1800 l'ultime année d’un siècle de sang

 The third in the trilogy is available as a pre-order, due for publication in May!

Visit the page dedicated to the book on the Éditions Heimdal website to pre-order, or put it in your 'pocket' to consider once published.

Men want to be him, women want to be with him

No, not James Bond, but Antoine-Charles-Louis Lasalle!

 

Second-hand delights, newly arrived from Librarie Le Vieux Livre: biography of Lasalle, Tranie's first and second Italian campaigns and two, bonus, issues of Soldats Napoléoniens.

Since late 2019, my purchases have been directed (in the main) at 'resource gathering' for a structured approach to my self-paced reading-wargaming 'study' of the Napoleonic wars (and some other, specific conflicts). My planning moves to implementation this year with the quasquibicentennial—a made-up, latin-derived word for the 225th anniversary—of the 1796 Italian campaign. The long-term plan being to move through 1797–1815 over the next 14 years, switching to the 'vigbicentennial' (220th) from 1805. (So, a clear gamble on longevity!).

I have quite a few books and e-books (pdf files) about Napoleon's first Italian campaign. I was made aware of a book about the campaign by Tranie and Carmigniani by a marvellous write-up of the Battle of Voltri by Michael, aka Wargamerabbit, circa 2012 (along with the resultant game, one of many that he did of battles from the early stages of the Italian campaign). I already have Tranie and Carmigniani's books of the 1805/07 and 1809 campaigns, so was keen to try to find a copy. After a few searches I 'unearthed' a copy at Librarie Le Vieux Livre and got in contact with the proprietor (whom I now know as Luc). In the process I also found that he had Tranie's book about the second Italian campaign. Then I noticed Hourtoulle's biography of Lasalle in his on-line catalogue.

I have been keeping my eye out for a copy of this biography, ever since I saw it mentioned in Hourtoulle, Girbal and Courcelle's "Soldiers and Uniforms of Napoleonic Wars". If you do not have a copy of their book, published by Histoire et Collections and available in English 'from a good book store near you', do yourself a favour! Amongst the glorious illustrations are several of Lasalle (and troops) in Italy, Egypt, Germany, Poland, Spain and, finally, at Wagram. I realise now that these were taken from Hourtoulle and Girbal's biography of the beau sabreur.

I am in a long line of admirers of Lasalle, the 'hussar's hussar'. Famous for his dering-do, bravado, bravery and supposed casual attitude to death. He was, by all accounts a fine, upstanding family man, if one discounts the mistresses. Of course, by the standards of the day, having mistresses did not affect one's association with such an epithet, especially for a military man and extra-especially a light cavalryman.

Hourtoulle begins the book with the famous quote attributed to Lasalle:

Tout hussard qui n'est pas mort à trent ans et un jean-foutre 

Which can be translated as:
"Any hussar who is not dead by the age of 30 is a good-for-nothing"

I have seen the 'jean foutre' in this quote translated as 'malingerer' or 'blackguard', but I am sure that one of our French bloggers will be able to provide a more colourful translation!

This book only arrived today, but on first impressions I am not going to be disappointed. Along with Girbal's beautiful colour plates, there are several black and white drawings, photos of letters, many clear maps and some general orders of battle. The first chapter 'Les origines' is followed by a chapter for each of the campaigns in which Lasalle was involved. I look forward to reading it and to thumbing through it often.

Change in weather brings more opportunities for painting and basing

We had a big change in the weather last week, after many 35ºC+ days in November, December and January, plenty of them 40ºC plus. A cyclone that began off the coast of Broome, threatened but never made land-fall, instead turning into a tropical low. So, while, unfortunately, a large fire was the order of the day just west-north-west of us (which headed close to the north eastern outskirts of Perth, destroying bush, houses and buildings in its wake), the Pilbara coastal areas have been flooded. The low continued down the coast, drawing air from the south which has headed our way, so it has turned freezing. I am talking sub-30ºC, some days barely over 20ºC and minima as low as 11ºC. I threatened to light the fire. This is, of course, all a bit cheeky for northerners in the depths of winter. You can get me back in July. Besides, I thought that the sight of a blue sky in the photo below would cheer you all up.

Pelican's at the permanent pool a little way from us. At this time of year we often walk our dogs along the river bed to this spot. After the rain, the water is looking particularly lovely, not the 'bog of eternal stench' that it can be after hot days. The photo is a bit blurry as I did not want to get any closer and scare them off.

Anyway, while I have done some painting over early summer, the cooler conditions have made it easier to do so. It is especially good not to have to struggle with moths and Rutherglen bugs being attracted by the light! We are forecast to return to mid to high 30s from the weekend, which I love, but it may slow down progress with painting and related activities.

List of books mentioned above

Burgaleta, P (Ed.) (2008) Soldats Napoleoniens: Les troupes françaises, alliées et coalisées: L’Espagne en 1808 (1er partie) Numero 18 - Juin 2008. 'Soldats Napoleoniens' Series (Ed. R Pawly). Éditions de la Revue Napéon, Chaparon, France. 80 pp.

Burgaleta, P (Ed.) (2008) Soldats Napoleoniens: Les troupes françaises, alliées et coalisées: L’Espagne en 1808 (2e partie) Numero 20 - Décembre 2008. 'Soldats Napoleoniens' Series (Ed. R Pawly). Éditions de la Revue Napéon, Chaparon, France. 80 pp.

Hourtoulle, F-G and Girbal, J (1979) Le Général Comte Charles Lasalle, 1775-1809. Copernic, Paris, France. 260 pp.

Hourtoulle, F-G, Girbal, J and Courcelle, P (2004) Soldiers and Uniforms of Napoleonic Wars. Translated by A McKay. Histoire & Collections, Paris, France. 208 pp.

Tranie, J and Carmigniani, JC (1990) Napoléon Bonaparte, 1ère Campagne d'Italie. Éditions Pygmalion, Paris. 265 pp.

Tranie, J and Carmigniani, JC (1991) Napoléon Bonaparte : la deuxième campagne d'Italie, 1800. Éditions Pygmalion, Paris. 266 pp.

It would be rude not to

Just when I am gearing back my wargaming spending, along comes a temptation like this one!

I was alerted by an email from VaeVictis magazine about this coming publication from Éditions Soixante with its pre-publication, discount price. It does not take much for me to buy a good looking book about a Napoleonic campaign, especially one that promises:

- authorship by Gilles Boué with assistance from Natalia Griffon de Pleineville and Jean-Marie Mongin,

- coverage of every battle between February and April 1814,

- illustrated by period paintings and uniforms plates,

- maps of the battles,

- orders of battle,

in a hard cover publication of 176 pages.

The preview pages, some of which are reproduced below, show examples.

 Do I buy it? To quote Blitzen in Robbie the Reindeer (out of context), "It would be rude not to"!

It will be on its way following its expected publication on 11th March. No doubt it will feature in a review on this blog not long afterwards.

They are going mad with books

Looking for a bargain? Naval & Military Press, that great on-line warehouse of books on military history, have discounted their entire 'catalogue' of titles related to the Napoleonic era.

Here are a few examples.

• My 'beloved' Anatomy of Glory for £8.99.
• Nafziger's 1813 three-volume series, all hard-back and 'heavy' tomes, recently republished by Helion & Company with 'a new set of images and newly-commissioned colour maps'; a mere £25 for the lot.
• Gill's magnificent trilogy of the 1809 campaign for £18.99.

That is but a sample of the 300 titles/sets that are available with plenty of individual titles starting at  £1.00.

Remembering le mort de Napoleon 198 with free e-books

Sunday, 5th May marks 198 years since the death of the Great Man at Longwood, Saint Helena after a short illness^.

Mort de Napoléon Ier à Sainte-Hélène, le 5 mai 1821 par Charles de Steuben (Wikimedia Commons).



To mark this event, Pen & Sword are offering free e-books of four of their titles. Here's the note that I received from the publisher with a request to 'spread the word':

This Sunday marks the anniversary of Napoleon's death, to coincide with this anniversary Pen and Sword will be giving away four eBooks for free from Amazon. I wondered if you would be able to share this with your readers, if you are doing a post around this anniversary. It’s not often we give away eBooks for free, so I am keen to spread the word as far as possible! Here’s the four eBooks that will be free on the day and the Amazon link to download the titles. 1815: The Waterloo Campaign Vol I: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Waterloo-Campaign-1815-Ligny-Quatre-ebook/dp/B072MK79YX/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1556703709&sr=8-1 

 In Napoleon’s Shadow: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Napoleons-Shadow-Louis-Joseph-Marchand-1811-1821-ebook/dp/B07G94M6MW/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1556704288&sr=8-1 Letters from the Battle of Waterloo: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Letters-Battle-Waterloo-Unpublished-Correspondence-ebook/dp/B07QHM4KM2/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1556704324&sr=8-1 With Eagles to Glory (will be uploaded to Amazon shortly): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eagles-Glory-Napoleon-German-Campaign/dp/1848325827/ref=sr_1_1?crid=43RWJ75IQ5I4&keywords=with+eagles+to+glory&qid=1556704360&s=gateway&sprefix=with+eagles%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-1

This is for Sunday (GMT) Only, so act now!



^The compelling theory of poisoning has largely been refuted, although, of course, it can never entirely be 'put to bed'. For those interested, here's a list of some of the key publications around the matter, in chronological order:

Smith, H., Forshufvud, S., & Wassen, A. (1962). Distribution of Arsenic in Napoleon'S Hair. Nature, 194(4830), 725–726. http://doi.org/10.1038/194725a0 

Lewin, P. K., Hancock, R. G. V., & Voynovich, P. (1982). Napoleon Bonaparte—no evidence of chronic arsenic poisoning. Nature, 299(5884), 627–628. http://doi.org/10.1038/299627a0 

Weider, B and Hapgood, D (1982) The Murder of Napoleon. Congdon and Lattès, Inc., New York, 266 pp. 

Weider, B and Forshufvud, S (1995) Assassination at St. Helena Revisited. John Wiley & Sons Inc, 555 pp. 

Corso, P. F., & Hindmarsh, T. (1996). Further scientific evidence of the non-poisonous death of Napoleon. Science Progress, 79 ( Pt 2), 89–96.

Hindmarsh, J. T., & Corso, P. F. (1998). The death of Napoleon Bonaparte: a critical review of the cause. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 53(3), 201–218. 

Pascal Kintz, Jean-Pierre Goull, Paul Fornes,and Bertrand Ludes (2002) A New Series of Hair Analyses from Napoleon Confirms Chronic Exposure to Arsenic. Letter to the Editor Journal of Analytical Toxicology,Vol. 26, November/December2002. 

I. Ricordel, S. Pirnay, A. Maréchal, P. Chevallier, G. Meyer, N. Milan, J; Plesse (2004) Arsenic in Napoleon's Hair: Is external contamination a possible source?. Conference: Poster P45 Session B Post mortem toxicology, At Washinton USA, Volume: aFBI TIAFT. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/ 

Lin, X., Alber, D., & Henkelmann, R. (2004). Elemental contents in Napoleon's hair cut before and after his death: did Napoleon die of arsenic poisoning? Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry, 379(2), 218–220. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-004-2536-y 

Mari, F., Bertol, E., Fineschi, V., & Karch, S. B. (2004). Channelling the Emperor: what really killed Napoleon? Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 97(8), 397–399. 

Lugli, A., Zlobec, I., Singer, G., Lugli, A. K., Terracciano, L. M., & Genta, R. M. (2007). Napoleon Bonaparte's gastric cancer: a clinicopathologic approach to staging, pathogenesis, and etiology. Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 4(1), 52–57. http://doi.org/10.1038/ncpgasthep0684

Kintz, P., Ginet, M., Marques, N., & Cirimele, V. (2007). Arsenic speciation of two specimens of Napoleon's hair. Forensic Science International, 170(2-3), 204–206. http://doi.org/10.1016/j.forsciint.2007.02.035

J. Thomas Hindmarsh and John Savory (2008) The Death of Napoleon, Cancer or Arsenic? Clinical Chemistry 54:12 2092–2093.

Lugli A, Clemenza M, Corso PE, di Costanzo J, Dirnhofer R, Fiorini E, Herborg C, Hindmarsh JT, Orvini E, Piazzoli A, Previtali E, Santagostino A, Sonnenberg A, Genta RM. (2011). The medical mystery of Napoleon Bonaparte: an interdisciplinary expose. Advances in Anatomic Pathology, 18(2), 152–158.