It’s May 5th– the date of Napoleon’s death on St. Helena. I’ve been read
It’s May 5th– the date of Napoleon’s death on St. Helena. I’ve been reading Mary Young’s biography of Augustin Robespierre, and while I knew Napoleon and the younger Robespierre were friends after the siege of Toulon, I didn’t know how extremely close they became. During the 1794 campaign in northern Italy, Augustin was instrumental in helping Napoleon devise his plans to invade both Italy and Austria (which Napoleon did, during the 1796-7 Italian campaign). The two men had a lot in common– they were both ambitious, smart, passionate, and loyal to their families (and they had a shared enemy in Carnot, whom they loathed). After Augustin’s death, and the seeming end of his career, Napoleon was deeply depressed. Here are some relevant passages from the Young bio: Indeed that spring the friendship between Augustin and Napoleon was so marked that Tilly, the French consul in Genoa, writing to the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, referred to Bonaparte as the favourite and counsellor of Robespierre the Younger. Bonaparte tells us, and he may only be a little exaggerating, ‘He loved me much,’ and relates how, when Haller asked Augustin for supplies, ‘Robespierre would never sign anything to do with the army or the supplies without consulting me. He would say to Haller who was then administrator; “That’s good, but I must speak to Bonaparte”.’ No doubt as they rode down from Saorge, there was talk of the next stage of the campaign and it may be that their imaginations raced beyond anything that had been proposed before. In short, the Army of Italy, heavily reinforced by troops from the Army of the Pyrenees, having mastered Northern Italy, was to strike swiftly through the Alps into Austria and capture Vienna. Such were the plans made, no doubt with irrepressible excitement, by Augustin and Napoleon. For a few weeks they must have seen themselves as masters and arbiters of Europe. For the moment they confided in no one but Ricord. Koch believed that even Dumerbion knew nothing of the plans they had. He and the other General were only aware of a campaign that was to carry them as far as Turin. It’s sad and eerie that almost all of Napoleon’s friends at Toulon– Augustin, Junot, Duroc, Desaix– all came to early and horrible ends. -- source link
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