Following Desaix's death in battle, Savary caught the attention of the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, and he was appointed commander of the Elite Gendarmes of the Consular Guard.

[1] During his tenure as commanding officer at Vincennes, Savary became embroiled in controversy due to the summary execution of the Duc d'Enghien.

Hulin, the presiding officer at the court-martial, later accused Savary of obstructing his attempts to appeal for mercy to Bonaparte.

Shortly before the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December 1805, Napoleon dispatched him with a message to emperor Alexander I, requesting an armistice.

Working alongside Murat, Savary exploited the divisions within the Spanish royal family in March and April of 1808.

[1] As a token of appreciation, Napoleon granted him duché grand-fief of Rovigo within his Kingdom of Italy, a rare hereditary honor,[citation needed] which ceased to exist in 1872.

[1] In Algiers, he antagonized French civil authorities with his authoritarian treatment of Arabs with disregard for Algerians’ religious beliefs.

In spite of protests, the Ketchaoua Mosque was confiscated in December 1831 and consecrated as the cathedral of Saint Philippe on Christmas Day, 1832.

[3] He was also responsible for the massacre of the local El Ouffia tribe alongside Maximilien Joseph Schauenburg and the deaths of several Arab leaders whom he lured into negotiations.

[4] While he was not the first military governor of French possessions in Algeria he was the one who introduced extreme violence into the occupation and pacification of Algiers on a scale not seen before him.