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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
Impressions of a Trip to Saint Helena: 5 - 23 April, 2003, by Jacques Macé
The Emperor Napoleon, born on a small island in the Mediterranean, Corsica, died on a tiny island lost in the middle of the South Atlantic, Saint Helena. He lived five years and five months in Longwood House, exactly the same amount of time he spent at the French military school of Brienne. At Brienne, he created his personality, at Longwood he created his legend. And it is in search of this legend that all those fascinated by Napoleon come to Saint Helena...
TWO HUNDRED YEARS AGO
A decree of 24 Prairial, An XI (13 June, 1803), established French as the official language pour official publications throughout French-controlled territory.
Throughout the whole of the month of Prairial (June), war preparations intensified:
- 25 Prairial, An XI (14 June, 1803), Napoleon ordered General Berthier, War Minister, to assemble 30,000 men in Holland (18,000 French troops and 12,000 Batavian troops);
- also to Berthier, on the same day, he demanded the provision (by 1 Vendémiaire [24 September, 1803]) of 60,000 infantry rifles, 4,000 dragoon rifles, 15,000 spare bayonettes, 2,000 dragoon sabres, 1,000 chasseur sabres, 6,000 flints and 2,000 pairs pistols, for the arsenals in Douai, Saint-Omer, Dunkerque, Calais, Boulogne and other nearby places;
- on the same day, he asked General Dejean, Ministre directeur for the Administration of the War, to come up with a plan for the provision of 1,200,000 rations of biscuits and 3 million rations of eau-de-vie, all for the Camp in Saint-Omer, the building of ovens in region capable of feeding 80,000 hommes, the building of hospitals for the troops in Boulogne, and the provision of 80,000 capes and 120,000 pairs of shoes by 1 Vendémiaire, An XII [24 September, 1803] ;
- on 30 Prairial (19 June, 1803), Napoleon asked Chaptal, Interior Minister, to employ 3,000 navvies to work on the port of Cherbourg.
Information taken from the Correspondance of Napoleon.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week!
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
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THIS WEEK:
Snippets
- Venice - the trial continues...
Press review
- French History, March 2003
- Times Literary Supplement, 13 June, 2003
Recently published
- Napoleon Bonaparte: England's prisoner, the emperor in exile, 1816-21, by Frank Giles
What's on
- Talk: Waterloo
- Talk: Martial Art
- Exhibition: 1803 - A Turning Point in European History: the Collapse of Feudalism and the Dawn of the Bourgeois Era
- Festival: Australian Napoleonic Congress, New South Wales
- Re-enactment: Napoleonic Association British Summer Events
- Re-enactment: Napoleonic Association Continental Summer Events
The monthly titles
- Book of the Month: Britain and the defeat of Napoleon, 1807-1815, by Rory Muir
- This month's picture, Officer of the Chasseurs ŕ Cheval of the Garde Impériale charging, by Géricault
- Article of the Month, 'Impressions of a Trip to Saint Helena: 5 - 23 April, 2003', by Jacques Macé
- In the Collectors Corner, Josephine's wedding basket
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