AKC 4 T&RS – Spring Term 2007 – Religion and Public History 01/02/07

AKC 4 – 1 FEBRUARY 2007

THE NAPOLEONIC WARS

DR MICHAEL ROWE, DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

Napoleon’s impact on Europe long outlived his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The territorial reordering that occurred under his auspices was never reversed. Similarly, his institutional achievements contributed greatly to later developments. Napoleon’s legal codification has left its stamp not only on France, but on much of Continental Europe and even the world beyond. The subject of this lecture, however, is less these tangible achievements, but rather the more subtle imprint left by Napoleon on the collective memories of Europeans. In order to explore this more fully, the lecture is structured as follows:

 The art of propaganda.

(i) Secularisation of this concept during the French Revolution.

(ii) What constitutes successful propaganda?

 Napoleonic propaganda.

(iii) Institutional setting.

(iv) Napoleon and the writing of history.

(v) Napoleon and the newspaper press.

(vi) Napoleon and his artists.

(vii) Napoleon’s architectural legacy.

 Anti-Napoleonic propaganda.

(viii) British caricaturists, including George Cruikshank & James Gillray.

 Birth of the Napoleonic Legend.

(ix) Count Emmanuel de Las Cases and the Mémorial de Sainte-Hélène.  Rise and Fall of Bonapartism (France, 1815-c.1870).

(x) From Ideology of the Left to Ideology of the Right.

 Napoleon and the rise of nationalisms.

(xi) Germany: commemorations of the Völkerschlacht.

(xii) Russia: memories of 1812 and the unity of Tsar and people.

(xiii) Spain: Dos de Mayo and the myth of the guerrilla.

(xiv) Britain: commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar, 1805-2005.

Suggested Reading:

A good place to start is to consult the special edition of Yale French Studies 26 (1960), devoted to ‘The Myth of Napoleon’. This contains a variety of articles, focusing on the Napoleonic myth, mainly in nineteenth-century Europe. This journal can be accessed from the KCL library via JSTOR.

In addition, I would recommend:

Wayne Hanley, The Genesis of Napoleonic Propaganda, 1796-1799 (Columbia University Press, 2005). If you cannot find this, then try Robert B. Holtman, Napoleonic Propaganda (1950).

D. O’Brien, After the Revolution. Antoine-Jean Gros, Painting and Propaganda under Napoleon (Penn State University Press, 2006). If you cannot get hold of this, then Timothy Wilson-Smith, Napoleon and His Artists (Constable, 1996).

Robert Gildea, ‘Bonapartism’ in idem, The Past in French History (Yale University Press, 1994).

Janet Hartley, ‘Russia and Napoleon: State, Society and the Nation’, in Michael Rowe (ed.), Collaboration and Resistance in Napoleonic Europe: State-Formation in an Age of Upheaval, c. 1800-1815 (Palgrave, 2003).

Full details about the AKC course, including copies of the handouts, can be found on the AKC website at: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/akc. If you have any queries please contact the AKC Course Administrator on ext 2333 or via email at [email protected]. You must register for the course, using the form on the website, before registering for the exam. Please note the AKC Exam is on Friday 23 March 2007 between 14.30 and 16.30.

EXAM REGISTRATION is now open. To register please reply to the email from the Dean’s Office giving your full name and student ID number. The deadline of registration is 9 March 2007.