The feuding Ukrainian and Russian leaders both share the French emperor’s sense of mission and intransigence. The way these modern-day Bonapartes’ messianic ambitions translate into reality, however, differ greatly.
Tag: napoleon
As France and its overseas departments mark 200 years since Napoleon’s death, his role in spreading slavery to the islands of Guadeloupe and Martinique is prompting more and more to reverse his heroic legacy.
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Napoleonic Trinkets
Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile on the Italian island of Elba, about 50 kilometers east of the French emperor’s native Corsica, was still commemorated when I went there 47 years ago, although with slightly unflattering knick-knacks in souvenir shops.
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February 26
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On This Day – January 10
-OpEd- PARIS — If you travel to the far north of England, you’ll see Hadrian’s Wall still proudly standing almost 19 centuries after it was built. Of course, it’s no match for the Great Wall of China, in length or in what remains of its fortifications. But it’s still an impressive construction, and its message, […]
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Napoleon Complex
From the Place d’Austerlitz, the statue of Napoleon watches over Ajaccio, the town in which he was born. Some may see a resemblance with Prague’s Stalin Monument, but the statue of the French emperor is significantly smaller — adding to the myth that Napoleon was short in stature when in fact he was 5 feet […]
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They Name Horses, Don’t They?
Let me introduce Bébert, my uncle and godfather, back from plowing his field in my ancestors’ village of Chaignay — just north of Dijon in eastern France. Let me also introduce Bayard and Marceau, the two draft horses. Back then, it was customary to name horses after legendary figures such as Napoleonic commanders Kléber or […]
SYRIAN KURDS FLEE ISISTurkish authorities have closed some of the country’s border crossings with Syria after ISIS’ advance has caused some 130,000 Syrian Kurds to flee to Turkey over the past two days, the BBC reports. But after clashes with the refugees on the border, with Turkish troops using water canons and tear gas, British […]