#belliard

@northernmariette: I am not sure if this is the incident you had in mind. But I did indeed come across a scene that has Caulaincourt and Berthier trying in vain to calm Napoleon down. And even if it’s not what you thought about, it’s still a fine episode of “First Empire - Comedy Central”.

During the afternoon of March 30, Napoleon and his army, informed of the approach of the allied troops, were rushing towards Paris. And the emperor apparently had forgotten all the orders he had given to Joseph about never letting his son falling into the hands of the enemy etc, because his mood was excellent. He apparently thought he would find the enemy army waiting for him, planned to beat them in one decisive battle (ignoring the odds and the enemy’s numerical superiority) and to thus save the day and the war.

In truth, the battle for Paris had already happened and ended, Marie Louise and the King of Rome had left the city the day before, Joseph that same day, and Marmont and Mortier had capitulated in the afternoon and were already in negotiations to withdraw their troops from the capital. All of which Napoleon learned, when they were changing horses at the post station of Fontainebleau, from one general Belliard, who led the first troops out of the Paris region.

And now the shit hit the fan.

Belliard didn’t know much of what had been going on but what he knew sufficed to set Napoleon off on a rampage. He ordered Caulaincourt to immediately bring his coach, wanted Beliard to turn around and lead his troops back - which would have meant breaking the agreements of the capitulation -, sent Flahaut to Paris in order to stop all kinds of negotiations right now ... and as all of this apparently wasn’t enough, he started walking. On foot. To Paris. In order to ... lift the siege of Paris all by himself, I guess?

According to the witnesses, he actually marched for several kilometers (!), accusing everyone of having “perdu la tête“, Joseph of being a prick (”un con”) and Clarke (minister of war) of being either a jerk (”jean-foutre”) or a traitor, before Berthier and Caulaincourt, who apparently kept running after him, managed to calm him down enough to drag him back to Fontainebleau.

Napoleon was angry with Belliard for retreating from Madrid, I think on behalf of Joseph. He dictated this hilarious letter for Berthier to send as though coming from him.

My cousin, write to General Belliard to express my dissatisfaction with the false direction he gives to the affairs of the Army of the Center.     Answer General Belliard that you have not put his letter in front of me; that he had doubtless lost his mind when he wrote it, that to offer his resignation for not having carried out my orders, is to declare that one does not want to obey; that it is having incurred the death penalty; that these 3,000 men and 1,200 horses could have saved the army of the South; that he is very guilty; that he could have evacuated Cuenca or any other point, but that he had to carry out the Emperor's orders; that there are two or three passages in his letter which are not from a soldier; that, if you had put them before His Majesty's eyes, he would have had him arrested and would have made an example of this breach of military discipline; that, for the sake of his former services and the friendship you show him, you did not let the Emperor know these unseemly phrases, and that you confined yourself to saying that my orders had been carried out; that this affectation of feelings of honor and personality is the height of ridicule and military indiscipline; that the honor of a general consists in obeying, in keeping subordinates under his orders in the path of probity, in ensuring good discipline, in devoting himself exclusively to the interests of the State and of the sovereign, and in disdaining entirely his personal interests; that you see, by the tone he takes, that he has unlearned France, and that, when it comes to carrying out the Emperor's orders, he thinks he has to speak to the King of Spain.

Many Frenchmen[..] feel lost in this distant, sun-drenched land where everything is so different from Europe. There is certainly something to eat in Upper Egypt and even enough, but the cuisine puts them off and alcohol, naturally, is non-existent in this Muslim society; it is a new subject of discontent for these types accustomed to walking with wine or brandy [..]

Anguish therefore won over the army and the soldiers felt homesick or at least longed for Cairo where Bonaparte created promenades and opened "Parisian" cafes. There, at least, one could find wine from Cyprus ... and prostitutes. There are complains, and Belliard must thunder in his loud voice: "You imagined finding Italy everywhere, meeting a good bed and good food every evening, and enjoying chocolate with your mistresses before leaving. When it happens, enjoy it: but you have to know how to do without it. " The veterans bow their heads but think no less; the Directoire has not paid their pay for more than six months.

The others, on the other hand (the most cultured), are very quickly subjugated by Upper Egypt which, for the beauty of its landscapes and for the gradual discovery of its monuments, is a real revelation, even an initiation. The expedition of General Desaix will gradually upset the usual criteria of taste, because until then one could only imagine Antiquity (the only admissible reference for eighteenth century men who vilified the Middle Ages) through Greece and Rome. The expedition to Upper Egypt produced an aesthetic fracture that will permanently mark those who were its actors, starting with Desaix who, not having time to attend the sessions of the Cairo Institute, made up for it in situ, or an ecstatic Belliard "in the middle of the rubble" [..] The general, in fact, has mostly with him, since the month of November - when he took advantage of the departure of a boat carrying military equipment in order to join-, an indispensable companion, so gifted that he would make a dog love history, Dominique-Vivant Denon.

At the age of fifty-two [..] Denon already had a long career behind him: a Burgundian gentleman, he managed the Cabinet des Médailles under Louis XV before becoming secretary of the embassy in Saint Petersburg and then in Naples. Assistant to David during the Revolution, he was accepted by Bonaparte thanks to the complicity of Joséphine, whose salon he entertained. Engraver, draftsman, archaeologist, but also writer, the one that the count of Marcellus baptized "the Joinville of the expedition to Egypt", resembles quite well the description given by Anatole France: "The wallet over the shoulder, the lorgnette at his side, pencils in hand, at the gallop of his horse, he outpaced the first columns to have time to draw while waiting for the troop to join him. Under enemy fire, he took sketches with the same impassibility as if he had been peacefully seated at his table, in his study. "

A real friendship is immediately established between this middle-aged man, who was Madame de Pompadour's protege, and the young general, nephew of another favorite of Louis XV, a real friendship made up of ancient reminiscences, intellectual curiosity and love of the Orient. Thanks to Desaix, moreover, the presence of Denon is progressively better accepted than that of his colleagues in the other corps, the soldiers hardly liking to have the researchers underfoot, such as the one who, before a battle, had ordered amidst the laughs: "Donkeys and scientists at the center!"

Pierre-Yves Bournazel: "David Belliard must say if he is ready to emancipate from Anne Hidalgo" – Politics

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XVIII deputye arrondissement, Pierre-Yves Bournazel is center-right candidate for mayor of Paris.

Your competitors Cédric Villani and David Belliard have decided to start discussions in order to set up a "broad coalition" for the municipal elections in March. The first wishes to associate you with it. Are you ready to participate?

I have been carrying for a long…