| |
| |
The reopening of the First Empire wing at the Musée de l'Armée
Covering 20,000m² and eight centuries of history, the Musée de l'Armée, located at Les Invalides in the heart of Paris, is coming to the end of its metamorphosis. "Athena", the modernisation project which was begun in 2003, has seen the refurbishment of the wings dedicated to arms and armour from the XIII-XVII centuries (Section Ancien), and the two world wars (1871-1945) as well as the creation of the "Historial Charles de Gaulle". In 2009, it is the turn of the department of Modern history (from Louis XIV to Napoleon III) to reopen.
This long-awaited reopening will happen in two stages: firstly, the wing dedicated to the Ancien Régime up until the First Restoration (1643-1815) will reopen to the general public on 16 May, in time for the 5th "Nuit des Musées". Then, in November, the second section of the department, which finishes with the Paris Commune (1870-1871), will be finished, thus bringing to an end the work begun six years ago.
Located in the Orient wing, the Modern department's collections offer a history of the French army, illustrated by numerous uniforms (dress uniforms as well those of simple soldiers), weapons, portraits and paintings. But this is not just a collection of objects, but a description of the history of the period. And not merely military history, either: the social and political contexts surrounding the items on display are explained, allowing the visitor to get a sense of the wider historical picture.
Completing the collection, there will also soon be available around twenty interactive information terminals, five animated, 3D maps, and audio enhancements (military music, army sound effects...). The project, ambitious in scale, is in reaction to the increasing interest amongst the French public as well as foreign visitors: despite the essential closure of some of the wings due to the "Athena" project, the museum received an increase of 70,000 more visitors between 2007 and 2008.
If you thought that you had already seen everything that the Musée de l'Armée had to offer, then you may be in for a surprise...
Irène Delage
Web editor and Head of Documentation, Public Relations and IT
|
|
|
| |
BOOK OF THE MONTH
"The Emperor's Last Campaign: A Napoleonic Empire in America", by Emilio Ocampo
"Napoleon's last campaign didn't end at Waterloo. After that fateful day on June 1815, hundreds if not thousands of veterans of Napoleon's army emigrated to America. Many went farther south and joined the rebels fighting for independence in the Spanish colonies, from Mexico to Buenos Aires. The Bonapartists roiled the Western World as they sought fortune, fame, and glory in the expanding United States and in the tumultuous Spanish Americas suffering from repression and civil disorder, and even in the states of Europe. Among them were Lord Thomas Cochrane, Sir Robert Wilson, Charles Lallemand, and Michel Brayer, some of the most interesting characters of the Napoleonic era. This is the first full-length examination of the Bonapartists who emigrated from France after Napoleon's defeat and exile, who formed a loose confederation with adventurers and romantics, and who contemplated a new empire in the Western Hemisphere..."
|
|
|
| |
EVENT
"La Nuit des Musées" 16 May, 2009
Museums across Europe are busy preparing for the fifth "Nuit des Musées", which sees exhibitions and collections stay open to the general public long past the curators' bed-times. As mentioned above, the evening marks the reopening of the Musée de l'Armée's Orient wing dedicated to French history between 1643 and 1815, but that's not all that is on offer. The Musée Napoléon at Brienne-le-Château (France), located in the Ecole Militaire attended by Napoleon Bonaparte, is holding a Napoleon-themed weekend, which will include Napoleonic talks, battle re-enactments, parades and a firework display. And for those of you near London (UK), you can take a late-night tour of the Florence Nightingale Museum, which will be illuminated with the help of the very lamp used by Florence during the Crimean War.
|
|
|
| |
EVENT
Long weekends in May
May is upon us, and for some of you, that means long weekends and public holidays. France is particularly fortunate at this time of year, but Britain and Germany also have a long-weekend this week. If you are fortunate enough to get some time-off, why not take in an exhibition or two? There are plenty going on at the moment, including "Imperial Splendour" at Malbrouck (France) (which is organised in partnership with the Fondation Napoléon), "Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet and the origins of the Napoleonic legend" at Boulogne-Billancourt (France), and "Napoleon: 'genius and despot'" in Saarlouis (Germany).
|
|
|
| |
NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
Issue n° 4
Another week, and another selection from issue n° 4 of Napoleonica. La Revue, the Fondation Napoléon's multidisciplinary, international review. This week we have another English-language article for you to take a look at: "The Napoleonic «Police», or «Security State» in context", by Peter Hicks, historian and International Relations Manager here at the Fondation Napoléon. The article is available for 7 €, or you can take out an annual subscription for 60 €.
|
|
|
| |
FONDATION NAPOLEON NEWS
Baron Gourgaud presented with the insignia of Officier of the Légion d'honneur
On Tuesday 28 April, 2009, at the Palais de la Légion d'honneur, Baron Gourgaud, honorary president of the Fondation Napoléon was decorated with the insignia of Officier of the Légion d'honneur. The five-armed badge was presented by the Général d'Armée Jean-Pierre Kelche, Grand Chancelier of the Légion d'honneur, in the presence of Her Imperial Highness the Princess Napoleon, Victor-André Massena, Prince d'Essling and President of the Fondation Napoléon, members of the Fondation Napoléon administrative council, staff from the Souvenir Napoléon, and other well-known personalities in the literary and art worlds. Text of the Baron's acceptance speech is available here.
200 YEARS AGO
The beginning of the Austrian campaign
April began badly for the French Emperor. On the night of 11 and 12 April, off the west coast of France, a squadron of French ships under Admiral Allemand was mauled by a British squadron under Admiral Gambier. Known in French as the Brûlots d'Aix (The fireships of Aix) and in English as the battle of the Basque Roads, the net result was eight French ships of the line run aground and five destroyed by the British fire ships. Four days later, Eugène de Beauharnais made a sortie against the Austrian Archduke John in Sacile (in the Friuli region of northern Italy), only to be driven back in disorder after the loss of many troops. To compound these setbacks, poor communications between Paris and the front in Bavaria (partly the result of bad weather hampering telegraphs) had led to a certain muddle in the troop arrangements at the beginning of the campaign of 1809. Napoleon's long-awaited arrival in the theatre of operations from Paris on 17 April was to transform affairs. On the following days the French army in Bavaria was to be hugely successful, performing the Landshut manoeuvre or the Five-Day Battle (19-23 April) with combats and victories at Tengen, Abensberg and Eckmühl, Landshut, and Ratisbon (modern Regensburg). The Austrian offensive on the south side of the Danube was broken and Archduke Charles' troops were forced into retreat leaving behind 50,000 prisoners, in a sort of second Ulm…
Napoleon was naturally proud of his performance around Landshut and predictably scathing of Eugène and his poor showing at Sacile. In a letter from Landshut dated 26 April, he lambasted his stepson (Correspondance N° 15,128): "I am still yet to comprehend quite how my troops were defeated by that Austrian rabble. They were 300,000 here, and I still beat them, even being one against seven [one Frenchman to every seven Austrians]."
That being said, the combats of the 19-23 April were hard fought. The Emperor was famously wounded on the calf during one of these encounters at Ratisbon when he was grazed by a bullet having moved forward to view the effect of one particular artillery bombardment. He was later to reassure Josephine that it was only a flesh wound ("The bullet barely grazed the achilles' tendon") (6 May, 1809, Correspondance N° 15,163).
And so, full of his success (and doubtless proud of his wound), the Emperor began laying out dispositions for the coming pursuit at the beginning of May. In a letter from Braunau dated 1 May 1809 (Correspondance n° 15,148) he informed Alexandre Berthier, his chief of staff, that Passau would be "the army's principal depot. It is there that, in the event of a retreat, I intend to cross the [river] Inn, and it is in the area around Passau that I shall constantly manoeuvre in the event of any retrograde movement made by the army." As ever, Napoleon was particularly careful for his lines of communication and rear. In terms of forward movement, he detailed to Lannes on 2 May (Correspondance n° 15,151) that his principal strategy at that moment in the campaign was to harry the enemy. "The main aim [...] is to do as much damage as possible to the corps that is retreating on Linz." And so, as Archduke Charles retreated, a race ensued to reach the Austrian capital, the French to the south of the Danube and the Austrians to the north.
150 YEARS AGO
Italian affairs: the outbreak of war
On 4 May, 1859, after months of correspondence, meetings (secret or otherwise) and rhetoric from all sides, the Moniteur universel published a declaration of war:
"Français!
In moving its army into territory belonging to our ally, the King of Sardinia, Austria has declared war on us. She has violated treaties and international justice and threatens our borders. [...] With Piedmont having accepted the conditions which should have ensured peace, one wonders what could possibly be the cause of this sudden invasion? [...]
Up until now, moderation has been my watchword: from this point on, energy becomes my first responsibility.
France must arm itself and say to Europe: I seek not to conquer, but to conserve without weakness my national and traditional policy; I observe treaties only on the condition that they are not violated against me, I respect the territory and rights of neutral powers but I also feel a deep sympathy for a people whose history is entwined with ours and who, under foreign oppression, cries out.
The aim of this war is thus to return Italy to itself and not replace one master with another; we shall thus have at our borders a united people who owe us its independence. [...]
Palais des Tuileries, 3 May 1859
Napoleon" [Moniteur universel, 4 May, 1859]
Austria had invaded Piedmont on 29 April, hoping to quickly defeat the smaller Piedmontese army before France could move to support its ally. However, the Austrian troops, under the command of Count Gyulai, hesitated. Having occupied Vercelli, Casale Monferrato, Valenza, Pavia and Magenta between 4 and 5 May, the Austrians remained in the Mortara region but did not cross the Pô river and march on Voghera until 5 May, a week after invading. It was not until 7 May that they began advancing on Turin, the Piedmontese capital. By then it was already too late: Gyulai's hesitation had cost Austria the initiative, and French troops, under Maréchal Canrobert, were already arriving in Alessandria.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 496, 1 - 7 May 2009
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
THE BIBLIOTHEQUE FONDATION NAPOLEON LIBRARY
Spring opening times:
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday: 1pm-6pm
Thursday: 10am-3pm
(Closed Friday)
THE MAGAZINE
Book of the month (English)
- Emilio Ocampo: Emperor's Last Campaign: A Napoleonic Empire in America
Book of the month (French)
- Pierre Milza: La guerre de 1870
Press review
- Book review: The British Empire: Themes and Perspectives
- First Empire, issue n° 106, May/June 2009
- The Economist book review: San Martin: Argentinian Soldier, American Hero
- The Washington Times book review: Flotilla: The Patuxent Naval Campaign in the War of 1812
- The Daily Telegraph (UK) website: "Battle of the Nile tree clumps pinpointed for visitors by National Trust"
Fondation Napoléon History Prizes 2008
- Francis and Madeleine Ambrière, Talma, ou l'histoire du théâtre
- Alain Decaux, Coup d'état à l'Elysée
- Edgardo Donati, La Toscana nell'impero napoleonico
Fondation Napoléon news
- Fondation Napoléon Research Grants 2008
WHAT'S ON
Events
- The "Nuit des Musées 2009", Various towns and cities (Europe), 16-17 May, 2009
Conferences
- "Seventh International Napoleonic Congress: Napoleon, Europe and the World", and call for papers, Montreal (Canada), 8-12 June, 2009
- "Civilians and War in Europe, c. 1640-1815", Liverpool (UK), 18-20 June, 2009
- Australian Napoleonic Congress, Goulburn (Australia), 31 October - 1 November, 2009
Commemorations
- Commemorative mass honouring the deaths of Napoleon I and soldiers of the Grande Armée
- Annual May Ceremony in the British Cemetery
- Bicentennial commemoration of the death of Maréchal Lannes
- French presence in South Africa
Re-enactments
- Battle of Sacile, 1809-2009, Porcia (Italy), 3 May, 2009
- Aspern-Essling, 2009, Aspern and Essling (Vienna, Austria), 21 - 24 May, 2009
- Znaim 1809 bicentenary re-enactment, Znojmo and Dobšice (Czech Republic), 11-12 July, 2009
- Bivouac and the Battle of Oostmalle, Oostmalle (Belgium), 5-6 September, 2009
Exhibitions
- "The Satirical Eye: comedy and critique from Hogarth to Daumier", Melbourne, Australia [27/02/2009 - 26/07/2009]
Full details
- "Second Empire Paris: History and Modernity", Williamstown, USA [25/04/2009 - 21/06/2009]
Full details
- "Juliette Récamier: muse and patron of the arts", Lyon, France [27/03/2009 - 29/06/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon and Corsica", Corte, France [20/06/2009 - 30/12/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon and Eugenie", Roslyn Harbor, USA [07/06/2009 - 07/09/2009]
Full details
- "The Plains of Mars: European War Prints, 1500—1825, from the Collection of the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation", Houston, USA [08/02/2009 - 10/05/2009]
Full details
- "Imperial Splendour", Manderen, France [15/03/2009 - 31/08/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon, Commander, Emperor and Genius", Schallaburg, Germany [16/05/2009 - 01/11/2009]
Full details
- "Waldmüller (1793-1865)", Paris, France [26/02/2009 - 18/05/2009]
Full details
- "William Blake (1757-1827): the visionary genius of English Romanticism", Paris, France [02/04/2009 - 28/06/2009]
Full details
- "Jean-Antoine Houdon (1741-1828)", Rio de Janeiro, Brazil [29/04/2009 - 05/07/2009]
Full details
- "Ingres and the Moderns", Quebec City, Canada [05/02/2009 - 31/05/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon, genius and despot", Saarlouis, Germany [25/01/2009 - 10/05/2009]
Full details
- "Nicolas-Toussaint Charlet and the origins of the Napoleonic legend", Boulogne-Billancourt, France [05/03/2009 - 27/06/2009]
Full details
- Imperial painter: Pietro Benvenuti at the court of Napoleon and the Lorenas, Florence, Italy [10/03/2009 - 21/06/2009]
Full details
- "Romania on the road to modernity: 150 years since the unification of the principalities under Prince Cuza", Bucharest, Romania [22/01/2009 - 24/05/2009]
Full details
- "Coinage at War. Catalonia in Napoleonic Europe", Barcelona, Spain [04/06/08 - 03/05/09]
Full details
- "Ben Weider Collection at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts", Montreal, Canada [Permanent]
Full details
<<
|
|
