He became aide-de-camp to Marshal Nicolas Soult in 1805 and was at Austerlitz and Jena where his actions earned a promotion to general of brigade.

During this time he sent a letter to Soult's generals asking them if the marshal should assume royal powers in Northern Portugal.

In 1814 he led a VI Corps division at La Rothière, Champaubert, Montmirail, Vauchamps, Gué-à-Tresmes, Laon, Reims, Fère-Champenoise and Paris.

[9] In the Battle of Braga on 20 March, the French routed a large but poorly armed body of Portuguese militia, inflicting severe losses.

[10] On 29 March, Soult's corps attacked the Portuguese defenders in the First Battle of Porto and the slaughter was even worse.

Historian Charles Oman believed there was ample evidence that Soult's ambitions included crowning himself King of Northern Portugal.

Since Napoleon appointed Marshal Joachim Murat the King of Naples in 1808, it did not seem so far fetched that a French general could become a monarch.

There was a small pro-French faction which would have supported Soult's royal claim and the marshal did his best to curry favor with the local Portuguese leaders.

One witness claimed that, for a week, Ricard threw coins to the crowds from the balcony of Soult's headquarters as they shouted, "Long live King Nicolas".

On 19 April 1809, Soult directed Ricard to send a circular letter to his generals of brigades and divisions that encouraged them to cooperate with the program of making the marshal a king.

[13] After a week-long retreat that included two hair-raising escapes, Soult's corps avoided destruction, though it lost 5,700 men killed or captured.

[14] When Napoleon received a copy of Ricard's letter, he became enraged and wrote to Soult, harshly rebuking the marshal.

[2] In the French invasion of Russia he served as a brigade commander in Charles Louis Dieudonné Grandjean's 7th Infantry Division which was part of Jacques MacDonald's X Corps.

[7] Two months later he assumed command of the 2nd Infantry Division in I Corps and led the troops at the Battle of Krasnoi where he was wounded.

[16] For the 1813 spring campaign, Ricard took command of the 11th Infantry Division in Marshal Michel Ney's III Corps.

The maneuver almost succeeded when Souham's division seized the key village of Preititz at 11:00 am, but then lost it to Allied counterattacks.

However, when fighting unexpectedly broke out to the north of the city, Ney held the corps back then later changed his mind.

Consequently, Napoleon launched his main assault without III Corps, and it was only in the evening that Ricard's division belatedly intervened on the southern front.

That day his troops left Koblenz and moved south, to be replaced by Pierre François Joseph Durutte's division.

During this transfer, the Allies launched a successful crossing of the Rhine on 1 January 1814 and threatened to capture the isolated French.

[33] Hoping to surprise Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher's army, Napoleon launched an advance in three columns.

The right column led by Étienne Maurice Gérard consisted of the divisions of Ricard and Georges Joseph Dufour.

[37] A Russian attempt to cut off the French retreat the next day was blocked by Emmanuel Grouchy's cavalry and Ricard at Piney.

Stung by recent criticism, Olssufiev unwisely stood his ground against overwhelming odds in the Battle of Champaubert.

Escaping to the north with difficulty, Sacken lost 2,800 men, six colors and 13 guns while Yorck's Prussians sustained 900 casualties.

[44] As Hans Ernst Karl, Graf von Zieten's 5,700-strong Prussian vanguard emerged from Vauchamps, it found it was facing Marmont's 5,000-man corps.

[45] Ricard's next action was the Battle of Gué-à-Tresmes on 28 February 1814 in which the French defeated Friedrich Graf Kleist von Nollendorf's Prussian II Corps.

[47] On the evening of the 9th, Marmont's corps was surprised by the Prussians and routed, suffering a loss of 3,500 casualties, 45 guns and most of its wagons.

[49] The Russian commander Emmanuel de Saint-Priest with 14,500 men did not know Napoleon was present with 20,000 troops and took up a bad position outside Reims.

This mission was rendered moot when Napoleon overthrew the Bourbons during the Hundred Days and Ricard traveled to Ghent to join the king in exile.