Louis-Alexandre Berthier, prince de Neuchâtel et Valangin, prince de Wagram (French: [lwi alɛksɑ̃dʁ bɛʁtje]; 20 November 1753 – 1 June 1815) was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was twice Minister of War of France and was made a Marshal of the Empire in 1804. Berthier served as chief of staff to Napoleon Bonaparte from his first Italian campaign in 1796 until his first abdication in 1814. The operational efficiency of the Grande Armée owed much to his considerable administrative and organizational skills.
Born into a military family, Berthier served in the American Revolutionary War and survived suspicion of monarchism during the Reign of Terror before a rapid rise in the ranks of the French Revolutionary Army. Although a key supporter of the coup against the Directory that gave Napoleon supreme power, and present for his greatest victories, Berthier strongly opposed the progressive stretching of lines of communication during the Russian campaign. Allowed to retire by the restored Bourbon regime, he died by either suicide or murder shortly before the Battle of Waterloo. Berthier's reputation as a superb operational organiser remains strong among current historians.
