Napoleon: A Symbol for an Age A Brief History with Documents

By calming revolutionary turbulence while preserving fundamental gains of 1789, Napoleon Bonaparte laid the foundations of modern France. But his impact reached beyond France's borders as well. His legacy of war, civil rights, exploitation, and national awakening reshaped identities across the European continent, while in the Atlantic world he destroyed the colonial order and helped plant the seeds of American power. In this collection of wide-ranging primary sources including confidential memoranda and correspondence, speeches, memoirs, letters, police reports, and songs, most of which appear in English translation for the first time Rafe Blaufarb situates Napoleon within his time while opening a broad perspective on the nature and impact of Napoleonic rule. His introduction provides a narrative of Napoleon's rise and fall and frames the key issues of Napoleon's life and times. Useful pedagogical tools include maps, illustrations, a chronology, questions for consideration, and a selected bibliography.

RAFE BLAUFARB (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is Ben Weider Eminent Scholar Chair in Napoleonic History and the Director of the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution at Florida State University. He is the author of The French Army, 1750–1820: Careers, Talent, Merit (2002) and Bonapartists in the Borderlands: French Refugees and Exiles on the Gulf Coast, 1815–1835 (2005) and has published articles in Annales, H.S.S., French Historical Studies, French History Studies, Comparative Studies in Society and History, Revue d’histoire moderne et contemporaine, and Annales historiques de la RŽvolution Franaise. He has taught at the UniversitŽ Paul-ValŽry III (Montpellier) and he has received fellowships and research grants from the NEH, Mellon Foundation, and Camargo Foundation, as well as a Bourse Ch‰teaubriand.

Table of Contents

Foreword

Preface



PART ONE INTRODUCTION: NAPOLEON: THE MAN IN HIS TIMES

The Rise of Napoleon

Napoleon Comes to Power

The Foundations of Napoleon’s Regime

From Republic to Empire

Napoleon and War

Napoleon and Europe

        Map 1. Europe in 1800

        Map 2. Europe in 1812

Decline and Fall

Legacy

PART TWO
THE DOCUMENTS

1. The Rise of Napoleon

The Making of a Political General

1. J.C.D. Lacretelle, Account of the Vendémiaire Uprising, 1875

2. J.B. Le Couteulx de Canteleu, Bonaparte in Barras’s Salon, 1875

Forging a Reputation: Bonaparte in Italy

3. Napoleon Bonaparte, Historical, Political, and Military Notes on the Army of Italy, October 23, 1797

4. Napoleon Bonaparte, Letters to Josephine, 1796–1797

5. A.F. Miot de Melito, Napoleon and the Fructidor Coup, 1858

The Politics of Generalship: The Egyptian Expedition

6. Napoleon Bonaparte, Address to the Army of Egypt, 1798

7. Napoleon Bonaparte, Proclamation to the Egyptians, 1798

8. L. de Laus de Boisy, The Institute of Egypt, 1799

9. Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, The French Occupation of Cairo, 1798

2. Napoleon in Power

Seizing Power: 18 Brumaire

10. P.J.G. Cabanis, Address to the French People, November 10, 1799

11. A.C. Thibaudeau, Creation of the Consular Government, 1834

Restoring Order

12. Judge Challamel, Letter of Brigandage, February 13, 1800

13. D.F. Delpierre and B. Constant, Debate over the Creation of Special Military Commissions, January 24–25, 1801

Religious Settlement

14. Papal Agent Ghislieri and Pope Pius VII, Letters on the Origin of the Concordat, July 10, 1800

15. J.J. Siméon, Speech Presenting the Concordat to the Legislature for Ratification, April 6, 1802

Return of the Emigrés

16. Marquise de la Tour du Pin, Return to France, 1913

17. Marquis de Bouthillier, Return from the Emigré Armies, 1810

18. Prefect of the Vaucluse, Report on Emigres, July 4, 1805

3. Foundations of Napoleon’s Regime

The Civil Code

19. J.E.M. Portalis, Preliminary Discourse on the Civil Code, January 21, 1801

20. Council of State, Debate over the Civil Code, September 27, 1801

Forging a New Elite

21. Millot de Fontaines, Letter of Recommendation for the Military School, July 14, 1810

22. Ministry of War, Notes on Military School Applicants, August 1809

Napoleonic Propaganda

23. Napoleon Bonaparte, Letter to Minister of the Interior, May 30, 1807

24. Napoleon Bonaparte, Executive Order, March 3, 1806

25. Evolving Images of Napoleon’s Power, 1797–1812


Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon Crossing the Alps at St. Bernard, 1801


Antoine-Jean Gros, Bonaparte, premier consul, 1802


Jacques-Louis David, Le couronnement de Napoléon Ier, 1808


Jacques-Louis David, Le serment d’armée après la distribution des aigles, 1805


François-Pascal-Simon Gérard, Napoléon en grand habillement du Sacre, 1806


Engraved Reproduction of Maurice Orange, Après la Victoire, undated


Jean-Nicholas Laugier, Engraved Reproduction of Jacques-Louis David’s Napoléon dans Son étude, 1812

26. The Imperial Catechism, 1808

The Secret Police

27. Paris Police Reports, 1804–1807

4. From Republic to Empire

Legion of Honor

28. P.L. Roederer, Speech Proposing the Creation of a Legion of Honor, May 9, 1802

29. J.F. Savoye-Rollin, Speech Opposing the Creation of a Legion of Honor, May 12, 1802

The New Dynasty

30. J.F. Curée, Motion to Institute Hereditary Government, April 30, 1804

31. L. Carnot, Speech against Curée’s Motion, May 1, 1804

The Imperial Court

32. E.A. de Las Cases, Reestablishment of Court Etiquette, undated

33. Guide to Imperial Etiquette, 1811

34. C.M. de Talleyrand, Napoleon’s Austrian Marriage, 1853

The Imperial Nobility

35. Napoleon Bonaparte, Speech to the Senate on the Creation of Imperial Duchies, 1807

36. Napoleon Bonaparte, Letter to Cambacérès, June 14, 1810

5. An Age of War

Total War

37. Carl von Clausewitz, On War, 1832

The Mud and Majesty of War

38. F.R. Cailloux (Pouget), Napoleon Decorating His Troops, 1895

39. J.B.A.M. Marbot, The Battle of Austerlitz, 1891

40. A. de Vigny, Military Grandeur, 1835

41. P.F. Percy, Campaign Journal, 1806

The Civilian Experience of War

42. F.L. Burk, Diary, 1813

43. Napoleon Bonaparte, On Conscription, undated

44. Song of Vivarais Conscripts, 1810

45. Replacement Contract, March 27, 1809

46. Mayor of Roquebrune, Letter to the Prefect of the Hérault, October 10, 1805

47. Sub-Prefect of the Haute-Loire, Letter to the Prefect, February 12, 1811

The Moral Impact of War

48. B. Constant, On the Spirit of Conquest, 1814

6. Napoleon and Europe

The Liberator

49. Napoleon Bonaparte, On Europe, undated

50. M.L. Molé, Opening Discourse to the Assembly of the Jews, 1806

51. Napoleon Bonaparte, Letter to Jérôme Bonaparte, King of Westphalia, November 15, 1807

52. N.P. Desvernois, Reforms in Naples, 1898

53. G. Zurlo, Report on the Abolition of Feudalism in Naples, undated

The Tyrant

54. C.M. de Talleyrand, Napoleon’s European Legacy, 1853

55. Napoleon Bonaparte, Letter to Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, July 30, 1806

56. L.F. Lejeune, Smuggling and the Continental System, 1895

57. Inhabitants of Preston, Petition to the House of Commons, March 23, 1812

7. Napoleon and the Atlantic World

Colonial Ambitions

58. E. Bruix, Speech to the Legislature on the Reestablishment of Slavery, May 20, 1802

59. Napoleon Bonaparte, Letter to Toussaint L’Ouverture, 1802

60. Napoleon Bonaparte, Confidential Instructions to General Leclerc, 1801

Colonial Retreat

61. General Leclerc, Letter to Napoleon Bonaparte, October 7, 1802

62. F. Barbé-Marbois, The Sale of Louisiana, 1977

Napoleon and Latin America

63. Joseph Bonaparte, Instructions to Secret Agents in Spanish America, 1810

64. Viceroy of New Spain, Denunciation of Bonapartist Subversion, 1810

65. Richard Rush, Letter to James Monroe, April 1817

8. Decline and Fall

The Spanish Ulcer

66. Supreme Governmental Junta, Appeal to the Clergy, 1808

67. Civil Catechism, and Brief Compendium of the Obligations of the Spaniard, 1808

68. C.F. Francois, Atrocities of War, undated (nineteenth century)

To Russia and Back

69. D. Davydov, Partisan Warfare, 1820-1822

70. J. Planat de la Faye, Letter from Moscow, September 30, 1812

71. P.P. de Ségur, Crossing the Beresina, 1825

Germany Awakes

72. E.M. Arndt, The German Fatherland, 1813

73. Proclamation of Kalisch, March 23, 1813

The First Restoration and the Hundred Days

74. A.C. Thibaudeau, The First Restoration, 1913

75. E.A. de Las Cases, Account of a Conversation between Benjamin Constant and Napoleon Bonaparte, 1815

76. A.C. Thibaudeau, The Hundred Days, 1913

9. The Aftermath

White Terror, Bourbon Repression

77. C.E. Marie de la Bourdonnaye, Speech to the Legislature Calling for Royalist Repression, November 11, 1815

78. Charge Sheet Against Suspected Bonapartists, January 3, 1816

79. Prefect of the Hérault, Letter to His Sub-Prefects, December 23, 1815

The Specter of Napoleon in the Atlantic World

80. Duke de Richelieu, Letters to the Marquis d’Osmond, 1816–1818

81. J. Garcia de Leon y Pizarro, Circular Letter to the Cabinets of Europe, 1817

Popular Bonapartism

82. P.J. de Béranger, The Old Banner, 1820

83. French Consul in New Orleans, Dispatch to the French Foreign Minister, May 1817

84. B.A. Granier de Cassagnac, On Popular Bonapartism and Louis Napoleon’s Rise to Power, 1857

Return of the Ashes

85. Victor Hugo, Napoleon’s Reburial in France, 1840

Last Words

86. E.A. de Las Cases, Napoleon on Napoleon, undated

Appendixes
A Chronology of Napoleon and His Times (1769-1821)
Questions for Consideration
Selected Bibliography

Index