| |
| |
EDITORIAL
Yesterday was the bicentenary day of the Battle of Eylau, that infamous carnage in which French and Russian slugged it out in snow and mud until both sides were at a standstill. Given the huge loss of life and the limited gains, the victory left a bitter taste, and almost immediately Eylau was to be made into a memory figure for the emperor's humanity, the military equivalent of his clemency shown to Madame Hatzfeldt. This week we bring you our bicentenary dossier. In many ways it is however only part one. The Polish campaign and the wars of the so-called 'Fourth Coalition' were not to end until the battle of Friedland (14 June, 1807), which led directly to the Peace of Tilsit and the changing of the political face of the whole of Europe.
Enjoy your read.
Peter Hicks
|
|
|
| |
THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
Napoleon visiting the battlefield at Eylau, 9 February, 1807 by Jean-Antoine Gros
The tragic and bloody Battle of Eylau, with its appalling loss of human life was, just as Marengo had been before it, the subject of a major propaganda campaign. Indeed, the iconographical programme to be followed by the painter was dictated in minute detail by Vivant Denon, director of the Musée Napoléon (Louvre) and Napoleon's arbiter elegentiae. Regardless of the propaganda, however, the painting remains a representation of the dark side of victory, and it is shown for the first time in all its obscene reality.
|
|
|
| |
BICENTENARY DOSSIER: THE POLISH CAMPAIGN: EYLAU (8 February, 1807)
On 8 February, 1807, there took place the appalling (and inconclusive) bloodbath at Eylau, pitching French against Prussian and Russian forces, 66,500 men versus 82,500 respectively. Despite the fact that both sides lost thousands of men, Eylau is usually recorded as a French victory since the Russians retreated after the confrontation leaving the French in control of the battlefield. Our bicentenary dossier brings you an article on the geopolitical background to the conflict, selection of books still in print dealing with the episode, a timeline, a selection of images, a dozen or so biographies of some of the main players and the e-text of perhaps Eylau's most famous literary manifestation, Colonel Chabert by Honoré de Balzac. Enjoy!
Articles:
- "The wars of the ‘Fourth Coalition': part one, the Polish Campaign", by Peter Hicks
Timeline:
The events leading up to the Battle of Eylau, 8 February, 1807
Bibliography:
Bibliography on the Battle of Eylau, 8 February, 1807
In Pictures:
- Napoleon visiting the battlefield at Eylau, 9 February, 1807 by Jean-Antoine Gros
- The Polish Campaign of 1806-1807
- Battle of Eylau, 8 February, 1807
- Battle of Eylau: attack on the cemetery, 8 February, 1807
- Map of Eylau and its environs
- Crossing the Vistula at Thorn (Torun), 6 December, 1806
Biographies
The French
AUGEREAU, Pierre-François-Charles, Duc de Castiglione (1757-1816), Marshal
BERNADOTTE, Jean-Baptiste-Jules (1763-1844), Marshal
BESSIERES, Jean-Baptiste, Duc d'Istrie (1768 – 1813), Marshal
BONAPARTE, Jerome, King of Westphalia (1784-1860)
DAVOUT, Louis Nicholas, Duc d'Auerstedt (1770-1823), Marshal
LANNES, Jean, Duc de Montebello, Marshal
MURAT, Joachim, (1767-1815), Marshal, King of Naples
NEY, Michel, Duc d'Elchingen (1769-1815), Marshal
SOULT, Nicolas Jean de Dieu, Duc de Dalmatie (1760-1837), Marshal
The Russians and Prussians
BAGRATION, Prince Peter
BARCLAY DE TOLLY, Michael Andreas, Prince, Russian military commander
FREDERICK WILLIAM III, King of Prussia
BENNIGSEN, (Levin, Count), Russian general
BUXHÖWDEN, Frederick Wilhelm, Military commander
LESTOCQ, Anton Wilhelm von, Prussian Cavalry general
Online literature
Colonel Chabert, by Honoré de Balzac
Extract: "You know, perhaps," said the dead man, "that I commanded a cavalry regiment at Eylau. I was of important service to the success of Murat's famous charge which decided the victory. [...] We cut through the three Russian lines, which at once closed up and formed again, so that we had to repeat the movement back again. At the moment when we were nearing the Emperor, after having scattered the Russians, I came against a squadron of the enemy's cavalry. I rushed at the obstinate brutes. Two
Russian officers, perfect giants, attacked me both at once. One of them gave me a cut across the head that crashed through everything, even a black silk cap I wore next my head, and cut deep into the skull. I fell from my horse. Murat came up to support me. He rode over my body, he and all his men, fifteen hundred of them--there might have been more! My death was announced to the Emperor, who as a precaution --for he was fond of me, was the master--wished to know if there were no hope of saving the man he had to thank for such a vigorous attack. He sent two surgeons to identify me and bring me into Hospital,
saying, perhaps too carelessly, for he was very busy, 'Go and see whether by any chance poor Chabert is still alive.' These rascally saw-bones, who had just seen me lying under the hoofs of the horses of two regiments, no doubt did not trouble themselves to feel my pulse, and reported that I was quite dead. The certificate of death was probably made out in accordance with the rules of military jurisprudence".
|
|
|
| |
THE FONDATION'S COLLECTION GOES TO NORTH RHINE WESTPHALIA
This is the first ever exhibition of Napoleon as man, statesman and general in Nordrhein-Westfalen. It includes important loans, particularly from the Fondation Napoléon and Paris Museums - which have never been seen before in Germany. The aim is to gives a view of the personality, strengths and weaknesses of the emperor as well as a view of the pomp and display of the lives of Napoleonic high society.
The exhibition also highlights the strong influence which Revolutionary France had on this part of Germany. And indeed this is the first time there has been an exhibition here on this 'French' period. It includes items relating to advances in sciences and technology and military and political expertise.
The inauguration of the exhibition takes place tomorrow, and the show will run in Wesel until 9 March. Thereafter it goes to Minden where it will stay until 1 July.
|
|
|
| |
200 YEARS AGO
On 10 February, 1807, an assembly of Jewish notables was held in Paris at the Hôtel de Ville. This 'Great Sanhedrin' had been summoned following the imperial decree of 30 May, 1806 (Bulletin n°373)
«Monsieur David Sintzhem, the rabbi for Strasbourg, was appointed by H. E. the Minister for the Interior as the head of this assembly. […] The assembly was constituted after the reading of the minutes for the verification of authorities […]. Monsieur Furtado, president of the first assembly, gave a very lengthy report on the first three points specific to the Sanhedrin, namely, concerning polygamy, repudiation, and marriage.»
(Journal de l'Empire of 13 February, 1807)
Popular festivities
The carneval before Lent was reported in the Gazette de France dated 11 February, 1807: «The last day of carneval was remarkable for the number of people sporting masks, their noisy good humour, and the orderliness which effortlessly reigned in the huge crowd which followed them. There is no better proof of the public spirit and the sentiments which moved it than this latter circumstance. H. M. the Empress deigned to appear on the balcony of the Tuileries palace, in response to the acclamations of which she was the object, and to enjoy a moment of this spectacle which was both boisterous yet calm. In the evening all the theatres were full; and, on this day on which licence is to a certain extent a privilege, the happiness of the public, the speeches, and the movement of the people merely served, as it were, to give homage to true liberty. »
150 YEARS AGO
Science
On 10 February, 1857, the Société impériale zoologique d'acclimatation (Imperial Zoological Acclimatization Society) celebrated its third birthday.
The Imperial Zoological Acclimatization Society was founded in 1854 by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Professor at the French National Museum of Natural History (Chair in mammalian and avian zoology) and its purpose was twofold: to aid the introduction, acclimatization and domestication of species of animal which would be either useful or ornamental; and to perfect and increase the breeds recently introduced or domesticated. In 1860, the society had nearly 3,000 members and was the founder of the Jardin d'Acclimatation (still today in the Bois de Boulogne in Paris) inaugurated on Saturday 6 October 1860 by Napoleon III and Eugénie.
Revisit our itinerary through the parks and gardens of the Second Empire.
Charity
At the beginning of February 1857, Abbé Legendre, chaplain at the military hospital in Bourbonne-les-Bains (Haute-Marne), founded the religious order of Notre-Dame d'Orient. This institution's raison d'être was to «offer perpetual prayer for the soldiers and sailors who had died in the Campagne d'Orient and to cooperate in charitable acts in aid of the soldiers and sailors who survived them».
(Moniteur Universel, 12 February, 1857)
Personnalities
On 12 February, 1857, the future great photographer Jean-Eugène Atget was born in Libourne in the Gironde.
He became a professional photographer in 1890 specialising in the photography of Paris' old quarters and the tradesmen and women who were soon to disappear from the streets of the French capital. His photographs give a vivid picture Paris in the Belle époque period.
A great deal of Atget's photographs are owned by the Musée Carnavalet or held in the Département des Estampes et de la Photographie and the French Bibliothèque Nationale.
For details on Atget visit the following website and for details on the Atget collection at the French Bibliothèque Nationale, visit the website Gallica.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 402, 9 - 15 February, 2007
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
WHAT'S ON
Conferences:
- Napoleon at the Zenith: a bi-centennial seminar, Liverpool, UK
Exhibitions:
- Napoleon, Trikolore und Kaiseradler über Rhein und Weser, Wesel and Minden, Germany
- NAPOLÉON An Intimate Portrait, Oklahoma, USA
- Das Königreich Württemberg 1806–1918. Monarchie und Moderne (The kingdom of Württemberg 1806–1918. Monarchy and modernity), Stuttgart, Germany
- Champignon Bonaparte - illustrations by Gilles Bachelet, Paris, France
- "The trace of the eagle", the Invalides dome, Paris, France
Got a problem with the letter? Try the home page: http://www.napoleon.org
<<
|
|
