Articles : 1400
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ArticleNapoleonic pages: The official description of the Battle of Austerlitz, according to Napoleon’s instructions
History Starting during the Consulate, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the Dépôt général de la guerre to write the history of his campaigns. The Consul, and later Emperor, gave the first 'instructions', and then corrected the proofs written by others. The aim was to create works similar to those written by Berthier for Egypt and Marengo, accompanied […]
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Article«Napoleon’s perfect battle», an interview with Jacques Garnier
Given the significant number of books written on the subject, is it reasonable to expect new discoveries regarding the battle of Austerlitz? What approach can we adopt, two centuries on, to this battle which had been so frequently described and so significantly distorted by the legend. On the occasion of the publication of his recent […]
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ArticlePrussia – the Third Coalition and the Battle of AusterlitzEric Lerdrup-Bourgois’ article on Prussia’s involvement in the Third Coalition forms part of napoleon.org’s bicentenary close-up on the Battle of Austerlitz. Although Prussia’s participation in the Third Coalition is often disregarded, Lerdrup-Bourgois demonstrates that there was in actual fact a clear desire within the Prussian…
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ArticleProclamation after Austerlitz, 12 Frimaire, An XIV (3 December, 1805)
Soldiers! I am pleased with you. On the day of Austerlitz, you lived up to all my expectations of your bravery and boldness; you have decked your eagles with a glory that shall never die. In less than four hours, an army of one hundred thousand men, commanded by the emperors of Russia and Austria, […]
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ArticleNapoleonic pages: L’Europe et la Révolution, by Albert Sorel (Paris: Plon, 1885-1904)
A key work in French on the Revoultionary and Napoleonic periods, L'Europe et la Révolution française attempts to show the deep-running continuity of French foreign policy from the Ancien Régime to the following periods. It was not so much Revolutionary ideology, Sorel argues, which inspired the wars of 1792-1815, but rather it was France's traditional […]
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ArticleSaint Helena – prison island
A place of confinement The St Helena Herald for 17th September 2004 carried the following article;Escaped prisoner still missingPaul Stroud, a prisoner sentenced to 6 years imprisonment for the importation of drugs, went missing last weekend. He remains at large. The escaped prisoner remained at large for more than a week and was eventually recaptured after […]
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ArticleBicentenaries: a rather pale «Sun of Austerlitz»
“There are several school of commemoration. But there are two which seem to be dominant in France today: one which prefers the politically profitable; and one which prefers self-mortification for a specific painful moment from French history. It is not in the least surprising therefore that the French state has handled (and continues to handle) […]
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ArticleVilleneuve’s Trafalgar Despatch
Admiral Villeneuve wrote the Trafalgar despatch (or compte-rendu) to the Minister of the Marine in Paris when he was a prisoner of war on board the British frigate Euryalus, on the 15th of November. It was forwarded after his arrival in England. “At midday I signalled to the fleet to begin firing as soon as […]
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ArticleThe Trafalgar report by the Spanish Admiral, the Duke of Gravina
This extract is the part of the Gravina's report which deals with the actual fighting:“It wanted eight minutes to noon when an English three-decker broke through the centre of our line, being seconded in this manoeuvre by the Vessels which followed in its wake. The other leading ships of the enemy's columns did the same. […]
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ArticleCaptain Lucas’s report concerning the loss of the vessel Redoutable at the Battle of Trafalgar
This day, 1ère de Brumaire, An XIV (the 23rd of October), we, the undersigned, E. Lucas, Captain and Officer of the legion of Honour, having the command of his Majesty's ship Le Redoutable, together with the officers of the Etat Major (commissioned officers), under-officers, etc., finding ourselves brought together on board the English ship Swiftsure, […]