OUDINOT, NICOLAS-CHARLES-VICTOR, Duke of Reggio — Engraving from the portrait by R. Le Fèvre — Rome. Museo del Risorgimento.
The namesake marshal of Napoleon I entered the imperial army.
A cavalry officer, he took part in the campaigns in Spain, Russia, and Algeria. In 1849 he was entrusted with the command of the expeditionary corps that was to land in the Papal States. The instructions given to him, both by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were vague. The former simply ordered him to occupy Civitavecchia and then await further instructions; the latter, drafted by Drouyn de Lhuys, then Foreign Minister, ambiguously urged him to proceed with the occupation of Rome itself. Oudinot landed at Civitavecchia on 25 April without encountering resistance from the Roman Republic, but four days later his attempt to enter Rome ended in bloody failure. Oudinot’s setback was due to the hesitations of the French republican government, which, while seeking to satisfy the various and conflicting currents in the National Assembly, also wished to counterbalance Austria’s direct intervention in favor of the Pope—a move that would have secured Vienna’s hegemony in the Italian question, intolerable to the government in Paris. Stung by the failure that tarnished his honor as a soldier, Oudinot sought full rehabilitation, which he achieved on 3 July with the occupation of Rome. Thus ended the Mazzinian Republic and the return of Pius IX became possible. Meanwhile reelected as a deputy, Oudinot in Paris took part in the sessions of the Legislative Assembly. During Louis Napoleon’s coup d’état, he was arrested for his stance and imprisoned in Vincennes until 16 December 1851.