June 18, 1815. Napoleon’s attempt to rebuild his empire, after escaping exile on the island of Elba and regaining control of France, came to an abrupt and disastrous end near a place called Mont Saint-Jean, which has gone down in history as the Battle of Waterloo. During the retreat, Prussian soldiers captured him while trying […]
Napoleonic Wars
Posted inModern Era
Louis Bonaparte, Napoleon’s Brother who Was King of Holland and Confronted Him after the Invasion of the Country by the French
It was the year 1851 when the prince president of France ordered the demolition of the old – and dilapidated – parish church of Saint-Leu-Saint-Gilles in Paris. In its place, another church was built at his expense to house a family crypt. Among others, the mortal remains of his father, who had died in Livorno […]
Posted inModern Era
Diamond Rock, the Caribbean Crag Commissioned as a Royal Navy Ship and Disputed Between the British and the French
One of the most unusual battlefields of the Napoleonic Wars was located in the Caribbean, southwest of the island of Martinique. It is a basaltic rock located in the channel of Saint Lucia, about three kilometers from Pointe Diamant, which the British and the French fought over, seizing it from each other several times between […]
Posted inModern Era
The failed siege of Acre, Napoleon’s first major setback
On May 20, 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte ordered the lifting of the siege of Acre, marking the end of a campaign that resulted in his failure to conquer Syria and, along with Egypt, permanently block the British passage to India. This ill-fated adventure cost him almost half of his forces (including those left in the Middle […]
Posted inModern Era
When the Pope had to be Crowned with a Tiara made of Papier-mâché, because Napoleon had taken away the Gold and Silver ones
In the coat of arms of the Vatican, we see, on a field of gules, two crossed keys tied with a cord; one is made of gold and the other of silver, and they represent the dual power, spiritual and earthly, of the Church. But what interests us here is the element above them: the […]
