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NAPOLÉON EST DE RETOUR!
This week we feel tempted to belt out the refrain to the triumphal hymn Etienne-Nicolas Méhul composed for the marriage of Napoleon and Marie-Louise (the very one that was performed at the concert at Les Invalides in 2010). Yes, Napoleon(.org) is back, and so is your newsletter! Last week saw the unfortunate passing of one of napoleon.org's long-serving grognards (known as "hard-drive"), an event that touched everyone and everything here at the foundation. But we have pulled ourselves together, closed ranks, and taken up the challenge. You may still experience one or two technical hiccups during your browsing, but rest assured that the team is hard at work to return everything to full working order. We thank you for your patience and understanding during this short hiatus.
At last we can announce in full the release of volume 12 of the General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte, a volume dedicated to the Russian campaign of 1812. 64% of the letters published in this release did not appear in the Second Empire edition. The Russian campaign - which combined military operations and human and material loss on a gigantic scale - was to prove a turning point in European history, in terms of both the geopolitical balance of power and the national destinies of the participating nations. These two considerations formed the crux of the recent international conference "1812-la campagne de Russie. Regards croisés sur une guerre européenne", which took place in Paris on 4 and 5 April, and which was attended by nearly four-hundred people. A report on the event will appear shortly in Napoleonica. La Revue, and the conference proceedings will be published by Editions Perrin towards the end of the year.
We are delighted to be back with you, and we hope you enjoy number 623 of the napoleon.org newsletter.
The napoleon.org team
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GENERAL CORRESPONDENCE OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTE
Volume 12 out now!
Volume twelve of the General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte covers the single tragic year of 1812. As Napoleon I crossed into Russia territory in June 1812, no-one envisaged anything but success for the Russian campaign. Yet as they went deeper into Russia, Napoleon and his multinational but ultimately divided army found their campaign bogged down by the Russian tactics and resolve. In December, the once imperious Grande Armée finally returned home, decimated and with its morale in ruins. The defeat, a turning point in European history, would send shockwaves across the continent.
As a special bonus to celebrate the release of volume 12, the first 150 individuals to send their postal address to operation1812@napoleon.org will receive a limited-edition offprint of François Houdecek's article "La Grande Armée de 1812 - Organisation à l'entrée en campagne". The study is in French.
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Preface to volume 12, by Marie-Pierre Rey
In her preface to volume 12, Marie-Pierre Rey, professor of Russian and Soviet History at the Sorbonne, explores some of the key issues raised by Napoleon's correspondence during the year of 1812, which unsurprisingly is dominated by the Russian campaign. The author discusses three themes that can be analysed using the some two and a half thousand letters assembled for this collection: campaign preparations, the nature of the Grande Armée and the difficulties it faced during the conflict, and Napoleon's psychological state in the face of his ordeals.
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Project update, by François Houdecek
A mere five months have passed since the release of volume 8 of the General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte, which appeared in November 2011. This time around, and in a slight departure from standard practice, the Fondation Napoléon and Fayard decided to leap forward in time and release the volume dedicated to 1812 'out of sync', in order to coincide with the bicentenary events taking place this year. As you will see from the content of this week's letter, the French emperor is as busy as ever, and the Russian campaign - an event that both countries had been edging towards arguably since mid-1810 - unsurprisingly dominates proceedings.
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OBJET D'ART OF THE MONTH
"Premier Consul" Dresscoat
On Napoleon Bonaparte's return to France, victorious after the battle of Marengo (14 June, 1800), he stopped over in Lyon on 28 and 29 June. Whilst there, the town council presented him with this "Premier Consul" dresscoat, made from plain, coral-red silk velvet, and embroidered in silver and gold with olive-leaf motifs. The coat, in the "à la française" style, is similar to those worn at the French court under Louis XVI's reign. Those with an iPad can get a closer look at the coat without even having to visit Malmaison (where it is held), simply by downloading the free app, "La collection de costumes". It is also available on Android devices (both links are external and in French).
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WHAT'S ON
Lecture and Book Signing: "Napoleon and Russia" with Dominic Lieven, Washington, D.C., USA
As part of the series of Russia 1812 events being organised by Hillwood Estate in Washington, DC, Dominic Lieven, whose last work, Russia Against Napoleon, received the Fondation Napoléon's history prize in 2010, will be giving a lecture on the Russian invasion and signing copies of the book. The event takes place on 24 April, at the Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens.
200 YEARS AGO
An average day...
On 25 April 1812, Napoleon in Saint-Cloud (outside Paris) wrote or dictated twenty-two letters - an average day, it would appear! One was to Alexander I - of pained and abused friendliness, despite the ultimatum which he had received from the tsar on 14 April (to which Napoleon pointedly does not refer). Was this an attempt to dampen Alexander's ardour for a fight and to postpone hostilities until the beginning of June? The emperor noted to Berthier in another letter written that day (letter n° 30,500) "no major operation must be forced upon us before the first days of June". Ten were to the Major General of the Grande Armée, Berthier (in Paris), three of which were single-line missives regarding troop movements in Poland and Spain. The longer letters to Berthier refer to troop movements in East Prussia, Prussia, notably regarding control of the important citadels of Stettin, Danzig, Kolberg, Glogau and Spandau. In some there is particular concern for the interior tranquillity of Prussia - nothing "contrary to French interests" should be published in Prussian newspapers (Letter n° 30,501). There are three letters to War Minister Clarke (in whose Parisian mansion volume XII of the correspondence was launched on Tuesday last week - take a look at our Facebook page for photos from the event). The first contains detailed instructions regarding the defence of the Netherlands - throughout 1811 and 1812 Napoleon was to remain specially attentive to the Low Countries as a result of the British attempt on Walcheren in 1809 (massive failure though that was). Of the other two, one contain instructions regarding the posting of conscripts and the other refers to a decree regulating fishing off the Dutch coast. The letter to the emperor's ADC Durosnel deals with reports on the state of cavalry harnesses throughout the cavalry of the Grande Armée. The following one to Lacuée (Minister Director of War Admin) asked hard questions regarding a new design of heavy cavalry helmet which was not popular with the troops (not sufficiently protective, not good looking, costly...). The second to Lacuée deals with the key issue of horses for the coming campaign (see bulletin n° 589). The remaining four letters known for that day were sent to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hugues Maret. To keep Prussia sweet during the campaign, Napoleon requests that the French plenipotentiary in Berlin, Antoine de Saint-Marsan, should receive more money so as to be able to entertain more. He asks Maret to talk up the French army to the Prussian ambassador in Paris. And the final letter asks Maret to establish consuls throughout East Prussia and the Baltic coast. All in an imperial day's work...
150 YEARS AGO
Australia: mythical land of milk and honey
Readers of the Paris Moniteur Universel for 21 and 22 April 1862 were regaled (via The London Times) with details concerning the arrival of The Yorkshire. This 1,056-ton vessel had left Melbourne (New South Wales, Australia) on 23 January and arrived in Plymouth three months later bearing a precious cargo: 15,000 ounces of gold dust worth £61,500 (1,547,500 Fr. - equivalent today to £6 million) and 1,557 ballots of wool. The romance of this distant land with its fabled wealth (Gold was first officially discovered in NSW in the 1820s) was enhanced by the final lines of the report: "The Yorkshire encountered many icebergs in the Pacific Ocean, some enormous". Luckily these days travel is not so dangerous. The Fondation Napoléon's collection will be avoiding the icebergs when it takes the opposite journey to The Yorkshire at the beginning of next month, since it will be going by plane!
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 623, 20 - 26 APRIL 2012
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© This Napoleon.org weekly bulletin is published by the Fondation Napoléon. Reproduction or all or part of this bulletin is forbidden, without prior agreement of the Fondation Napoléon.
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OPERATION ST HELENA
The Fondation Napoléon and the Souvenir Napoléonien, in association with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, have announced an international fund-raising campaign to restore and save Napoleon I's residence on the island of St Helena. All the details regarding the campaign as well as donation forms and advice for donating from outside France, can be found on napoleon.org.
FONDATION NAPOLEON ON THE WEB
Each week we offer you a "mystery link" to somewhere on napoleon.org. Click on the link to discover a part of the website you might not have visited before...
MAGAZINE
Just published
- Correspondance générale de Napoléon Bonaparte : Tome 12 - La campagne de Russie 1812 (in French), edited by Thierry Lentz
Press review
- NAM's "Enemy Commanders": the results are in...
- The New York Times: "'Cursed Rock' of Napoleon's Exile"
- Scotland's DNA: Scottish actor's "family link" with Napoleon Bonaparte
Seen on the web (external links)
- "La collection de costumes" (iPad)
- "La collection de costumes" (Android devices)
EVENTS
On now and coming up
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
Exhibitions
- "The War of 1812 in print", Various cities, Russian Federation [11/04/2012 - 15/08/2012]
Full details
Talks
- Lecture and Book Signing: "Napoleon and Russia" with Dominic Lieven, Washington, DC, USA [24/04/2012 - 24/04/2012]
Full details
- "The Nursing Practice of Mary Seacole: Influences, Case Studies and the Opinion of Others", London, UK [30/04/2012]
Full details
NAPOLEON.ORG
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