Thouvenot is most famous for his defence of Bayonne in 1814 and the sortie he made when the war was all but over, which drew criticism from both sides, particularly from the Duke of Wellington, who branded him a "blackguard".

He was promoted to captain in 1788 and was made a Chevalier de Saint-Louis (Knight of Saint Louis) in 1791 and was appointed to the foundry at Indret, near Nantes, initially as an inspector but later as its director.

[1] Leaving naval armament behind in December 1792, Thouvenot returned to serving with the army in the field as the commander of the Belgium artillery and in February the following year, he became attached to General Charles François Dumouriez, as his chief of staff.

[1][3] Thouvenot returned to France and the military; and with a promotion to colonel, was part of a force sent to Saint-Domingue to combat insurgency by the slaves there and served as Chief of staff to Generals Edme Étienne Borne Desfourneaux, Bertrand Clausel and Jean-Baptiste Salme successively.

After his first major operation, Thouvenot recorded how, over a seven-day period, slaves were hunted down and shot, hanged or clubbed to death.

[4] In recognition of his actions, which included the liberation of Port-de-Paix from insurrectionists, Thouvenot was promoted again, on 15 October 1802, this time to general of brigade, and given command of the artillery of the Army of Santo Domingo.

[2] Thouvenot served as governor of Würzburg in the then Electorate of Bavaria, before successively taking up the post at Erfurt in Prussia, and the towns of Stettin and Stralsund, both in Pomerania.

That is why Napoleón entrusted him with the government of a key province; on 18 January 1808, Thouvenot was sent to Guipúzcoa, Spain, the region through which most of the Imperial troops entered.

[citation needed] When Joseph Bonaparte arrived in San Sebastián in June 1808, Thouvenot sent a report to Paris explaining without any hesitation the coldness of the reception and the hostility of the population.

When the British and the guerrillas coordinated a systematic amphibious offensive in July 1809,[citation needed] General Thouvenot did not launch a counterattack, because: "I do not have a single soldier to set in motion (...).

[citation needed] In February 1810 Napoleon created four military governments, separating Spain from the border regions with France.

Thouvenot was appointed governor and created an advisory council in each province, consisting of two owners, two merchants, an accountant and a treasurer.

As an essential element of his government action, Thouvenot created an official newspaper, La Gaceta de Vizcaya, which appeared three times a week.

The administrative work of Thouvenot was favored by his stability in the position, since he remained in the same until the end of the war, while other commands were replaced with excessive frequency.

In Bilbao, the members of the municipality and the consulate of commerce were arrested by order of Thouvenot and taken prisoner to Vitoria, as hostages to force the town to pay the taxes.

He showed great skill, cunning, cold blood in this campaign, fighting on many fronts at the same time with insufficient resources.

Even as the Battle of Vitoria on 21 June 1813, was about to begin, he found time to attend to the complaints of a priest and order uncontrolled soldiers to stop looting a municipality in Alava.

Despite having received the news unofficially on 12 April and although it was widely known that a new French government would sue for peace; Thouvenot ordered a sortie which proved to be the last major action of the Peninsular War.

The Allies lost 838 men, including Major General Andrew Hay who was killed defending the church of St Etiene[18] and Sir John Hope, who was wounded and captured while charging into a melee on his horse.

The siege of Bayonne continued obstinately until 27 April when written orders from Marshal Soult finally compelled Thouvenot to hand the fortress over to the British.