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THIS WEEK'S LETTER...
... has a particularly literary slant. As well as our latest book of the month, Michael Broers' Napoleon's Other War: Bandits, Rebels and their Pursuers in the Age of Revolutions, we also have details of Louis Bonaparte, Roi de Hollande, the latest work to be published by Nouveau Monde Editions/Fondation Napoléon, and Dominic Lieven's Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814. Ploughing ever onwards, you will find our latest "fashion file" from historian Zoe Viney, a piece on the sewing machine and empress Eugénie's wedding dress, plus a reminder of Napoleonica. La Revue's new, completely free, format on the journal website cairn.info. Finally, as is our tradition, we have 200 years ago (Napoleon finally loses his patience with Fouché) and its 150 years ago counterpart (the perils of early ballooning experiments).
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BOOK OF THE MONTH
Napoleon's Other War: Bandits, Rebels and their Pursuers in the Age of Revolutions, by Michael Broers
Michael Broers' exceedingly useful book, Napoleon's Other War comes in the wake of recent attempts to flesh out the well-known big picture of Napoleonic Europe – the diplomatic and military glory boys deciding the fate of countries and continents. Broers picks out the experience of bandits and rebels in a style and format aimed resolutely at the mainstream (and not just academic) reader, its passionate prose carrying all before it. One particular delight of this book is that it wanders far beyond the usual byways, to South America, the Balkans, Greece, and even to the mental space inhabited by the idea of the bandit/rebel in popular imagination. These figures who populated the revolutionary 'historical void' between the pre- and post-1815 worlds are painted in techni-colour and discussed with brio.
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RECENTLY PUBLISHED
Louis Bonaparte, Roi de Hollande, edited by Annie Jourdan
Louis Napoleon was, for the greater part of his youth, an obedient brother in awe of his more famous sibling. His unhappy relationship with the brilliant but superficial Hortense de Beauharnais simply reinforced Louis' rather uninspiring image given to him by posterity's extremely harsh critique of the Bonaparte family. The latest French book of the month, Louis Bonaparte, Roi de Hollande, looks to re-evaluate this image and explore through a series of essays his devoted, enlightened and, at times, autocratic rule of the Dutch kingdom.
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Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814, by Dominic Lieven
Using an array of new, rare and surprising sources, Dominic Lieven tells the story of one of the most astonishing dramas in Europe's history, describing from the Russians' viewpoint how they went from retreat, defeat and the burning of Moscow to becoming the new liberators of Europe. In the summer of 1812 after years of uneasy peace, Napoleon, the master of almost the whole continent, marched into Russia with the largest army ever assembled, confident that he would sweep everything before him. Less than two years later the Russian army was itself marching into Paris and Napoleon's empire lay in ruins.
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NAPOLEON.ORG
Fashion file: Empress of the French. In her bridal costume.
The invention and proliferation of the sewing machine is a milestone in the history of textiles and dress. The pace of industrial change during the nineteenth century was such that from its date of conception in 1846 it took only twenty years for machine stitched garments to all but replace the more labour intensive alternative. The speed at which stitches could be made gave way to an increase in the number of stitches required in a gown.
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NAPOLEONICA. LA REVUE
Issue 7 online now
As announced last week, Napoleonica. La Revue is now freely available on cairn.info. This week we take a trip all the way back to issue n° 1, published in 2008, with Thierry Lentz's article "Napoleon and Charlemagne". Beginning with an examination of the place of Charlemagne in late 18th-century France and then considering Napoleon's own obsession with history and the figure of Charlemagne, this essay attempts to show how Napoleon as emperor consistently invoked the Carolingian founder with the aim of perpetuating his legitimacy and establishing the fourth dynasty in France.
200 YEARS AGO
Fouché: the final straw
In early 1810 and without the authorisation or knowledge of Napoleon, Fouché began tentative peace negotiations with Britain. Between February and May of that year, four men all made contact with the Marquis Wellesley (older brother to Arthur and British Foreign Secretary) to offer deals put together by the French Police Commissioner. These men - an émigré by the name of Fagan, a Franco-Dutch banker by the name of Labouchère (who was also brother-in-law to the British banker Baring), Baring himself, and the French banker Ouvrard - were all contacts of Fouché, who himself remained in France and conducted the negotiations through letters and discrete notes. The final attempt, portrayed as a wedding gift from the French emperor (who had recently married Marie-Louise of Austria), proposed Spanish America for Ferdinand VII of Spain, a partition of the United States between Britain and France and the reopening of the European continent to British goods and trade. But such negotiations, which could not remain secret for long, proved to be the final straw for Napoleon. Writing on 3 June, 1810, he gave Fouché a severe dressing down and removed his portfolio:
"[I]t is impossible, without betraying my principles, to leave you your portfolio. The position of police commissioner demands total and absolute confidence, and this confidence cannot exist for you have already, in many important circumstances, compromised my tranquillity and that of the State.
Negotiations were opened with England: meetings were held with Lord Wellesley. This minister knew that it was on your instigation that they were being held; he ought to have believed that it was on mine. As a result, all my political relations have been severely disrupted which would subsequently, were I to tolerate it, leave a stain upon my character, something which I cannot and shall not allow." [Letter from Napoleon to Fouché dated 3 June, 1810, n° 16,529]
Ouvrard was arrested, and Wellesley was ridiculed for his part in the affair. Napoleon could not, however, entirely rid himself of such a useful individual and Fouché was "exiled" to Rome where he was made governor.
150 YEARS AGO
Balloon accident
Rather aptly, the Ascension weekend edition of the Moniteur, 28 to 29 May, 1860, ran a story about the fatal 'non-ascension' in New York of a balloon called The Venus, taken from a report dated 12 May that originally appeared in the French-language American paper, Le Courrier des Etats-Unis.
"Augustus Connor, who made his first steps as an balloonist fifteen days ago in New York [...] announced his second flight for Thursday in [the Palace Garden, a "pleasure" venue on the corner of 6th Avenue and 14th Street (near Union Square) which offered public entertainment in the form of concerts, fireworks and, perhaps less enjoyably, balloon ascensions, ed.]. A four o'clock, the crowd was gathered on the roofs and at the windows of the neighbouring buildings around the Palace Garden, whilst within the park itself hundreds of curious onlookers watched with interest as the balloon was inflated.
[...]
The Venus was not yet entirely inflated when a long rip appeared in one of the strips of fabric. The aeronaut hastily repaired the damage and, upon a number of persons raising their concerns regarding the danger he was running, he replied that the hole could indeed reopen but that he would not postpone the flight for such a trifling matter. This unexpected turn was not the only thing imperilling the voyage. The wind was blowing with such force that five strong men were struggling to hold the balloon down; however, despite his friends' protestations and advice from various members of the crowd, Mr Connor was stubbornly resolved to start his flight immediately. Having shaken the hand of his young wife, he boldly climbed into the gondola and cried to his men holding the ropes his last words: "Let them all go!"
Barely was the aerostat more than a few feet off the ground than a violent gust of wind seized hold of it and threw it against the wall of the concert hall. The balloonist would have been broken there and then had his gondola not passed through an open window; unfortunately for him, he was not to stay too long in this refuge; the gondola, taken a second time, hung from the roof edge [...], from where it was thrown violently against a large lantern in the middle of the roof.
[...]
The unfortunate balloonist was discovered unconscious, although only five or six serious bruises and contusions could be found on his body, his face and the back of his head. He must have suffered terrible internal injuries for, despite prompt medical attention, he did not regain consciousness and died at around 11 o'clock at night." [Moniteur Universel, 28 and 29 May, 1860]
Wishing you an excellent "Napoleonic" week,
Peter Hicks & Hamish Davey Wright
Historians and web-editors
THE NAPOLEON.ORG BULLETIN, N° 544, 28 May - 3 June, 2010
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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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FONDATION NAPOLEON ON THE WEB
Each week we offer you a "mystery" link to somewhere on napoleon.org. Click on the link to discover a part of the website you might not have visited before...
Statistic of the week:
Napoleonica.org, the Fondation Napoléon's research portal and online primary source archives, has 4,025 letters written by Vivant Denon, all of which are available in just a few clicks of the mouse.
MAGAZINE
Just published
- Napoleon's Other War: Bandits, Rebels and their Pursuers in the Age of Revolution, by Michael Broers
- Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814, by Dominic Lieven
Press review
- The Circus in America: New York's Palace Garden
- New Zealand Herald: upcoming auction of Napoleonic items and artefacts
EVENTS
On now and coming up
A selection of events taking place now or in the coming weeks, taken from our What's on listings.
Conferences
- Fondation Napoléon/Souvenir Napoléonien "1810" conference, La Courneuve, France [08/06/2010 - 09/06/2010]
Full details
Concerts
- Bicentenary concerts commemorating the marriage between Napoleon and Marie-Louise, Paris, France [08/06/2010 - 10/06/2010]
Full details
NAPOLEON.ORG
The best of the month:
- Book of the month
- Painting of the month
- Objet d'Art of the month
- Article of the month
NAPOLEONICA.LA REVUE
Available free on Cairn.info
NAPOLEONICA ARCHIVES ONLINE
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Situated at 148 boulevard Haussmann, 75008 Paris, the library is open Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday 1pm – 6pm, and Thursday 10am – 3pm.
Online catalogue
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