letter napoleon
William Milligan Sloane is an American educator and historian.
Sloane graduated from Columbia College, then taught history and chaired departments at Princeton and Columbia. He subsequently earned a doctorate from the University of Leipzig. William Sloane wrote several books on European history. The best known of these was Napoleon Bonaparte (4 vols., 1895-97), a monumental work of biographical and historical literature.
He later served as president of the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1920-28), the American Historical Association, and the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Sloane was also an officer of the French Legion of Honor and a Commander of the Order of the Polaris of Sweden. William Sloane was also a founding member of the IOC and served on its board from 1894 to 1924.
John Adams was an American statesman and politician and the second President of the United States (1797-1801).
The Adamses were among the first Puritan settlers in New England, and John's father was a farmer and shoemaker. John Adams graduated from Harvard College, taught grammar school in Worcester, Massachusetts, and then practiced law in Boston. In 1764, Adams married Abigail Smith, a minister's daughter, who became his confidante and lifelong political partner.
In 1765, Adams wrote "A Dissertation on Canon Law and Feudal Law," where he justified his opposition to British interference in the colonies. In the summer of 1774, Adams was elected to the Massachusetts delegation to the First Continental Congress, in which he became a major figure. He wrote Thoughts on Government as a basic guide to drafting new state constitutions. In July 1776, John Adams drafted the Plan of Treaties, which became the basis for the treaty with France and set the strategic priorities that would shape American foreign policy over the next century.
He was elected to the post of head of the War Council, in 1780 he became the author of the Massachusetts Constitution, which became a model for other states, in 1783 he signed the Treaty of Paris. From 1785 to 1788 John Adams served as the first American ambassador to Great Britain and proved himself worthy in this difficult situation, being the official embodiment of American independence from the British Empire. He studied European history extensively and the result was his three-volume book entitled A Defense of the Constitution of the Government of the United States of America (1787).
In 1789 Adams became the country's first vice president (Washington was the first president of the United States), and in 1797 he was elected the second president of the United States. However, his reign was not the best in the history of the new country. Deteriorating relations with France led to an undeclared naval war between the former allies. In 1798, Adams signed the controversial Alien and Sedition Acts, which restricted free speech rights. They met widespread opposition across the country. Adams resisted opposition demands for all-out war with France, but lost the 1800 election to Thomas Jefferson.
John Adams retired from politics and settled in his hometown of Quincy. He became the founder of an entire dynasty of politicians and died on July 4, 1826 (the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence), living to see his eldest son John Quincy elected as the sixth president.
Anne-Louise-Germaine Necker, Baroness of Staël-Holstein, known as Madame de Staël, was a French writer, literary theorist, and publicist.
She was born into a Swiss family where her father was a banker and then finance minister to King Louis XVI, and her mother ran a brilliant literary and political salon in Paris where Voltaire, Diderot, and Hume frequented. Young Necker received a brilliant education, she absorbed the intellectual environment with great curiosity, becoming a witty and well-read conversationalist.
In 1786, she married the Swedish ambassador to Paris, Baron Eric de Staël-Holstein. It was a marriage of convenience, which ended in 1797 formal divorce.
Madame de Staël became known not only for her stunning and versatile works, but also for her enormous influence on the intellectual climate of that 19th century. During her lifetime she was known as a novelist, but she became much more famous as a political philosopher, literary critic, and theorist of Romanticism. Madame de Staël was an implacable opponent of Napoleon I and traveled around Europe for a decade during his reign from 1803. In 1810, the writer published one of her most famous and influential works, On Germany. She returned to Paris in 1814, after the fall of Napoleon, and wrote "Reflections on the Principal Events of the French Revolution."
In her travels, Madame de Staël met many politicians, artists and writers and was known for her cosmopolitanism and feminism. Madame de Staël epitomized the European culture of her time, combining ideas from neoclassicism to romanticism in her glittering salon for leading intellectuals.
Napoleon I Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader, Emperor of France (1804-1815).
Napoleon was born in the family of an ignorant Corsican nobleman, graduated from the Brienne military school, then the Paris military school. In 1785 he began military service in the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery in the Royal Army. From the first days of the Great French Revolution of 1789-1799 Bonaparte joined the political struggle on the island of Corsica, in 1792 in Valence joined the Jacobin Club and actively participated in all the turbulent political and military events.
In November 1799 Napoleon was at the head of a coup d'état: the government of the Directory was deposed, and the French Republic was headed by three consuls, the first of whom was Napoleon. In June 1804 Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor Napoleon I of France, and in December a lavish coronation ceremony took place. After Italy recognized him as its king, in March 1805 he was also crowned in Milan.
With his rise to power, France entered a period of almost continuous warfare. Napoleon greatly expanded the territory of the empire, made most of the states of Western and Central Europe dependent on France. His brothers became kings: Joseph in Naples, Louis in Holland, and Jerome in Westphalia. In 1812, Napoleon made a campaign against Russia and even reached Moscow, but the Russian troops under the leadership of commander M.I. Kutuzov with the active support of all the people completely defeated the "invincible army". This military campaign was the beginning of the collapse of Napoleon's empire. The entry of the anti-French coalition troops into Paris in March 1814 forced Napoleon I to abdicate (April 6, 1814).
Napoleon retained the title of Emperor and was given possession of the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. However, in March 1815, the deposed emperor at the head of a small detachment suddenly landed in the south of France and three weeks later, without a single shot entered Paris. But the emperor failed to live up to the hopes of the people of France, plus his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo all led to his second abdication. As a result, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, where he died on May 5, 1821.
Nathaniel Hawthorne is an American writer and author.
Hawthorne is a recognized short story writer and a master of allegorical and symbolic narrative. One of the first fiction writers in American literature, he is best known for his works The Scarlet Letter (1850) and The House of Seven Gables (1851). Hawthorne's artistic works are considered part of the American Romantic movement and, in particular, of so-called dark Romanticism, a popular mid-19th-century fascination with the irrational, the demonic, and the grotesque.
Hector Berlioz, full name Louis-Hector Berlioz, was a French composer, conductor, and music critic of the Romantic era.
Berlioz received his primary education from his father, an enlightened physician, who gave him his first lessons in music and Latin. By the age of 12, he was already composing music for local chamber ensembles and learning to play the guitar and flute with virtuosity. In 1821 his father sent him to Paris to study medicine, and he received his first scientific degree. But in parallel, he often visited the Paris Opera, where he studied the entire repertoire on the score.
Against the will of his parents, Berlioz took a compulsory course of study at the Conservatory of Paris and in 1830 received the Prix de Rome. In Italy he met the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka and became lifelong friends with Mendelssohn. From 1832 Berlioz worked for 30 years as a music critic for periodicals. He was acquainted with many of the leading writers and musicians of his time, including Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Niccolò Paganini, and George Sand.
Berlioz adored the works of Weber and Beethoven, as well as Gluck, and tirelessly introduced audiences to their works. As a result of his many trips as a conductor to Germany, Belgium, England, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, he taught the leading orchestras of Europe a new style.
Berlioz during these years wrote, among other things, the "Symphonie Fantastique" (1830) that made him famous, and the symphony "Harold in Italy" (1834). After a concert in 1838, where he conducted their performance, the famous violin virtuoso Paganini declared Hector Berlioz a continuator of Beethoven's musical traditions and presented him with 20,000 francs. A grateful Berlioz wrote a choral symphony, Romeo and Juliet, dedicated to Paganini.
In 1844, Berlioz created "Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration", which is not just a technical manual, it served as an introduction to the aesthetics of expression in music for generations to come. Among Berlioz's dramatic works, The Damnation of Faust (1846) and The Nativity (1854) are world-famous.
Napoleon I Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader, Emperor of France (1804-1815).
Napoleon was born in the family of an ignorant Corsican nobleman, graduated from the Brienne military school, then the Paris military school. In 1785 he began military service in the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery in the Royal Army. From the first days of the Great French Revolution of 1789-1799 Bonaparte joined the political struggle on the island of Corsica, in 1792 in Valence joined the Jacobin Club and actively participated in all the turbulent political and military events.
In November 1799 Napoleon was at the head of a coup d'état: the government of the Directory was deposed, and the French Republic was headed by three consuls, the first of whom was Napoleon. In June 1804 Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor Napoleon I of France, and in December a lavish coronation ceremony took place. After Italy recognized him as its king, in March 1805 he was also crowned in Milan.
With his rise to power, France entered a period of almost continuous warfare. Napoleon greatly expanded the territory of the empire, made most of the states of Western and Central Europe dependent on France. His brothers became kings: Joseph in Naples, Louis in Holland, and Jerome in Westphalia. In 1812, Napoleon made a campaign against Russia and even reached Moscow, but the Russian troops under the leadership of commander M.I. Kutuzov with the active support of all the people completely defeated the "invincible army". This military campaign was the beginning of the collapse of Napoleon's empire. The entry of the anti-French coalition troops into Paris in March 1814 forced Napoleon I to abdicate (April 6, 1814).
Napoleon retained the title of Emperor and was given possession of the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. However, in March 1815, the deposed emperor at the head of a small detachment suddenly landed in the south of France and three weeks later, without a single shot entered Paris. But the emperor failed to live up to the hopes of the people of France, plus his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo all led to his second abdication. As a result, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, where he died on May 5, 1821.
Jacques-Louis David, a preeminent French artist of the Neoclassical movement, made a profound impact on the art world with his compelling history paintings and portraiture. Born in Paris in 1748 into a prosperous family, David's early life was marked by tragedy and ambition. Despite losing his father at a young age and facing opposition from his family, his determination to pursue art led him to become a student of Joseph-Marie Vien and later, a notable figure in the French Academy in Rome. David's artistic journey was characterized by a rigorous classical education, culminating in winning the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1774, which allowed him to study the masterpieces of classical antiquity and the Renaissance in Italy.
David's work is renowned for its classical austerity, a response to the frivolous Rococo style that preceded him. His paintings, such as "The Oath of the Horatii," reflect a blend of classical themes with a modern sense of emotion and drama, resonating with the revolutionary spirit of his times. As the French Revolution unfolded, David aligned himself with its ideals, becoming an active supporter and using his art to serve political purposes. He was closely associated with leaders of the Revolution, including Maximilien Robespierre, and later became the official painter of Napoleon, contributing significantly to the iconography of the era.
Throughout his career, David had a significant influence on French art, not only through his own works but also as a teacher. His studio was a nurturing ground for the next generation of French painters, despite his reputation for being demanding. David's move to Brussels after the fall of Napoleon marked the final phase of his career, where he continued to paint until his death in 1825.
David's legacy extends beyond his contributions to Neoclassical art. He played a crucial role in the development of modern art history, blending classical ideals with contemporary themes, and influencing not only his contemporaries but also future generations of artists. His works, housed in museums around the world, continue to be studied and admired for their technical mastery and emotional depth.
For art collectors and experts, David's oeuvre offers a fascinating insight into a transformative period in art history, where the classical and the contemporary intersected to create a new visual language. His paintings not only depict historical and mythological scenes but also embody the ideals, struggles, and aspirations of his time.
For those interested in exploring the works of Jacques-Louis David and the impact of his art on the Neoclassical movement, updates on new product sales and auction events related to David's work can provide valuable opportunities to engage with his legacy. Signing up for updates ensures access to the latest information and events, offering a deeper understanding of this pivotal artist's contributions to art and culture.
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Hector Berlioz, full name Louis-Hector Berlioz, was a French composer, conductor, and music critic of the Romantic era.
Berlioz received his primary education from his father, an enlightened physician, who gave him his first lessons in music and Latin. By the age of 12, he was already composing music for local chamber ensembles and learning to play the guitar and flute with virtuosity. In 1821 his father sent him to Paris to study medicine, and he received his first scientific degree. But in parallel, he often visited the Paris Opera, where he studied the entire repertoire on the score.
Against the will of his parents, Berlioz took a compulsory course of study at the Conservatory of Paris and in 1830 received the Prix de Rome. In Italy he met the Russian composer Mikhail Glinka and became lifelong friends with Mendelssohn. From 1832 Berlioz worked for 30 years as a music critic for periodicals. He was acquainted with many of the leading writers and musicians of his time, including Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, Niccolò Paganini, and George Sand.
Berlioz adored the works of Weber and Beethoven, as well as Gluck, and tirelessly introduced audiences to their works. As a result of his many trips as a conductor to Germany, Belgium, England, Russia, and Austria-Hungary, he taught the leading orchestras of Europe a new style.
Berlioz during these years wrote, among other things, the "Symphonie Fantastique" (1830) that made him famous, and the symphony "Harold in Italy" (1834). After a concert in 1838, where he conducted their performance, the famous violin virtuoso Paganini declared Hector Berlioz a continuator of Beethoven's musical traditions and presented him with 20,000 francs. A grateful Berlioz wrote a choral symphony, Romeo and Juliet, dedicated to Paganini.
In 1844, Berlioz created "Treatise on Modern Instrumentation and Orchestration", which is not just a technical manual, it served as an introduction to the aesthetics of expression in music for generations to come. Among Berlioz's dramatic works, The Damnation of Faust (1846) and The Nativity (1854) are world-famous.
Napoleon I Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader, Emperor of France (1804-1815).
Napoleon was born in the family of an ignorant Corsican nobleman, graduated from the Brienne military school, then the Paris military school. In 1785 he began military service in the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery in the Royal Army. From the first days of the Great French Revolution of 1789-1799 Bonaparte joined the political struggle on the island of Corsica, in 1792 in Valence joined the Jacobin Club and actively participated in all the turbulent political and military events.
In November 1799 Napoleon was at the head of a coup d'état: the government of the Directory was deposed, and the French Republic was headed by three consuls, the first of whom was Napoleon. In June 1804 Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor Napoleon I of France, and in December a lavish coronation ceremony took place. After Italy recognized him as its king, in March 1805 he was also crowned in Milan.
With his rise to power, France entered a period of almost continuous warfare. Napoleon greatly expanded the territory of the empire, made most of the states of Western and Central Europe dependent on France. His brothers became kings: Joseph in Naples, Louis in Holland, and Jerome in Westphalia. In 1812, Napoleon made a campaign against Russia and even reached Moscow, but the Russian troops under the leadership of commander M.I. Kutuzov with the active support of all the people completely defeated the "invincible army". This military campaign was the beginning of the collapse of Napoleon's empire. The entry of the anti-French coalition troops into Paris in March 1814 forced Napoleon I to abdicate (April 6, 1814).
Napoleon retained the title of Emperor and was given possession of the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. However, in March 1815, the deposed emperor at the head of a small detachment suddenly landed in the south of France and three weeks later, without a single shot entered Paris. But the emperor failed to live up to the hopes of the people of France, plus his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo all led to his second abdication. As a result, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, where he died on May 5, 1821.
Napoleon I Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader, Emperor of France (1804-1815).
Napoleon was born in the family of an ignorant Corsican nobleman, graduated from the Brienne military school, then the Paris military school. In 1785 he began military service in the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery in the Royal Army. From the first days of the Great French Revolution of 1789-1799 Bonaparte joined the political struggle on the island of Corsica, in 1792 in Valence joined the Jacobin Club and actively participated in all the turbulent political and military events.
In November 1799 Napoleon was at the head of a coup d'état: the government of the Directory was deposed, and the French Republic was headed by three consuls, the first of whom was Napoleon. In June 1804 Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor Napoleon I of France, and in December a lavish coronation ceremony took place. After Italy recognized him as its king, in March 1805 he was also crowned in Milan.
With his rise to power, France entered a period of almost continuous warfare. Napoleon greatly expanded the territory of the empire, made most of the states of Western and Central Europe dependent on France. His brothers became kings: Joseph in Naples, Louis in Holland, and Jerome in Westphalia. In 1812, Napoleon made a campaign against Russia and even reached Moscow, but the Russian troops under the leadership of commander M.I. Kutuzov with the active support of all the people completely defeated the "invincible army". This military campaign was the beginning of the collapse of Napoleon's empire. The entry of the anti-French coalition troops into Paris in March 1814 forced Napoleon I to abdicate (April 6, 1814).
Napoleon retained the title of Emperor and was given possession of the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. However, in March 1815, the deposed emperor at the head of a small detachment suddenly landed in the south of France and three weeks later, without a single shot entered Paris. But the emperor failed to live up to the hopes of the people of France, plus his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo all led to his second abdication. As a result, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, where he died on May 5, 1821.
Napoleon I Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader, Emperor of France (1804-1815).
Napoleon was born in the family of an ignorant Corsican nobleman, graduated from the Brienne military school, then the Paris military school. In 1785 he began military service in the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery in the Royal Army. From the first days of the Great French Revolution of 1789-1799 Bonaparte joined the political struggle on the island of Corsica, in 1792 in Valence joined the Jacobin Club and actively participated in all the turbulent political and military events.
In November 1799 Napoleon was at the head of a coup d'état: the government of the Directory was deposed, and the French Republic was headed by three consuls, the first of whom was Napoleon. In June 1804 Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor Napoleon I of France, and in December a lavish coronation ceremony took place. After Italy recognized him as its king, in March 1805 he was also crowned in Milan.
With his rise to power, France entered a period of almost continuous warfare. Napoleon greatly expanded the territory of the empire, made most of the states of Western and Central Europe dependent on France. His brothers became kings: Joseph in Naples, Louis in Holland, and Jerome in Westphalia. In 1812, Napoleon made a campaign against Russia and even reached Moscow, but the Russian troops under the leadership of commander M.I. Kutuzov with the active support of all the people completely defeated the "invincible army". This military campaign was the beginning of the collapse of Napoleon's empire. The entry of the anti-French coalition troops into Paris in March 1814 forced Napoleon I to abdicate (April 6, 1814).
Napoleon retained the title of Emperor and was given possession of the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. However, in March 1815, the deposed emperor at the head of a small detachment suddenly landed in the south of France and three weeks later, without a single shot entered Paris. But the emperor failed to live up to the hopes of the people of France, plus his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo all led to his second abdication. As a result, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, where he died on May 5, 1821.
Giuseppe Verdi, full name Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi, was an Italian opera composer.
The son of a village innkeeper, Giuseppe showed musical talent very early, already playing the organ in church by the age of nine. He studied music in Milan, taught, and in March 1839 staged his first opera "Oberto, conte di San Bonifacio" at La Scala. In 1842 Verdi's opera "Nabucco" was a great success, passing through all the major theaters of Europe.
Verdi wrote a total of 26 operas during his career, the most famous of which are Rigoletto (1851), Trovatore (1853), La Traviata (1853), Don Carlos (1867), Aida (1871), Otello (1887) and Falstaff (1893).
In 1873, Giuseppe Verdi decided to retire from the world of opera. He settled in Sant'Agata, where he became a large landowner and a very wealthy man due to his tireless work in agriculture, he also financed large charitable organizations.
Verdi took a break from these activities for his opera Otello, but after a successful tour of Europe with it, he retreated again to Sant'Agata. The work of Giuseppe Verdi is one of the greatest achievements of world opera art. Many generations of opera lovers still enjoy the composer's brilliant works.
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German pioneering composer, conductor and opera reformer.
His first proper Symphony in C major was performed at the Leipzig Gewandhaus concerts in 1833. Wagner lived in a colony of poor German artists and made his living in music journalism. Nevertheless, in 1841 he wrote his first representative opera, The Flying Dutchman, based on the legend of a ship captain doomed to sail forever. In 1842 his Rienzi was triumphantly performed in Dresden, after which Wagner was appointed conductor of the court opera and held this position until 1849.
In 1848-49 Wagner became involved in the German Revolution, wrote a number of articles in support of it, and took an active part in the Dresden Uprising of 1849. When the uprising failed, he was forced to flee Germany. His subsequent years were occupied mainly with writing theoretical treatises on philosophy and music. Wagner held anti-Semitic and Nazi views. And reflecting on the future of music, he predicted the disappearance of opera as an artificial entertainment for the elite and the emergence of a new kind of musical stage work for the people, expressing the self-realization of free humanity. This new work was later called "musical drama."
By 1857 his style had been enriched with new interpretations, and Wagner had composed "Rheingold," "Die Walküre," and two acts of "Siegfried." By 1864, however, unwise financial habits had driven him into debt and ruin, and he was forced to flee from prison to Stuttgart. He was rescued by King Louis II, an ardent admirer of Wagner's work. Under his patronage for six years in Munich, the composer's operas were successfully staged. The King also practically ensured him a trouble-free life, thanks to his support Wagner built his own opera house (Bayreuther Festspielhaus), in which many new constructive ideas were realized. The premiere of "The Ring" and "Parsifal" took place here.
As a result of all Wagner's creative innovations and methods, a new kind of art emerged, the distinctive feature of which was a deep and complex symbolism, operating in three inseparable planes - dramatic, verbal and musical. He had a significant influence on European musical culture, especially on the development of opera and symphonic genres.
Richard Wagner's major works include The Flying Dutchman (1843), Tannhäuser (1845), Lohengrin (1850), Tristan und Isolde (1865), Parsifal (1882), and his great tetralogy, The Ring of the Nibelung (1869-76).
Thomas Jefferson was an American politician and statesman, the third President of the United States (March 4, 1801 - March 4, 1809).
Jefferson was the son of a planter and received a law degree. In 1774, he wrote A Summary of the Rights of British America, which attracted public attention, and he soon gained a reputation as one of the first advocates of American independence from the authority of the British Parliament. In the spring of 1775, the Virginia legislature appointed him a delegate to the Second Conference of the Continental Congress. A year later he was appointed to a committee of five, which also included Adams and Benjamin Franklin, to draft a formal statement of reasons to justify a break with Great Britain. Jefferson thus became one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson succeeded Benjamin Franklin as minister to France in 1785, was secretary of state (1790-1793) under Washington, and vice president (1797-1801) under John Adams.
A Democratic-Republican, Jefferson, who believed that the national government should play a limited role in the lives of citizens, was elected president in 1800. One of the most significant accomplishments of Jefferson's first administration was the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million dollars in 1803 (from the Gulf of Mexico to present-day Canada), effectively doubling the size of the United States. During his second term, Jefferson was focused on trying to keep America out of the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. After his second term as president, he was succeeded by James Madison in 1808.
Upon leaving office, Jefferson retired to his plantation in Virginia, pursued his favorite pastimes, and helped found the University of Virginia. In addition to politics, he is known as a writer, farmer, horticulturist, inventor, book collector, art historian, architect, and scientist. He died at the age of 83 on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
Napoleon I Bonaparte was a French statesman and military leader, Emperor of France (1804-1815).
Napoleon was born in the family of an ignorant Corsican nobleman, graduated from the Brienne military school, then the Paris military school. In 1785 he began military service in the rank of junior lieutenant of artillery in the Royal Army. From the first days of the Great French Revolution of 1789-1799 Bonaparte joined the political struggle on the island of Corsica, in 1792 in Valence joined the Jacobin Club and actively participated in all the turbulent political and military events.
In November 1799 Napoleon was at the head of a coup d'état: the government of the Directory was deposed, and the French Republic was headed by three consuls, the first of whom was Napoleon. In June 1804 Bonaparte was proclaimed Emperor Napoleon I of France, and in December a lavish coronation ceremony took place. After Italy recognized him as its king, in March 1805 he was also crowned in Milan.
With his rise to power, France entered a period of almost continuous warfare. Napoleon greatly expanded the territory of the empire, made most of the states of Western and Central Europe dependent on France. His brothers became kings: Joseph in Naples, Louis in Holland, and Jerome in Westphalia. In 1812, Napoleon made a campaign against Russia and even reached Moscow, but the Russian troops under the leadership of commander M.I. Kutuzov with the active support of all the people completely defeated the "invincible army". This military campaign was the beginning of the collapse of Napoleon's empire. The entry of the anti-French coalition troops into Paris in March 1814 forced Napoleon I to abdicate (April 6, 1814).
Napoleon retained the title of Emperor and was given possession of the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. However, in March 1815, the deposed emperor at the head of a small detachment suddenly landed in the south of France and three weeks later, without a single shot entered Paris. But the emperor failed to live up to the hopes of the people of France, plus his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo all led to his second abdication. As a result, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of St. Helena in the Atlantic Ocean, where he died on May 5, 1821.
Washington Irving was an American Romantic writer, historian, and diplomat.
Irving has been called "the first American writer" to be recognized in Europe. In 1815, he traveled to England on family business. A huge success in England and the United States was The Sketch Book, published in several installments during 1819-1820, which contained two of the author's most famous works, Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and which made him a literary star in both England and the United States.
He continued his literary endeavors and worked at the U.S. Embassy of Great Britain. Returning to the United States in 1832, Irving visited some little-known territories near the western fringes of the country, and this journey inspired his works Journey on the Prairie (1835), Astoria (1836), and The Adventures of Captain Bonneville (1837). Late in life he published several historical and biographical works, including the five-volume Life of George Washington (1855-1859).
Joséphine de Beauharnais, born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie, was Empress of France from 1804 to 1809, the first wife of Napoleon I.
At the age of 16, Rose came to France to marry a young officer, Alexandre de Beauharnais. However, after the birth of their two children, the couple separated but maintained a relationship. During the French Revolution, her husband, who served in the revolutionary army, was guillotined in June 1794. Rose herself was imprisoned, but after the coup d'état of July 27, which ended the terror, she was released.
She was soon introduced to General Napoleon Bonaparte, and although she was a poor widow with two children, he was charmed and married her in a civil marriage in 1796. He and began to call her Josephine. She was with him all the way from general to First Consul and in May 1804 to Emperor of France. However, Josephine failed to produce an heir, prompting Napoleon, in the interest of the country, to divorce her in 1809. Retaining the title of empress and queen, she went to live at Château Malmaison near Paris and then at her Château of Navarre in Normandy, where she died in 1814, a few weeks after Napoleon's abdication.
