Tag: Italy
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An Italian, the Grande Armée and the campaign of 1812 …
The Biblioteca Estense in Modena preserves the original copies of a substantial set of letters written by an unsung soldier of the Army of the Kingdom of Italy, Paolo Magelli, born at Pavullo in 1785. These were addressed to his elder brother Giustiniano. In contrast, the correspondence does not contain the letters written by Giustiniano…
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Cuirassier Jean de Gouttes’ correspondence on Ulm and Austerlitz …
La Ferté-sous-Jouarre (Seine-et-Marne), 16 Fructidor Year XIII (3 September 1805). You will no doubt be surprised to receive a letter from me dated from La Ferté; I confess that I did not expect to be leaving it so soon, even though I knew that we were due to depart from Versailles shortly. Mr. Salvaing may…
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A perspective from the French Imperial household on the battle of Bautzen, 1813 …
The following extract is drawn from the excellent recollections of treasurer Guillaume Peyrusse (1776-1860) … 20 May (1813). – The entire (Imperial) headquarters was on its feet very early. One staff officer succeeded another. The corps of the dukes of Reggio (Oudinot), Taranto (Macdonald), Ragusa (Marmont) and General Bertrand made their arrangements to cross the…
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Correspondence between Caulaincourt and Talleyrand (II) …
LETTERS FROM 1807-1809 News from Paris On 16 November 1807, Napoleon departed for Italy. A few days later, Caulaincourt was on his way to take up his post in St Petersburg. Since August, Talleyrand had no longer been Minister of Foreign Relations, but his retirement masked only a semi-disgrace. He had been given the pompous…
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Colonel Raymond Guiraud’s war journal (IV) …
8 April 1809. After a two-day rest at Bayonne, I left for Paris and prepared to join the (Imperial) Guard in Germany … We travelled in peasant carts which were drawn fairly smoothly by requisition horses … We often encountered long columns of Austrian prisoners, who were merrily making their way to France. This was…
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An interpreter’s journey during the Russian campaign …
Here we find a set of letters written by Gabriel Le Coigneux de Belâbre, an interpreter on Napoleon’s cabinet, on a day to day basis throughout the Russian campaign of 1812, meant for his cousin, René de Thomé : ‘To Monsieur René de Thomé, rue des Francs-Bourgeois n° 16, at Marais in Paris’. We present some…
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Alongside the 102nd Regiment at the battle of Raab …
Captain Routier fought in the war in the Vendée at the age of 15, and then participated in all the campaigns of the Consulate and the Empire. This memoir, intended for his children, recounts what a soldier of the Grande Armée faced and experienced. It has a great documentary value and allows to understand the…
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A chasseur’s overview on the 1809 campaign …
Odenburg, Germany [now Sopron, in Hungary], 29 July 1809. My dear brothers and sisters. I am writing you a letter to ask about the condition of your health. Mine is very good at present and I hope that this letter finds you in the same spirits. I will tell you that I left on the…