Marshal Ney

Was Marshal Ney a handicap to Napoleon, if so why did Napoleon make so much use of him.

Because he was tactically agressive and won most of the independent battles in which he fought. Waterloo was probably not his finest hour but he was a competent enough subordinate / corps commander. He was also one of the few French marshalls to have some success against the British
 
Ney was a perfectly competent (though definitely aggressive) commander. Friedland is definite proof of that. It's just that, among the Marshals of the First French Empire, he was greatly overshadowed by giants such as Lannes, Davout, Massena, and Suchet. I would also personally rank Marshals such as Bessieres, Jourdan, and St-Cyr his superiors as well. His performance at Waterloo was certainly not his best, it can be said.

If there's anyone you can criticize for handicapping Napoleon (I suppose you mean in Waterloo), it'd be Grouchy. A perfectly good cavalry commander, he just couldn't operate in an independent fashion (noted by his failure to both defeat/delay the Prussians or join with Napoleon at Waterloo [when in doubt, you should always march towards the sound of cannonfire, which Grouchy did not]).
 
I asked, because - cant remember where, but i saw an alternative Russian invasion, and Ney was replaced for some reason.
 
It can be argued that by the end of the Russian campaign Ney was suffering from some form of PTSD - which wouldn't surprise me based on what the man went through there. He was supposedly the last French soldier out of Russia.
 
Ney wasn't really a handicap to Napoleon. Like all the Marshalls of the Emperor, he was amongst the most competent officers of France.

Ney probably got a bad reputation because of what he did during the Waterloo Campaign where he was not as his finest (like Napoleon). From what I understood, his command at the Battle of Quatre Bras wasn't exceptionnal: I even think Ney's tactics have nothing to do with the French victory since Wellington retreated when he heard Blücher had been defeated at Ligny.
Then there is Waterloo, where Ney used a very stupid strategy with the Cavalry: he kept charging British infantry while it was in square formation, a very effective formation against Cavalry. Ney himself had six horses killed under him during the battle... There is room for saying Ney was a complete incompetent during that campaign.

On the other hand, his career prior to 1815 was amongst that of the Top Marshalls of Napoleon. He proved himself a very competent officer in several battles. Friedland, as Inquistor Tolkien said, is one of such. I also think Napoleon owes Ney his victory at Eylau as the arrival of Ney's corps at the end of the battle helped Napoleon win this bloody battle.
Also, I don't think Ney was overshadowed by other Marshalls. Sure, he didn't had an exceptionnal destiny like Murat, Bernadotte or Davout but he is one of the five Marshalls of Napoleon I've heard the most about, making him quite famous. Plus, he has kind of a badass nickname: Napoleon called him le Brave des Braves (the Brave amongst the Brave).
 
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