Grimoard, Philippe Henri, Comte De
GRIMOARD, PHILIPPE HENRI, COMTE DE (1753-1815), French soldier and military writer, entered the royal army at the age of sixteen, and in 1775 published his Essai thforique et practique sur les batailles. Shortly afterwards Louis XVI. placed him in his own military cabinet and employed him especially in connexion with schemes of army reform. By the year of the Revolution he had become one of Louis's most valued counsellors, in political as well as military matters, and was marked out, though only a colonel, as the next Minister of War. In 1791 Grimoard was entrusted with the preparation of the scheme of defence for France, which proved two years later of great assistance to the Committee of Public Safety. The events of 1792 put an end to his military career, and the remainder of his life was spent in writing military books.
The following works by him, besides his first essay, have retained some importance : Histoire des dernikres campagnes de Turenne (Paris, 1780), Lettres et memoires de Turenne (Pans, 1780), Troupes legeres et leur emploi (Paris, 1782), Conquetes de Gustave-Adolphe (Stockholm and Neufchatel, 1782-1791); Memoires de Gustave Adolphe (Paris, 1790), Correspondence of Marshal Richelieu (Paris, 1789), St Germain (1789), and Bernis (1790), Vie et regne de Frederic le Grand (London, 1788), Lettres et memoires du marechal de Saxe (Paris, 1794), L' Expedition de Minorque en 1756 (Paris, 1798), Recherches sur la force de I'armee franc,aise depuis Henri IV jusqu'en 1805 (Paris, 1806), M6moires du marechal de Tesse (Paris, 1806), Lettres de Bolingbroke (Paris, 1808), Traite sur le service d'etat-major (Paris, 1809), and (with Seryan) Tableau hislorique de la guerre de la Revolution 1792-1794 (Paris, 1808).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
