Intendant General Antoine Denniée

Intendant General of the French armies in Spain

Born: January 7, 1754

Place of Birth: Versailles, Yvelines, France

Died: April 19, 1828

Place of Death: Paris, France

Arc de Triomphe: DENNIÉE on the south pillar

The son of a master mason, Antoine Denniée joined the army as a sous-lieutenant in 1769. He soon found he had a talent for supply work and he eventually became a commissary of the guard of Louis XVI. After the wars of the Revolution began in 1792, Denniée served as a commissary in the Army of the Alps. In 1794 when Maximilien de Robespierre was overthrown in the Thermidorian Reaction, Denniée was serving at Nice and ordered to seize and examine the papers of General Napoleon Bonaparte due to Bonaparte's friendship with Robespierre's brother Augustin. Denniée benevolently cleared Bonaparte of any suspicion. After Napoleon became commander of the Army of Italy in 1796, in 1797 he remembered Denniée and appointed him chief commissary of the Army of Italy and later the chief inspector of reviews.

After Napoleon's coup d'état established the Consulate in 1799, Denniée was appointed secretary general of the Ministry of War. When Marshal Berthier, the Minister of War, was serving alongside Napoleon during the campaigns of 1805 to 1807, Denniée managed the Ministry of War back in Paris. In 1808 Denniée was appointed Intendant General of the French armies serving in Spain and remained in that position for a number of years. 1812 saw Denniée recognized as a Baron of the Empire, but after Napoleon's abdication in 1814, Denniée served as Intendant General of the military household of the king.

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Updated August 2014