Empire marshal Grouchy

Most famous for his non-arrival on the fateful field of Waterloo, Grouchy has been poorly served by posterity, which has largely ignored his previous career. A noble by birth, the young Grouchy was schooled in the pre-Revolution royalist cavalry, rising to a lieutenancy in the élite Compagnie Écossaise of the king's Garde du Corps. Disillusioned with the abuse of power and privilege, he became one of the many aristocrats who embraced the humanitarian ideals of the Revolution. He fought the royalist counter-revolution in the Vendée and was embarked for the abortive invasion of Ireland in 1799.

He was wounded at Novi in 1799 while fighting the Russians in Italy, recovered, and went on to fight at Hohenlinden, Ulm, Eylau, and Friedland. A brief sojourn in Spain was marked by his suppression, with Murat, of the uprising in Madrid, the infamous Dos de Mayo of 1808. He discharged his duties as a cavalry commander with distinction in the 1809 Italian campaign under Prince Eugène de Beauharnais and performed useful service at the Piave and at Raab.
Entering Austria with the Army of Italy, Grouchy was at Wagram. His body and spirit seemingly broken by constant campaigning, he then went on extended leave until the Russian campaign of 1812, where he was in the thick of the action at Borodino and commanded the Bataillon Sacré of officers that guarded Napoleon's person on the retreat. He spent 1813 recovering from the vicissitudes of Russia, but was recalled to lead the cavalry during the campaign of France in 1814, again showing his skill as a leader of cavalry, but was severely wounded at Craonne.

On Napoleon's return from Elba in 1815, Grouchy received his long-awaited marshal's baton and commanded the right wing of the army that was to pursue the Prussians after Ligny. He elected not to march to the sound of the guns, but caught the Prussian rearguard at Wavre, and was checked while Napoleon's agony was being played out some 10 miles (16 km) to the west at Waterloo. It is debatable whether his arrival would have reversed the result of the battle, but his force would certainly have provided a backstop, and minimized the scale of the disaster.
It was an ignominious end to a distinguished career from which Grouchy's reputation never recovered.