Close-ups : 10
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Close-upA close-up on: the Code PénalThe Code Pénal, one text of the larger codification movement that took place under Napoleon, was introduced in 1810 to replace the numerous laws adopted during the Revolution’s ten-year period. Defining crimes and their respective punishments, it was the text intended to safeguard a French…
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Close-upA close-up on: the Suez CanalOn 16 November, 1869, ten years after work began, the Suez Canal was inaugurated. This special close-up traces its roots, the construction of the canal and the various difficulties that Ferdinand de Lesseps, the driving force behind the project, encountered.
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Close-upA close-up on: the Great Sanhedrin: Jews during the EmpireNapoleon took but little interest in the Jews when he came to power. It was only in 1806 that, when faced with mounting hostility to the Jews in France, Napoleon turned to the problem of Jewish integration in the Empire.
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Close-upA close-up on: the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, 12 July, 1806After having sketched out his ideas regarding France and German lands in a letter to Talleyrand (Minister of Foreign Affairs) dated October 1805, Napoleon went further in the spring of 1806, creating a confederation of small western German states grouped around the three “principal” allies,…
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Close-upA close-up on: the "Continental system or Blockade"On 21 November, 1806, Napoleon decreed, from his Palace in Berlin, a blockade of the British Isles and forbade all British goods and commerce entering the continent. This came to be known as the ‘continental’ blockade since de facto most of the European continent was…
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Close-upA close-up on: 1803: the purchase of Louisiana by the US from FranceDiscovered by the Spanish in the 16th century, Louisiana was explored a century later by the Frenchman, Robert Cavalier de la Salle (1643-1682). He gave this land to the French king as a present. In 1699, Pierre Le Moyne de Bienville (1680-1768) took possession of…
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Close-upA close-up on: the promulgation of the French Code Civil, 21 March 1804Comprising 36 laws and 2,281 articles, arranged in three parts consecrated to people, goods and property, written in a clear and concise style so as to avoid any ambiguity, the Code civil was “a body of laws designed to direct and fix social, familial and commercial…
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Close-upThe proclamation of Empire, 18 May 1804Contrary to a widely held belief, it was not the coronation (Sacre) of 2 December, 1804, which “created” the Napoleonic Empire but rather a Sénatus-consulte adopted by the Sénat during its meeting of 18 May, 1804. The ensemble of documents presented on Napoleonica® les archives…
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Close-upA close-up on: the coronation of Napoleon I (otherwise known as the “Sacre”)On 2 December, 1804, the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris was the stage on which the coronation of Napoleon I was played out, in the presence of Pope Pius VII. The new emperor broke with tradition by crowning himself and pronouncing an oath guaranteeing the…
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Close-upA close-up on: Napoleon crowned king of Italy, 26 May 1805 in MilanIt was in Milan, on 26 May 1805, that Napoleon was crowned King of Italy.