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CORRESPONDENCE
OF NAPOLEON I
Napoleon I was born Napoleone di Buonaparte on August
15, 1769, in Ajaccio, Corsica. By the time of his banishment from Europe in
1815, this brilliant artillery graduate of the École Militaire in Paris
had become the Emperor of France, and his military successes had placed him as
one of history's foremost military leaders. The armies which Napoleon led were
modern, dedicated, and headed by a commander who demonstrated a willingness to
die with his men on several occasions. This reputation as a soldier's
soldier, coupled with his charisma and computer-like memory made for a
human being who was difficult to resist. Indeed, even as a middle-aged prisoner
of the British, caution was required to prevent his immense powers of
persuasion from swaying the opinions of individual captors. The feature that
people most remembered about him were his large, grey eyes, which were said to
be piercing, very expressive and "mobile," something which it was claimed, was
never able to be reproduced on canvas.
These on-line selections of
Napoleon's Headquarters Correspondence are drawn from the original 32 volumes
of dispatches and orders first published in 1853. Because of the sheer size of
the Correspondence, it is 32 volumes of French language text, we can only
provide highlights of important battles or campaigns. Hopefully the future will
allow us to expand this greatly so that more of this historic information can
be available on-line!
Napoleon takes command of the Army of
Italy
March 27th through 31st,
1797
The Battle of Austerlitz
December 1st through 3rd, 1805
December 3rd, 1805
Prelude and
first day of Aspern-Essling
May 19 through 21,
1809 (French)
May 19 through 21, 1809
(English)
Second day and aftermath of
Aspern-Essling
May 22 through 24,
1809
The battles of Ligny, Quatre Bras and Waterloo
(Mont-Saint-Jean)
June 15th and 16th, 1815
(French)
June 15th and 16th, 1815
(English)
June 18th through 21st, 1815
(French)
June 18th through 21st, 1815
(English) |
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