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EVENT
Publication of Napoléon, l'esclavage et les colonies by Pierre Branda and Thierry Lentz.
In France, 2006 is the first year in which a day has been set aside (10 May) as a slavery memorial day. And this is the day on which historians Pierre Branda and Thierry Lentz have decided to publish their detailed study of Napoleon's colonial policy, and specifically the First Consul's decision to reinstate slavery in 1802. (c) Fayard
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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
The Nobility of the Empire and the Elite groups of the 19th century - a Successful Fusion, by Natalie Petiteau
This article is an account of the establishment of the nobility of the Empire after the tabula rasa of the Revolution. The author argues that the energy expended by the bourgeoisie in attempting to rise socially would seem more to be part of a desire for identification with the aristocracy. The bourgeoisie did not seek the destruction of the nobility but often sought to become a part of it and to see it become the social sphere in which all of the elite groups came together. Set in this longer-term view, the social history of the Empire takes on a new interest and breadth. Never did a government carry out such a vast policy of social restructuring, never did a leader work so vigorously to shape the social body in accordance with his views. The Empire can be seen as in effect a laboratory of social creation, the most sophisticated production of which being the nobility created in 1808, the jewel in the crown of all of the previous institutions. (c) RMN
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PHD VIVA BY MARC LEMAIRE, WINNER OF A FONDATION NAPOLEON RESEARCH GRANT
On 24 March, 2006, at the Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier III, Marc Lemaire, winner of a Fondation Napoléon Research Grant 2004 successfully defended his these entitled "The Crimean War. Chronicle and analysis of a medical disaster (1854-1856)" ; his supervisor was Professeur Jean-Charles Jauffret. The jury qualified the thesis « très honorable » (summa cum laude). The thesis is soon to be published. The Fondation offers Marc its warmest congratulations.
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200 YEARS AGO
14 May, 1806, at Saint-Cloud, Napoleon wrote the following note : «If I had not thought that triumphal arches were a means of encouraging architecture, I would not have had them built since they are futile and have no effect whatsoever. I want to use triumphal arches to encourage sculpture in France for ten years, up to 200,000 francs. Monsieur Denon will provide me with a project. The Interior minister is having another triumphal arch built at the Etoile. We must be in agreement for the description of all the plans. It must be either a Marengo Arch or another Austerlitz arch. I shall have another built at some other point in Paris, this will be an Arch of Peace, and a fourth which is to be an Arch of Religion … » (Correspondance n°10,235)
Napoleon's grand architectural project was never to see the light of day in its entirety. Only the Arc du Carrousel at the Louvre was to be completed in 1808, and France best known ‘Arc de Triomphe' was not completed until 1830.
But also:
Lifestyle: «The promenade hour has changed; no longer is it in the morning that the short-talied horses and small-wheeled carriages head for the Bagatelle park; no longer is it in the morning that young pedestri-ennes beautify the boulvards, the Tuileries gardens or the Champs-Elysées. No, it is at five in the afternoon. And one stays to walk, or watch the others walk, until ten o'clock, and a delightful evening is had, without the need for a ball, a concert or a show.» (Journal du Commerce, 16 May, 1856).
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 371, 12 - 18 May, 2006
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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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THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
PRESS REVIEW
- Review of Robert and Isabelle Tombs' book, Sweet Enemy by Henri Astier
WHAT'S ON
Talks:
John A. Davis, "Naples, Napoleon and Europe", Naples, Italy
Commemorations:
- Wreath laying ceremony, Rivoli Veronese, Italy
- Plancenoit 2006: 8th Napoleonic Bivouac, Plancenoit, Belgium
- Pultusk 2006, Pultusk, Poland
- Jena 1806-2006 - Rendezvous in Thuringia, The "Journées de Thuringe 2006" and the bicentenary of the Battle of Jena/Auerstädt
Exhibitions:
- Napoleon on the Nile: Soldiers, Artists, and the Rediscovery of Egypt, New York, USA
- Géricault, a world of madness, Lyons, France
- Il tempo dell'Imperatore: gli orologi restaurati delle residenze di Napoleoni all'Elba
- Treasures of the Fondation, Mexico 2006, Monterrey, Mexico
- Napoléon an intimate portrait, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
- "Battle in a sittingroom." The Austerlitz wallpaper, Museo Napoleonico, Rome, Italy
- "Beauty celebrating power": Vincenzo Monti in the Napoleonic period, Milan, Italy
- Louis Napoleon: at the court of the first King of Holland, 1806-1810, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Entertainments:
Thursdays at the Museum of Florida History, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
Got a problem with the letter? Try the home page: http://www.napoleon.org<<
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