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EDITORIAL
Grognards?
More than 25,000 (paying) spectators came to watch the splendid re-enactment of Austerlitz performed on 3 December, 2005, on the battlefield at the foot of the famous Santon hill. The enthusiasm of the crowd and the 3,500 re-enactors warmed the heart, luckily for us, given that on the day temperature never got much above zero. The contrast with the timidity of the French authorities' attitude towards the bicentenary commemoration was striking. But it must be said that there were on that plain not only several thousand French people but also thousands of other Europeans, neither of which were either ashamed or afraid of their common roots. Grognards are not always what you think they might be.
Thierry Lentz
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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
The Prussians and the Battle of Austerlitz, by Eric Lerdrup Bourgois
Prussia's participation in the Third Coalition is often disregarded – and it is generally believed that active Prussian participation in the war not was imminent. But the Prussian decision-makers, particularly in the King's inner circle became, late 1805, determined to throw Prussia into the war against France. Officially, Berlin sought to build a diplomatic bridge between the belligerent parties – Count Haugwitz, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs, was sent on a diplomatic mission to Napoleon – but Prussia mobilised simultaneously in great haste – and Prussian units sought to coordinate movements with its allies. It was therefore only a question of time before Prussia would participate actively in the war against France. Prussia's change from neutral to de facto belligerent, created a hectic atmosphere in Berlin. The Danish Legation in Berlin, which followed developments closely, gives an interesting insight into Prussian participation in the Third Coalition – including the reactions to the collapse of the coalition after the Battle of Austerlitz.
Engraving of Prussian Foreign Minister, Karl August von Hardenberg (c) Fondation Napoléon
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200 YEARS AGO
On 20 Frimaire, An XIV (11 December, 1805) Napoleon at Brünn, Napoleon wrote to the Archbishop of Paris:
"My Cousin, we [the Royal 'we', here and throughout this letter, ed.] have taken forty-five standards from the enemy on the anniversary day of my coronation, the day on which the Holy Father, his Cardinals and all the clergy in France prayed in the sanctuary of Notre-Dame for the prosperity of my reign. We have decided to deposit the said standards in the church of Notre-Dame, the metropolitan cathedral of our fine town of Paris. We have as a result commanded that they be taken to you, to be looked after by your metropolitan chapter. It is our intention that, every year, on this very day a solemn office be celebrated in the metropolitan cathedral, in memory of the brave soldiers who died for their fatherland on that great day; this office is to be followed by thanksgivings for the victory which it pleased the God of armies to grant us."
On 24 Frimaire, An XIV (15 December, 1805), a report to the Police prefecture noted that: "the 30th bulletin of the Grande-Armée, containing details of the Battle of Austerlitz, and the H.M. the emperor and king's proclamations to his army were read this evening at all the shows in Paris; the enthusiasm and happiness was extreme and cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" filled the air."
For the French text of the famous 30th Bulletin, click here.
However, two days earlier, on 22 Frimaire (13 December), on hearing that peace had been trumpeted in Paris, the angry emperor wrote several letters of complaint. This one here was to Fouché: "We are driving public opinion in the wrong direction by talking so much of peace. Peace preliminaries are not peace accords. Get another lot of conscripts marching and keep up the process of reinforcing the Grande Armée. It is completely ridiculous to have given a one hundred gun salute for the two unfortunate plenipotentiaries. It is by flattering people that you debase them."
To his brother Joseph, he also wrote: "My brother, there is absolutely no point in making such a song and dance announcing the sending of plenipotentiaries and giving cannon salutes. All this will do is dampen national spirit and give foreigners the wrong vision of our internal situation. It is not by crying "Peace!" that you get it. I did not want to put this in a bulletin; there was even less reason for it to have been announced in the theatres. Peace is a word which has no meaning; what we need is a glorious peace. I cannot imagine anything more impolitic or faulty that what has occurred in Paris on this occasion."
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
Interested in the work of the Fondation Napoléon? Why not participate, either generally or in a specific project, by making a donation.
© 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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THIS WEEK
LIBRARY INFORMATION
Exceptionally, on Wednesday 14 December, 2005, the Bibliothèque M. Lapeyre-Fondation Napoléon will be open from 11am to 3-30pm.
During the Christmas Break, the library will be closed from 26 to 30 December, 2005.
Re-opening, Monday 2 January, 2006 with the usual hours.
For further information, click here.
AUSTERLITZ...
As if you were there!
Not only a photographic report on the day but also more than two hours of video.
JOURNAL NEWS
- Apollo Magazine, October 2005
WHAT'S ON
- Festival: Sixth Marie-Louise Week, Parma, Italy
- Exhibition: "Battle in a sittingroom." The Austerlitz wallpaper, Rome, Italy
- Exhibition: In the Service of Napoleon. The Dutch in time of War 1792-1815, Delft, Netherlands
- Exhibition: Napoleon on Campaign, the emperor's bivouac, at the Arc de triomphe de l'Etoile, Paris, France
- Exhibition: Napoleon: An intimate portrait, Washington, USA
- Exhibition: Napoleone e il Piemonte. Capolavori ritrovati, Alba, Italy
- Exhibition: Napoleon: Art and Empire in the age of Trafalgar, Barnard Castle, UK
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