Tag: Napoleon

Remembering the wise Talleyrand

Political Cartoon of Napoleon I and TalleyrandNapoleon I, originally Napolean Bonaparte, was the emperor of France. He seized power in 1799 in a coup d'etat, crowned himself emperor in 1804, and attempted to conquer Europe. He abdicated in 1815 after several military defeats.
Political Cartoon of Napoleon I and Talleyrand
Napoleon I, originally Napolean Bonaparte, was the emperor of France. He seized power in 1799 in a coup d’etat, crowned himself emperor in 1804, and attempted to conquer Europe. He abdicated in 1815 after several military defeats.

Je connais quelqu’un qui a plus d’esprit que Napoléon, que Voltaire, que tous les ministres présents et futurs: c’est l’opinion.

I know where there is more wisdom than is found in Napoleon, Voltaire, or all the ministers present and to come — in public opinion.

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand was born a day like today on February 13, 1754.  He is one of the smartest and more prolific politicians and diplomats of  modern times (and one of my favourites).  Born and well educated in the arts, letters and ideas into an aristocratic family in Paris he quickly became a wise men by a young age.  He worked, survived and taught successfully for and against the regimes of Louis XVI, participated actively through the French Revolution and then under Napoleon I, Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe.

The Dutch historian, Pieter Geyl, said once that, “in the purely political arena” the only figure to have held on to his rank in history during the Napoleonic era, apart from Napoleon himself of course, was Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord and he intended to include a chapter on the prince in his famous work Napoleon For and Against (Harmondsworth, 1949).(1)

Talleyrand was, without a doubt, one of the most remarkable figures in the history of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, and certainly one of the most controversial. He was one of a rare breed capable of occupying a wide range of positions in politics and society, both in his public and private life. To a certain extent, he was representative of his era, whether taking on the mantel of the Ancien Régime, as an aristocrat working for the Revolution, or as lord of the Château de Valençay during the Restoration. However, it is the most important of these roles, Minister of Foreign Affairs during the Directoire, the Consulate, the Empire and the Restoration, for which he is of course remembered.

To learn more about his life, works and ideas I invite you to read the following biography (one of my favourite books too) which I am sure you will all enjoy: Talleyrand by Duff Cooper

Egypt and the first modern factories

Today I had an epiphany in Economic History thanks to Ph.D. Isa Blumi who gave a lecture on “The Ottoman Legacy: Socio-Economic Dynamics and the Origins of Modern Politics” emphasizing the economic history of Egypt and The Ottoman Empire during the 18th. and 19th Centuries.

The first great argument was rooted in how Egypt had been already transforming its economy and society long before The Napoleonic French Campaign (1798-1801).  As well, he made very clear how Napoleon’s interest in acquiring Egypt’s wheat was much more important than posing for a picture in front of the Sphinx. He explained the consequences of this invasion and the resulting liberation of Egypt by the genious of Muhammad Ali Pasha.

The epiphany to my research interest came when he localized the first modern factory 2,500 miles away from the cities of Derby, Birmingham and Manchester. Most surely, researching this argument would surely enlighten the current historiography of Economic History and establish more roots of entrepreneurial activity, innovation and mass production in the Middle East.  Doing this will also disentail the roots of the creation of Wealth from the Eurocentric historigraphy that has been in fact characterized by its antipodes: mercantilism, patrimonialism and altruism.

If you are interested in learning more of this subjects here are recommended readings that Professor Blumi shared with me:

At the Monument to the Battle of the Nations

Location Leipzig, Saxony, Germany. Designer Bruno Schmitz Material Granite-faced concrete. Length 80 metres (260 ft) Width 70 metres (230 ft) Height 91 metres (299 ft). Beginning date 1898-10-18. Opening date 1913-10-18. Dedicated to Battle of Leipzig. Coordinates 51°18′44″N 12°24′47″E

The Battle of the Nations was fought during 16-19 October, 1813  and the commemoration of such an important battle in Leipzig kept me busy during this weekend.  Yesterday, the Reenactment of the Battle was fantastic and today I went to the GIGANTIC monument that celebrates the victory of the allied nations against Napoleon.

What is the importance of this building?

  • Architecturally; the structure is amazing.  It is 91 meters tall and its base is 124 metres (407 ft) large and 124 metres (407 ft) wide.
  • Aesthetically; the sculptures of the four legendary historic qualities ascribed to the German people: bravery, faith, sacrifice and fertility are simply exquisite if understood in the context in which they were made.1 It was bravery for defending what is yours; faith (courage) to fight against the vicissitudes; sacrifice (fighting until the last moment in order to protect Life); and fertility (to overcome the mass murder caused by this war). IThe statues of the monument were sculpted by Christian Behrens and his apprentice Franz Metzner with a fantastic technique.
  • Historically; it commemorates the establishment of a German community that united different nations into a common goal.1

For further images; I invite you to check this Flickr album with the snapshots I took.

Related articles

1Koshar, Rudy. (2000) From monuments to traces: artifacts of German memory, 1870-1990. University of California Press. p.44

Reenacting The Battle of the Nations 16-19 October, 1813

Today I had the pleasure of attending (living) the reenactment of The Battle of the Nations (also known as The Battle of Leipzig) that took place half mile south of Leipzig on 16-19 October, 1813.  The battle was fought by the coalition armies of Russia, Prussia, Austria and Sweden against the French army of Napoleon. Napoleon’s army also contained Polish and Italian troops as well as Germans from the Confederation of the Rhine. The battle involved over 600,000 soldiers, making it the largest battle in Europe prior to World War I.1

This allied victory over Napoleon at Leipzig marked the first significant cooperation among European nations against a common foe. “Napoleon limped back toward Paris. Behind him he left 60,000 dead, wounded, or captured French soldiers. The Allies had lost a similar number, but they could find replacements far more quickly and easily than Napoleon. Other countries, including the Netherlands and Bavaria–which Napoleon had added to his confederation by conquest–now abandoned him and joined the Allies. On December 21, the Allies invaded France and, following their victory at Paris on March 30, 1814, forced Napoleon into exile on Elba.”2

Indeed, it was the cooperation of all the region’s powers that Leipzig led to the fall of Paris and the abdication of Napoleon. The decisiveness of this battle had a global impact that redefined the course of history.

I invite you to see all the pictures I took of this fantastic battle:

Check dozens of more pictures in my Flickr album

1 Battle of Leipzig. Wikipedia.

2 Vía http://www.historyplace.com

Why Globalization Matters?

“It was by making myself a Catholic that I won the war of the Vendee [the war of counter-revolution in western  France], by making myself a Muslim that I established myself in Egypt, in making myself Ultramontane [a devotee of the papacy] that I won men’s hearts in Italy. If I were to govern a Jewish people, I would re-establish Solomon’s Temple.” Napoleon Bonaparte

It is with Napoleon’s astonishing remark that I decided to give you some light of what Globalization refers to and why I choose to write about it as one of the two pillars of my research.

The term Globalization (also referred to as Globalisation) refers to what many different historians considered a process of interrelation (or unification) of the world. It was a process of cultural, political and economic relations that for the first time in history united all mankind.

It has been the aim of historians to identify When does Globalization begun and How it begun.  But also, it has been their aim to question if Globalization as a process has already concluded or if it is an ongoing process in the 21st. Century.  As well, historians are still trying to explain if Globalization should be judged (or not) as the result of only positive (good) results in regard to increasing the wealth, culture and technology of the world; while other historians argue that Globalization has also resulted in poverty, losses, conquest and cannibalization.

Globalization has been studied from different approaches in Social Sciences. Sociologists and Anthropologists have focused on the cultural effects that the transfer of technology, mass migrations, institutions and products has had in different regions of the world. Political Theorists studied how Globalization affects the institutions, norms and hierarchical authorities in specific regions and how changes in other regions may have had altered the status quo. Economists study how globalization increased the commerce and transactions between regions and territories through trade, investments, and flows of capital just to mention a few.

In this blog I’ll aim to discuss Globalization as a process and a result of the interconnectedness of human’s psycho-epistemology in specific contexts and periods of history.  My mission is to study how human behavior is not determined by nature and how human free will (action that results from rational or irrational reasonings chosen between opportunity costs) has shaped the course of history until the present.

Continue reading “Why Globalization Matters?” →