Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2015 Political Conspiracy in Napoleonic France Kelly Diane Jernigan Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Jernigan, Kelly Diane, "Political Conspiracy in Napoleonic France" (2015). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1198. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1198 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. POLITICAL CONSPIRACY IN NAPOLEONIC FRANCE A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of History by Kelly D. Jernigan B.A., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 2002 M.A., Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, 2007 May 2015 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research and writing that went into this dissertation may have been my own personal projects, but throughout the process, I recognized that I had a whole team of people working alongside me. Without them, I never would have pushed myself so hard and I probably would not have finished my degree. I will be eternally grateful for their support. To start, I want to recognize the contributions of my two-year-old daughter Mileena. I will always remember you sitting with me so you could “help Mommy work.” When you took over my laptop, you never deleted any chapters, for which I am grateful. I will admit, however, to deleting your additions to my work. Your conclusion that j;lk348kjndf was responsible for the downfall of 803it3-odfkmlkd was sheer brilliance, but I do not believe academia is ready for that kind of insight. As for your additions to my notebooks, I kept those. Whenever I ran across your drawings of waterfalls, or the pictures you had me draw (trains, cows, and snowmen were among your most frequent requests), I remembered why I needed to finish this project. I want to give you the world, and while I will fall short of this, I will always do everything I can to give you the best life possible. This dissertation and this degree is a step. I also want to thank my husband, Mike, for his constant support through the eight years that this project took to complete. Thank you for talking me back from the edge when I threatened to quit—though I maintain I didn’t actually mean it . for the most part. Thank you for only occasionally harassing me about “abandoning you and Mileena” when I left the house to get work done. Thank you for listening to my “dry and pedantic” ramblings about all things Napoleonic. Thank you for offering to read my dissertation, even though I know you’d probably rather have a root canal. Now that this is done—and your school too (congratulations!)—our daily lives are going to change a good deal. Work will take the place of school on a full-time basis now. We won’t have the excuse of theses and dissertations to explain the mountain of ii clothes that needs to be put away or to justify eating out for nearly every meal of every day. But I look at it this way: if we can survive both of us being in grad school while raising a toddler, we can survive anything. I look forward to seeing what else we can accomplish (overcome?) together. I want to thank my parents, Glen and Annice Whittaker, for their support for the past 34 years. Thanks for not losing your minds when I told you I wanted to major in two Liberal Arts fields and for not laughing when my hard work then got me a job at a local call center. Thanks for helping move me to Baton Rouge in the August heat. Thanks for driving down to visit and to bring me home for breaks. Thanks for helping move me—and my dozens of extremely heavy boxes of books—back up to Virginia in the August heat. Thanks for buying the first copy of my published Master’s thesis for the absolutely ridiculous price they charged. Thanks for having me sign it (I’ve never been so nervous about writing my name), which made me feel like some kind of superstar. Thanks for all the hugs, lunches, dinners, phone calls where I rant incoherently, and everything else you have always done for me. I’m finally done with school. I imagine that’s almost as much a relief for you as it is for me. I want to thank the other half of the “Dynamic Duo,” Dr. Carolyn Day, for her help, advice, and friendship, above all else. You have been there for me through everything over the last ten years and I cannot thank you enough. I apologize for the times that I shunned all forms of communication longer than I should have. Your friendship has always meant the world to me and I am sorry for any times where I seemed to take advantage of it. I have always enjoyed our talks, academic or otherwise, on the phone or in person. I look forward to our continued friendship, and hope, now that school is finally finished, that we can find ways to see each other more often. Besides, I’m sure it’s cold in CC’s. iii I can never thank Dr. Benjamin Martin enough for serving as my advisor during my ten years at LSU. During our first conversation, before I had even officially enrolled, my ignorance of nearly anything historical positively radiated. I didn’t know any of the people you mentioned. I hadn’t read any of the authors you discussed. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I’m pretty sure you knew that. The B - - - I scored on my exam in your class my first semester showed me just how much work I needed to do. Your feedback on my assignments, my thesis chapters, and my dissertation pushed me to become the best graduate student and historian I can be. I will always dig for specific details. I will never describe something as “very” anything ever again. I am destined, however, to be forever haunted by “dangling participles.” Thank you for all the help you have given over the years, and especially for your help in the last year with my extension and other “complications.” One final and important note: the answer is 1945. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .............................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER ONE CONSPIRACY DEFINED ..........................................................................1 TWO LEADERSHIP OF NAPOLEON ..............................................................20 THREE CONSPIRATION DES POIGNARDS ........................................................69 FOUR INFERNAL MACHINE PLOT .................................................................89 FIVE CADOUDAL, PICHEGRU, AND MOREAU ........................................133 SIX GENERAL MALET, 1812 ......................................................................167 SEVEN CONCLUSION ........................................................................................225 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................237 VITA ............................................................................................................................................250 v ABSTRACT An in-depth analysis of primary source material indicates that the conspiracies hatched against Napoleon served as the impetus for his decision to change the government from the Consulate to the Empire. His ambitious personality drove him to achieve as much power and prestige for himself as possible, a point discussed by numerous historians, but the conspiratorial actions designed to strike him down provided the opportunity. He was a master of manipulating situations—and people—in order to achieve his ambitious goals. Knowing that his constituents worried over renewed political turmoil if something happened to him, Napoleon used their fears to strengthen his personal grasp on power. By accepting the position of First Consul for life, he made a promise to French citizens that he would protect and serve them for the duration of his life. By then taking the title of Emperor, he promised that his family would protect and serve the nation in perpetuity. vi CHAPTER ONE CONSPIRACY DEFINED The retreat of the Grand Armée from the disastrous Russian campaign of 1812 was already underway, but distressing news from Paris prompted Napoleon to rush back to the capital ahead of his troops, leaving them to languish in miserable conditions. A political malcontent had gathered a group of similarly dissatisfied individuals to attempt to overthrow the imperial government. Accomplishing the arrest—or recruitment—of numerous high-ranking political officials, the conspiracy had nearly succeeded. Napoleon was horrified that an escaped political prisoner could so easily threaten all he had created. The nearly-successful conspiracy launched by General Claude François de Malet on the night of 22 October 1812 was not the first plot Napoleon endured. It was, however, the one that frightened him the most because there was no way to use it to his advantage. Previously, he had transformed conspiracies designed to destroy his regime