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EDITORIAL
The flu: nothing new...
The Fondation Napoléon office is of particularly good humour this week (not that it isn't every week, of course), which means that the letter this time around has a couple of (relatively) light-hearted moments to share with you.
The first is a contemporary reimagining of Bonaparte crossing the Alps by David, with this version benefitting from a little added horse-power (see Seen on the web on the right-hand side). The second moment of (relative) mirth comes courtesy of the influenza virus. Published a few years ago in the Revue du Souvenir Napoléonien was an article concerning the flu epidemic that swept through the capital in 1802. At the time, it was known as the "peste inflammatoire", an appellation enough to send shivers down the spine. Such epidemics are nothing new, and whilst the current outbreak is serious and we should obviously all be careful to take the necessary 'recommended' precautions to limit the spread (washing one's hands, covering one's mouth when sneezing..), we nevertheless should not forget that History, with the benefit of hindsight, often has a way of allaying our fears. The article in question is available on napoleon.org as the French article of the month.
Elsewhere in the letter, it's business as usual: serious and informative, with a particular tip of the hat to the French city of Valence, the site for a meeting between a young Napoleon Bonaparte and a jurist named Montalivet. It was two hundred years ago this week that the bond formed in the chaotic years after the Revolution led to Montalivet being named Interior Minister by the French Emperor. Long may history continue to help us understand (and indeed sometimes forget) the present.
Enjoy the letter, and the very best week to you all.
Thierry Lentz
Director, Fondation Napoléon
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ARTICLE OF THE MONTH
"Waterloo - Bias, Assumptions, and Perspectives" by Douglas Allan
Our article of the month this time around is Douglas Allan's article on the Battle of Waterloo and the disinformation that surrounds it. Taking a look at the different first-hand reports and records available to the historian, Allan investigates the events of the battle and attempts to shed some light on the various "inaccuracies" that have become associated with the combat that put an end to the First Empire.
And on the French side of the site, Thierry Lentz discusses the flu outbreak of 1802, particularly topical at this time of H1N1, repeated hand-washing, and pandemics.
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WHAT'S ON
This weekend: The Napoleonic Historical Society conference 2009
This weekend, from 25-27 September, the Napoleonic Historical Society is holding its 2009 conference in New Orleans (Louisiana, USA). As well as talks on Napoleonic topics, there will also be a number of dinners and musical concerts, book signings and discussions with the authors, a commemorative dramatic presentation of the events leading up to the Louisiana Purchase and an historical walking tour of New Orleans.
"Napoleon, the Empire and the heritage of the Enlightenment"
Just a reminder that registration is still open for the study day organised by the Fondation Napoléon and the Cercle Ferney-Voltaire for 9 and 10 October, 2009, in Divonne-les-Bains and Ferney-Voltaire. The discussion will revolve around the question: "Were the French Revolution and the Empire inspired by the heritage of the Enlightenment, and if so, to what extent?"
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The French Revolution and the Musée Carnavalet
The Musée Carnavalet, in Paris, is holding an exhibition dedicated to the French Revolution and the events that followed it. The exhibition runs between 30 September, 2009 and 3 January, 2010, and will offer on display two hundred carefully selected items from its immense collections. Alongside this, visitors to the museum can also investigate the complementary exhibition on English caricatures which date from the Revolution and French Empire periods.
NAPOLEON.ORG
Biography of Montalivet
Two hundred years ago this week, the Comte Jean-Pierre Bachasson de Montalivet was named Interior Minister by Napoleon. He would remain in the post until 1814 and went on to oversee a large number of the major public works completed in Paris, including the Canal de l'Ourcq and Iéna and Austerlitz bridges over the Seine. A detailed biography is now available online on napoleon.org.
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NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
Issue n° 5
Our second selection from Napoleonica. La Revue, the Fondation Napoléon's online academic review, is part one of Emmanuel Prunaux's study of the comptoirs d'escompte, branches that were set up between 1809 and 1811 to monitor the economic activity in France, particularly in the provinces. This article (in French) is available for 7 €; alternatively an annual subscription can be purchased for 60 €.
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200 YEARS AGO
Montalivet is named Interior Minister
On 1 October, 1809, the Comte Jean-Pierre Bachasson de Montalivet was named Interior Minister. His nomination to this post came after a short interim period, during which time Fouché held both the roles of Interior Minister and Minister of Police. Montalivet, whose family was from the south of France, met Napoleon, then a young, up-and-coming artillery officer, during his time in Valence, and signed up for the Armée d'Italie during the Terreur. However, it was not until the Brumaire coup d'Etat that Montalivet rallied to Napoleon, and he shortly afterwards (April 1801) became Prefect for the Manche département. He was placed in charge of the Pont-et-Chaussées governmental department in 1806 and was named Comte de l'Empire in 1808.
150 YEARS AGO
Italian affairs: Napoleon III's intentions for Italy?
Despite the Armistice of Villafranca of 12 July, 1859, a treaty had still not been signed. And Italian internal politics and Piedmontese agitation had resulted in distinct uncertainty over the future. As more and more Italian states "proclaimed" their allegiance to the Piedmont kingdom, rumours began to circulate abroad regarding Napoleon III's own intentions for Italy (as reported in the Moniteur universel on 28 September, 1859).
"Several foreign newspapers have maintained that the solution to the Italian affairs is being hindered by the French Emperor's desire to found in Italy a kingdom for a Prince of his House.
These rumours do not need to be refuted. To render them completely baseless, it is sufficient, indeed without speaking of the commitments made at Villafranca, to recall the actions and words of Emperor Napoleon before and since that time." [Moniteur universel, 28 September, 1859]
The obvious piece of agitprop is intriguing. What benefit could Napoleon III derive from the circulation of these rumours in his state organ? With Austria removed from Italian affairs, France yet to properly stamp any sort of authority on the area, and the Italian states at a loss as to how to react to the power vacuum left after the Franco-Austrian war, it is possible that Napoleon III saw an opportunity to add fuel to the fire going in Italy, perhaps with one eye on a mediating role in the future. He certainly still had his eye on Nice and Savoy, having initially agreed the annexation with Piedmont at Plombières. Indeed, such a scheme would hardly seem beyond such a man known as 'the sphinx' and whom the British Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, in referring to the Nice-Savoy affair, would describe thus:
"The Emperor's mind seems as full as schemes as a warren is full of rabbits, and, like rabbits, his schemes go to ground for the moment to avoid notice of antagonism." [Quoted in J. M. Thompson, Louis Napoleon and the Second Empire, 1955, p. 204]
Nice and Savoy would eventually be annexed to the French Empire on 20 March, 1860, with France recognising in turn the annexation of the United Provinces of Central Italy (Tuscany, Parma, Modena and the Papal Legations) to the Piedmontese Kingdom.
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 510, 25 September – 1 October, 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
Autumn opening times:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: 1pm-6pm
Thursday: 10am-3pm
(Closed Friday)
The library will be closed exceptionally on Tuesday 29 September, 2009.
THE MAGAZINE
Book of the month (English)
- Napoleon's Poisoned Chalice, by Dr. Martin Howard
Book of the month (French)
- Napoléon, une enfance corse, by Michel Vergé-Franceschi
Just published
- Napoleon 1814: The Defence of France, by Andrew Uffindell, with a review by independent scholar Thomas Zacharis.
Press review
- Expatica: report on Hofer bicentenary commemorations in the Tirol
- Book reviews: Evangelicals in the Royal Navy, 1775-1815: Blue Lights and Psalm-Singers and Healthy Living in the Alps: the Origins of Winter Tourism in Switzerland, 1860-1914
Seen on the web
- Belgian humour: Napoleon, (moto)crossing the Alps
Fondation Napoléon study grants
- Candidates wishing to apply for a Fondation Napoléon study grant for 2009 can find further information and download the application form here.
WHAT'S ON
Conferences
- Napoleonic Historical Society Conference 2009, New Orleans (USA), 24-27 September, 2009
- Napoleon and the United States, Rome (Italy), 25 September, 2009
- Reworking the Regency, Melbourne (Australia), 2 - 3 October, 2009
- Napoleon, the Empire and the heritage of the Enlightenment, Ferny-Voltaire and Divonne-les-Bains (France), 9 - 10 October, 2009
- Napoleonic Association Conference 2009, Southampton (UK), 10 October, 2009
- Clark Symposium: Is Paris still the Capital of the Nineteenth Century?, Williamstown (USA), 30 - 31 October, 2009
- Australian Napoleonic Congress, Goulburn (Australia), 31 October - 1 November, 2009
- Naval Dockyards Society Thirteenth Annual Conference, Portsmouth (UK), 7 November, 2009
- Wellington Congress 2010, Southampton (UK), 8 - 11 July, 2010
Commemorations
- Bicentenary of the Illyrian Provinces
- Charles Darwin 2009
Festivals
- Napoleon Festival 2009, Sarzana (Italy), 24 - 27 September, 2009
Auctions
- Baldwin's Auctions: Auction n° 63, Orders, Decorations and Military Medals, Commemorative Medals, Indian Coins, London (UK), 30 September, 2009
Exhibitions
- "The French Revolution: the hidden treasures of the Musée Carnavalet", Paris, France [30/09/2009 - 03/01/2010]
Full details
- "France and England at the Carnavalet: English caricatures during the Revolution and the Empire", Paris, France [30/09/2009 - 03/01/2010]
Full details
- "Réalité virtuelle : Monde séduisant ou dangereux ?", Paris, France [16/10/2009 - 23/10/2009]
Full details
- "Coup de crayon à l'Empire", Waterloo, Belgium [23/09/2009 - 10/01/2010]
Full details
- "Napoleon: Emperor of the French", Dublin, Ireland [18/06/2009 - 01/11/2009]
Full details
- "'Paris photographed during Haussmann's time': portrait of a city undergoing transformation", Paris, France [01/09/2009 - 27/09/2009]
Full details
- "In the Footsteps of Charles Darwin at the Jardin Botanique de Paris", Paris, France [29/05/2009 - 01/11/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon says: Illyria arise!", Ljubljana, Slovenia [12/05/2009 - 31/10/2009]
Full details
- "Napoléon", Anaheim, USA [11/10/2009 - 08/01/2010]
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
- "Napoleon and Corsica", Corte, France [20/06/2009 - 30/12/2009]
Full details
- "Napoleon, Commander, Emperor and Genius", Schallaburg, Germany [16/05/2009 - 01/11/2009]
Full details
- "With Napoleon in Egypt: the Drawings of Jean-Baptiste Lepère", Cologne, Germany [02/10/2009 - 10/01/2010]
Full details
- "Ben Weider Collection at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts", Montreal, Canada [Permanent]
Full details
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