from college, he was enrolled in a company of the royal musketeers, then became its lieutenant, and then went to serve in the fortress of Metz as a squadron commander. The career of the young titled rich man developed better than ever, but there were times of stormy, unexpected changes. At the age of 22, he first heard about ...
He rushes to Paris, finds American representatives there and obtains their consent to participate in the war. But at the same time, he sets two conditions: he will sail across the ocean only on a ship that he himself will buy and refuses any salary whatsoever. Having reached Philadelphia, where the Congress was at that time, he addresses him with a letter in which he writes: After all the sacrifices I have made, I consider myself entitled to ask for the following: to allow me to serve in your army, firstly, at my own expense and, secondly, as a simple volunteer". Congress decided to accept the services of the Marquis de La Fayette and, recognizing the energy and nobility of the family, appoint him chief of staff of the Continental Army with the rank of major general. True, this position then meant little (like the title), the young marquis was charged with the duty to be inseparably with the commander in chief. He had excellent relations with Washington.
The time for baptism of fire has come. During the first battle in his life, seeing the chaotic flight of the militias, La Fayette rushed about the battlefield with a sword in his hand, trying to stop the soldiers, until he was wounded in the thigh and lost consciousness. The detachment with Washington at the head arrived in time in time - the Marquis was saved. La Fayette, who had barely recovered from his wound, was appointed commander of a militia detachment of 350 people, and with him he defeated an equal detachment of professional German mercenaries led by an English general.
He is appointed commander of the Northern Army, on the border with Canada. There La Fayette meets the Indians for the first time. The Iroquois often attacked colonist settlements and threatened the northern flank of the war. The Marquis gathered all the leaders of the six tribes and in his speech tried to explain to them the goals of the American Revolution, its ideals and principles. It is not known how much the leaders understood him, but the Indians liked him extremely. He was solemnly given an Indian name ( Kaievla- Terrible horseman) and an agreement was concluded with him, according to which the tribes pledged to fight all the enemies of Kaievla. The meeting, as usual, ended with songs, dances and distribution of gifts. The gifts were bought with the money of the marquis, at his own expense he built a fort with artillery on the border.
At the age of seventy-three, Lafayette is finally back in his element - barricades, troops going over to the side of the rebels, crowds, armed, jubilant Parisians with anything ... He, the head of the provisional government, was again, like forty years ago, elected commander of the National Guard, invites Louis Philippe to the capital and, under the tricolor revolutionary banner, embraces the future king on the balcony in front of the crowd - "Louis Philippe is the best of the republics!"- and the word of Lafayette is worth a lot. For the first time, it was the parliament that placed on the throne a monarch that suits France, a "king-citizen" - by its vote.
It is unlikely that Lafayette had time to be disappointed in his choice - in the first years of the July Monarchy, long-awaited reforms took place: the number of voters expanded two and a half times, the foundations of public education were laid (each community provided a building for a school and a teacher's salary), corporal punishment was abolished in schools, more humane regime in prisons, censorship is destroyed. These were truly "golden" years for France, which at that time was going through a turbulent period of the industrial revolution, before which the new government opened a wide road. He died four years after the last revolution in his life.
Many cities and streets are named after him (mainly in the USA), a park adjacent to the White House in Washington bears his name, American pilots who fought in the First world war in France, named themselves after him - the Lafayette squadron, the so-called aircraft carriers and submarines, metro stations and shopping centers. Someone took the trouble to count the number of mentions of names in the writings French historians- and the name of Lafayette was second only to Napoleon ...
MARQUISE DE LA FAYETTE -
GENERAL LAFAYETTE
Centuries ago, a noble Frenchman named Motier acquired an estate in the south of France, which he called Villa Fayat, and since then has become known as Motier de La Fayette. Numerous descendants of La Fayette were brave warriors, noted in the history of France, but among them was one whose glorious name remained forever in the history of the United States of America.
He was born on September 6, 1757 at his parent's Château de Chavagnac, not far from where Villa Faya once stood. According to the customs of that time, he was called by the name inherited from his ancestors: Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roque Gilbert du Motier, marquis de La Fayette, but soon the cumbersome name was shortened, and he began to be called Gilbert de La Fayette, in memory of his father, who died during the Seven Years' War with the British shortly before the birth of his son. At the age of 13, Gilbert became an orphan: his mother died suddenly, and a week after her death, her maternal grandfather died, leaving his grandson his huge fortune, and the poor teenager turned into a rich man.
Gilbert married in 1774. Adrienne, the daughter of the Duke d'Ayen, became his wife and faithful friend for life, and her parents lovingly replaced her father-in-law and mother.
Gilbert de La Fayette belonged to the highest aristocratic nobility of France, and the beginning of his life path corresponded to his origin: a prestigious college, then service in the elite guards.
On September 8, 1776, the commander of the military district of the city of Metz gave a dinner in honor of the distinguished guest from England, the Duke of Gloucester, brother English king George
III . Among those invited to dinner was Captain La Fayette, who had recently been assigned to Metz. The Duke of Gloucester spoke about the "people from Boston", who put forward a demand for political independence for 13 British possessions in North America, about the stubbornness of the king, who did not want to make the slightest concessions to the North American colonies. The next day, when the Duke of Gloucester, together with French officers, among whom was La Fayette, inspected the fortifications, an urgent package was brought to the guest from London, which he immediately opened and familiarized those present with the text of the letter. The letter announced the beginning of the uprising in the North American colonies and the adoption of the US Declaration of Independence.“At the first news of this war,” La Fayette later wrote, “my heart was recruited.” The young marquis was a hereditary aristocrat, a favorite of Queen Marie Antoinette close to the court, and at the same time a staunch opponent of tyranny. In his convictions, he was not alone: in the 70s of the 18th century, it seemed that the very air of France was saturated with the spirit of the struggle for freedom, and French youth, poor and rich, were saturated with this spirit. La Fayette decided to join the rebellious people of America.
He was dissuaded by the commander of the garrison in which he served, and the parents of his wife, calling his decision madness, but he was relentless: it was not for nothing that his life credo was “
Curnon ? - "Why not?" - the motto that he saw as a child in the castle of Chavagnac in the portrait of one of his ancestors.He went to Siles Dean, the representative of the North American United States in France, and informed him of his intention. An experienced politician, Dean immediately appreciated the noble impulse of a noble nineteen-year-old youth, whose act was to inspire many young people in France and have a beneficial effect on the attitude of French society to the struggle of the colonies for independence. Silas Dean was in full agreement with Benjamin Franklin, who recently became ambassador to France.
Dean wrote a letter of recommendation in which he spoke of La Fayette's desire to serve in the United States Army and asked Congress to approve him to the rank of major general. In a postscript to the letter, La Fayette indicated that he would go to America on a ship he had bought and fully equipped, and that he would refuse any salary or any other material compensation for his service. At the end of the negotiations, not wanting to be accused of desertion from the army, La Fayette filed a request for a temporary release from royal service to the reserve "for health reasons".
On April 26, 1777, the Marquis de La Fayette, with other 15 French officers, sailed on the ship Victoire to the shores of America; on June 15, together with his companions, he set foot on American soil in Georgetown Bay, near the town
Charleston . The arrived Frenchmen were sheltered at his dacha by Major Benjamin Huger, who had French roots. Amonghousehold was his little son, who later played important role in the life of La Fayette.July 31 In 1777, Congress decided to accept the services of the Marquis de La Fayette and, recognizing his energy and nobility of the family, confer on him the rank of major general of the North American army.
A couple of days later, George Washington met with the newly minted general. He is from the height of his 45 years with
curiously examined the twenty-year-old young man. La Fayette was almost as tall as Washington, 188 centimeters to 190, but his graceful, delicate frame seemed in no way suited to the hardships of military life. Nevertheless, after a friendly conversation with the young man, Washington was convinced that he was not a simple adventurer, but a courageous man, confident in his choice and in the justice of the upcoming struggle.
When La Fayette arrived at his station in Washington's army, he was amazed at what he saw. Instead of the well-trained army in smart uniforms he was accustomed to, in front of him was a crowd of eleven thousand, which could hardly be called an army, it was so poorly and motley equipped and, as it turned out later, did not have any minimal military knowledge and skills. The battle of September 11, 1777 at the Brandywine River near Philadelphia was La Fayette's baptism of fire. The British troops managed to flank the detachments of the Americans, who began to retreat. The retreat soon turned into a stampede. La Fayette, who was among the fleeing, tried to stop them. He jumped off his horse and, brandishing his sword, rushed forward, dragging the soldiers with him. At this point, he was wounded in the left leg, but continued to remain in the ranks until he lost consciousness. The soldiers carried him in their arms from the battlefield. By nightfall, it became clear that the Americans were defeated, and Washington hastily withdrew the army from the almost closed ring. During the night, he sent a message to Congress, in which, along with the news of the failure, he wrote about the exceptional courage of the young French volunteer.As soon as La Fayette was able to get back on his feet after two months of treatment, he returned to Washington headquarters. At this time, General Green was preparing to march in New Jersey to fight the army of the English General Charles Cornwallis, and La Fayette received under his command a detachment of 300 people to reconnoiter the area. Returning after a completed mission, La Fayette met a detachment of Hessian mercenaries who were coming from Canada to help the British. There were many more mercenaries than the fighters of the La Fayette detachment, but with skillful actions, La Fayette stopped them and forced them to flee, capturing 200 prisoners. General Green, in his report to Washington, praised the actions of the young commander, not failing to point out that he seemed to be looking for danger for himself.
On Washington's recommendation, Congress gave La Fayette command of a division of his choice. The newly appointed divisional commander selected a Virginia militia division whose commander was retiring. Like the rest of the American army, the division was stripped and undressed, it did not have enough weapons. The Marquis de La Fayette, at his own expense, equipped and armed a division of 1,200 men. “This young crazy Marquis de La Fayette, not content with having opened his heart to America, opened his wallet to America,” wrote Beaumarchais about him.
Going to America, La Fayette imagined her in pink color: he thought that all Americans were united in their desire to become free and that the authority of George Washington was unshakable. Once on the spot, he discovered that he was mistaken: groups and parties at odds with each other coexisted in Congress, envious people in the ranks of the army generals were not averse to removing the commander in chief.
The winter of 1777-78 was the most difficult period of the American Revolution. Washington withdrew the army for the winter to Valley Forge, twenty miles from Philadelphia. The army experienced an acute shortage of warm clothing and footwear; to shelter from the cold, the soldiers built temporary log shacks.
The newly formed War Council was at that time led by General Horatio Gates, famous for the victory over the British troops at the city of Saratoga. A cabal led by Major General Thomas Conway plotted to make Gates commander-in-chief instead of Washington. A plan was launched, known in US history as the "Conway Conspiracy" (" Conway Cabal ”), aimed at separating from George Washington his closest and most faithful ally, the Marquis La Fayette. In the course went lobbying Congress, which decided on the invasion of American troops in French Canada to involve Canadians in the war with the British. The Army of the North was formed, with La Fayette in command.
By order of the War Council, La Fayette went to York, Pennsylvania, where Congress was sitting at the time, for instructions. At a dinner given in honor of La Fayette, the northern expedition and the bright prospect of the young commander were the main topic of conversation and numerous toasts. At the end of the dinner, the marquis drew the attention of those present to the fact that among those whose successes they drank here, one name was missing, and proposed a toast to the health of the commander-in-chief, George Washington. The assembled drank their glasses in complete silence: they realized that their attempts to get La Fayette into their ranks were doomed to failure.
However, it was necessary to carry out the decision of Congress, and General La Fayette arrived in Albany, closer to the Canadian border. There he did not find the provisions promised to him, ammunition, clothes, shoes, and he had to pay salaries for a small number of starving and ragged soldiers available from his own pocket. The advice he gathered from local experts came to the unanimous opinion that to start an expedition to cold Canada in winter time it would be pure madness. La Fayette, vexed at being drawn into an apparent gamble, reported the situation to Washington and Congress.
February and March 1778 La Fayette stayed in Albany. During this time, he managed to get in touch with the Indian tribes and enlist their support in the fight against the British. A detachment of Indian warriors became an integral part of the army of La Fayette.
Upon his return to Valley Forge, La Fayette strongly criticized the Council of War's decision to invade Canada. Congress agreed with his opinion, General Gates was removed from the War Council, and the "Conway plot" ended in complete failure.
On February 6, 1778, the Treaty of Alliance was signed between the United States and France, under which France recognized the independence of the United States. The Americans had a real ally: on April 13, 1778, the French fleet, led by Admiral Charles d'Estaing, headed for the shores of America.
Realizing that the entry of France into the war would cause a certain reaction of the British troops, Washington decided to find out the intentions of the leadership of the British army. To this end, he sent a detachment of the most trained and skilled soldiers, among whom were Indian warriors, to the Philadelphia area for reconnaissance. The leadership of the operation was entrusted to La Fayette.
La Fayette set up camp in the village of Barren Hill, fourteen miles north of Philadelphia, and set about to complete the task. However, the British who occupied the city became aware of the appearance of an enemy detachment near, and they decided to surround and capture the detachment along with its commander. The British leadership was so confident of success that they planned to present to the public the next evening the famous captive - the young French marquis.The performance had to be canceled: the troops surrounding the camp, advancing towards each other, met without finding the enemy. La Fayette and his detachment, using a skillful maneuver, slipped out of the encirclement along an abandoned road. The only tragicomic encounter of that day was the meeting of the Indians with the Hessian mercenaries. Mercenaries with flying black plumes on their high shakos were galloping along the road when the Indians jumped out of the bushes as if from under the ground, uttering their deafening war cry. The horses of the mercenaries, not accustomed to such a sound, recoiled and carried away the riders, while the Indians, who had never seen soldiers in such attire before, were frightened by the spell of these "evil spirits" and also preferred to disappear.
A month later, the British army left Philadelphia and headed for New York. At a council of war in the town of Hopewell near Valley Forge, the American generals decided to stop the occupying troops and force them into battle. On a hot, stuffy day on June 28, 1778, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, American troops under the command of General Charles Lee attacked the British. One of the divisions of the Americans was commanded by La Fayette. After the first clashes, when it seemed that success was on the side of the Americans, General Lee suddenly ordered a retreat, exposing La Fayette's position. Washington intervened in the course of the battle in time, immediately removed General Lee from command and turned the retreating troops, at the same time using La Fayette's artillery. Having suffered heavy losses from enemy fire and unbearable heat, the British left the battlefield at night and continued to move to New York. By decision of the tribunal, General Charles Lee was removed from command for one year.
On July 8, 1778, the French fleet appeared off the coast of America. According to the plan developed by Washington and d'Estaing, the French fleet was to enter Newport, Rhode Island, and there interact with the American ground forces. La Fayette headed for Providence, the capital of Rhode Island, at the head of a force of 3,000, where he was to stand ready to help the attackers at any moment.
However, events did not develop according to plan. Due to the inconsistency of decisions, interaction did not work out, each participant began to act independently, and nature intervened in the matter: a severe storm damaged French ships, and d'Estaing took them to Boston for repairs. La Fayette was sent to Boston to persuade the admiral to return after repairs for further joint actions, but he was offended by the Bostonians, who considered the French deserters, and, having put the ships in order, led them to Central America.
France continued to fight with England, and La Fayette began to painfully experience his absence from his homeland: it seemed to him that he, enriched by military experience, could help his country. He asked Congress for a leave and immediately received permission: the congressmen realized that the Marquis, with his ability to resolve difficult situations and great connections, would not only dampen the unpleasant impression of recent events, but also reinforce the friendly attitude towards America of the French court.
La Fayette's departure to his homeland was delayed due to a severe form of pneumonia. The sick marquis was given the best medical care, George Washington inquired daily about his health.
On February 11, 1779, La Fayette sailed home on the frigate Alliance assigned to him by Congress. The voyage was not easy: they had to endure a severe storm and cope with the rebellion of some of the sailors who planned to capture the Marquis and hand him over to the British.
Homeland met La Fayette as a warrior hero. Under the patronage of Marie Antoinette, the king, anxiously awaiting the invasion of the British, made him commander of a regiment of royal dragoons stationed in southwestern France. The invasion was not so close, and La Fayette returned to Paris and Versailles to family and business related to helping America. Almost daily he met with the Prime Minister, and it was largely due to his efforts that France decided to send six ships with six thousand soldiers to the aid of America, as well as a loan of three million livres.
In December 1779, a joyful event happened in the La Fayette family: Adriana gave birth to a son. The happy father, in honor of his famous American friend, named the newborn George (in French - Georges) Washington. On the occasion of the birth of his son, La Fayette received many gifts from friends in the United States, including a gift from the United States Congress, a richly decorated saber with a solid gold hilt.
When the castle of Chavagnac was robbed during the revolution, the saber was buried in the garden by tree. Many years later, already adult Georges Washington dug out a saber and found that its blade was completely rusted. He came up with a happy idea: he attached to the golden hilt a blade made from the bolts and bars of the lattice of the destroyed Bastille. So one historical rarity embodied the unity of two worlds and two stages of the struggle for freedom.
On March 4, 1780, La Fayette sailed on the royal frigate Hermione for the United States to inform Congress of France's planned aid and make the necessary preparations to receive the French expedition.
On July 10, 1780, a French squadron led by Admiral Charles de Ternay entered Newport Bay, but not at full strength: half of it was blocked by the British in Brest. The corps that arrived on the squadron, commanded by Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste de Rochambeau, joined the La Fayette unit.
This was the last sea campaign of the outstanding French naval commander Charles de Ternay. He died at Newport on December 15, 1780. In the Primorsky Territory of Russia there is the urban village of Terney, named after the bay in which La Perouse stopped on June 23, 1787 during circumnavigation and named it in memory of his sea teacher.
In early 1781, the military campaign intensified further south in Virginia, where the British took successful action, forcing the division of Major General Benjamin Lincoln to lay down their arms. Washington sent La Fayette to help the army in distress.
In Virginia, La Fayette had to make contact with Benedict Arnold, a traitor who defected to the British and received a general rank. Arnold sent a truce to La Fayette with a letter offering an exchange of prisoners, but La Fayette returned the letter unopened, asking the truce to convey that he did not want to deal with the traitor.
The seasoned British commander, Lieutenant General Charles Cornwallis, was confident of a close victory over the exhausted army of La Fayette. In a letter intercepted by the Americans, he wrote: "The boy will not be able to escape me." But fate decreed otherwise.
The "boy" received reinforcements: his army was joined by troops led by Washington and the French fleet, which sailed from Central America and landed 3,000 soldiers to help the American army. October 19, 1781 Cornwallis, locked in Yorktown by Washington and the French fleet, was forced to surrender along with a garrison of 9,000 people. The Siege of Yorktown was the last battle of the North American Revolutionary War.
On December 18, 1781, La Fayette returned to France. He was greeted as a hero, he was received at Versailles, he was made a field marshal, skipping intermediate ranks. He participated in the preparation of the Franco-Spanish expedition against the British West Indies, but the Treaty of Paris, signed on February 20, 1783, which ended the war between Great Britain and the United States of America, made the expedition unnecessary.
In 1784, La Fayette visited the United States, traveled almost the entire country, everywhere feeling the sincere love of the American people. He traveled to Virginia to visit Washington at his Mount Vernon farm, where Washington lived with his family after the war.
On the way to France, La Fayette traveled through Germany and Austria and visited the Prussian king Frederick the Great, who showed him his war machine - an army of thirty thousand. It so happened that Cornwallis and the son of the English king were at Frederick's dinner table at the same time as La Fayette, and the Prussian king tactlessly questioned La Fayette about his American exploits.
In 1788, La Fayette returned to France and immediately plunged into the thick of the political life in which the country lived. He became a member of the Assembly of Notables convened by the king -
representatives of the higher clergy, the court nobility and the so-called third estate - the city leaders. In the Assembly, he led a faction that demanded the convening of the States General - the highest estate-representativedeliberative body convened on the initiative royal power at critical times to assist the government. On May 5, 1789, the king convened the States General, to which La Fayette was chosen from the nobility, but defiantly joined the third estate. On June 17, 1789, the deputies of the Third Estate declared themselves the National Assembly, on July 9 the National Assembly proclaimed itself the Constituent Assembly, which became the highest representative and legislative body of revolutionary France, and La Fayette proposed to the Constituent Assembly a draft Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, written by him on the model of the American Declaration of Independence . The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was approved on August 26, 1789.On July 14, 1789, the Bastille fell - a military fortress and the main political prison of Paris. A new armed formation was created - the National Guard, the leadership of which was entrusted to Lafayette (he "democratized" his aristocratic surname and began to write it together). The National Guard was essentially a police force, and Lafayette, in his desire to maintain law and order, had to resort to actions that seriously undermined his reputation among both democrats and royalists.
Lafayette was forced to lead the National Guard to Versailles in order to force King Louis
XVI move to the Tuileries Palace in Paris. Lafayette, who was responsible for guarding the palace, was accused of aiding the king when he, along with Queen Marie Antoinette, tried to escape from Paris. Lafayette was made the main culprit of the tragic events on the Champ de Mars in Paris, when the volunteers of the National Guard, who received orders to disperse the rampant crowd that had gathered there, began to shoot to kill in response to stones thrown at them.Lafayette believed that France, unlike his beloved United States, was not yet ready to become a republic; in his opinion, the best state system for her would be a constitutional monarchy. He repeatedly expressed this idea in his speeches and addresses to the legislative assembly, for which he earned the hatred of both monarchists and Jacobins. After the overthrow of the king, Lafayette, who at that time commanded the French Northern Army, arrested the commissioners of the legislative assembly who had arrived to swear allegiance to the republic. The Assembly declared him a traitor and promised to guillotine him when he fell into the hands of the radical power of France.
Lafayette realized that the time had come to flee France. He decided to make his way through Holland to Britain, join his family there and sail together to America. However, the plan was not destined to come true: on August 17, 1792, he was arrested by the authorities of the Austro-Prussian coalition, which was hatching plans to restore the monarchy in France, and sentenced by a tribunal to imprisonment as an active participant in the revolutionary events that led to the overthrow of the French king.
For almost two years, Lafayette was transferred from one Austrian prison to another, until, finally, in May 1794, he was assigned to a prison casemate in the city of Olmutz, Moravia, now the Czech Republic.
Lafayette's friends in Europe and America stubbornly fought for his release, or at least for the mitigation of his conditions in prison. They made contact with him and began to prepare his escape. The young German doctor Justus-Erich Bollmann volunteered to go to Olmütz. He met the prison doctor and learned that he, taking care of the health of the eminent prisoner, demanded to take him for a walk in the fresh air outside the city. This circumstance gave some chance, but an assistant was needed, which Bollman found in Vienna. Ballman's assistant was an American student from South Carolina, Francis Huger, the same, but already grown-up son of Major Benjamin Huger, who sheltered Lafayette when he arrived in America 17 years ago. Francis remembered well how a group of Frenchmen appeared in their house, and Lafayette became his true idol, and he gladly agreed to help him.
On the sunny morning of November 8, 1794, both conspirators left Bollman's carriage in the small village of Hof on the border with Germany and galloped onto the road along which the prison carriage with Lafayette was supposed to go. As a precaution, they did not take a third horse with them, so as not to arouse suspicion. Finding Lafayette's carriage, they rode up to it, jumped off their horses, tied down the guard and shouted to Lafayette to ride one of the horses to Hof, and they would follow him on the second horse. Lafayette jumped on his horse, but hesitated, not wanting to leave his rescuers in danger. " Get t'Hof !" (“Jump to Hof!”) they shouted with one voice, and Lafayette rode away. Ballman and Huger mounted the second horse, but it did not want to carry two and reared up, throwing off its riders. Realizing that a German-speaking Bollman would be more useful to Lafayette, Huger sent him to Hof.
Bollman did not find Lafayette in Hof. It turned out that Lafayette did not understand the exclamation of his liberators and decided that they were shouting "
The unsuccessful liberators spent eight months in prison, and Lafayette remained in prison for almost three more years. General Bonaparte forced the Austrian emperor to sign a peace treaty with France, and one of the conditions of the treaty was the release of Lafayette. He was released on September 19, 1797, after spending five years in Austrian prisons.
But he was not allowed to return to France: the French Directory and Napoleon Bonaparte saw Lafayette as a political rival, and he spent two more years in Holland. Only after the Bonaparte coup of 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799) did he manage to return to France with a passport in the name of Motier.
He settled in the estate of La Grange, inherited by Adrienne, and for a long time lived in rural seclusion. In 1803, the United States bought Louisiana from France, and President Jefferson invited Lafayette to become its governor. Lafayette gratefully declined, citing his desire to devote himself to fighting for the freedom of France.
Beginning in 1815, when he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies of the French Parliament in the Napoleonic Hundred Days, Lafayette led an active political life. During his parliamentary career, he was in constant opposition to the government and advocated freedom of the press, the right to vote for all taxpayers, and the worldwide prohibition of slavery.
On August 15, 1824, at the invitation of President James Monroe, Lafayette arrived in the United States. He spent a year in the country, visited all the states, once again feeling universal love and gratitude. In Virginia, General Lafayette visited the grave of his commander-in-chief, George Washington. For most of Lafayette's stay in the States, he was accompanied by Francis Huger, the same young man who tried to free him from prison.
Upon returning to France, Lafayette again plunged into the political life of the country. All three great days of the July Revolution of 1830 he was one of the most popular figures in Paris. When barricades began to be built in Paris on July 27, Lafayette organized the Committee, which served as the provisional government, and, on behalf of the Committee, headed the newly created National Guard.
On July 29, the Committee asked Lafayette to take over the leadership of the country, that is, in essence, to become a dictator, but he rejected the offer in favor of Louis Philippe, a representative of the Orleans branch of the Bourbon dynasty. Lafayette still believed that France was not yet ripe for a republic, and, in his words, "Louis Philippe is the best of republics."
However, soon the "king-citizen", as Louis Philippe was called, began to conduct an internal and foreign policy leading to absolutism and tyranny and forcing Lafayette to go into opposition. His diatribe in the Chamber of Deputies on 3 January 1834 proved to be the last.
Gilbert de Lafayette died on May 20, 1834 at the age of 77. He was buried in the Picpus cemetery in Paris next to the grave of Adrienne, his faithful wife, whom he survived for 27 years. Lafayette's son Georges Washington threw earth from Bunker Hill into his father's grave, where one of the first battles of American colonists with British troops took place.
"Lafayette, we're here!" - said on July 4, 1917, at the grave of Charles Stanton, a colonel in the army of the United States of America, who joined the anti-German alliance defending France, thereby repaying the debt to the country for its help to the rebellious America.
At the end of the First World War, an American flag was planted on Lafayette's grave, which remained intact even during the days of the occupation of Paris by the Germans. Every year on Independence Day on July 4, a solemn ceremony of replacing the flag takes place.
During his lifetime, Lafayette received the citizenship of many American states, and in 2002, by decision of Congress, he became an honorary citizen of the United States of America. Many cities, parks and streets throughout the States are named after him.
September 6, 1876 in New York on the square
union square In Manhattan, a monument to Lafayette was unveiled by the famous French sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi, author of the Statue of Liberty. Young Lafayette stands at the prow of the ship and presses his right hand with a drawn saber to his heart, promising to serve faithfully for the liberation of the young state from colonial slavery.In Manhattan, there is another work by Bartholdi depicting Lafayette. On April 19, 1900, at the corner of 114th Street and Manhattan Avenue, the opening of the Washington and Lafayette monument took place - a copy of the Parisian monument, bought and donated to New York by entrepreneur Charles Rauss. Two great men shake hands in a friendly way against the backdrop of the American and French flags.
In 1917, the Lafayette Memorial was opened in Brooklyn at the entrance to Prospect Park from 9th Street. The granite stele, designed by architect Henry Bacon, has a bronze bas-relief by the prominent American sculptor Daniel Chester French, who sculpted Abraham Lincoln in Washington DC. The figure of Lafayette in military uniform is almost separated from the bas-relief, and in the background a servant is holding a war horse by the bridle, which faithfully served the Marquis de La Fayette - General Lafayette.
George Washington, his eyes fixed on the smartphone in his hands, walked out through the doors of the huge office building. He did not smoke, like most of his subordinates, so he did not feel the need to jump out into the street to poison himself with another portion of smoke. But at least once a day, he still took ten minutes to himself to cross the vast area, which was squeezed on all sides by tall modern buildings belonging to outsourcing companies and corporations. Next to these giants, there is an equally large shopping center, where Washington went to buy coffee at Starbucks.
It wasn't that he didn't have coffee at work, it could be bought from the cafeteria on the fourth floor, or even from the coffee machines on every corner of the corridors. But Washington often needed that little stroll, the creamy colors of the coffee conglomerate. His name was already known there, of course, and they wrote it down on a glass with familiarity inherent in Starbucks. Mr. J. Sometimes, when someone else was on duty, then just George would be written in black marker. Or DV. It depends.
Washington stood in line, there were two in front of him. But he immersed himself in reading emails, while still thinking about the meeting at which he announced a break about five minutes ago. There were many issues on the agenda, and his adjutants, as he mentally called Alexander Hamilton and John Lawrence, needed time to recover, digest official information, prepare appeals to employees, and, in the end, have a smoke. Washington understood them.
What distracted him from the iPhone screen, George did not remember. But he raised his head and saw a young guy with too red hair standing across one person. But the hue was not an annoying flashy red, but a pleasant, natural color in a place where everything was plastic, glass and concrete. The whole figure of a man, still a boy, was neat and even fragile. It was especially noticeable when you looked at his hands and wrists, long fingers that impulsively dived into his pocket to pick up a card and pay for coffee.
For a killer sweet caramel macchiato with whipped cream and vanilla. Washington, who always took his own Americano, with the rare exception of milk, blinked in surprise.
The guy was smartly dressed. In fact, all corporate employees followed the dress code, only by shirt sleeves rolled up above the elbow, a slightly loose tie knot and dark circles under the eyes, it was possible to determine whether it was the end of the quarter or God forbid you, what time of day or day of the week. For the most part, the staff looked presentable.
Washington didn't think business suits were all that important. This created a working atmosphere, but, for example, he absolutely did not mind when he right hand- Alex Hamilton, riding a bike to work, wearing a hoodie over his shirt, pulling the hood over his head. John Lawrence, although he went in a suit, but when he was left without a jacket, he always rolled up his shirt sleeves, exposing his arms covered with bright tattoos. In addition, he had an earring in his ear. Washington didn't care. What difference does it make if they work the best?
The red-haired young man is very to face the business style of clothing. But the features of his face seemed to enliven and betray shades of the strict code of corporations. Washington found himself thinking that for some reason he wouldn't be surprised to see flowers in his hair.
The guy said his name in a low voice, and the smiling waitress quickly wrote it across the cardboard cup. George couldn't hear. In his hands, the phone came to life and rang insistently. He was urgently called to the office. The second waiter, noticing Washington a few minutes earlier, managed to make him coffee, saying that he had taken the liberty of making a black Americano for Mr. DV, as he likes. Washington nodded curtly and quickly paid.
George caught the name completely by accident. Gilbert. He carefully raised his eyes higher, tearing himself away from the thin fingers that almost covered the written letters. And then George saw that the guy had a key card hanging around his neck, which was used in his, Washington, corporation.
How could he not have noticed such a vibrant color before among the identical glass walls of the office.
The boy grabbed coffee, muttered " sorry with an impossibly French guttural "r" and rushed out the door, away from Starbucks.
Washington was persistently summoned to the main office for a meeting of directors. Alex wrote twenty messages a minute. Even through the screen it was felt how he was raging at everyone there. Especially CEO Thomas Jefferson. Mr. Jefferson was generally an extraordinary person, he approached problems with creativity, but he liked to gossip, like glamorous mademoiselles who sit in fashionable restaurants, drinking martinis through a straw.
Thomas, in turn, arranged a coalition for Hamilton in the person of Madison and himself, luring the head of the IT department, Aaron Burr, to the dark side. Hamilton and Jefferson almost rapped, throwing accusations in each other's faces. Sheer bedlam, to which George is already accustomed.
For the next three days, George Washington spent most of the night at work, dealing with a crisis and a hack attack on their data security system. Hamilton snarled at everyone who couldn't meet emergency deadlines, while Lawrence cheered everyone else on. Although he also gave up later and yelled at someone so loudly that even the soundproof windows could not contain his voice and let him out into the street,
scaring away smokers.
On the fourth day, Alex popped into Washington's office, carrying a folder in one hand, and his phone in the other, enthusiastically reading something.
Will come to you soon new project manager sent by our French partners. He's been here for almost a week, but, poor fellow, they dragged him out of training. I couldn't reach you all, - Alexander finally looked up from the screen and saw George's frown. - Well, what is it? he winced.
What is so important in the phone that you can unstick it? Washington asked wearily.
His Twitter page,” Hamilton replied nonchalantly and tossed the blue folder into Washington's hands. - Cool guy, head full of brains. I already have so many jokes about the French, I can’t even choose which one to start with ...
When Hamilton left the office, still raptly reading his notes, George opened the file folder. And froze.
Marie Joseph Paul Yves Roche Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.
Gilbert and very sweet coffee. Thin fingers and...
There was a knock on the door and Washington looked up sharply.
Sign in.
Lawrence was soiled on the threshold, he was telling something, and behind him was that very red-haired guy. He looked at George with interest and genuine embarrassment.
Mr. Washington, - an unimaginable French “r” and a look that seems to look into the soul to check if everything is fine, there was no viscous melancholy hiding there. - A great honor for me.
George got up from his chair to shake hands, but before he could even extend it,
Lafayette smiled and kissed him on both cheeks, leaning across the table. Like he did it so many times. Perhaps all the French do it. Perhaps Lafayette has been waiting for Washington for a very long time in his life. Too long a name for a young man who crossed the ocean to look into the eyes of the Far East. As he flew over the Atlantic, he rehearsed his first conversation with Mr. Washington a thousand times. He tried to calm the trembling in his fingers, tried to master gestures, crumpled important documents printed out for him by his superiors. Gilbert tried, but the reality was so much more complicated. Living Washington. Calm, focused. Lafayette lowered his eyes. He would buy him flowers. Bright, bright, so that he would stop looking at things around him so tiredly.
Washington thought Lafayette himself was like a bright, bright flower.
*
The next time they bought two cups of coffee. Near George was added with a blue marker de Lafayette. For the first time Gilbert's name was included. Lafayette laughed as he stirred the caramel syrup and then handed it to Washington, who drank it courageously.
He even liked it.
