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EDITORIAL
Franco-German Friendship
While France is commemorating the Napoleonic bicentenaries without enthusiasm, the rest of Europe is putting time and money into it. Italy opened the proceedings, followed soon by Britain, the Czech Republic and Austria. Now Spain and Portugal (!) are getting ready.
Since last October, Germany has joined the dance and made significant investments. And the federal structure is particularly favourable in this respect: the Länder are all more or less ex-states which, from 1800 to 1815, had "bilateral dealings" with Napoleonic France. Germany seems to be keen on remembering that specific part of its past.
After Jena (ex-Saxony), Berlin (ex-Prussia), now the ex-Grand duchy of Berg has organised an exhibition on Napoléon in Wesel, and the Fondation has played a part in the proceedings. The Prince d'Essling and the Prince Murat were present last week. In two months time, the exhibition is to travel to Minden, to the ex-kingdom of Westphalia. But that's not all: books, conferences and re-enactments are being planned. It is also worth pointing out that the Franco-German television company Arte has recently broadcasted a four-part docu-fiction. In April 2008, the town of Kassel is to house one of the largest Napoleonic exhibitions of recent years in commemoration of the reign of Jérôme Bonaparte. Later the National Museum in Bonn hopes to go one better. It's almost embarrassing to add, etc., etc., etc.
For our German friends, this is simply an occasion to reflect and reconnect with a shared history, a time when the German states sought alliances with France as a key step in the organisation of Europe.
History can do that too.
It's not just the past.
And in the meantime, French public institutions sleep quietly on.
An excellent Napoleonic week to you.
Thierry Lentz
Director of the Fondation Napoléon
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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
'The wars of the ‘Fourth Coalition': part one, the Polish Campaign', by Peter Hicks
In his important article published in 1926 in the Revue des Deux Mondes (XXIV 824), Gabriel Hanotaux opens with the words: “The year of 1807 is the year of fate in the reign of Napoleon”. This essay is a consideration of the international politics in the run up to that year and the Battle of Eylau.
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FONDATION NAPOLEON NEWS - OFFICIAL OPENING IN WESEL
The official opening of the exhibition "Napoleon, Trikolore und Kaiseradler über Rhein und Weser", took place on 11 February in the presence of a delegation from the Fondation Napoléon led by the president Victor-André Masséna, Prince d'Essling. Many local German officials stepped up to the podium to speak in recognition of Franco-German friendship and to offer their congratulations on this exhibition which speaks of a history in common. The exhibition lasts until 9 April.
© Preussen-Museum NRW
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CONSORTIUM ON THE REVOLUTIONARY ERA 2007
Following last year's conference in Atlanta, the 2007 consortium on the history of the Revolutionary period, 1750-1850, is to be held in Washington D.C. on 1, 2 and 3 March. Historians Thierry Lentz, Pierre Branda and Peter Hicks are to be amongst those participating this year.
Click here for further information.
© Consortium of Revolutionary Era
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200 YEARS AGO
End of the Polish winter Campaign: Combat at Ostrolenka
On 16 February, 1807, 15,000 Russian troops under General Essen attempted a diversionary move on Ostrolenka (directly north and close to Warsaw). The aim was to fix the French troops there and to prevent Napoleon from using them as reinforcements. Essen advanced his troops towards Ostrolenka down both sides of the river Narew. Savary, as interim commander of Lannes' corps (Lannes had been injured), drove back the Russian forces, first on one side of the river and then on the other, killing 1,300 and wounding 1,200. Whilst the French general Campagna was killed, the threat was beaten off and Savary received a gratification of 20,000 francs. Contrary to the 62nd Bulletin, Suvarov (son of the famous Suvarov who died in 1800) was not killed here, but was to live another four years. This combat marks the end of the of winter part of the Polish campaign. The following day, Napoleon ordered his troops to take up their winter quarters on the Passarge river (stretching from the Baltic down to Warsaw). As for the emperor himself, he took quarters in Osterode for the period 21 February to 1 April.
Why not have another look at our bicentenary dossier for the Polish Campaign.
Continental Blockade
On 19 February, 1807, Spanish prime minister, Godoy, brought Spain into the continental blockade. He also sent a Spanish expeditionary corps to Germany to be placed under the command of Bernadotte.
On 22 February, 1807, Ludwig van Beethoven's symphony No 1 in C major op. 21 was given its premier in France at a concert given by the Conservatoire de Musique. This, the most 'classical' of the German composer's nine symphonies, has four movements (Adagio molto. Allegro con brio / Andante cantabile con molto / Menuetto – Allegro molto e vivace / Finale – Adagio, allegro molto e vivace), and it was composed in Vienna in 1799-1800 and dedicated to Baron Van Swieten, music lover and friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
150 YEARS AGO
Politics
16 February, 1857, saw the opening of the legslative session for 1857. During the opening ceremony, held in the Salle des Maréchaux at the Tuileries Palace, the emperor received the oaths of the members of the Senate and of the Corps législatif appointed in the preceding session. (Moniteur universel, 17 February, 1857)
On the following day, at 2pm, was held the first public sessions of the Corps législatif (president Monsieur Schneider) and of the Senate (president Monsieur Troplong). (Moniteur universel, 18 February, 1857).
Railways
In mid-February 1857, the railway line between Toulouse and Sète (called at the time Cette) completed, forming a junction between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic via the Bordeaux-Toulouse-Sète line.
Gastronomy
On 19 February, 1857, the banker Moïse Polydore Millaud, owner of the newspaper La Presse (which he had bought from Émile de Girardin in 1856) gave a feast at his town mansion in rue Saint-Georges, Paris. The Goncourt brothers were both invited, and the menu which they preserved is eloquent testimony for the elaborate nature of Second Empire cuisine.
See the menu here
Personalities
On 22 February, 1857, Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, the founder of scouting was born (His wife Olave St Claire Soames, the founder of Guiding was born on the same day in 1889). After a brilliant career in the army, Baden-Powell (Powell to rhyme with Noel) had a career as a spy (during which he wrote a military book entitled "Aids to Scouting", circa 1900). Becoming a national hero as the victor of the siege of Mafeking (1900), he began to turn his attention to creating a movement for boys in the first decade of the 20th century. This took the form of an experimentary camp for boys of different backgrounds in 1907 and the book Scouting for Boys, published in 1908. His movement met with such success that when he offered his service to the British army at the beginning of the First World War, he was refused and told to concentrate on the boy scouts - though this may have been a front for some of his espionage work. With the publication of the book and the creation of the scouts in 1909 Baden-Powell had unbeknownst to himself started a world phenomenon.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 403, 16 - 22 February, 2007
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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
Just Published
- Napoleon. Trikolore und Kaiseradler über Rhein und Weser, catalogue of the exhibition in Wesel, by Veit Velztke
- Ending the French Revolution. Violence, Justice and Repression from the Terror to Napoleon, by Howard G. Brown
- The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It, by David A. Bell
- The War of Wars: The Great European Conflict 1793 - 1815, by Robert Harvey
WHAT'S ON
Conferences:
- Consortium on the Revolutionary Era, 1750-1850, Washington, USA, 2007
- 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<<
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