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This week...
there's some exciting news about a distinguished member of the Fondation. We also bring you a new object of the month, an Hermès scarf paying homage to the First Empire. Following in a sartorial vein, on the right hand side, you'll find details of an exhibition of military handkerchiefs, demonstrating uses far beyond that of blowing your nose. This month we take a closer look at the latter part of the Russian campaign, with Peter Hick's article ‘Beyond Smolensk', with detailed biographies of the key figures, and a timeline detailing how events unfolded. In '200 years ago', we have an in depth look at the battle of Maloyaroslavets, a decisive moment in the French defeat. Parallel to this, we also have a look at Wellington's retreat on the peninsula. '150 years ago' centres on a flurry of activity in the Moniteur over the abdication of Otto I of Greece and its implications for France.
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News from the Fondation...
A few days before decisions concerning the prizes and scholarships of the Fondation Napoléon, Mr Claude Lachnitt, honorary administrator and general secretary of the Fondation, was named chevalier des Arts et Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in recognition of a long career.
We wish him our warmest congratulations.
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Object of the Month
Napoleon Scarf by Hermès
The Napoléon scarf, the first edition of which appeared in 1963, was designed by Philippe Ledoux, and is an intriguing combination of imperial symbolism and Napoleonic legend. Mounted on a background of golden bees, the design brings together all of the typical elements: two French flags and their imperial eagles, besides which hang the First Consul dresscoat (left) and Napoleon's chasseurs à cheval uniform (right). Further down the design, the First Consul and Coronation swords can be seen, as well as the Grand Collier of the Légion d'honneur, two sabres from the Egyptian campaign and, most importantly, the mythical hat. Five lockets, inspired by some of the most famous paintings depicting the period, evoke the great moments of the Emperor's life.
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200 Years Ago...
French divisions (under Delzons) and Russian forces (under Kutusov) met and fought at Maloyaroslavets on 24 October, 1812. Although the French technically won the bitter engagement, they nevertheless pulled back away from the battlefield, returning north towards the old road they had used for their advance on Moscow. In terms of foraging for the horses, this was a disastrous decision since not only had the road been ravaged by the French advance, it had also been devastated by the Russian scorched earth policy. The action was in the end to set off a catastrophic chain of events, the first of which being a morale shattering tramp across the battlefield of Borodino still strewn with corpses of the battle only two months previously. General Joseph Puniet de Montfort in his memoirs (recently republished by our own François Houdecek and Michel Roucaud, see below) recalled the macabre and desolate sight “two leagues from Mozhaysk [they had set out from that town on 28 October] ... where the unburied bodies of hundreds of soldiers and horse carcasses slain in the battle still lay.“ De Montfort (referring to Eugène Labaume's The Story of the Russian Campaign) also reported the story (noting that he had heard such anecdotes himself in Moscow at the time) that a soldier had survived inside the carcass of a horse until that time. However, after seeing the battlefield, De Montfort thought that it was probably a “friend of a friend story”; for him survival in such a way for seven weeks would have been nigh on impossible. Unfortunately for the French forces, it was only the first in a series of misfortunes...
Meanwhile in Spain, Wellington was also making his own retreat after failing to lay siege to the town of Burgos on 21 October, 1812, and in the face of growing concentrations of enemy forces. Indeed having concentrated his efforts on Burgos, he had effectively forgone his chance of thwarting Soult and Joseph's advance on Madrid. And once the French had captured the bridge at Duero, retreat was his only course of action. Between 25-29 October, Wellington and Souham's forces were forced into a series of rear-guard actions by pursuing French forces, collectively called the battle of Tordesillas. In the end, this British retreat was to be worse and more exacting than the famous flight to La Coruna in 1809 which had led to British forces abandoning the Peninsula. As a result, Joseph was able to re-take the Spanish capital, prompting Allied gloom that the efforts on the peninsula had been in vain.
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150 Years Ago...
On 1 November, 1862 the king of Greece, Otto I who had left for exile on the sloop Scylla, arrived in Munich following a coup d'état which had taken place a couple of days earlier. During the night of 23 October, riots took place in the towns of Vanitza, Missolonghi, Antirion before reaching Athens. Le Moniteur echoed this almost immediately following the telegrams which arrived from correspondents on the scene. France also learned that a provisional government, presided over by D Voulgaris, seconded by C Kanaris and B Rouphos had been put in place immediately. Its first measures included declaring the abdication of Otto I, to effect the instatement of a true constitutional government more respectful of the national dignity (Otto was Bavarian, of the mighty Wittelsbach family, and had never tried to truly understand the depths of the civilisation over which he reigned) and to respect the laws. The provisional government tried to reassure the Greece's protective powers.
Because France was one of the protective powers, as well as England and Russia, Napoleon III followed the Greek revolution with interest. Like the Russian and British sovereigns, he was worried about the rebirth of Hellenist nationalist sentiment, known as the Megali Idea for fear that this movement would lead to conflict with the Ottoman empire. The reluctance and disagreements of the three countries led to several months equivocation regarding the choice of the new king ‘elect'. Finally, the young William of Denmark was proclaimed king of Greece under the name George I on 6 June, 1863.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Andrew Miles
Historians and web editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 638, 26 OCTOBER - 1 NOVEMBER 2012
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MAGAZINE
Just published
-Commerce and its discontents in eighteenth century political thought, by Anoush Fraser Terjanian
Read more here
Seen on the web (external links)
- The Institute of Hsitorical Research: Biography and its importance to history. Read more here.
- Listen online: BBC Radio 4's Making History discusses the importance of historical reenactment.
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.
Exhibition
-"With rifle and pack": Military Handkerchiefs at Musée de l'Armée, Paris.
Read more here.
NAPOLEON.ORG
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