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EDITORIAL
This week we bring you Ralph Waldo Emerson remarkable essay on the reasons for Napoleon's enduring fascination (worth reading right to the end!). Then as the weather gets a little better (but not warm enough to go outside) why don't you take a Napoleonic journey or two using the online itineraries. And then there's an unusual exhibition on military logistics. If, in the chateau at Osterode (Poland), the baggage train could drag Napoleon's attention away from Marie Walewska, then it must have been important! And then there's Napoleon's height, that Elba palindrome and some farflung corners of the French Empire (firstly Algeria and then Indochine...). Finally we bring you four new interesting titles for your library, a Wellington/Massena face-to-face, a three-cornered Napoleon/Wellington/Blucher show down, a saucy look at the Congress of Vienna, and a monumental tome on 'glory' by the British expert, Tim Blanning.
Enjoy!
Peter Hicks
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THIS MONTH'S ARTICLE
Napoleon; or, the Man of the World from Representative Men (1850), Ralph Waldo EMERSON
Among the eminent persons of the nineteenth century, Bonaparte is far the best known and the most powerful; and owes his predominance to the fidelity with which he expresses the tone of thought and belief, the aims of the masses of active and cultivated men.[…] Every one of the million readers of anecdotes or memoirs or lives of Napoleon, delights in the page, because he studies in it his own history. Napoleon is thoroughly modern, and, at the highest point of his fortunes, has the very spirit of the newspapers.
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NAPOLEONIC ITINERARIES
Take some time out to follow a Napoleonic trail. There's something for everyone in these itineraries, whether beginner or hardbitten 'grognard'. And you don't even have to go there. Just take a virtual walk!
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EXHIBITION: THE ARMY BAGGAGE TRAIN, 200 YEARS ON THE GO
It was in March 1807 that Napoleon, exasperated by the inefficiency of the Grande Armée's baggage companies, created the baggage train teams (See Bulletin n°405). In commemoration of this, the Paris Musée de l'Armée has organised an exhibition of 200 years of military logistics and transport.
And while you're at it, why not take advantage of your visit to the Hôtel des Invalides to go and see the emperor's tomb and and the temporary exhibition "The trace of the eagle". And there is also an excellent exhibition on the influential French military architect, Vauban… (in French)
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200 YEARS AGO
Did you know?
Napoleon's height
According to the Antommarchi post-mortem (recorded in Mémoires de Marchand (first published in 1952 and 1955 and first translated into English in 1998), t. II, p. 338), Napoleon was “from the top of his head to the base of his heel” 1.686m tall. This was not however short for the time, as shown by Richard H. Steckel and Roderick Floud (eds) in Health and welfare during industrialization, Chicago, Ill.: University of Chicago Press, 1997.ix, 465 p., where they maintain that the average height for adult men in France between 1800 and 1820 was 164.1 centimetres.
Period glossary: Longest palindrome in English
By common consent the longest palindrome (i.e., a word or phrase that reads the same forwards as backwards) is Napoleonic, namely, Able was I ere I saw Elba.
For other period expression, why not have a glance at our Period Glossary. And why not suggest some of your favourites! Send me an email to me here.
150 YEARS AGO
On 18 March, 1857, the old El-Kantara bridge carrying the principal route into Constantine in Algeria collapsed after an infantry detachment crossed over it. The bridge was 128 m long and built over a ravine more than 120 deep. The bridge was rebuilt in 1863 and it linked directly to Constantine railway station.
On 22 March, 1857, the future French radical politician, Paul Doumer, was born in Aurillac in the Cantal region. Doumer was initially governor of French Indochine, later becoming several times French Finance Minister, President of the Sénat (1927-1931) and finally President of France from 1931 until his assassination by a Russian émigré in May 1932.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 407, 16 - 22 March, 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
Just published
- Waterloo Commanders,: Napoleon, Wellington and Blucher, by Andrew Uffindell
- Wellington Against Massena: The Third Invasion of Portugal 1810-1811, by David Buttery
- Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna, by Adam Zamoyski
- Pursuit of Glory: Europe 1648-1815, by Tim Blanning
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
- "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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