Napoleon Bonaparte

Introduction

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) has been the subject of fascination - and myth - among historians, writers and artists. This attention has been due in no small part to his meteoric career, made possible by the opportunities opened by the French Revolution - and, above all, by the conflict which engulfed Europe from 1792 and which continued almost unabated until 1815. His influence was felt - and often combated - in places as far apart as Haiti in the Caribbean and Cairo in Egypt. In recent decades, Napoleon Bonaparte has sometimes been compared to Hitler and, in his own day, he was regarded by some Europeans as the Antichrist.

The story, however, was more complex than that. There were contradictions in Napoleon's authoritarian regime, geared for war and conquest. While dictatorial, he did preserve some of the achievements of the French Revolution - such as the abolition of noble privilege; the destruction of 'feudalism'; careers open to talent, rather than aristocratic birth; the secularisation of the state; civil equality for religious minorities. Bonaparte, like the revolutionary regimes which preceded his own in the decade 1789-99, sought to introduce these reforms in his European conquests. In fact, while Napoleon's demands for conscripts and taxation were the most onerous burdens on his conquests, it was often the more libertarian, 'revolutionary' policies which sparked protests or even revolts among both the elites and the conservative peasantry alike. This has prompted one recent historian to remark that opposition to Napoleon in Europe was at its most vehement where his regime was most liberal.

On the other hand, Bonaparte shouldered much of the responsibility for the wars which bear his name, ravaging Europe from 1803 to 1815. An estimated five million people died during the Napoleonic Wars, proportionately the same as the human lives lost during the First World War (1914-18). He was certainly a dictator, bringing an end to (admittedly unstable) constitutional rule in France, when he seized power in November 1799. Despite his inheritance from the French Revolution of 1789, in some ways he seemed to revert to the Old Regime, which had existed previously. To cite a few examples: in 1802, he tried to re-establish slavery in the French colonies (abolished by the French Republic in 1794); he crowned himself hereditary Emperor in 1804; he created an Imperial nobility (albeit based on merit rather than birth); he placed his relatives and favoured marshals on the thrones of Europe. It is small wonder, then, that writers, artists and historians have depicted him in conflicting ways: the first modern dictator, or the last of the eighteenth-century 'Enlightened' monarchs? A liberator in Europe, or a ruthless, militarist exploiter? The guarantor of the French Revolution, or its undertaker?

This exhibition seeks to illustrate this contradictory nature of the Napoleonic regime, and to present some of the images which helped to create the Napoleonic myth.

The Napoleonic Collection at Stirling University

The collection, held in the University Library, was donated by Burt Eddy Taylor in 1969. The items were purchased by Burt Eddy Taylor's family in 1928 or 1929 from a rare book dealer in New York, named Gabriel Welles. They form part of two collections: one part formerly belonged to Colonel Mark Wilkes, who was Governor of Saint Helena in 1815; the other part was owned by Sir Tollemiche Sinclair. The collection consists of 58 documents and pictures, ranging from such eighteenth-century manuscripts as a treatise (in Italian) by Napoleon's father, Charles Bonaparte, on farming methods, to nineteenth-century engravings of Napoleon's descendants. The collection also includes two books: Volume One of Anquetil's Histoire de France, apparently annotated by Napoleon (but this has yet to be verified) and, in manuscript, the British signal code book for Saint Helena at the time of Napoleon's exile. This exhibition displays a selection from this collection.

Text: Dr Mike Rapport, Department of History

Virtual exhibition: Helen Beardsley, Library

Photographs: Graham Brown, Printing and Graphics

Page last modified by the Arts Team on 8 June, 2006

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