A handwritten letter penned on 14 May 1803 by King George III addressed to the British Secretary of State Lord Hawkesbury in which he intended to declare war on Napoleon was bought by a private collector for more than £11,000 at auction.
Transcript below⬇️
#Napoleon#France #England
A French imperial eagle from 1804 was auctioned in 2014 by the Monaco royal family to help fund repairs for a palace. The eagle had been pierced by two case-shot bullets; sabre marks can also be seen on his head, and wing.
The sale price is unknown.
#Napoleon#France
In 2015, the National Army Museum was presented with a coatee worn by Major Thomas Harris at the Battle of Waterloo. A combination of historical evidence and modern forensic analysis was used to confirm its authenticity.
Thomas Harris was severely wounded at Waterloo and his right arm had to be amputated.
The physical state of the coatee largely corroborates the written evidence of how Harris was wounded. It is severely stained with blood and the right sleeve has been fully cut open to allow access to his shattered arm.
A hat belonging to Napoleon when he ruled France has been sold for $2.1m at auction in Paris.
Only 20 are thought to remain - many in private collections.
Auctioneer Jean Pierre Osenat, said: "People recognized this hat everywhere. When they saw it on the battlefields, they knew Napoleon was there. That was the image - the symbol of the emperor”
A Nazi-made Enigma machine that sold for 100 euros at a flea market in Romania has been sold a second time for 45,000 euros. The breaking of the Enigma codes helped the Allies defeat Nazi Germany in WWII.
The Enigma was a type of enciphering machine used by the German armed forces to send messages securely during the second world war, in which Romania was an ally of Nazi Germany.
#ww2 #england
This engagement ring, given to future Empress Joséphine de Beauharnais by Napoleon, was sold for $1 million in 2013. Nearly 50x more than its appraised value.
The ring has a yellow gold band with two tear-shaped stones, a diamond and a sapphire that is just under a carat each, set in the “toi et moi” (you and me) fashion. Though their relationship got off to a poor start when Joséphine was caught with a young dashing cavalry officer, Hippolyte Charles.
#France #Napoleon #history
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Not all Normandy landings were as successful as D-Day. 140 years before, a group of French royalist conspirators landed there after being transported by the British Royal Navy. They wished to put a stop to the French Revolution, and place a Bourbon back on the throne.
Their plan was quite different from the Anglo-American's in 1944, but no less ambitious. They were to kidnap and/or kill the soon to be Emperor of the French; Napoleon Bonaparte. At that time he was still First Consul.
#France #Napoleon #Normandy
After the French victory at the epic battle of Borodino, the Russians were on the run with the Grande Armée shadowing their every move, just a days march behind.
The two armies were so close during this period, that Napoleon and Russian general Mikhail Kutuzov actually shared the same bed at Bolshiye Vyazyomy manor, just 1 night apart.
#France #Napoleon #Russia
Who really burned Moscow? In Saint-Helena, Napoleon allegedly asked a young girl learning geography on the largest cities of Russia. The girl hesitatingly responded that it was once Moscow, but currently Saint-Petersburg. “And why so?” “Because Moscow is burned” “And who burned it?” The girl did not answer. Napoleon said to the group, “See how they teach children! I am certain that in this book, which I cannot read, I am represented burning Moscow, as Nero burned Rome”
#Napoleon #France #Russia
A piece of the ship Napoleon stood on to surrender to the British following the Battle of Waterloo fetched $75,741 at auction.
The piece of timber, which is now inset into a desk, was taken from HMS Bellerophon where the French Emperor surrendered.
The desk also incorporates a French coin thrown to a cabin boy by Napoleon and a couch he rested on was also included in the sale.
#Napoleon #France #England #History
Antoine-Jean Gros, when first displaying his masterpiece at the Paris Salons, Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau, was met with criticism and potential censure by government agents for having portrayed too real, and therefore politically dangerous a picture of what war truly looked like. Napoleon was said to have taken a long look at the painting that produced an unbearable tension in the room.
After a while, he turned to Gros, unpinned his own Medal of the Legion of Honor, and placed it on the artist before abruptly leaving, saying nothing to either Gros or the audience.
#France #Napoleon
Did Napoleon speak English? Throughout most of his life, the answer was no.
But during his time on St Helena, he worked with a tutor to learn the language of his greatest enemy. This letter is one of the rarest documents in the world. One of only 3 known scripts written by the Emperor in English. It begins with: "It’s two o'clock after midnight I have enough sleep".
#Napoleon #France #England
As Napoleon contemplated an invasion of England. An English sailor managed to escape from a French prison to the channel coast. There he finds an empty barrel floating near the shore and hides it in a cove, working hard for days crafting a small raft on which he hopes to escape to England. But he is captured and dragged before the emperor.
#France #Napoleon #England