achieved a Canossa in reverse and made the Pope look foolish. As Pius
now realized bitterly, he had been gulled: there would be no quid pro quo
in the shape of religious concessions. As Pieter Geyl witheringly
remarked: 'The Pope would never have left Rome merely to perform a
consecration.'
So far Napoleon had cunningly navigated between a series of potential
rocks: peasantry, bourgeoisie, urban proletariat, petit-bourgeoisie, Catho
lics, Jacobins and royalists had been silenced through indulgence, carte
blanche, bread and circuses, intimidation or terror. There remained just
one powerful vested interest to be dealt with: the Army. At the time his
imperial status was proclaimed, Napoleon hit on an ingenious ploy for co
opting the generals: he would revive the ancient title of Marshal of
France and make all significant military leaders marshals. By a senatus
consultum of 19 May Napoleon made eighteen appointments to the
marshalate; eight more were added in later years. The marshals were also
ex officio senators and were supposed to represent the interests of the
Army in the Senate.
Some of the eighteen appointments were made for obvious family
reasons: Murat received his baton since he was married to Caroline and
the ungrateful Bernadotte because he had married Desiree. Then there
were Napoleon's personal favourites, those who had been associated with
him since Toulon or had fought with him in Italy in 1796-gT Berthier,
Massena, Augereau, Brune, Lannes and Bessieres. These were the men
who considered themselves an elite within an elite; they were, so to speak,
the first apostles. But just as a modern prime minister has to appoint to
his cabinet individuals he dislikes personally in order to maintain party
unity and maintain a balance of all shades of opinion within the party, so
Napoleon had to humour all the factions in the Army.
The veterans of the Rhine campaigns were proud warriors who always
took the line that they had fo ught the hardest campaigns against the
toughest opponents. All who had served with Dumouriez, Kellermann,
Moreau, Pichegru and Kleber regarded the Army of Italy with contempt
and considered that they alone had been tested against first-class enemy
commanders. So Napoleon was obliged to promote to the marshalate men
who had no experience of campaigning with him but who could not be
denied on the basis of their general prestige in the Army: Jourdan, Soult,
Mortier, Ney, Davout, Lefebvre. To make sure the new promotions left
no army corps feeling aggrieved, Napoleon also elevated Moncey and
Perignon from the Army of the Pyrenees and for good measure gave the