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EDITORIAL
Only one week to go before the major bicentenary of this year, the Battle of Jena. As usual, we will be bringing you a special web dossier giving you the low down on who?, what? where? and why? In the meantime, there plenty in this week's letter to get your teeth into. Enjoy.
Peter Hicks
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THIS MONTH'S BOOK
SUMMERVILLE C. J., Napoleon's Polish Gamble: Eylau and Friedland 1807
Written in a racy, journalistic style, this chronicle of the Prussian and Polish campaigns of 1806 is informative and very readable. Always very "military history" in style, it depends heavily on memoir accounts, giving a very appealing 'eye-witness' quality to the writing.
(c) Pen and Sword Books
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NAPOLEON AND ME, THIS AUTUMN'S SURPRISE
Paolo Virzi's second film will be one on Napoleon, and it opens in France in two week's time. It's called Napoléon et Moi (Napoleon and Me) and stars the renowned French actor, Daniel Auteuil, and the filmstar Monica Bellucci. Loosely based on Ernesto Ferrero's book « N. », this Franco-Spanish production tells the story of Napoleon's exile on Elba and recounts the relations which grow between the fallen emperor and Martino, whose only dream is to kill «the tyrant»…
The film opens in Paris on 18 October, 2006.
© Napoléon et Moi 2006
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FONDATION NAPOLEON NEWS: THE TREASURES OF THE FONDATION IN WESEL
Following on from their successes in Brazil, Paris and Mexico, the Fondation treasures are to head for Germany in 2007. The Preussen Museum in Wesel (Nordrheinwestphalia) is organising a large exhibition on Napoleon from 11 February to 1 July 2007. The masterpieces from the Fondation's collection are to be exhibited along with several other remarable objects from the collections of the French Musée de l'Armée and the Chateau de Malmaison, not forgetting loans from many German museums.
© Prussen Museum
What's going on at the Fondation? Click here for all the news.
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NAPOLEON.ORG ITINERARIES MENTIONED IN DISPATCHES
The current October edition of the French history magazine L'Histoire, mentions Napoleon.org as a web authority singling out specifically the itinerary: "Parks and gardens: Parisian strolls of the Second Empire". So why not take a web walk yourself down the highways and byways of Napoleon III's “green” capital, from the modest squares to the massive formal parks.
Bois de Boulogne:the Emperor's kiosk © Fondation Napoléon
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200 YEARS AGO
Prussian campaign of 1806:
6 October: Napoleon reached his army in Bamberg and reviewed the Garde impériale in the market place.
7 October: Napoleon wrote to his step-son viceroy of Italy, Eugène «Hostilities began today […] Bring your nine squadrons of cuirassiers to Brescia – pretend that it is for a review - so that, if I need them, you can send them to me via Rocca d'Anfo and Innsbruck.» (Correspondance n°10964)
8 October: the first event of the Prussian campaign took place. Saalberg was taken by troops under Murat and Bernadotte.
9 October: At Schleiz, Murat's cavalry supported by the 3rd division Bernadotte's corps defeated a body of Prussian/Saxons under Tauentzien, with 400 Prussian/Saxons killed or captured.
10 October: French victory at Saalfeld. Lannes' 5e corps (12,000 men) defeated 8,000 Prussians and Saxons, driving them back to the walls of the city. Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, the Prussian commander in chief, was killed by Maréchal-des-logis Guindey of the 10th hussards when, leading the counterattack, he refused to surrender. The Prussian and Saxon force lost about 1,800 men killed, wounded, or captured. 15 Prussian guns and 18 Saxon guns with ammunition wagons and most of the baggage were similarly taken. French losses were approximately 200 men killed or wounded.
Fashion:
« Fashion dictates that a tiara should be composed on one side of a bay leaf in gold with diamonds, and on the other of a gold olive branch with pearls. The comb should be made in the form of a golden weeping willow branch with diamonds and pearls. Women who have neither pearls nor diamonds can procure for themselves similar tiaras and combs merely in gold »
Journal de Paris, 11 October, 1806
150 YEARS AGO
On 8 October, 1856, Théodore Chassériau, a major painter of the Romantic period died in Paris. Taught by Ingres, Chasssériau was soon known for his son talent. The Salon of 1839 was a special triumph for him with the presentation of his masterpiece, Suzanne au bain.
For further information on Chassériau, click here.
Science:
In 1856, the chemistry specialist, Henri Sainte-Claire Deville (1818-1881), professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, published a paper on aluminium. In it he predicted the mass utilisation of this versatile metal because it was such a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Deville explained that he had established the conductibility of the metal by comparing the relative thicknesses of an aluminium strip and a harpsichord string which offered the same electrical resistance. And it was under his supervision in the factories at Javel, Nanterre et Salindres that aluminium was first produced on an industrial scale.
Source: Paquot (Catherine), Henri Sainte-Claire Deville, chimie, recherche et industrie, Paris, Vuibert, Institut pour l'histoire de l'aluminium, 2005.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 385, 6 - 12 October, 2006
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 in the MAGAZINE
Web sites
- Revolutionary Players, Industrial revolution in Midlands
Go to the Napoleonic Directory and select History in the website scroll bar menu
- Storia di Venezia (History of Venice)
Go to the Napoleonic Directory and select History in the website scroll bar menu
WHAT'S ON
Conferences
- Luigi Emanuele Corvetto (1756-1821), financier, lawyer and politician
Genoa–Imperia, Italy
Re-enactments
The Battle of Jena, Jena, Germany
Commemorations
- Historical Bivouac 1806, Jena, Germany
Exhibitions
- 100 years ago - Life in a Swiss château from 1856-1906, Arenenberg, Switzerland - closing soon!
- Dagoty in Paris - the Empress Josephine's porcelain manufactory, Reuil-Malmaison, France
- Napoleon III and Europe - 1856, Paris, France
- Napoleon, an intimate portrait, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
- Portraits publics, portraits privés 1770-1830, Grand Palais, Paris, France
- Louis Napoleon: at the court of the first King of Holland, 1806-1810, Apeldoorn, Netherlands
Got a problem with the letter? Try the home page: http://www.napoleon.org
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