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IN THIS WEEK'S BULLETIN
This week we bring you our usual painting of the month. This time it's a swagger portrait of a Napoleonic cavalryman. Then you have our web commemoration of Napoleon's most perfect victory, the Battle of Friedland. It includes a detailed timeline recounting events worldwide related to France, Britain, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, Turkey, Persia, Egypt, and the Danubian Provinces. There are three articles, one on the geopolitical context, one of the military context and another on the ‘apotheosis' of Marshal Victor. Then there are four images and a selection of biographies of the main players. Then there's the usual 200 and 150 years ago.
Enjoy.
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THIS MONTH'S PAINTING
Officier de chasseurs à cheval de la garde impériale chargeant (Officer of the Chasseurs à Cheval of the Garde Impériale charging) by Théodore GERICAULT
This canvas is a shining example of the swagger of the Napoleonic epic. There is power in the movement, warmth in the colours, there is chiaroscuro, there are broad and bold brush strokes which communicate the vibrant quality of the sketch, revealing the intoxication of war and the bravado of the fighter.
Detail © musée du Louvre
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BICENTENARY DOSSIER: THE POLISH CAMPAIGN, FRIEDLAND (14 JUNE, 1807)
14 June, 1807, was the day on which Napoleon got his decisive battle in which he drove Alexander to defeat and to the negotiating table. On the evening of the battle at Friedland Napoleon was to write to the Empress Joséphine : «My dear, I will only write a few words because I am exceedingly tired; I've been in a bivouac for many days now. My children have worthily celebrated the anniversary of the battle of Marengo. The battle of Friedland will be as celebrated and glorious for my people as those of Austerlitz and Jena. The whole of the Russian army has been routed, I have taken 80 cannon, there are 30,000 men dead or captured, 25 Russian generals killed, wounded or taken, the Russian Guard has been crushed … ».
TIMELINE:
- International events from January to June 1807
TEXTS AND ARTICLES:
- From Eylau to Friedland, or what happened to the "Fourth Coalition", by Peter Hicks
- From Eylau to Friedland, by Jacques Garnier
- FRIEDLAND or the consecration of Marshal Victor, by Jean-Pierre Tarin
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Bibliography on the Battle of Eylau and the Battle of Friedland
IN PICTURES:
- Map of the Polish Campaign
- The Battle of Friedland, by Horace Vernet (here © Photo12 - Fondation Napoléon)
- 1807, by Ernest Meissonier
- The Battle of Friedland
BIOGRAPHIES:
The French
- AUGUEREAU, Pierre-François-Charles, Duc de Castiglione (1757-1816) Marshal
- BERNADOTTE, Jean-Baptiste-Jules (1763-1844), Marshal, king of Sweden and Norway
- BESSIÈRES, Jean-Baptiste, Duc d'Istrie (1768-1813), Marshal
- BONAPARTE, Jérôme (1784–1860), King of Westphalia
- DAVOUT or D'AVOUT, Louis-Nicolas, Duc d'Auerstaedt, prince d'Eckmühl, (1770-1823), Marshal
- LANNES, Jean (1769-1809), Duc de Montebello, Marshal
- MURAT, Joachim, (1767-1815), Marshal, King of Naples
- NEY, Michel, duc d'Elchingen, Prince de la Moskowa, (1769-1815), Marshal
- SOULT, Jean de Dieu, Duc de Dalmatie (1769-1851), Marshal
The Russians Prussians
- BAGRATION (Prince Peter), 1765-1812
- BENNIGSEN, Levin, count (1735-1826), German general in the Russian army
- FREDERICK WILLIAM III (1770-1827), King of Prussia
- LESTOCQ, Anton Wilhelm von, Prussian Cavalry general
200 YEARS AGO
Campaign of 1807
8 June, Napoleon arrived in Deppen where Marshal Ney was encamped.
10 June, Battle of Heilsberg
14 June, Napoleon's victory over Bennigsen's Russians at Friedland.
June 1807 sees the departure of many new conscripts
According to the Bulletin du ministère de la police générale:
- On 5 June, 1807, Paris. Departure of fifty conscripts for the 2nd regiment of chasseurs the 3rd regiment of hussards. On the following day, fifty more left for Rennes, destined for the horse artillery.
- On 8 June, twenty-five conscripts left for Mastricht, destined for the 25th regiment of dragoons.
- On 9 June one hundred and fifty conscripts left for La Rochelle, destined for the 66th regiment of the line infantry.
One hundred and twenty conscripts left for Verona, destined for the 9th regiment of the line infantry.
- On 10 June, two hundred and forty conscripts left today for the Légion de Lille.
- On 12 June, one hundred and five conscripts left today for La Rochelle, destined for the 82nd of the line.
On 13 June, one hundred and ten conscript left for Strasburg, destined for the 100th regiment of the line infantry …
(Bulletin du Ministère de la police générale, 6 to 14 June, 1807)
150 YEARS AGO
A decree dated 9 June, 1857, made the Baron Haussmann, prefect of the Seine, a senator.
(Moniteur Universel 12 June, 1857)
On 14 June, 1857, Marshal Randon laid the foundation stone of Fort Napoléon, in Soul-el-Arba, in Kabylia.
(Almanach Napoléon, 1858)
It was thought that in order to pacify the Kabylia a fort should be built in the middle of the Kabylie mountains. Soul-el-Arba was chosen because of the high position. The fortress was to be linked to the nearest settlement (25km away) of Tizi-Ouzou by a road, and this was laid in two weeks by the sapper regiments. On 6 June, 1857, the foundations of the fort were laid and the work was finally finished in 1871. The fort was built using Vauban techniques and was 961 metres high. The perimeter wall was 2,261 metres long and the complex included a citadel and three outlying blockhouses.
Wishing you an excellent, Napoleonic, Week.
Peter Hicks
Historian and Web editor
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, No 419, 8 - 14, 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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Got a problem with a link in the Bulletin? Go to the homepage: http://www.napoleon.org
THIS WEEK in the MAGAZINE
PRESS REVIEW
- Qajar Studies: Travellers and Diplomats in the Qajar Era, Journal of International Qajar Studies Association, Volume VII (2007)
JUST PUBLISHED
- George III, by John Cannon
WHAT'S ON
Theatre:
The Imperial Epic by Caran d'Ache, Musée d'Orsay, Paris, France
Conferences:
- Napoleon at the Zenith: a bi-centennial seminar, Liverpool, UK
Exhibitions:
- The Polish and the Légion d'honneur, Paris, France
- People, portraits, places and the abolition of the Slave trade, National Portrait gallery, London, UK
- Napoleon's Description de L'Egypte, Dallas, Texas, USA
- Napoleon, Trikolore und Kaiseradler über Rhein und Weser, Wesel and Minden, Germany
- "The trace of the eagle", the Invalides dome, Paris, France<<
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