The Arc de Triomphe in Paris honors 660 military personnel with engraved names, revealing stories of battles and the complexities of historical memory.
Names on the Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe in Paris features 660 names engraved on its four pillars, divided into 40 columns. These names are primarily of military personnel from the First Republic (1792-1804) and the First Empire (1804-1815), with an underlined name indicating an officer killed in combat.North pillar details
The north pillar contains 165 names, one quarter of the total, and includes figures such as Pierre Banel, killed during the attack on the Cosseria castle on April 13, 1796, and Martial Beyrand, who fell at Castiglione on August 3.Column 28 and its significance
Column 28 includes names of individuals who died between 1796 and 1814, with a close-up revealing the details of their deaths. Column 18 contains the name of Michel de Beaupuy, a brigade general killed at the battle of Emmendingen, and also includes Caulaincourt, a division general killed at the Moskova on September 7, 1812.Names listed in different columns
Other names on the same column include François Auguste Damas, Léonard Jean Aubry Huard de Saint-Aubin, and Claude Antoine Compère, all of whom died on the same day but are listed in different columns. Column 17 lists Jean Charles Abbatucci, killed during the siege of Huningue, and Jean-Baptiste Cervoni, who died at Eckmühl on April 22, 1809.Grouping by cardinal points
The names are grouped by the four cardinal points, with the north pillar representing areas such as the north of France, the lower Rhine, and the Netherlands. The oldest name mentioned is that of Dampierre, who was killed at Raismes on May 8, 1793, while the most recent is Jean-Pierre Béchaud, who fell at Orthez on February 27, 1814.Inaccuracies and homonyms
The underlined names are not always accurate, as some individuals listed are those who were mortally wounded rather than killed in combat. Homonyms also cause confusion, such as the name Boyer, which refers to Jean Baptiste Nicolas Henry Boyer, mortally wounded at Freyburg and died in Leipzig on October 30, 1813, rather than Joseph Boyer de Rebeval, who died in 1822.Excluded generals and political choices
According to Arnauld Divry, author of a book on these inscriptions, six generals chosen on February 6, 1836, by Saint-Cyr-Nugues, including Aubert-Dubayet and Escorches de Sainte-Croix, were not included on the Arc. Generals who were guillotined, such as Luckner, Houchard, Custine, or Biron, are on the Arc, a choice that, according to Divry, addresses moderates and royalists.Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
As November 11 approaches, the focus will be on the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, whose coffin was placed in the chapel of the first floor of the Arc on November 10, 1920, and then in its final resting place on January 28, 1921. The slab bears the inscription "Here lies a French soldier who died for the fatherland 1914-1918": a single unnamed man, under a vault where 660 others are named.
