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EUROPE
"Nature, amongst other talents, has given me a great deal of character", said the man who succeeded in conquering almost all of Europe. And character was certainly needed to rise above the rest and achieve what very few individuals had achieved before. This man from Corsica, who in proclaiming himself emperor became the Frenchman par excellence, was a prolific letter writer (as attested by the recent release of volume six of the General Correspondence of Napoleon Bonaparte, published by Fayard) and made numerous enemies (of which a prime example is Luise-Auguste of Prussia, the subject of this month's painting). And it was not just in himself that he saw this character: he also recognised it in the many maréchals and generals who surrounded him, including André Masséna, who was named the Prince d'Essling, and whose worthy lineage continues today in memory of this time of victories and defeats...
The first French Emperor and the Empire, through its geopolitical magnitude, both left their mark on the European continent and its collective memory. Napoleon I had his own vision of Europe, as part of his Grand Empire; his nephew, Napoleon III, had a different idea, more inclined towards discussion between peoples and countries. This weekend, as the 2009 European elections, the largest trans-national elections in history, take place across Europe, we at the Fondation Napoléon invite you to pursue your own reflections on what it means to be European.
Mathilde Millour
Web-editor at the Fondation Napoléon
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PAINTING OF THE MONTH
Luise Auguste of Prussia, by Tischbein
"In 1793, Luise of Prussia (1776-1810), the daughter of Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, married the new King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm III who had recently been crowned. Strongly attached to the Prussian royal family, Luise took her role as wife, mother and monarch very seriously and maintained close ties with her sister, Frederica...
Johann Friedrich August Tischbein was very much in demand as a portrait artist, and the soft rendering of his models' complexions and the harmony of his palette were strongly anchored in the German sentimentalist movement of the late 18th century..."
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EXHIBITION
"Napoleon and Eugenie"
This exhibition, which takes place between 7 June and 7 September, 2009, at the Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, USA, celebrates the splendour of the Second Empire and conveys the story of France during this era —its personages, its accomplishments, its international relationships and, throughout, the opulence that characterized the royal court of Napoleon III and his Consort Empress. "Napoleon and Eugenie" also encompasses historical material on the Bonaparte family and the First Empire with many of the works on view consisting of objects that were owned or commissioned by the Imperial family. The exhibition includes paintings, decorative objects, sculpture, memorabilia and historical artefacts.
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COMMEMORATION
Dartmoor prison
"It was seven years ago that Alain Sibiril, Plymouth's Honorary Consul of France, first became aware, via Trevor James, the local writer who used to work at the prison, of the memorial to the French prisoners who died at Dartmoor while being held captive during the later years of the Napoleonic Wars.
Over eleven hundred French nationals lost their lives while being held under conditions that today we would consider inhuman; a further 218 American soldiers and sailors died under the same conditions and at the same time. For many years the graves of these men who were laid to rest without funeral rites, lay unhonoured in a field adjacent to the prison. In her review of the area published in 1845 Miss Rachel Evans noted that horses and cattle had broken up the soil, leaving the bones of the dead to whiten in the sun..."
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NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
Issue n° 4
Our final selection from issue n° 4 of Napoleonica. La Revue is Claude Vigoureux's article, "Napoléon III et Abd-el Kader" which discusses the education, upbringing and lives of Napoleon III and Abd-el Kader, the military and spiritual head of Algeria. The article is available for 7 €, or, alternatively, an annual subscription can be purchased for 60 €. For more information on Abd-el Kader, why not take a look at our close-up, available on napoleon.org?
200 YEARS AGO
Napoleon and the Pope: from the Concordat to the Excommunication
It should have been a marriage made in heaven. One of Napoleon's first acts as consul was to bring religion back to France after the atheistic years of the Revolution. Pius VII, the somewhat progressive pope, saw the concordat of 1802 as the presage of the great return. But Organic articles (not been part of the Concordat negotiations and added to the agreement without Pius' knowledge) left the Curia with the feeling that they had been duped. The coronation in 1804 was another attempt by Pius win back the lost ground and also to re-initialise the relationship. But in the end, Pius found himself negotiating in the void. He returned to Rome empty handed. From then on, Franco-Vatican relations slowly deteriorated. And for both men, it was the other's fault.
Click here for Peter Hicks' full article on the concordat and excommunication, which was announced on the night of 10/11 June, 1859.
150 YEARS AGO
Magenta: the morning after
In the post-Magenta delirium, the social commentator, Horace de Viel Castel, still found time to note down Paris' reaction to news of the French victory. Initially, as is to be expected, the event was cause for much celebration:
"All of St. Germain is lit up; firecrackers continue to echo all-over, like little burning fires of joy; rockets soar through the sky, illuminating the darkness. The Mairie has had announced in every street the following dispatch, sent by the Emperor to the Empress:
Novara, 4 June 1859
11.30am
A great victory: 5,000 prisoners; 15,000 enemies killed or wounded; details to follow later." [Mémoires du Comte Horace de Viel Castel, Sunday 5 June, 1859]
The figures were, in actual fact, closer to 6,000 dead or wounded on the Austrian side, while the French lost roughly 700, with about 3,200 wounded. A few days later, however, and dissent and worry, brought about by news and rumour of the French losses, began to replace the fading elation of victory:
"I heard yesterday the shopkeepers of Paris, and the most respectable ones at that, talking, saying that 'this war is abominable; it is time for the Emperor to put an end to it, we do not need a second campaign or a second war bond.' It is always the same stupid bourgeois, the very same ones who criticised Louis-Philippe for his cowardice. Messrs. Thiers and Guizot are astounded that the Emperor dared to make war and that he conducts it so happily."
Moreover, the immediate aftermath in Italy appeared chaotic:
"Milan has revolted: the Austrians left hastily, abandoning the army's treasury. [...] In the last battle, we lost Generals Espinasse and Clerc: the official announcement is in the Moniteur. They were saying at the Bourse [Paris stock exchange] that Maréchal Canrobert and General Niel were very seriously injured, but Mac-Mahon less so; [the latter] was named maréchal on the battlefield. Camon's division [also] suffered greatly. [...]" [Tuesday 7 June, 1859]
However, as more reliable information filtered through, the details of the battle and the events afterwards became clearer:
"Neither Canrobert nor Niel were wounded, nor even General Mellinet, whom the men at the Bourse, in their fervent patriotism, sought to include amongst the dead. General Mac-Mahon, recently named maréchal, has been made Duc de Magenta. General Regnault de St-Jean d'Angely was named maréchal. The Emperor and the King of Piedmont have arrived in Milan. The Austrians have evacuated Pavia, after having disabled their cannons and flooded their magazine. Bendeck's Austrian corps took up position at Marignano [today Melegnano, twenty kilometres south of Milan]; the Emperor dispatched Maréchal Baraguay-d'Hilliers to dislodge them, which he did, taking 1,200 prisoners. [Friday 10 June, 1859]
This final point regarding the battle at Melegnano (8 June, 1859) masks what was in effect a French failure: Baraguay d'Hilliers, in his haste to attack the Austrians and distinguish himself, advanced his troops on the Austrian position without waiting for protective support on his wings. Facing heavy resistance, the French soldiers were pushed back and forced to retreat, aided by a torrential but fortuitous downpour (for the Austrians, at least) and the arrival of Austrian reinforcements under General Boër, who was killed mounting a counter-attack against the French just prior to the retreat. The Austrian troops escaped, and although the French seized the village, they paid dearly for it. They had lost 900 men and 71 officers in the operation, losses that were to persuade Napoleon to keep his entire army grouped together, under his command. This was to have a knock-on effect for the rest of the campaign, as the French advance became more careful and battles became larger and bloodier.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks and Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 501, 5 – 11 June, 2009
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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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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
- La Correspondance générale de Napoléon Bonaparte, Volume 6: "Vers le Grand Empire"
Just published
- Richard A. Todd, Napoleon's Medals: victory to the arts
Seen on the web (external links)
- The Battle of Magenta (in Italian)
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
Guided tours
- "Discover Malmaison" in English, Malmaison (France), 1 July, 2009
- "Discover Malmaison" in Italian, Malmaison (France), 1 July, 2009
Conferences
- Internationales Napoleon-Symposium 2009, Vienna (Austria), 4-5 June, 2009
- "Blake Intempestif"/"Unruly Blake", Paris (France), 5 - 6 June, 2009
- "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
- Napoleonic Association conference 2009, Southampton (UK), 10 October, 2009
- Australian Napoleonic Congress, Goulburn (Australia), 31 October - 1 November, 2009
Commemorations
- Royal British Legion remembrance ceremony for those fallen at Waterloo
- Bicentenary of the Illyrian Provinces
- Haydn 2009
- Bicentennial commemoration of the death of Maréchal Lannes
- French presence in South Africa
Re-enactments
- "11th weekend of bivouacs and battles at Waterloo", Waterloo (Belgium), 18 - 21 June, 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
Festivals
- Napoleon Festival 2009, Sarzana (Italy), 24-27 September, 2009
Exhibitions
- "Napoleon says: Illyria arise!", Ljubljana, Slovenia [12/05/2009 - 31/10/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon III and Paris", New York, USA [09/06/2009 - 07/09/2009]
Full details
- "Napoléon", Philadelphia, USA [29/05/2009 - 07/09/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon Bonaparte and Egypt: fire and light", Arras, France [16/05/2008 - 19/10/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon. His opponents, his admirers, and the sacrifice", Marchegg, Austria [04/04/2009 - 18/10/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon in Traiskirchen", Möllersdorf, Austria [04/03/2009 - 24/12/2009]
Full details
- "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
- "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
- "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
- "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
- "Napoleon III and the Romanian principalities", Compiègne, France [21/03/2009 - 29/06/2009]
Full details
- "Ben Weider Collection at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts", Montreal, Canada [Permanent]
Full details<<
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