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THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN n° 702, 21-27 FEBRUARY, 2014
DIPLOMACY AND FOREIGN POLICY
This week's agenda takes us on both sides of the Atlantic with one same theme: diplomacy. The Fondation Napoléon panel in the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era will be on “Diplomacy in the Napoleonic Period” (in Oxford, Mississippi), and the Fondation Napoléon's own two-day symposium in March will focus in great depth on “Diplomats and Diplomacy under Napoleon”. In these times of bicentenaries and commemorations, it is interesting to question the way international relations were pursued at the time, in particular the thorny relationship of diplomacy and foreign policy. Indeed, even internal issues can taken on international consequences, such as in the case where Canada's decision to name new warships after Canadian victories over the US during the War of 1812 which has caused dismay in America...
If contemporary issues are problematic, how much more complex (and important) is it then to examine, from our modern viewpoints, the international relations which made the world what it is now? You may get some answers in Oxford Mississippi this weekend, or else book your tickets now for Paris on 25-26 March!
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TEXT OF THE MONTH > The Sighs of St Helena, A Collection of Poems, by Bidhu Bhusana Nanda
“War is anachronism / Some day, victories will be won / Without cannon and without bayonets”. This phrase by Napoleon inspired the Indian poet Bidhu Bhusana Nanda to write this series of poems. Identifying himself with Napoleon, and expanding upon another of Napoleon's quotes: “I wish I could be my own posterity and read what such a poet as Corneille would make me feel, do, and say”, Bidhu Bhusana Nanda imagines what the French Emperor's feelings and recollections might have been towards the end of his life on St Helena.
> Our French article of the month is "La difficile réinsertion d'un ancien grenadier de la Grande Armée" by Maurice Bernard-Catinat.
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CONSORTIUM ON REVOLUTIONARY EUROPE
This weekend, from 20 to 22 February, Oxford (Mississippi) one hundred or so historians from all over the US and Europe are coming together for the annual Consortium on Revolutionary Europe, to discuss the history of our period. The Fondation Napoléon panel, featuring papers by Thierry Lentz, Peter Hicks and Alexander Mikaberidze, is on the subject of diplomacy in the Napoleonic period. At the same time, the Masséna Society, a society which encourages the study of the military history of our period, will be holding its annual dinner and meeting.
FONDATION NAPOLÉON SYMPOSIUM
You can still sign in for the Fondation Napoléon Symposium in Paris on 25 and 26 March, 2014. This year's theme is "Diplomats and Diplomacy under Napoleon" (in French).
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EXTENSION FOR THE EXHIBITION "NAPOLEON, HIS LIFE, HIS LEGEND"
We are delighted to announce that this exhibition, taking place at the Independence Palace in Astana, Kazakhstan, and which was due to end on 23 February, is to be prolonged until 9 March as a result of its success. Have a look at the photo album on our Facebook page to catch a glimpse of this extraordinary event!
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THE GEORGIAN PERIOD BACK ON THE AGENDA
To accompany Peter Hicks' talk in the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era on "Georgian British Diplomats and Diplomacy", we recommend these two articles on the Georgians from the latest issue of History Today:
- "Georgian John Bull" in History Today Vol. 64 Issue 1, 2014
- "The Lure of the Georgian Age", History Today, Vol. 64, Issue 1, 2014
And don't forget the exhibition "Georgians revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain" at the British Library in London (UK), until 11 March!
WAR OF 1812
On the other side of the Pond...
TALK > The War of 1812 through the lens of Portraiture and Images [23/02/2014] at the College of Southern Maryland (USA)
EXHIBITION > 1812 Perspectives from Southwestern Ontario [18/02/2014 - 25/04/2014] at the Fanshawe Pioneer Village, London, Ontario (Canada)
REENACTMENT > Battle of Ogdensburg reenactment [22/02/2014 - 23/02/2014] in Ogdensburg, NY (USA), with American and Canadian reenactors.
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ANNIVERSARIES >
21 February, 1824 > Death of Eugène de Beauharnais
Today, Friday 21 February is the anniversary of the death of Eugène de Beauharnais. Josephine's son was one of Napoleon's most devoted and talented followers. Read his biography (in English), or have a look at this mini-dossier (in French) with a timeline, images and a bibliography.
22 February, 1810 > The French 'Code Pénal' was applied for the first time
The Code Pénal, one text of the larger movement of codification that took place under Napoleon, was introduced in 1810 as a replacement for the laws adopted during the Revolution's ten-year period. It took nearly ten years of discussion before the text would be ready for promulgation, which took place on 22 February, 1810. The code remained in place in France until 1 March, 1994, when it was replaced by the new Code Pénal.
200 YEARS AGO > PARADE OF PRISONERS AND ENEMY FLAGS IN PARIS
Whilst the Emperor was campaigning in the region of Champagne in order to save the capital from capture, he was also thinking how to keep the morale of the people up and how to ensure the continued support of the population of Paris. This is why a parade of Russian prisoners took place on the Boulevard Saint-Martin in Paris after the victory at Montmirail, on 17 February. On the day after the victory in Montereau, on 19 February, 1814, Napoleon wrote a letter to the French Ministry of War, Clarke, suggesting there should be another parade of the same type: “It seems appropriate to me there should be a review of the national guard before a parade of flags and with military music. You should say that these flags were taken at the Battles of Montmirail, Vauchamps and Montereau.” On 27 February, when this second parade took place, Troyes had been recaptured from the Austrians three days previously.
150 YEARS AGO > 17 February, 1864: the ‘Manifeste des Soixante'
The repression of the revolt of 1848 had disarmed the French working-class for a long time. By the 1860s, the Second Empire was slowly evolving from authoritarianism towards a certain liberalism. In 1862, Napoleon III authorised a delegation of French workers to go to the Great Exhibition in London, where they met and discovered the better-organized English trade-unions. Henri Tolain, a bronze engraver, was part of this delegation. As a reader of Proudhon, Tolain believed that the representation and participation of the working class in politics would put an end to their economic problems. On 17 February, 1864, taking advantage of a partial election, Tolain published in an opposition newspaper, L'Opinion nationale, a Manifesto signed by sixty other workers; for Tolain, this was his political credo. It proposed the return of the working class to the political, social and parliamentary debate and stated their claims. According to this Manifesto, national representation of the working class was inextricably linked to its social condition: in other words, the working class was too crushed by capital to take any active part in the democracy. Tolain was also opposed to child labour and to the work of women, which he thought took them away from their homes. The Manifeste des Soixante presented moderate and progressive socialist (but not communist) ideas, demanding the right to strike and for the abolition of the concept whereby the master's word was superior to that of the worker's. The Manifeste also demanded compulsory and free education for all and the setting up of savings and loans systems for workers, enabling them to emancipate themselves from the factory/business owners. This Manifesto was to be one of the founding texts for the International Workers' Association or “First Internationale”, created towards the end of 1864.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Lucie Louvrier
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 702, 21-27 FEBRUARY, 2014
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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 the prolongation of its 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.
You can still donate online to the project via the Friends of the Fondation de France in the US here.
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MAGAZINE
JUST PUBLISHED
- PROCHASKA Frank, The Memoirs of Walter Bagehot, Yale: Yale University Press, 2014
- WATSON Samuel J., Jackson's Sword, The Army Officer Corps on the American Frontier, 1810–1821, Lawrence: Kansas University Press, 2012
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
- Napoleon: His Life, His Legend, in Astana, Kazakhstan [until 09/03/2014]
- Napoléon au bivouac in Ajaccio, Corsica [until 12/05/2014]
- Georgians Revealed: Life, Style and the Making of Modern Britain in London (UK) [until 11/03/2014]
PRESS REVIEW
- Review by Andrew Roberts of Phantom of the Guillotine by Elizabeth Sparrow in History Today, vol. 64 Issue 1, 2014
- Review by Ruth Dudley Edwards of The Memoirs of Walter Bagehot by Frank Prochaska in History Today, Vol.64, Issue 1, 2014
- "Trousers for a Button: An Island Sacrifice", History Today, Vol. 64, Issue 1, 2014
- "British History Online" in History Today, Vol. 64, Issue 1, 2014
SEEN ON THE WEB
- Storms reveal Napoleonic sea defences on beach in Exmouth, UK
- Edinburgh's Disgrace: a monument to the memory of the fallen in the Napoleonic Wars which was never completed
- Norway celebrates the Bicentenary of its Constitution
- "Putting human face on War of 1812": a War of 1812 exhibition: Perspectives from Southwestern Ontario (Canada)
- War of 1812 (USA) - Genesee Community College program seeks to highlight an overshadowed war
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