Joseph Fouché

Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante (May 21, 1759 Le Pellerin, near Nantes, France - December 25, 1820 Trieste, then Austria, now Italy) was a French statesman and Minister of Police under Napoleon Bonaparte. In English texts his title is often translated as Duke of Otranto.

Biography

Youth

He was born in Le Pellerin, a small village near Nantes. His mother was Marie Françoise Croizet (1720 - 1793). His father Julien Joseph Fouché (1719 - 1771), a sailor, wanted him to go to sea, but his physical weakness and academic talent put an end to this idea. He was educated at the college of the Oratorians at Nantes, and showed aptitude for literary and scientific studies. Wanting to become a teacher, he was sent to an institution kept by brethren of the same order at Paris. There he made rapid progress, and was soon appointed to tutorial duties at the colleges of Niort, Saumur, Vendôme, Juilly and Arras. At Arras he had had some encounters with Maximilien Robespierre both before the revolution and in the early days of the French Revolution (1789).

In October 1790, he was transferred by the Oratorians to their college at Nantes, in an attempt to control his advocacy of revolutionary principles - however, Fouché became even more of a democrat. His talents and anti-clericalism brought him into favour with the population of Nantes, especially after he became a leading member of the local Jacobin Club. When the college of the Oratorians was dissolved in May 1792, Fouché gave up the church, whose major vows he had not taken.

A revolutionary republican

After the downfall of the monarchy on August 10, 1792 (following the storming of the royal Tuileries Palace), he was elected as deputy for the "départment" of the Loire-Inférieure to the National Convention—which met on September 22 and proclaimed the French Republic.

Fouché's interests brought him into contact with the Marquis de Condorcet and the Girondists. Also, their lack of support for the trial and execution of King Louis XVI (December 1792 - January 21, 1793) led him to join the Jacobins, the more decided partisans of revolutionary doctrine. Fouché, after some preliminary hesitations, was strongly in favour of the king's immediate execution, and denounced those who wavered.

The crisis which resulted from the declaration of war by the Convention against Great Britain and the Dutch Republic (February 1, 1793, "see French Revolutionary Wars"), and a little later against Spain, made Fouché famous as one of the Jacobin radicals holding power in Paris. While the armies of the First Coalition threatened the north-east of France, a revolt of the Royalist peasants in Brittany and La Vendée menaced the Convention on the west. That body sent Fouché with a colleague, Villers, as representatives on mission invested with almost dictatorial powers for the crushing of the revolt of "the whites" (the royalist colour). The vigour with which he carried out these duties earned him a reputation, and he soon held the post of commissioner of the republic in the "département" of the Nièvre.

Together with Pierre Gaspard Chaumette, he helped to initiate the dechristianization (a term first coined by its enemies) movement in the autumn of 1793. In the Nièvre department, Fouché ransacked churches, sent their valuables to the treasury, and established the Cult of the goddess of Reason. He ordered the words "Death is an eternal sleep" to be inscribed over the gates to cemeteries. He also fought luxury and wealth, wanting to abolish the use of currency. The new cult was inaugurated at Notre Dame de Paris by "The Festival of Reason". It was here that Fouché gave “the most famous example of its [dechristianization] early phase." [David Andress, The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), 239.] Ironically enough, it was only a year previous that Fouché had been "an advocate of the role of the clergy in education," yet he was now "abandoning the role of religion in society altogether in favour of 'the revolutionary and clearly philosophical spirit' he had first wanted for education." [David Andress, The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), 203.] Overall, the dechristianization movement "reflected the wholesale transformation that Jacobin and radical leaders were beginning to see as necessary for the survival of the Republic, and the creation of a republican citizenry." [David Andress, The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), 204]

Fouché went on to Lyon in November with Jean-Marie Collot d'Herbois to execute the reprisals of the Convention. Lyon had revolted against the Convention and needed to be dealt with. Lyon, on November 23, was declared to be in a "state of revolutionary war" by Collot and Fouché. The two men then formed the Temporary Commission for Republican Surveillance. He inaugurated his mission with a festival notable for its obscene parody of religious rites. Fouché and Collot then brought in "a contingent of almost two thousand of the Parisian Revolutionary Army" to begin their terrorizing. [David Andress, The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), 237] "On 4 December, 60 men, chained together, were blasted with grapeshot on the paline de Brotteaux outside the city, and 211 more the following day. Grotesquely ineffective, these mitraillades resulted in heaps of mutilated, screaming, half-dead victims, who had to be finished off with sabres and musket fire by soldiers physically sicked at the task." [David Andress, The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), 237.] It is through events like this that made Fouché infamous as "The Executioner of Lyons." cite book |last=Schom |first=Alan |title=Napoleon Bonaparte |origyear=1997 |publisher=HarperCollins Publishers, New York |id=ISBN 0-06-092958-8 |chapter=Fouche's Police |page=253-255] The Commission was not happy with the methods used for killing the rebels, so soon after this "more normal firing squads supplemented the guillotine." These methods led to the carrying out of "over 1800 executions in the coming months." [David Andress, The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), 237.] Fouché, claiming that "Terror, salutary terror, is now the order of the day here....We are causing much impure blood to flow, but it is our duty to do so, it is for humanity's sake," called for the execution of 1,905 citizens. As Napoleon's biographer Alan Schom has written:

Alas, Fouché's enthusiasm had proved a little too effective, for when the blood from the mass executions in the center of Lyons gushed from severed heads and bodies into the streets, drenching the gutters of the Rue Lafont, the vile-smelling red flow nauseated the local residents, who irately complained to Fouché and demanded payment for damages. Fouché, sensitive to their outcry, obliged them by ordering the executions moved out of the city to the Brotteaux field, along the Rhône.

From late 1793 into spring, 1794, every day "batch after batch of bankers, scholars, aristocrats, priests, nuns, and wealthy merchants and their wives, mistresses, and children" were taken from the city jails to Brotteaux field, tied to stakes, and dispatched by firing squads or mobs.Modern research, however, demonstrates that at the close of those horrors Fouché exercised a moderating influence.Fact|date=August 2007 Outwardly, his conduct was marked by the utmost rigour, and on his return to Paris early in April 1794, he thus characterised his policy: "The blood of criminals fertilises the soil of liberty and establishes power on sure foundations".

By that time Maximilien Robespierre had struck down the other leaders of the promoters of atheism. However, early in June 1794, at the time of his "Festival of the Supreme Being", Fouché ventured to mock the theistic revival which Robespierre then inaugurated. A sharp exchange took place between them, and Robespierre tried to expel Fouché from the Jacobin Club on July 14, 1794. Fouché, however, was working with his usual energy and plotted Robespierre's overthrow. Remaining ultraleftists (Collot, Billaud) and moderates (Bourdon, Fréron), winning the support of the nonaligned majority of the Convention ("Marais"), also opposed to Robespierre's reign, engineered the latter's overthrow, enforcing the Coup of the 9th Thermidor on July 28, 1794.

The ensuing movement in favour of more merciful methods of government threatened to sweep away the group of politicians who had been mainly instrumental in carrying through the "coup d'état". Nonetheless, largely because of Fouché's intrigues, they remained in power for a time after July. This also brought divisions in the Thermidor group, which soon became almost isolated, with Fouché spending all his energy on countering the attacks of the moderates. He was himself denounced by François Antoine de Boissy d'Anglas on August 9, 1795, which caused his arrest, but the Royalist rebellion of 13 Vendémiaire Year IV averted his execution, and he was released in the amnesty which followed the proclamation of the Constitution of 5 Fructidor.

In the ensuing Directory government (1795-1799), Fouché remained at first in obscurity, but the relations he had with the far left, once headed by Chaumette and now by François-Noël Babeuf, helped him to rise once more. He is said to have betrayed to the Director Paul Barras Babeuf's plot of 1796, however, recent research has tended to throw doubt on the assertion.

His rise from poverty was slow, but in 1797 he gained an appointment dealing with military supplies, which offered considerable opportunities for making money. After first offering his services to the Royalists, whose movement was then gathering force, he again decided to support the Jacobins and Barras. In Pierre François Charles Augereau's anti-Royalist "coup d'état" of Fructidor 1797, Fouché offered his services to Barras, who in 1798 appointed him French ambassador to the Cisalpine Republic. In Milan, he was judged so high-handed that he was removed, but he was able for a time to hold his own and to intrigue successfully against his successor.

Early in 1799, he returned to Paris, and after a brief stint as ambassador at The Hague, he became minister of police at Paris on July 20, 1799. The newly elected director, Emmanuel-Joseph Sieyès, wanted to curb the excesses of the Jacobins, who had recently reopened their club. Fouché closed the Jacobin Club in a daring manner, hunting down those pamphleteers and editors, whether Jacobins or Royalists, who were influential critics of the government, so that at the time of the return of general Napoleon Bonaparte from (October 1799), the ex-Jacobin was one of the most powerful men in France.

In Napoleon's service

Knowing the unpopularity of the Directors, Fouché joined Bonaparte and Sieyès, who were plotting the Directory's overthrow. His activity in furthering the 18 Brumaire coup (November 9-10, 1799), ensured him Bonaparte's favour, who kept him in office.

In the ensuing French Consulate (1799-1804), Fouché efficiently countered the opposition to Bonaparte. Fouché was careful to temper Napoleon's more arbitrary actions, which at times won him the gratitude even of the royalists. While exposing an unrealistic intrigue in which the duchesse de Guiche was the chief agent, Fouché took care that she should escape.

Equally skilful was his action in the so-called Aréna-Ceracchi plot, in which "agents provocateurs" of the police were believed to have played a sinister part. The chief "conspirators" were easily ensnared and were executed when the Plot of the Rue Saint-Nicaise (December 1800) enabled Bonaparte to act with rigour. This far more serious attempt (in which conspirators exploded a bomb near the First Consul's carriage with results disastrous to the bystanders) was soon seen by Fouché as the work of Royalists. When Napoleon showed himself eager to blame the still powerful Jacobins, Fouché firmly declared that he would not only assert but would prove that the outrage was the work of Royalists. However, his efforts failed to avert the Bonaparte-led repression of the leading Jacobins.

In other matters (especially in that known as the "Plot of the Placards" in the spring of 1802), Fouché was thought to have saved the Jacobins from the vengeance of the Consulate, and Bonaparte decided to rid himself of a man who had too much power to be desirable as a subordinate. On the proclamation of Bonaparte as First Consul for life (August 1, 1802) Fouché was deprived of his office, a blow softened by the suppression of the ministry of police and by the attribution of most of its duties to an extended Ministry of Justice.

Fouché became a senator, and received half of the reserve funds of the police which had accumulated during his tenure of office. He continued, however, to intrigue through his spies, who tended to have more information than that of the new minister of police, and competed successfully for the favor of Napoleon at the time of the Georges Cadoudal-Charles Pichegru conspiracy (February-March 1804), becoming instrumental in the arrest of the Duc d'Enghien. Fouché would say later say of Enghien's subsequent execution, "It was worse than a crime; it was a mistake." (a statement frequently also attributed to Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord) [ [http://www.bartleby.com/100/758.1.html John Bartlett, "Familiar Quotations", 10th ed (1919)] ]

After the proclamation of the First French Empire, Fouché again became head of the re-constituted ministry of police (July 1804), and later of Internal Affairs, with activities as important as those carried out under the Consulate. His police agents were ubiquitous, and the terror which Napoleon and Fouché inspired partly accounts for the absence of conspiracies after 1804. After the Battle of Austerlitz (December 1805), Fouché uttered the famous words: "Sire, Austerlitz has shattered the old aristocracy; the Boulevard Saint-Germain no longer conspires".

Nevertheless, Napoleon did retain feelings of distrust, or even of fear, towards Fouché, as was proven by his conduct in the early days of 1808. While engaged in the campaign of Spain, the emperor heard rumours that Fouché and Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, once bitter enemies, were having meetings in Paris during which Joachim Murat, King of Naples, had been approached. At once he hurried to Paris, but found nothing to incriminate Fouché. In that year Fouché received the title of Duke of Otranto, which Bonaparte created -under the French name "Otrante"- a "duché grand-fief" (a rare, hereditary, but nominal honor) in the satellite Kingdom of Naples.

When, during the absence of Napoleon in the Austrian campaign of 1809, the British Walcheren expedition threatened the safety of Antwerp, Fouché issued an order to the "préfet" of the northern "départments" of the Empire for the mobilization of 60,000 National Guards, adding to the order this statement: "Let us prove to Europe that although the genius of Napoleon can throw lustre on France, his presence is not necessary to enable us to repulse the enemy". The emperor's approval of the measure was no less marked than his disapproval of Fouché's words.

The next months brought further friction between emperor and minister. The latter, knowing Napoleon's desire for peace at the close of 1809, undertook to make secret overtures to the British cabinet of Spencer Perceval. Napoleon opened negotiations only to find that Fouché had forestalled him. His rage against his minister was extreme, and on June 3, 1810 he dismissed him from his office. However, Napoleon never completely disgraced a man who might again be useful, and Fouché received the governorship of the Rome "département". At the moment of his departure, Fouché took the risk of not surrendering to Napoleon all of certain important documents of his former ministry (falsely declaring that the some had been destroyed); the emperor's anger was renewed, and Fouché, on learning of this after his arrival to Florence, prepared to sail to the United States.

Compelled by the weather and sickness to put back into port, he found a mediator in Elisa Bonaparte, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, thanks to whom he was allowed to settle in Aix-en-Provence and finally to return to his domain of "Point Carré". In 1812 he attempted in vain to turn Napoleon from the projected invasion of Russia, and on the return of the emperor in haste from Smarhoń to Paris at the close of that year, the ex-minister of police was suspected of involvement in the conspiracy of Claude François de Malet, which had been unexpectantly successful.

Fouché cleared his name and gave the emperor useful advice concerning internal affairs and the diplomatic situation. Nevertheless, the emperor, still distrustful, ordered him to undertake the government of the Illyrian provinces. On the break-up of the Napoleonic system in Germany (October 1813), Fouché was ordered on missions to Rome and thence to Naples, in order to watch the movements of Joachim Murat. Before Fouché arrived in Naples, Murat invaded the Roman territory, whereupon Fouché received orders to return to France. He arrived in Paris on April 10, 1814 at the time when Napoleon was being constrained by his marshals to abdicate.

Fouché's conduct in this crisis was characteristic. As senator he advised the Senate to send a deputation to Charles, comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVIII, with a view to a reconciliation between the monarchy and the nation. A little later he addressed to Napoleon, then in "de facto" banishment on Elba, a letter begging him in the interests of peace and of France to withdraw to the United States. To the new sovereign Louis XVIII he sent an appeal in favour of liberty, and recommending the adoption of measures which would conciliate all interests.

The response was unsatisfactory, and when he found that there were no hopes of advancement, he entered into relations with conspirators who sought the overthrow of the Bourbons. The Marquis de Lafayette and Louis Nicolas Davout were involved in the issuer, but their refusal to take the course desired by Fouché and others led to nothing being done. Soon Napoleon escaped from Elba and made his way in triumph to Paris. Shortly before his arrival in Paris (March 19, 1815), Louis XVIII sent Fouché an offer of the ministry of police, which he declined: "It is too late; the only plan to adopt is to retreat".

He then foiled an attempt by Royalists to arrest him, and on the arrival of Napoleon he received for the third time the portfolio of police. That, however, did not prevent him from entering into secret relations with the Austrian statesman Klemens Wenzel von Metternich in Vienna, his aim being to prepare for all eventualities. Meanwhile he used all his powers to induce the emperor to democratize his rule, and he is said to have caused the insertion of the words: "the sovereignty resides in the people —it is the source of power" in the declaration of the "Conseil d'État". But the autocratic tendencies of Napoleon could not be overridden, and Fouché, seeing the fall of the emperor to be imminent, took measures to expedite it and secure his own interests.

Hundred Days and Bourbon restoration

In 1814, Fouché had joined the invading allies and conspired against Napoleon. However, he joined Napoléon again during his return and was police minister during the latter's short-lived reign (Hundred Days). After Napoléon's ultimate defeat (Battle of Waterloo), Fouché again started plotting against his master and joined the opposition of the parliament (after the defeat of Waterloo) and headed the provisional government and tried to negotiate with the allies. He probably also aimed at establishing a republic with himself as head of state. These plans were never realised, and the Bourbons regained power (July 1815). And again, Fouché's services were necessary: as Talleyrand, another notorious "intrigant", became the prime minister of the Kingdom of France, Fouché was named his minister of police: so he was a minister of King Louis XVIII, the brother of Louis XVI.

Ironically, Fouché had voted for the death sentence on Louis XVI. Thus, he belonged to the "regicides", and ultra-royalists both within the cabinet and outside could hardly tolerate him as a member of the royal cabinet. Fouché, once a revolutionary using extreme terror against the Bourbon supporters, now initiated a campaign of White Terror against real and imaginary enemies of the Royalist restoration (officially directed against those who had plotted and supported Napoléon's return to power). Even Prime Minister Talleyrand disapproved of such practices, including the useless death sentence on Ney and compiling proscription lists of other military people and former republican politicians. Famous (or rather infamous), is the conversation between Fouché and (also proscribed) Lazare Carnot, who had been interior minister during the hundred days' period:

*Carnot: Where should I go then, traitor?
*Fouché: Go where you want, imbecile!

Fouché was soon moved (in fact - dismissed) to the post of French ambassador in Saxony; Talleyrand himself lost his portfolio soon after (he was PM from July 9 to September 26, 1815). In 1816 the royalist authorities found Fouché's further services useless, and he was proscribed. He died in exile in Trieste in 1820.

Character

The "1911 Britannica" portrays Fouché in the following manner:

"Marked at the outset by fanaticism, which, though cruel, was at least conscientious, Fouché's character deteriorated in and after the year 1794 into one of calculating cunning. The transition represented all that was worst in the life of France during the period of the Revolution and Empire. In Fouché the enthusiasm of the earlier period appeared as a cold, selfish and remorseless fanaticism; in him the bureaucracy of the period 1795-1799 and the autocracy of Napoleon found their ablest instrument.

Yet his intellectual pride prevented him sinking to the level of a mere tool. His relations to Napoleon were marked by a certain aloofness. He multiplied the means of resistance even to that irresistible autocrat, so that though removed from office, he was never wholly disgraced. Despised by all for his tergiversations, he nevertheless was sought by all on account of his cleverness. He repaid the contempt of his superiors and the adulation of his inferiors by a mask of impenetrable reserve or scorn. He sought for power and neglected no means to make himself serviceable to the party whose success appeared to be imminent.

Yet, while appearing to be the servant of the victors, present or prospective, he never gave himself to any one party. In this versatility he resembles Talleyrand, of whom he was a coarse replica. Both professed, under all their shifts and turns, to be desirous of serving France. Talleyrand certainly did so in the sphere of diplomacy; Fouché may occasionally have done so in the sphere of intrigue."

Works

Fouché wrote some political pamphlets and reports, the chief of which are:
* "Réflexions sur le judgement de Louis Capet" ("Thoughts on the trial of Louis Capet", 1793)
* "Réflexions sur l'éducation publique" ("Thoughts on public education", 1793)
* "Rapport et projet de loi relatif aux colleges" ("Report and law project regarding colleges", 1793)
* "Rapport sur la situation de Commune Affranchie Lyons" ("Report on the situation of the breakaway commune of Lyon", 1794)
* "Lettre aux préfets concernant les prétres, etc." ("Letter to the "préfets" regarding priests etc.", 1801)
*The letters of 1815 noted above, and a "Lettre au duc de Wellington" ("Letter to the Duke of Wellington", 1817)

Ascendants and descendants

He was a son of Julien Joseph Fouché (1719 - 1771) and wife Marie Françoise Croizet (1720 - 1793), paternal grandson of Julien Fouché (1667 - 1745, son of Ambroise Fouché and wife Jeanne Passedouet born in 1629) and wife Marguerite Chiron (1683 - 1723, daughter of Toussaint Chiron and wife Marguerite Leray, paternal granddaughter of Pierre Chiron and wife Marguerite Hillaire and maternal granddaughter of Samson Leray and wife Marguerite Caillaud) and maternal grandson of Jean Croizet (c. 1690 -, son of Guillaume Croizet born in 1649 and died in 1719 and wife Nicole Bebar) and wife Marie Chesneau.

By his marriage to Bonne Jeanne Coiquaud (1763 - 1812), daughter of Nicolas François Coiquaud (1732 - 1794) and wife Marguerite Gautier (1734 - 1801), paternal granddaughter of Noël Coiquaud (1689 - 1764, son of Charles Coiquaud and wife Catherine Recoquille born in 1655 - 1733) and wife Catherine Lahogue (1690 - 1758, daughter of Charles Lahogue and wife Catherine Lefevre, born in 1646 and died in 1733) and maternal granddaughter of Pierre Gautier (c. 1690 - 1737, son of Jean Gautier and wife Claire Agaisse) and wife Jacquette Boisgontier (- 1743, daughter of Guillaume Boisgontier and wife Jacquette Jolivette born in 1644 and died in 1749), he had at least one son and one daughter:

* "Paul" Athanase Fouché d'Otrante, 2nd Duc d'Otrante (Paris, June 25 1801 – St. Germain-en-Laye, February 10 1886), married firstly at Finspång, January 24 1824 Christina Friherrina Palmstierna (Stockholm, February 11 1799 – Paris, April 26 1826), without issue, secondly in Stockholm, August 18 1836 Vilhelmina Amalia Friherrina von Stedingk (Åbo, January 28 1802 – Helsingfors, February 25 1863), daughter of Victor Friherr von Stedingk and wife Lovisa Löf, and thirdly at St. Germain-en-Laye, June 9 1884 Fronika Marx (Lyon, February 4 1846 – Paris, March 14 1887); he had issue, which remained in Sweden:
** (by second wife) Pauline Ernestine Fouché d'Otrante (June 25 1839 – August 22 1906), married on November 7 1861 Ture Greve Bielke (September 8 1829 – October 28 1899), son of Nils Greve Bielke and wife Ebba Grevina Sture, and had issue
** (by second wife) "Gustave" Armand Fouché d'Otrante, 3rd Duc d'Otrante (Paris, June 17 1840 – Stjarnholm, August 5 1910), married firstly in Stockholm, May 2 1865 Augusta Friherrina de Bonde (Gimmersta, August 30 1846 – Stockholm, March 4 1872), daughter of Knut Philip Friherr de Bonde and wife Lady Augusta Fitzclarence, daughter of the 1st Earls of Munster, and secondly in London, July 5 1873 Theresia Friherrina von Stedingk (Stockholm, January 30 1837 – Baden-Baden, June 21 1901), daughter of Ludwig Friherr von Stedingk and wife Lovisa von Haxthausen, and had issue, a daughter and a son:
*** (by first wife) Adelaide Augustine Fouché d'Otrante (Paris, May 2 1866 – Stockholm, November 12 1943), married in Stockholm, October 14 1893 Frederik Mauritz Peyron (Karlskrona, July 2 1861 – Stockholm, January 8 1915)
*** (by second wife) "Charles" Louis Fouché d'Otrante, 4th Duc d'Otrante (Elghammar, June 21 1877 – Elghammar, May 31 1950), married at Linköping, June 8 1906 and divorced in 1931 Hedvig Ingeborg "Madeleine" Grevina Douglas (Gerstorp, September 2 1886 – Drottningholm, July 21 1983), daughter of Ludvig Greve Douglas (maternal grandson of Louis I, Grand Duke of Baden by Katharina Werner, Gräfin von Gondelsheim und Langenstein) and wife Anna Grevina Ehrensvärd, and had issue, two daughters and two sons:
**** Victoria Anne "Therese" Fouché d'Otrante (Stockholm, March 9 1907 – July 6 2000), married firstly Elghammar, August 18 1929 and divorced in 1937 Axel Hans Wilhelm Hjalmarsson Bennich (Stockholm, April 2 1895 – Sundsvall, July 12 1950), and had issue, and seconly at Elghammar, August 29 1937 Eugen Frederik Christer Friherr von Stedingk (Stockholm, June 1 1896 – Stockholm, August 30 1947), and had female issue
**** Margareta Fouché d'Otrante (Elghammar, March 28 1909 – August 25 2005), married at Björnlunda, January 26 1934 H.S.H. "Gustav Albrecht" Alfred Franz Friedrich Otto Emil Ernst 5th Fürst zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Berleburg, February 28 1907 – m.i.a. in the Second World War in Russia, 1944, declared dead November 29 1969), and had issue
**** "Gustaf" Douglas Armand Fouché d'Otrante, 5th Duc d'Otrante (Björnlunda, November 27 1912 – Stockholm, January 31 1995), married at Vendel, October 21 1967 Metta Christine Gunnel Beata Carolina Grevina von Rosen (Stockholm, February 24 1939), daughter of Eugene Greve von Rosen and wife Metta Claesdotter Breitholtz, and had issue:
***** Marguerite Ebba Fouché d'Otrante (Stockholm, August 20 1968), unmarried and without issue
***** Pauline Louise Fouché d'Otrante (Stockholm, March 14 1970), married on May 27 2000 Mattias Dymling (Stockholm, September 3 1966)
***** Josephine Madeleine Désirée Fouché d'Otrante (Stockholm, February 23 1979)
***** "Charles"-Louis Armand Fouché d'Otrante, 6th Duc d'Otrante (Stockholm, March 14 1986)
**** Louis Douglas Fouché d'Otrante, Comte d'Otrante (Elghammar, March 5 1917), married in Stockholm, June 20 1944 Birgitta Helena Christina Tham (Örebro, December 11 1915), and had female issue:
***** Josephine Ebba "Madeleine" Fouché d'Otrante (Stockholm, May 31 1946), married in Stockholm, September 26 1973 Hans Olof Dyhlen (Stockholm, November 23 1945), and had issue
***** Agneta Hélène "Marie" Fouché d'Otrante (Stockholm, February 12 1948), married in Stockholm, October 3 1970 H.S.H. "Philipp-Reinhard" 7th Fürst zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich (Lich, November 27 1934), and had issue
** (by third wife, born before wedlock) Paul Joseph Marie Fouché d'Otrante (Ostend, July 21 1871 – Buenos Aires, November 6 1930), married at Villiers-sur-Morin, November 24 1892 Amélie Adrienne Berthe Ancellin (Crécy-en-Brie, January 15 1872 – Villiers-sur-Morin, March 22 1963), and had female issue:
*** Madeleine Paule Fouché d'Otrante (Paris, August 14 1895 – London, January 25 1973), unmarried and without issue
*** Thérèse Berthe Fouché d'Otrante (Paris, November 28 1900 – Meaux, October 1 1985), married in Paris, December 24 1946 Jean Arthur Plisson (Rosny-sous-Bois, November 27 1900 – ?)
* Joséphine-Ludmille Fouché d'Otrante (1803 – 1893), married to Adolphe Comte de La Barthe de Thermes (1789 - 1869), and had issue

In literature

The Austrian novelist Stefan Zweig wrote his biography, entitled "Joseph Fouché". Considered one of his best works, as Zweig takes a psychological approach for understanding the much complicated minister of police, as he asks himself in the beginning of the book about how could Fouché "survive" in power from the revolution to the monarchy.

Fouché was featured as one of the two main (and only) characters in the theatre piece by Jean-Claude Brisville "Supping with the Devil" in which he is depicted dining with Charles Maurice de Talleyrand while deciding how to preserve their respective power under the coming regime. The drama was hugely successful and was turned into a film directed by Édouard Molinaro, starring Claude Rich and Claude Brasseur.

Joseph Conrad portrayed Fouché briefly in his short story "The Duel" (1924), which was filmed in 1977 as "The Duellists", written by Gerald Vaughan-Hughes and directed by Ridley Scott. Fouché is roguishly portrayed by Albert Finney.

Fouché appears as a recurring character in the Roger Brook series of historical novels by Dennis Wheatley.

Is referenced on the first page of the novel by Patrick Suskind as a 'gifted abomination'.

In "Mountolive" (1958), the third novel of Lawrence Durrell's "Alexandria Quartet", a French diplomat is said to have (ironically) complimented the cruel and venal Egyptian Minister of the Interior, Memlik Pasha, by telling him that he is "...regarded as the best Minister of Interior in modern history--indeed, since Fouché there has been no-one to equal you." Memlik is so taken with the comparison that he orders a bust of Fouché from France, which then sits in his reception room gathering dust.

In the Richard Sharpe series of historical novels, set during the Napoleonic Wars, Fouché is mentioned as an early mentor of Sharpe's bitter enemy Pierre Ducos, a French spymaster.

Fouché makes an appearance in the Doctor Who novel "World Game" by Terrance Dicks.

On Screen

Joseph Fouché was portrayed by French actor Gérard Depardieu on the mini-series "Napoleon", by Claude Brasseur in the movie "The Supper", and by Albert Finney in Ridley Scott's film "The Duellists".

External links

* [http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/f#a8355 Fouché's 'memoirs' in French]

References

*1911 "In turn, it cites as references:"
** [http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/authors/f#a8355 The Fouché Memoirs] (not genuine, but they were apparently compiled, at least in part, from notes written by Fouché)
** Gilbert Augustin-Thierry, "Conspirateurs et gens de police; le complot de libelles" (Paris, 1903) (English translation, London, 1903)
**Pierre Coquelle, "Napoléon et l'Angleterre" (Paris, 1903, English translation, London, 1904)
** Ernest Daudet, "La Police et les Chouans sous le Consulat et l'Empire" (Paris, 1895)
**Pierre M. Desmarest, "Témoignages historiques, ou quinze ans de haute police" (Paris, 1833, 2nd ed., 1900)
** E. Guillon, "Les Complots militaires sous le Consulat et l'Empire" (Paris, 1894)
**Louis Madelin, "Fouché" (2 vols., Paris, 1901)
** E. Picard, "Bonaparte et Moreau" (Paris, 1905)
** H. Welschinger, "Le Duc d'Enghien" (Paris, 1888)
* [http://www.heraldica.org/topics/france/napoleon.htm#duches Heraldica.org] (Napoleonic heraldry)

Persondata
NAME= Fouché, Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=French statesman
DATE OF BIRTH=1763-05-21
PLACE OF BIRTH=Le Pellerin, France
DATE OF DEATH=1820-12-25
PLACE OF DEATH=Trieste, then Austria, now Italy