View source for Emmanuel Félix de Wimpffen

{{Short description|French general}}
{{One source|date=June 2024}}
{{Infobox military person|
|image=File:Wimphen, général, Nadar, Gallica.jpg
|name=Emmanuel Felix de Wimpffen
|honorific_suffix=[[Wimpffen family|Baron]]
|birth_date={{Birth date|1811|09|13}}
|death_date={{Death date and age|1884|02|26|1811|09|13}}
|death_place=[[Paris]], [[France]]
|allegiance=France
|branch=[[French Army]]
|rank=General
|battles=[[Battle of Sedan]]
|unit=[[Army of Châlons]]
}}
'''Baron Emmanuel Felix de Wimpffen''' (13 September 1811{{snd}}26 February 1884) was a French soldier and general.
== Biography ==
A member of the [[Wimpffen family]], de Wimpffen was born in [[Laon]], the [[Legitimacy (family law)|illegitimate son]] of Baron Félix Victor Charles Emmanuel de Wimpffen by Cornélie Bréda. His father was a general in the [[French Army]] who had been created a [[Baron of the Empire]] in 1810. In 1836 he was recognized by his father.
Entering the army from the military school of [[École Spéciale Militaire de Saint-Cyr|Saint-Cyr]], he saw considerable active service in [[Algeria]], and in 1840 became captain; in 1847 ''chef de bataillon''. He first earned marked distinction in the [[Crimean War]] as colonel of a [[Turco-Persian]] regiment, and his conduct at the storm of the [[Mamelon (fort)|Mamelon]] won him the grade of general of brigade.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Wimpffen, Emmanuel Felix de|volume=28|page=701}}</ref>
In the campaign of 1859 he was with [[Patrice MacMahon, duc de Magenta|General MacMahon]] at the [[battle of Magenta]] at the head of a brigade of Guard Infantry, and again won promotion on the battlefield. Between this campaign and the [[Franco-Prussian War]], he was mainly employed in Algeria, and was not at first given a command in the ill-fated [[Army of the Rhine (1870)|Army of the Rhine]]. But when the earlier battles revealed incapacity in the commander of the 5th corps, De Wimpffen was ordered to take it over, and was given a dormant commission appointing him to command the [[Army of Châlons]] in case of Marshal MacMahon's disablement. He only arrived at the front in time to rally the fugitives of the 5th Corps, beaten at [[Battle of Beaumont|Beaumont]], and to march them to [[Sedan, France|Sedan]].<ref name="EB1911"/>
In the disastrous [[Battle of Sedan]] on the first of September, MacMahon was soon wounded, and the senior officer, [[Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot|General Ducrot]], assumed the command. Ducrot was beginning to withdraw the troops when Wimpffen produced his commission and countermanded the orders. In consequence it fell to him to negotiate the surrender of the whole French army.<ref name="EB1911"/>
After his release from captivity, he lived in retirement at [[Algiers]], and died at [[Paris]] in 1884. His later years were occupied with polemical discussions on the surrender of Sedan, the responsibility for which was laid upon him.<ref name="EB1911"/>
He wrote, amongst other works, ''Sedan'' (1871), ''La Situation de la France, et les reformes necessaires'' (1873) and ''La Nation armée'' (1875).<ref name="EB1911"/>
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* http://www.wimpffen.hu/
* https://web.archive.org/web/20110719132951/http://www.wimpffen.dk/
{{Authority control}}
{{EB1911 article with no significant updates}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wimpffen, Emmanuel Felix de}}
[[Category:1811 births]]
[[Category:1884 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Laon]]
[[Category:French generals]]
[[Category:Grand Officers of the Legion of Honour]]
[[Category:Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery]]
[[Category:Wimpffen family|Emmanuel Felix]]
[[Category:French barons]]