Boulevards of the Marshals

The Boulevards of the Marshals occupy the route of the former Rue Militaire, built and owned by the French military and running on the inside of the fortified Thiers wall, completed around 1840.

In 1859, the military engineering service gave conditional control of the Rue Militaire and Thiers wall to the Paris city council.

The large berm immediately outside the wall and its dry moat led to a profound disruption and complication of the synergistic relationship between Paris and its suburbs.

Bernadotte, better known as Charles XIV John of Sweden, was widely considered as a traitor when he joined forces with the Allies against Napoleon after ascending to the Swedish throne.

Marmont, who was formerly a close friend of the Emperor, betrayed him after the War of the Sixth Coalition when he defected to the Allies and refused to defend Paris from the invaders.

However, Grouchy's unfortunate judgment at the Battle of Waterloo caused him to be vilified among Bonapartists and is accused by many as being the reason that France was defeated and Napoleon was forced into exile.

The list starts at the Porte de Vincennes and continues in ascending numerical order of arrondissements, from the 12th to the 20th; in effect, around Paris in clockwise fashion, beginning from the 3:00 position.