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EDITORIAL
The Napoleon "star" syndrome
It was an excellent day: both organisationally and logistically, with thousands (two?) of re-enactors from all over Europe, not to mention 20,000 spectators. The re-enactment of the battle of Jena, 14 October, was a great moment.
But I do have one grumble.
Since last year, the "role" of Napoleon in the grand re-enactments had been played by an American citizen who has the double advantage, it must be said, of looking passably like the emperor and being a good actor. He weaves in and out of the ranks with conviction (he is a good horseman), everywhere greeted with "Vive l'Empereur!"s. He looks good; my young son would say: "he's the real deal".
The problem is that he "grabs" all the attention: people come to see "Napoléon", they wait for him, they demand him... and nobody pays any attention to the rest, the thing that is in fact the point of the event. Our man fills up the television screens, replies to invitations to dinner, lunch and even breakfast. He behaves like an emperor, repeating certain memorised expressions, not always in perfect French, making the whole thing anecdotal, and thus counter to the spirit of the re-enactment. Suffice to say, this Napoleon is a "star" who, whilst he knows his business, steals too much of the show.
He is close to taking away the interest of the re-enactment and even becoming "too much". For example, during one of the official ceremonies organised by the town of Jena, he burst onto the stage - some of his entourage bumping into the Mayor of Jena - demanding a minute's silence and making a speech, accompanied of course by frequent Vive la France!s ... an exclamation slightly out of place given the solemn context of a ceremony supposed to celebrate a love of peace and the return of Franco-German friendship after centuries of conflict. All this, without mentioning the celebrated horsewoman who follows this "Napoleon" around everywhere, even on the battlefield! I don't think Napoleon (the real one, that is) was ever accompanied by an “amazon” on his battlefields. It looks like the "Napoleon syndrome" which hit the French actor Albert Dieudonné is stalking this one here.
But to finish on a more positive note, I would like to underline how convincing and instructive this re-enactment was. The manoeuvres were well organised, and the excellent commentary was given in three languages (something which did not happen at Austerlitz).
When it's done like this, historical re-enactment has a real interest: in addition to allowing a large number of enthusiasts a great day out, you can see, and often learn, a great deal.
An excellent, Napoleonic, week to you all.
Thierry Lentz
Director of the Fondation Napoléon
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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
Why did the battle of Jena take place? by Peter Hicks
Whilst traditional histories make the Battle of Jena the result of a Fourth Coalition against France, the history of the period proves more complicated… Peter Hicks here provides us with a view of the geopolitical situation in the key year of 1806.
Napoleon at the Battle of Jena © Stadtmuseum Jena
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SPECIAL BICENTENARY DOSSIER: THE PRUSSIAN CAMPAIGN AND THE TWIN BATTLES OF JENA AND AUERSTEDT, OCTOBER 1806
After Napoleon's victory over the combined armies of Russia and Austria at Austerlitz, the face of Europe changed. The treaty of peace at Pressburg (26 December, 1805) and the ceding of Hanover to Prussia seemed to prefigure warmer relations between France and Prussia. But the failure of negociations (May 1806) and the Prussian ultimatum on the 26th of August 1806 led to the "blitzkrieg" which resulted in the annihilation of the Prussian army.
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EXHIBITION: AT THE COURT OF THE FIRST KING OF HOLLAND, 1806-1810
This beautiful exhibition held at the Het Loo (Netherlands), which opened on 14 October on the bicentenary of the accession to the Dutch throne of Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon's brother and father of the future Napoléon III, presents many portraits, clocks and precious objects from diverse important European museums, notably the Rijksmuseum, the Château de Fontainebleau. The Fondation Napoléon has also provided loans, including Hortense's sewing box and boxes bearing Louis's portrait, etc. Box with Louis Bonaparte's cypher © Fondation Napoléon – P. Maurin-Berthier
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200 YEARS AGO
The Prussian Campaign of 1806 continues
On 24 October, Potsdam capitulated, Spandau following suite the next day before Lannes (Potsdam and Spandau being 20 and 10 miles respectively from Berlin on the western side). Lasalle and Grouchy took Zehdenick (35 miles due north of Berlin) on 26 October…
For more on the Prussian Campaign, see the timeline in our Jena bicentenary dossier.
Caricature
As an accompaniment to French troop successes in Prussia (Schleiz, Saalfeld), announced in the 3rd Bulletin de la Grande Armée, published on 21 October in the Moniteur Universel, a caricature on the theme was published in Paris. It showed a French soldier, sabre unsheathed bearing the inscription; «Malheur à qui s'y frotte!» (Woe to those who have a brush with this!), holding a Prussian soldier by the head…
(Bulletin du Ministère de la police générale, 24 October, 1806)
Theatre
The Journal de Paris dated 25 October, 1806, announced that «Mademoiselle George is to retire.» But as often with stars of the stage, this was only to be a "first" retirement….
See here for more on Mademoiselle George.
150 YEARS AGO
Imperial court
On 20 October, 1856, emperor Napleon III, the empress Eugénie with the 7-month-old Prince impérial set off for Compiègne (Moniteur Universel, 22 October, 1856).
This journey was the first of what were to become frequent Court visits to the imperial residences after two relatively sedentary years caused by the uncertainty of the Crimean War. These visits were to be called the «Séries de Compiègne». The name derives from the fact that a series of different sections of society (artists, musicians, authors, businessmen, etc.) would each be invited successively to different week-long stays at the imperial palace in Compiègne. These seven-day sojourns with the imperial family always took place in the autumn and involved hunting, parlour games (notably charades), play readings, and entertainments of different sorts. The (still relatively new) technology of the railway took the lucky invitees to Compiègne in a special train…
Architecture
On 23 October, 1856, the construction work on the main courtyard of the Paris Institut Impérial de France (previously known as the Collège Mazarin, built by Loubert and d'Orbay) came to completion. «The two porticoes which embellish this courtyard, not to mention the other structures which give onto it, have been carefully restored. On the right-hand portico, facing the entrance to the Bibliothèque Mazarine, the college sundial has been refurbished … »
(Moniteur Universel, 24 October, 1856)
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 387, 20-26 October, 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
WHAT'S ON
Press Review:
History Today, "Stink Vessels", by Charles Stephenson
French History, review of John D. Grainger's The Amiens Truce
Conferences:
- Germany and Napoleon 1806-2006, Berlin, Germany
- Napoleone e le donne. Protagoniste, alleate, nemiche, Rome, Italy
Exhibitions:
- 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
- Public Portraits, Private Portraits 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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