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Boulevards of the Marshals

Thoroughfare in Paris, France From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Boulevards of the Marshals
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The Boulevards of the Marshals (French: Boulevards des Maréchaux, pronounced [bulvaʁ de maʁeʃo]) are a series of traffic arteries that together encircle the city of Paris, France, just inside its city limits. Never officially designated as a thoroughfare, the name came into gradual use during the 20th century as the various segments bearing the name of a marshal of France under Napoleon came to be perceived as a whole.

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Boulevard Lefebvre
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Boulevard Davout
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Map of the tramway Lines 3a (orange) and 3b (green), which follow all but a portion of the Boulevards of the Marshals

From 1951 to the early 2000s, the circuit was served by the PC (Petite Ceinture: little beltway) buses.[1] They have since been replaced by the Tramway des Maréchaux (Île-de-France tramway Lines 3a and 3b) except in the 16th arrondissement.

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History

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Boulevard Kellerman, adjacent to the Thiers fortifications, 1910.

The Boulevards of the Marshals occupy the route of the former Rue Militaire (Military Road), built by the army in the 1840s to service the newly built Thiers Fortifications which circled Paris. In 1859, as part of Haussmann's effort to improve Paris’ arterial streets, the city obtained the right to improve and maintain the Rue Militaire, with the intention to widen it to six meters, pave it, and build sidewalks. In 1861, after the annexation of the outer districts that expanded the city limits to the fortifications, the city was authorized to widen the Rue to a boulevard-width forty meters, if necessary expropriating civilian property inside the loop. In 1864, amidst the deluges of designations for city streets old and new, the Rue Militaire was divided into 19 sections, each a Boulevard named after a Napoleonic Marshal. They were to be a “beltway boulevard” (boulevard de ceinture), but no collective name was ever given.[2] The anticipated traffic loop was modified de facto in 1867 with the opening in southwest Paris of Boulevard Exelmans, whose path lay 500 to 700 meters inside Boulevard Murat adjacent to the fortifications.[3]

Whatever the initial ambitions, rebuilding the military service road into actual boulevards was not a high priority, though much work was ultimately done over the next thirty years with the goal of encouraging growth in the outer districts. After World War I the fortifications were ceded to the city and demolished, prompting further improvements of the Boulevards to accommodate the advent of the automobile and development on the newly available real estate adjacent. In the early 1930s, 1.3 km of the traffic circuit was de facto pushed beyond part of Boulevard Sérurier when the Boulevard d’Indochine and Boulevard d’Algérie were built on the land of the former fortifications. The range of the automobile and the bus fostered the notion that the segments had become a single, circular thoroughfare comparable to the Grands Boulevards in central Paris, or the Exterior Boulevards followed by Metro Lines 2 and 6.

Despite the improvements, by the 1950s the Boulevards were quickly judged to be inadequate to growing traffic volume. A new beltway, the Boulevard Périphérique—a limited-access motorway rather than a traditional boulevard—was constructed between 1959 and 1973 on the old field-of-fire belt outside of the fortifications. In the early 21st century, the Boulevards of the Marshals were rebuilt to accommodate new tramways along its route.

The Boulevards of the Marshals concept was adulterated just as it was coming to fruition. In 1932, during a period of renewed attention to the French Navy, a section of Boulevard Lannes was renamed Boulevard de l’Amiral Bruix. Étienne Eustache Bruix was a high-ranking naval officer and administrator under the Directory and Consulate, but not a marshal or its naval equivalent.[4] In 1987, a section of Boulevard Victor was renamed Boulevard du Général-Martial-Valin. Valin was commander of the Free French air force, a hero of the liberation of Paris, and served in other high military posts until the 1960s.[5] In 2005, a section of Boulevard Masséna was renamed the Boulevard du General-Jean-Simon. Simon had a distinguished military career with the Free French and the postwar army, and in the late 20th century was a prominent figure in various civic and military associations associated with the Liberation.[6] Neither Valin nor Simon was granted the distinction of Marshal.

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Exceptions

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The three boulevards named for military leaders who were not among the 26 Marshals of the First Empire are discussed in the preceding paragraph. The seven Marshals who do not have their names attached to the Boulevards are Pierre Augereau, Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Emmanuel de Grouchy, Auguste de Marmont, Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey, Nicolas Oudinot, and Catherine-Dominique de Pérignon. Of those seven, three have named streets in Paris: Augereau (rue Augereau in the 7th arrondissement), Moncey (rue Moncey in the 9th arrondissement), and Oudinot (rue Oudinot in the 7th arrondissement).

Four of the 26 Marshals are not commemorated by a Parisian thoroughfare: Bernadotte, Marmont, Pérignon, and Grouchy. 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. Pérignon was also considered to have been treacherous for his role in trying to impede Napoleon's return from Elba during the Hundred Days; the latter had Pérignon expunged from the list of Marshals for that offense. Grouchy's omission is a very different case. He was a fine cavalry commander with a distinguished career in service of France and was loyal to Napoleon beyond reproach. 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.

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List of boulevards

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Map of Paris showing its arrondissements

The list below 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. Also noted are the connections of each to the Paris Métro, the Réseau Express Régional (RER), the Paris Tramway Line 3, the city gates of Paris, and the main roads leaving the capital for adjacent communes.

Legend:

Paris Métro Paris Métro Line 1 : métro station, line 1.
RER RER B : RER station, line B.
Tramways in Île-de-France Île-de-France tramway Line 3a Île-de-France tramway Line 3b : tramway stop, line 3.
More information Arrondissement, Boulevard ...
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Transportation

The boulevards are, of course, city streets and open to vehicular traffic. They do not constitute an expressway or limited-access motorway in the fashion of the Boulevard Périphérique; the speed limit on the boulevards is generally 50 km/h.

There are also bus lanes separated from the normal lanes of traffic, and a bicycle path on the sidewalk has been installed. The Paris Tramway Line 3a (Ile-de-France) follows the boulevards of the marshals along the southern edge of the city, while line 3b follows the northern edge. There is no tramway on a section of the route in the west that is generally near the Bois de Boulogne.

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Places of interest

Some specific sites near the boulevards are:

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References

See also

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