Talk:Napoleon

Pronunciation

Could there be the IPA instructions for the (orginal French) pronunciation of the name Napoléon Bonaparte? Not all of us are able to pronounce that name "correctly". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.154.75.230 (talk) 20:55, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Titles

26 August, 2008 Stephen Smith, Naples, Florida, United States.

I am not able to edit the Napoleon Page because I do not have such privledges, but I do know that Napoleon was also titled "Emperor of Elba" when he was exiled to the island in 1814.

Hi, thanks I did some research and found that the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1814) states, in article 2 that "Their Majesties the Emperor Napoleon and the Empress Marie-Louise, will preserve their titles and qualities to enjoy them during their lives" and in article 3 that "The island of Elba, adopted by his Majesty the Emperor Napoleon, for the place of his residence, shall form, during his life, a separate principality, which shall be possessed by him in all sovereignty and property." There does not seem to an indication of him officially being called "Emperor of Elba" though he was still offically allowed to be called Emperor and officially possess Elba so you can see why people think this was an official title. Tom (talk) 10:09, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

I've actually done some more research, I've spoken with J.David.Markham about the matter, he is a noted Napoleonic Historian. He informed me of the contrary, though I am unsure about his convictions on the matter. I intend to settle this matter once and for all. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.29.160.175 (talk) 04:08, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Rule of France

Who governed France during the times when Napoleon was away at battle? Funnyhat 17:45, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

If I read correctly, his empress consort. First Josephine, then Marie Louise.

You are reasoning as if France could have been governed by a single person. That might have been possible during ancien régime with its many remnants of a highly decentralised feudal system. Napoléon had an very low need for sleep and was probably not lazy. Yet I doubt he could have made all governmental decisions. Also, I know that the Napoleonic Code was written by a group of intellectuals of which he was the leader. I think the Bonaparte regime consisted of a small group of people of which Napoléon was the most important. All decision he could not made the others did for him. When he was away on campaigns he probably did what he could to control the French government and what he could not do the other members had his permission to do. However, this is only an educated guess. Anyone who really know?

2007-07-25 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

I have learned that Napoléon was extremely diligent. Yet I don’t think all necessary governmental decisions could have been made by a single person. Anyone who know what other persons the Bonaparte regime consisted of?

2008-01-19 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

From my reading it was ruled by a council of minister whose member had various areas of authority. In the middle years it was dominated by Fouche. It was he, for instance, who authorized the home gaurd to be called up in 1808 to repell the english landing in holland (napolean was off warring in austria that time).Cool10191 (talk) 15:40, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, "Cool10191". Do you know how many people the Bonaparte regime consisted of?

2008-06-17 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

I think there were between 8-15 at different times in his inner circle. One of them usually acted something like a Prime Minister. The Empress ruled in name while bonapart was gone, but real power lied with the ministers who made the decisions. Talleyrand and Fouche were the dominant figures in the middle years and most of his reign. But there were others. Charles Edward 18:33, 28 July 2008 (UTC)

2008-09-28 I know at different times that his brother Jospeh also did some of the work while he was away, which I know for a fact was the case during the 100 days campaign at Waterloo.

2008-10-03 "If Mike Shanahan was Napoleon, then this [Arrowhead] is his Waterloo." - Dan Dierdorf September 28, 2008. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Suckafish69 (talk • contribs) 00:16, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

2008-11-2 Steve Smith, Jacksonville Florida " Some of the information that is above my post is wrong. Napoleon was very diligent, and often worked 18 hour days. I actually know that it was his habit to go to bed at like 8 O clock at night and then wake up at like 12 at night and spend the rest of the night working. He also might take cat naps during the course of the day. Napoleon founded the first modern "Think tank" when he created the French State Council. The State council consisted of 50 people, but I am unsure as to how many of them contributed to the actually governing of the nation on a day to day basis. Napoleon was very involved in governing the nation, even while on Campaign. He increased the efficiency of the communication system of France, and specifically the army dramatically. Through a series of fire tower signals I know that a message could make its way from Venice to France in as little as 9 minutes. Later on, while he was in Russia for example, he had a primitive Telegraph that involved tubes, that helped in in governing the grand army. —Preceding unsigned comment added by SteveSmith35024 (talk • contribs) 21:26, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Initial GA review

The GA review has been archived. Dr. Cash (talk) 20:37, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Citations

Please note, this is not a GA review, but it may help with future review processes.

To back up the above review about point 1., many of the internet inline citations used in this article are improperly formatted. Internet citations require at the very least information on the title, publisher and last access date of any webpages used. If the source is a news article then the date of publication and the author are also important. This information is useful because it allows a reader to a) rapidly identify a source's origin b) ascertain the reliability of that source and c) find other copies of the source should the website that hosts it become unavaliable for any reason. It may also in some circumstances aid in determining the existance or status of potential copyright infringments. Finally, it looks much tidier, making the article appear more professional. There are various ways in which this information can be represented in the citation, listed at length at Wikipedia:Citing sources. The simplest way of doing this is in the following format:

<ref>{{cite web|(insert URL)|title=|publisher=|work=|date=|author=|accessdate=}}</ref>

As an example:

• <ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.discovery.org/a/3859|title=Avoiding a Thirty Years War|publisher=www.discovery.org|work=[[The Washington Post]]|date=2006-12-21|author=Richard W. Rahn|accessdate=2008-05-25}}</ref>

which looks like:

• Richard W. Rahn (2006-12-21). "Avoiding a Thirty Years War". The Washington Post. www.discovery.org. Retrieved 2008-05-25.

If any information is unknown then simply omit it, but title, publisher and last access dates are always required. If you have any further questions please contact me and as mentioned above, more information on this issue can be found at Wikipedia:Citing sources. Regards

Vermilion Phantom

Quote from The Book of Lists (1977, "10 Ghastly Ghosts", p. 272-275):

• THE VERMILION PHANTOM: The ghost has appeared at various critical junctures in the history of France. A tall well-built figure, wrapped in a red cape, with a beard also of a red hue, he appeared to Henry IV on May 13, 1610, in the king's bechamber, and predicted, "Tomorrow you will die". Henry sent for his counselors immediately, and discussed with them the manifestation and the message. Within 12 hours the king was assassinated by Francois Ravaillac, a Catholic visionary who believed that Henry's conversion to Catholicism was politically motivated. The vermilion phantom appeared four times to Napoleon Bonaparte. On the third occasion, in January 1814, Count Mole-Nieuval was a witness to the tall red apparition. Dr. Antomarchi [sic] saw the figure at Napoleon's bedside on May 5, 1821 - the fourth visitation - on the day of Napoleon's death.

The author of this section of the book was Philip Cunliffe-Jones. The web produces no corroboration of this story, or maybe I've been looking in the wrong places. Is there any truth to it whatsoever? -- JackofOz (talk) 07:41, 4 June 2008 (UTC)

i think he looked skary!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As a sceptic I feel a need to protest against such assertations. For the event of Napoléon's death whe have at least five eywittness accounts. The five eywittnesses where Francesco Antommarchi, Archibald Arnott, Henri Gratien Bertrand, Louis Joseph Marchand and Charles Tristan de Montholon. Charles' testimony differs radically from those of the others and he is now considered a frequent liar. If an unknown man with a reddish beard had turned up at Napoléon's deathbed at least one of the others would had noticed it. Please note that beards had been unfashionable for about a century and would remain so for about a decade. To me the story seems to be a fiction by someone who don't know much about Napoléon's death.

2008-11-04 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Napoleon's Death

I have read that twentieth century analysis of Napoleon's hair demonstrated conclusively that Signore Buonaparte died of arsenic poisoning, presumably administered by his British jailers on the South Atlantic island of Saint Helena where he was being held since his second and last surrender. Dick Kimball (talk) 10:26, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

I have written a summary of the current state of knowledge on Napoléon’s death. It is written in Swedish but I will post an English translation as soon as I have made one. Right now I only want to assure you that the sentries could not had poisoned him since they did not handle his food and drink. At the very least they did not handle food and drink specifically aimed for him. This was done by his French-spoken followers. As such the murderer must have been one of them.

2008-07-28 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

This is the whole text, except for a note on who translated a quote from French to Swedish. I have just divided it into three parts. The first one goes through the evidence and debunks counter-arguments. The second one describes chronologically what happened. The third deals with the question of responsibility. It is almost too long but the purpose of the original Swedish text had two purposes. One was to explain what Napoléon died from. The other was to debunk some misconceptions on Napoléon's time on Saint Helena. I have tried to came as close as possible to what I wanted to say without violating the rules for correct English. For safety's sake it has been proof-read by the Swedish sceptic Peter Olausson.

“Napoléon was poisoned to death. There are four evidences for this. The first is his symptoms during the five years he was ill. The least interrupted description comes from Louis Joseph Marchand. As the leading of the three valets he saw Napoléon almost every day. In his diary Louis wrote down what he witnessed on Saint Helena. It was amongst other things how the ex-emperor felt and which symptoms he had. His observations are confirmed by the testimony from Napoléon's good friend Henri Gratien Bertrand. Henri held a formal office but had no real tasks. One could well say that he got paid for keeping Napoléon company. In addition there are case records from the four physicians which examined Napoléon: Barry O'Meara, John Stokoe, Francesco Antommarchi and Archibald Arnott. The person they describe is NOT a cancer patient. Instead they describe a person who repeatedly have been poisoned by certain substances.
The second evidence is the state of the inner organs at the autopsy. Francesco was the most qualified person who was present. He found no tumour much less the metastases which would have been required to kill him. The assertion that he would have done so is based on a mistranslation. On the contrary his description of the inner organs matches exactly the poisoning that will be explained later. However, Francesco did not know this: he thought that Napoléon had died from hepatitis. The necessary knowledge simply did not exist yet.
The third evidence is the fact that the dead Napoléon did not decompose normally. Despite that he had not been intentionally mummified the body had barely decomposed at all in 19 years! It has been pointed out that a carcass can be preserved under certain circumstances. But those circumstances mean constant cold alternatively a very dry climate. No-one of the circumstances reined on the site where Napoléon was buried. The body was never in contact with the earth so chemical interaction with it is eliminated. The innermost coffin was airtight and of metal. If it had been heated up over a bonfire it would had stopped the decomposition. (The tin was invented so they knew that it worked but not how.) However, this could not have happened without people noticing. Furthermore, the dead man would have smelled like baked meat when the coffin was opened.
The forth evidence is the chemical analyses which have been made on hair samples from Napoléon. They have only tested samples which authenticity has been certified by those persons which originally got them from him. (It is thus not enough with hearsay.) On of them even wrote that he had taken the hair himself from the dead Napoléon's body! All the tested hair samples have the same colour and texture. It makes it likely that they came from the same person. Hair samples taken at different occasions have different arsenic contents. But it is always considerably higher than what is normal. It has been suggested that the arsenic is a contamination as a consequence of the hair being treated with arsenic preparations. It is impossible since the content is precisely as high in the in the middle of the hairs. Furthermore, the hairs taken after his death contained two other poisons too. The last 16 millimetres contained antimony and the last millimetre mercury as well. The measurements have been made by several scientists at different laboratories. Several different methods have been used. Please note that hairs do not suck up things faster than they grow. It makes it on the other hand possible to calculate exactly when the poisoning occurred.
Four of the measurements deviate from the pattern. All the four deviating results have been done with the same measurement equipment. Despite that he hair samples had been taken at different occasions they show the same arsenic content. It was in turn two and a half times as high as the highest of the other measurements. This ought to say something about how insensitive the measurement equipment is. People which claim that those measurements are reliable also assert that it was normal at the time. It is true that it is possible to get used to arsenic. But that it should hold for a whole population of 26 million is patently absurd. Some claim that people used to utilise arsenic to wash wine barrels and wine bottles. Why would they had utilised a well-known poison for that? Furthermore, Napoléon was moderate drinker. There were thus many people which drunk more wine than him. Others assert that Napoléon fell victim to his own arsenic abuse. Arsenic can really be abused. However, no contemporary testimonies suggest that he had such an addiction. The only thing he was addicted to was snuff. On the other hand it was the only unhealthy habit that we know he had.
That Napoléon died from cancer was first suggested by Charles Tristan de Montholon. It has turned out that he often lied. On Saint Helena he lied so much that he got the nickname ‘il bugiardo’ (‘the liar’ in Italian). Several times he asserted things that are against modern medical knowledge. Sometimes he even contradicted himself! It has been claimed that metastases from Napoléon are preserved at Royal College of Surgeons' museum. On the can with alcohol is a label saying that it is a gift from Barry O'Meara. Unfortunately the tissues in the can are lymphatic glands not metastases. There is not even any sensible reason to think that they come from Napoléon. Barry was not present at the autopsy since he had left the island three years earlier. If he had ever operated Napoléon we would have known it. That Napoléon's pants shrunk steadily in size has been taken as evidence that he had died from cancer. On that toxicologist Pascal Kintz – who did some of the chemical analyses – answered:

‘You don't decide that someone is suffering from cancer by measuring the size of his trousers.’

Napoléon did really lost much in weight before he died. But this was due to severe lack of appetite not due to cancer. Please note that stomach cancer is not hereditary. It was just supposed to be hereditary by people which had pre-scientific ideas of heredity. Many other diseases have been suggested as causes of Napoléon's death. In most cases they are based on certain symptoms not all or even most! Some are even based on symptoms which Charles has made up!
High arsenic contents have also been found in hair that was taken from Napoléon before 1816. Some claim that this must mean that he was not poisoned to death. They have not understood that it was a matter of sub-lethal arsenic poisoning. ‘Sub-lethal’ means potentially lethal but not necessary so. The poisoned may thus survive and recover eventually. It was what happened to Napoléon in 1805, 1812, 1813, 1814 and 1815. When he arrived to Saint Helena he had completely recovered from the last of them. People which recover from sub-lethal poisoning shows symptoms of chronic arsenic poisoning. Persons which missed the sub-lethal attacks have suggested alternative arsenic sources. Amongst other things one has suspected the wallpaper in Napoléon's bedroom and living-room. The wallpapers where coloured with Scheele's green. The walls where so damp that they grew mouldy and emitted vapour forms of arsenic. The problem is that the suspicious wallpapers where put up three years AFTER Napoléon fell ill. Furthermore, statistics points against a source in the environment. All in all twelve people where poisoned: six adult men, four adult women, a teenage boy and a little girl. Environmental poisoning affects children at first hand. There where at least three more children in the same house but they did not fell ill. On the other hand two of the affected women did not even live on the same address! Not counting Napoléon three persons died. It was his best friend Franceschi Cipriani, one of the women, ant the little girl. However, in Napoléon's case arsenic was not the ultimate poison as we will see.”

“When Napoléon delivered himself up to the Britons a few friends and servants voluntary followed him. Furthermore an old enemy turned up unexpected. It was Charles who offered to follow him anywhere. We don’t know why Napoléon accepted him. It may have been because he was so eager to follow him. It may also have been the prospect of having sex with his rather lose wife Albine Hélène. Yes, he did have sex with her! In June 1816 she had a daughter who was christened Hélène de Montholon. We still don’t know who her dad was.
Napoléon's employees and friends treated him as a ruling monarch as long as he lived. Britons which meet him personally spooked to him as a foreign monarch unless he had said that they did not need to. Officially he was called general Bonaparte at the beginning even lieutenant-general Bonaparte! For a start the party was kept on board a ship that was anchored outside England's coast. For security reasons Napoléon was not allowed to get ashore. During the time the British government discussed what they would do with him. General Arthur Wellesley (more famous as the duke of Wellington) recommended Saint Helen. It was easy to guard and had a pleasant climate. Arthur had visited the island himself when he was on the way home from India. That was the way it of cause got too. The party was transferred to an other ship with destination Saint Helena. 69 days later they where there. It was in October 1815. The Britons tried to make it as comfortable for Napoléon as possible. As long as it did not prevent them from guarding him, of cause. They tried to protect him at least as much as preventing attempted escape. The island was easily made escape-proof. The coasts consist of high, steep rocks. The British government kept track of everyone who went ashore or left the harbour. It was only one more place where it was considered possible to get down to the shore. Every ship who approached the place would be stopped by the British navy.
Napoléon would got to live in a mansion named Longwood House. But it had to be renovated and extended first. It took about two months. During the time Napoléon lived in a pavilion that was situated in the garden of a rich family's house. There he lived with five male followers. He liked to ride and work in Longwood House' garden. When his legs become too weak to allow riding he instead used to ride in his carriage. Indoors he could read, dictate, play billiards, chess and card games with Henri. Napoléon preferred outdoor activities. Had he decided to keep indoors he easily become bored.
The first quarter of 1816 Napoléon felt ill for a couple of days in the middle of each month. The followers noticed a general degeneration of his health even if he did not say anything. About the turn of the month April/May he fell ill again. He had been stricken by sub-lethal arsenic poisoning. Before he had recovered completely he was stricken one more time. So it continued year after year. No contemporary physician could tell what Napoléon suffered from. Therefore the repeated sub-lethal poisonings could continue for years. It took until the 1950ies until someone found out what Napoléon had suffered from. It become possible through the publication of Louis' diaries.
A little more than six weeks before Napoléon died the arsenic was partly replaced with antimony. Two days later Charles offered to nurse him during the nights. It was normally Jean Abram Noverraz' job. But he had suddenly fallen ill. The antimony resulted in violent vomiting. Eventually his stomach was so overworked that he stopped to vomit. Francesco and Archibald begun to worry about if he would survive. Charles wrongfully asserted that a certain mercury salt (calomel) once had saved Napoléon's life. Archibald agreed to give it a chance but not Francesco. Two other physicians where called in so that they could discuss the issue. All except Francesco let themselves to be subdued. Napoléon was given an enormous dose of the mercury salt. Earlier the same day he had been fooled to swallow a drink that was seasoned with bitter almonds. Potassium cyanide from the bitter almonds reacted with the acidity of the stomach and with the mercury salt. The result was other mercury salts, mercuric cyanide and free mercury. As a consequence of the poisoning Napoléon now laid helpless in his bed. Within 36 hours after he had swallowed the medicine he had lost his consciousness. After a little more than 48 hours he was dead. It was in the evening the 5th of May 1821. The following day an autopsy was performed on the dead man. Francesco had company of seven British physicians but it was he who held the scalpel. After the autopsy hair and beard-stubble was shaved off. A cast was made of the front half of the head together with parts of the neck and some of the chest. The dead man was washed and dressed. Eventually the body was laid in a coffin out of tin. The tin coffin was soldered close and placed in one of wood. It was placed in its turn in one of lead which was also soldered close. The lead coffin was placed in one more of wood. Napoléon was buried there on Saint Helena in a place that is called Sane Valley. There the Britons had built a gave vault out of stone. When Napoléon was dead and buried the followers could return to Europe.
In 1840 king Louis Philippe decided that Napoléon's coffin should be brought to France. A French ship was sent to Saint Helena. Several people which had known Napoléon where present when the grave was opened. When the innermost coffin was cut open they got the surprise of their lives. The dead man was almost intact! Everyone who remembered how Napoléon had looked recognised the dead man. The body's high arsenic content – combined with the two airtight coffins – had stopped almost all decomposition. The three innermost coffins where kept. They where placed in an additional one out of lead then in two more out of wood. (All wooden coffins where made of different woods.) Finally it was laid in a sarcophagus out of red porphyry in the Invalides in Paris. There he lies buried to this day.”

“There where two persons which could had poisoned Napoléon. One was Charles who was in charge of the wine cellar. The other was the valet Étienne Saint-Dennis. He was nicknamed Ali. No-one of the two had any good alibi. There are no real evidence against any of them but the indications against Charles are considerably more. Several times he said to people that a new attack was to be expected. Then he was usually right. Furthermore, he knew several months in advance which symptoms Napoléon would get. He wrote it in letters to his wife which he sent after she had left the island. In present tense he described things that had yet not occurred! 25 years later he wrote a book about his experiences on Saint Helena. His description differs radically from the other persons'. Certain parts are so artificial that they only add to the suspicions against him. Nothing suggests that Ali knew in advance what would happen to Napoléon. He did not come with any obviously exorbitant assertions either. Something Charles did several times in his book. Ali is also less likely for an other reason. Imagine that someone has poisoned an other man to death 19 years ago. He gets an invitation to be present when the victim's grave is opened. The victim will be shown to him an several others. Would he then accept? Ali was present on Saint Helena when Napoléon's grave was opened. Charles was the only invited one who was not present despite he would have been able.
Many others have been suspected for poisoning Napoléon. Here is a list of them:

§ Hudson Lowe was governor of Saint Helena. He had nothing to do with what Napoléon ate and drunk. He has been unfairly blamed for something that he could neither had done nor prevented.
§ Henri and his family where the only followers which did not live in Longwood House. (They lived in a house nearby.) It was only the last six weeks that he at all handled Napoléon's food and drink. He then helped to nurse Napoléon who had become so weak that he needed help 24 hours a day. It was always in daytime except for the last but one night. Until then Napoléon was worst in the nights when Charles nursed him.
§ Louis seem to have been the person who most nursed Napoléon. The problem with him is that he was one of the six adult men which had been stricken by sub-lethal arsenic poisoning. An assassin who poisons himself is too clumsy to avoid detection!
§ Abram has an excellent alibi. To the day six weeks before Napoléon died he was stricken by sub-lethal arsenic poisoning. He barely recovered in time to bid farewell to his dying ruler. By then Napoléon already laid unconscious.
§ Jean Baptiste Pierron was Longwood House' cook. He did not know which portion would be served to who. Consequentially he could not poison Napoléon without poisoning everyone who ate with him. People which ate with Napoléon rarely fell ill. On the contrary everyone had their own whine bottle which makes the one who was in charge of the wine cellar more suspicious. Sure, Jean served the desserts. But several times Napoléon become worse without eating any dessert.
§ The four physicians mentioned in the first paragraph have been accused for causing Napoléon's death. The problem is that Napoléon was ill even when no-one of them where there. Furthermore, he was sceptic to physicians. It was easy to count the times he swallowed any medicine at all.

Napoléon may have called Charles ‘the most faithful of the faithful’. However, he just become fooled by an unusually ingratiating hypocrite. It was how Charles got Napoléon's trust: though his constant ingratiation. Furthermore, Napoléon lived in the illusion that loyalty could be bought. It is hard to think that Charles could had nursed Napoléon – helped him with things he in fact needed help with – without feeling some kind of sympathy. He might had thought something like ‘I have to kill him but I can't let him suffer more than necessary’.
It is entirely possible that Charles acted on his own. In that case he was solely responsible for Napoléon's death. There is no evidence for any conspiracy. If Napoléon fell victim to any such there where two possible assignors. One was Charles' close friend and France' crown prince Charles Philippe de Capet. The crown prince was a well-known intriguer who advocated political assassinations. The other was Charles' adoptive dad Charles Louis de Sémonville. We know that Charles visited him shortly before he joined Napoléon. It is also possible that both where involved. The adoptive dad would then had conveyed a commission which he had got from the crown prince. Was there an assignor Charles would not have had any choice. Had he refused he would have been killed so that he could not reveal anything. Someone else had followed Napoléon with secret commission to poison him.”

I am not an expert, just an ordinary sceptic fascinated by Napoléon. But I DO have written sources to all my claims. Questioners will be answered to the best of my ability.

2008-10-06 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

GA Review

This review is transcluded from Talk:Napoleon I of France/GA2. The edit link for this section can be used to add comments to the review.

Thank you for your GA nomination. I have now reviewed the article according to the Good article criteria, and posted the review below.

1 Well written

1.1 Prose

• This is generally good, although a copyedit is always useful. No GA-blocker issues though.

1.2 Manual of Style

I've made a few tweaks here and there:

• Check that all French words are spelt correctly (mainly those with accents eg Vendemiaire → Vendémiaire)
• Dashes that break up a sentence should normally be an unspaced emdash (see WP:MOSDASH), although spaced endashes are also ok. I've changed the hyphens to the former, so if you prefer the latter feel free to alter them ;)
• Although mid-sentence inline citations are not forbidden, personally I think they break up the flow of a sentence unnecessarily. Many of these could be moved to the end of the sentence (the order of the cites then reflects the order of the assertions being cited in the sentence). However, this is a stylistic issue and not a GA-blocker, so it's your call.
• The article is overlinked in places (only link a word if it adds to the understanding of the topic, and then only only the first instance). I took out duplicate wikilinks where I noticed them, but I'm sure I missed loads so it could do with checking through.
• Since the article largely followed British English spelling, I've changed those Am-E spellings I noticed to match. I have no preference, but spelling style should be consistent.

2 Factual accuracy

• Link check passed; sources look good
• I've tagged one or two sentences that need explicit citations.
• "In the latter half of the twentieth century, several people claimed other causes for his death..." To justify 'several', I think this needs further citation.
• The quotation given in the paragraph that begins "Critics of Napoleon argue his true legacy..." (in Autocracy) is a little confusing. I've tweaked the quote marks to what I think is correct, but if it's all quoted from one source it might be best as a blockqote, and I think for such a long quotation we ought to be told in the article who is being quoted.

3 Coverage

• Looks good

4 Neutrality

• A fair and balanced article - no issues here.

I thoroughly disagree with the above comment. Napoleon is presented in this article as "personally anti-semitic", in flagrant contradiction with the content of the article on him, and the article "Napoleon and the Jews", in which we learn that he was centuries ahead of his time in treating Jews as first class citizens throughout Europe (and incurring the hostility of just about every major power for doing so). His(supposed) anti-semitism, as referred to in the article, is ridiculous: when you read about his liberating and assimilating the Jews and follow the link to the article on anti-semitism (with an obvious section on the Nazi regime and the Night of Cristal), it's difficult to see what basis (and I should add that no reference is cited to justify the claim that he was "personally antisemitic") there is for saying that he wasn't a philosemite. For the sake of encyclopedic neutrality, it would be normal to cite an author who made such a claim, but there are many more (including Jewish authors and statesmen) who consider Napoleon as their liberator. I therefore propose that the phrase "Napoleon was personally anti-semitic" be removed, or modified to reflect the fact that it is an opinion, and not an established fact. Executeur (talk) 20:17, 6 January 2009 (UTC)

There is a reference cited to justify the claim (Mclynn 436), why can't you see it? Please don't delete sources. Do you have reliable source to back-up your argument? He did a lot of good for the jews but we need to have a balanced article not a totally pro or negative one, Tom B (talk) 01:12, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

As I said there are many sources who would take exception to the allegation that he was anti-semitic. Ben Weider quotes a statement he made in reply to anti-semitic opponents of his policy of assimilation within France "This is not the way to solve the Jewish question. I will never accept any proposaIs that will obligate the Jewish people to leave France, because to me the Jews are the same as any other citizen in our country. It takes weakness to chase them out of the country, but it takes strength to assimilate them." You can find it on the link to his article on the subject.

McLynn's argument is based on the premise that forbidding usury was an attack against the Jews, rather than against usurers (not all of whom were Jewish), which misses the point that Napoleon's policy was an assimilationist one: the Jews were to be equal citizens and preserve their religion, but they were accordingly ruled by the same laws as other citizens and their religion was organised by the Sanhedrin. If you compare the article "Napoléon et les Juifs" with "Napoleon and the Jews", you'll find that there's a different slant depending on whether it's the French article ("assimilation = good") or the English one "assimilation = ambiguous". It's a cultural impass. In the article "Napoleon and the Jews", the allegation of antisemitism is left in, but balanced against Napoleon's own quoted opinions on the subject. And as I said above, in his day anti-semitism was socially acceptable, so I think we can consider that he was going against accepted opinion, given that he was seen as so favourable to the Jews that the Russian Orthodox Church labelled him the "Anti Christ and Enemy of God"(Vincent Cronin, Napoleon, HarperCollins 1994, p315)... titles normally reserved for the Devil!Executeur (talk) 17:14, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

As the section on the cause of his death already runs over 200 words, this link may interest you http://www.jewishtribune.ca/TribuneV2/content/view/553/5/ Executeur (talk) 17:22, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

5 Stability

• Although the article clearly attracts some POV editors, page protection seems to have helped. No concerns.

6 Images

• Goya 2nd May image duplicate of version on commons; replace. Others look good (note layout in places)

thanks, have now requested speedy deletion of image and changed link in article straight to a cleaned version of the picture on commons which does not have a duplicate. Have also removed one of the villa pictures as image heavy in that area, Tom (talk) 22:56, 12 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks (quick work too in responding to the draft review!) EyeSerene^talk 09:08, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

• "Napoleon seated on the Imperial throne" - this could do with a more informative caption (painted by... etc). Same for some of the other images.

I have placed the article on hold to allow the above concerns to be addressed. This will last for approximately one week, although can be extended if constructive editing is still taking place. I'll check back here regularly, and please get in touch if you have any questions. Regards, EyeSerene^talk 09:08, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

thanks, particularly for being so specific and doing those changes. i've made all the major changes. On english spelling, I had already thought I'd put everything into British but it looks like 'maneouvre' got through. On foreign spelling, I think everything is spelt right, it's just about diacritics. There is a discussion at wp:mos which on the face of it seems neutral, though as the title is Napoleon rather than Napoléon I thought the most simple and consistent way forward was to simply remove all diacritics. Tom (talk) 19:59, 15 July 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for your response - looking good so far. Re the diacritics, I don't intend to get hung up on it ;) However, with previous articles I've worked on, the convention has always been to include them (eg Battle of Verrières Ridge). IIRC the MoS recommends using the most common English term for the article title though, so there's some inconsistency in the system. EyeSerene^talk 07:52, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Cheers. On diacritics, there was probably consensus established regarding the title Battle of Verrières Ridge. There was a discussion regarding the article title Talk:Napoleon_I_of_France/Archive_1#His_name and I've implemented consistency from that. I also saw scope for inconsistency in the wp:Mos but in this case there is probably at least one type of consistency: Battle of Verrières Ridge may normally be known by English speakers with the diacritic whilst Napoleon is nearly always spelt by English speakers without the diacritic. Tom (talk) 12:43, 18 July 2008 (UTC)

GA pass

Thank you for the improvements you have made to this article. I now have no hesitation in passing it as a Good article, and have listed it as such as WP:GA. For further improvement in the future, the "Notes and references" section could be divided into separate Footnotes and References, and a parenthetical referencing system might be useful in trimming the list a bit.

Great job; well done! EyeSerene^talk 16:27, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

The Emperor's Death

Napoleon had four physicians during the span of his last years. The first two were mad men, eventually kicked out his so called "Emperor's palace". The next 2 gave him poison, that at the time were things that healed you. But really they made him even sicker and dipose of his guts thru his intestinal track. Some recall him slithering and moping on the ground as if he were a snake.He locked himself inside his bedroom and refused to eat or drink for 2 days when news spread Josephine had died. His last words were "France, the army, my son, Josephine". And then,..the immortal never forgotten emperor .....died. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.28.49.134 (talk) 03:02, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

You are mixing up a great deal here. First, I see no reason to think that Barry O'Meara or John Stokoe where mad. Secondly, Napoléon rarely swallowed any medicine at all. Third, Josephine died in 1814: a year befor Napoléon artrived to Saint Helena. Forth, the famous last words where made up by Charles Tristan de Montholon who has turn out to be a frequent liar. I will post a longer description of his exile, illness and death under the subtile ”Napoleon's Death” as soon as it has been proof-reed by my fellow Swedish sceptic Peter Olausson.

2008-10-01 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.67.105.223 (talk) 17:32, 1 October 2008 (UTC)

Napoléon, François, Noël & chou à la crème

Tpbradbury: Do you mean that accents, cédille & others are forbidden in en:Wikipedia? It hurts my eyes terribly to see Champs Elysees and Republique francaise. In my opinion as a professional book editor working with six languages, even in a text in English, these are mistakes because one should either anglicise the word or, if kept in its language of origin, respect the original spelling. In N's article: 3rd line of *Origins & education*, one can read "though he later adopted the more French-sounding Napoleon Bonaparte". Well, if *he*, that is N, adopted the more French-sounding Napoleon Bonaparte, it stands to reason that *he* also adopted the accent on Napoléon.

It is also difficult for me to understand why accents should be banished in N's article while they are all over en:wikipedia. For instance, coup d'etat directs the reader to Coup d'état, Josephine de Beauharnais to Joséphine de Beauharnais, Champs Elysees to Champs Élysées.

Furthermore, does it make any sense to give a quote in French & remove all the accents? This is note n° 6 of N's article, which I had corrected, but that was immediately reverted: Letter published in (1870) in Henri Plon: Correspondance Napoleon. Dumaine, p.420. ASIN B0013Z9HGO. ^ Article 1.- Le Peuple français nomme, et le Senat proclame Napoleon Bonaparte Premier consul à vie. Translation: The French people name, and the Senate proclaims Napoleon Bonaparte First Consul for life Together with the French words without accents, whoever first wrote the article did not give the correct title for Henri Plon's publication of N's letters in 1870. The title is not "Correspondance Napoleon" but "Correspondance de Napoléon Ier".

Omitting an accent in French can change the meaning of the sentence as the accent on a verb indicates past participle tense. For instance: "Le chasseur tue pendant la chasse..." (= The hunter kills during the hunt) vs "Le chasseur tué pendant la chasse..." (= The hunter killed during the hunt). If the accent is omitted when the sentence is inserted in a text in English, then the reader will not know whether the hunter killed or was killed.

All this being said, and as your corrections came while I was in the middle of my own, I am stopping doing any editing on this article. It irks me to see the numerous historical inexactitudes with which en:wikipedia is filled, and have some silly rules keep serious editors from participating in the real *meat of the subject*, while vandals are allowed to flourish. Frania W. (talk) 20:31, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

P.S. By the way, why is there such a choice in the insert box listing "latin" if we can not use such symbols as Á á É é Ê ê ë ú Œ œ ? Ridiculous!

Bonsoir Frania,

The title of the article is Napoleon I of France (no accent). If you read above, when taken through the GA review it was pointed-out by the reviewer that the article was inconsistent in its use of diacritics so in order to make it consistent I took the diacritics out to be consistent with the title and the reviewer agreed. It seems difficult to justify not putting diacritics in the title and then suddenly putting them in the article. I think Napoleon is unsual because it's a name English speakers anglicise by not putting the accent in but they keep accents for other words such as in Coup d'état hence why many articles have diacritics. I think it might be possible to include some of the diacritics you inputted without being inconsistent. Thanks for pointing out some errors and please note any historical inexactitudes. I see you've written this on the talk page? it makes more sense just to write notes to me on my talk page. Tom B (talk) 20:40, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

It seems to me that when we are anglicizing, as in the title of the article, it is entirely proper to remove diacritics. However, when directly quoting French text (including names), it makes more sense to present it as it would be presented in the original language, including diacritics. That is not "inconsistent," it is just a little more sophisticated than "diacritics are good" vs. "bad". --Russ (talk) 20:45, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Good evening, Tom & Russ:

(1) I have come to terms with Napoléon losing his accent in English, that's the way the Ameranglos write it, and I accept it. But it should not mean that there was a consensus between the English & the Americans to remove all diacritics from all French words in all Anglo texts.

(2) Please note that when I edited the article, except for the one "Napoléon Bonaparte" saying how Bonaparte himself chose to spell his name in French (which was my reason to put an accent on that Napoléon), I had not touched the other Napoleon of the text, thus respecting the Anglo-American entente cordiale on this point!

(3) In my opinion, the argument of inconsistency is being carried too far. If no accents are to be used, then let us not use foreign words & let's have every word anglicised. Instead of talking about Napoleon's *Grande Armée* camouflaged as Grande Armee, then let's write Napoleon's Great Army but please no Grande Armee. In other words, either French or English, but no amputated French terms.

(4) Should we want to carry this no diacritics policy throughout en:wikipedia, are we going to redirect articles such as those on André Le Nôtre, Madame de Sévigné, Marie-Thérèse de France, Champs Élysées to Andre Le Notre, Madame de Sevigne, Marie-Therese de France, Champs Elysees?

(5) As for not respecting French orthography in a quote in French, it makes no sense in an encyclopedic article. A letter is a letter. e is not é or è or ë or ê. And if you have ou (=or) and où (=where) what imbroglio would be created in skipping the accent on ù! The same with à (= at, to) and a (= has). And I shall not tell you what one would be writing if skipping the cedilla under the c of leçon!

I rest my case. Frania W. (talk) 23:37, 26 September 2008 (UTC)

Napoleon's Wallpaper

Hello. I just wanted to point out the fact that Napoleon's wallpaper may have been his murderer. According to [[1]], if Napoleon's wallpaper was green during his time imprisoned in Saint Helena, the green dye on the wall might have been Scheele Green, a colouring pigment which was cheap and easy to make. When damp and moldy, Scheele Green would let off arsenic in vapour form, and considering the large amounts of time spent inside his room, Napoelon may very well have died from inhaled arsenic poisoning. A woman named Shirley Bradley had come forward with a piece of Napoleon's wallpaper which she had found in an old scrapbook, and when it was tested for arsenic, small quantities were found. It was, however, impossible to find out whether this really was Napoleon's wallpaper until the painting "Death of Napoleon" by Charles de Steuben was studied closely, and guess what? The wallpaper on the room is the same pattern as was seen on Shirley Bradley's little piece.

Just some food for thought...maybe this should be mentioned in the article?

Harry54321987 (talk) 18:14, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

<http://www.grand-illusions.com/articles/napoleons_wallpaper/>

- Hmm...just read over the article again and realize that there is a note which mentions it briefly...in my opinion it should be added into the "Cause of Death" section, since it is a theory on his death.

Harry54321987 (talk) 19:42, 11 October 2008 (UTC)

You are wrong about the painting. I have seen a copy of it in higher resolution and I can tell that the colour – but not pattern – is the same. The painting shows a geometric pattern while the preserved pice of wallpaper has flowers on it. The paitning was made a few years later by a man who was not there. He had access to the furniture and had the opportunity to meet those people on the painting which was still alive. The depiction of the dying man really resemblence his so the artist probably used his death mask as the model for him. About the wallpapers he may only had been told what colour they where. However, the preserved pice really was on the wall when Napoléon died. I belived the wallpaper hypotesis myself untill Ben Weider told me that they where put up three years after Napoléon fell ill. As such the mouldy wallpapers could not had made him ill in the first place. Please read my inlays under the subtitle ”Napoleon's Death”. If you want to continue the discussion I prefer to do it there.

2008-10-13 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

Thanks very much for clearing that up, Lena. If you have a high-resolution copy of The Death of Napoleon, do you think you could send it to me at dj-its@hotmail.com? I've never been able to get my hands on one... Harry54321987 (talk) 21:43, 13 October 2008 (UTC)

I have searched a lot myself but the best I have found on the Web is this:

http://www.napoleon.org/en/popup_zoom.asp?identity=157050&type=object

A sharper version in greyscale can be found in “Assassination at St. Helena” by Sten Forshufvud and Ben Weider. If you really want I can scan it within a week and send it to you together with a list of who is who in the image. The list is currently written in Swedish. However, it should not be too hard to translate it into English. I personally prefer the older sketch since I consider it more realistic. It can be found on Wikimedia Commons:

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Steuben_-_Mort_de_Napoleon.jpg

The dying man lies strait down but with his head on high pillow(s). Henri Gratien Bertrand must have been very tiered since he had been kept awake for a day and a night, then slept for a day, then had kept awake for an other night and a day. He is sitting in a relaxed pose resulting from trying to subside compleatly into the chair while still wearing his bullet-proof west. In general, people behave the much way I would expect them to do. Louis Joseph Marchand (he with the large, dark sideburns) seem shocked and four other persons burst into cry. One of them is Jean Abram Noverraz (he who sits on the floor in the lower right corner). In the final painting he just bows his head, keeps his eyes closed and looks sad. I consider that a less likely reaction.

2008-12-30 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden.

At a second thought I remember that a high resolution colour version was printed in “Illustrerad Vetenskap” (Scandinavia’s largest popular scientific magazine) in 2001. I don’t have the issue myself and I don’t remember which issue it was. What I do have is a greyscale copy of the article in question. The picture of this painting is missing since it was intentionally covered when the article was copied. I then thought that it was much less realistic than really is the case. Those are the reasons I can remember:

¤ I thought the climate of Saint Helena was hotter than it is. The island is tropical but not so very hot. The surrounding seas are colder than you would expect from the latitude. In fact, without the global warming experienced since the 1980ies there would not be any tropical cyclones in the South Atlantic. Altitude also plays a roll as Saint Helena has a quite upland character and is highly hilly. So European summer clothes should not have been any problem.

¤ I thought Napoléon’s existence on Saint Helena was as poor as it could be without being in need. This impression was based on a drawing showing him in a manual worker’s clothes. Now I think he only dressed like that when he worked in the garden which he enjoyed. In reality he did what he could to preserve his old imperial habits. This included proper cloths for his followers. He got maintenance from the British government equivalent of the governor’s salary. He also had a great deal of ready money with him from start (think gold and silver coins with his own image). The Britons knew this as they had counted all his possessions when he delivered himself up to them.

¤ I though that the dying man in the painting did not look ill at all. Now I admit that he looks a little pale but not nearly as bad as I imagine (lean with a swollen belly, very pale and yellowish skin, sparse hair grown to almost twice its normal length, sparse facial hair not shaven for at least a week). Since he was unconscious for at least 14 hours before he died he would have looked compleatly relaxed including a slightly open mouth. In general, people look much better than they could credibly have done – like Hollywood stars in fact! For example, Charles Tristan de Montholon (the man holding a large envelope) is portrayed as handsome as Mel Gibson could look with the right make-up. I took Mel as an example because he happens to have the same shape of face as Charles. What I mean is that the exact distances between the features of the face are the same.

Anyway, it is from this printed version I got my ideas of how the wallpapers where depicted. If you want to know more about how and from what Napoléon died please read my inlays under the “Napoleon’s Death”.

2008-12-31 Lena Synnerholm, Märsta, Sweden. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.229.19.102 (talk) 16:44, 31 December 2008 (UTC)

Peacock word

Laplace is called a scientific "genius" in the article. The word "genius" is banned as a peacock word in Wikipedia. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 217.41.51.240 (talk) 12:52, 23 October 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for pointing it out and I have altered it per your request. Alientraveller (talk) 13:09, 25 October 2008 (UTC)

Errors in this article

This is, overall, a good short article on Napoleon I. I noticed two errors. First, in the overview, the author speaks of the Grande Armee as being "decimated" in Russia. In fact, it was almost annihilated - decimation, of course, means literally the loss of a tenth.

Second error: The Battle of Borodino did not result in the deaths of 44,000 Russians and 35,000 French. The total casualties on each side were approximately the numbers above (exact figures are unknown and unknowable), including the wounded and missing. Deaths would have totaled somewhere between one third and one half of the total casualties.

Speaking more generally, the author of the article relies far too much on McGlynn and Schom as references. McGlynn is a fine writer, but a professional biographer -- by no means an expert on Napoleon. Schom's book presents his own interpretation of the Corsican, not necessarily a dispassionate one. A broader use of source material would benefit this article.

Jonvt (talk) 00:06, 27 October 2008 (UTC) Jon Harrison

Hi Jon, thanks for comments. A peer reviewer changed 'wrecked' to decimated, though to be honest I did note there might be a bit of confusion given the genesis of the word, I'll change back to 'wrecked'.

On Borodino, you're right they're obviously not exact figures, so i'll put 'approximately' and 'wounded and captured' in article and recheck with sources as well. I think the figures are 'knowable' in an epistemological sense but we can leave that to Rumsfeld!

On authorship, there normally isn't one 'author' to an article; it is true to say I've currently done more edits than anyone else. In terms of improving the article, I think the best way forward at the moment is to continue to identify major gaps or errors as you've done. Grateful if you can highlight major gaps in accurately representing the relevant body of published knowledge, Tom B (talk) 12:09, 27 October 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if it is a possible error or a misunderstood but i have read his teacher at Brionne, Jean-Louis Lombard said about Napoleon "This boy will go far" or in french "ce garçon ira loin" instead of "This boy would make an excellent sailor". In french, this expression "to go far" means he would have a good military career and not that he would travel as a sailor usually does.

Could someone make it clear ?

My references are:

- Defranceschi, Jean - La Jeunesse de Napoléon : les dessous de l’histoire, collection Lettrage, Paris, 2001.

- Garros, Louis & Tulard, Jean - Itinéraire de Napoléon au jour le jour (1769-1821), collection Bibliothèque napoléonienne, Paris, 2002.

11/15/2008, Fred. 86.206.108.210 (talk) 22:06, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

According to pg 21 of McLynn's 'Napoleon' book from 1998, "In 1783 the Inspector-General M. de Keralio [wrote]...This boy would make an excellent sailor." I can add a ref if necessary. It may very well also be true that Lombard said he would go far. Tom B (talk) 01:22, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Supergrenouille (talk) 22:00, 12 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes in french to "go far" in this context has nothing to do with distance but rather with achievment. Hence it means: he will have a good career. My source? er... I'm a native french speaker. 8-)

"of the French" vs. "of France"

Shoudn't the article be titled "Napoleon I of the French", since that is how he titled himself? I realised he titled himself "of the French" rather than "of France" as a cheap populistic move, but since that was the official title, shouldn't we have it located there... - Victory's Spear (talk) 20:51, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Talk:Napoleon_I_of_France/Archive_3#Requested_move discussion on this is here and there was also some discussion later on the same page, Tom B (talk) 02:39, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Something to Share - (A possible reason why Napoleon had his hand in his coat) - NOT ORIGINAL RESEARCH

On the subject of Napoleon, I remember reading somewhere that Napoleon put his hand in his coat in that portrait because of a nasty skin condition inflicting him. It had something to do with an insecet parisite called "Scabies". I had my doubts, but I looked up the article, and it resembled exactly what I read. I can't recall exactly what I read however, but I know Napoleon did this because of a nasty skin disease. Unfortunately, I am unable to cite it, and thus it can not be included. Does anyone else know of this? I honestly recall reading it... it was just a long time ago.

TurtleShroom! :) ^†Jesus Loves You and Died for you!^† 16:13, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

By the way, I actually read that the entire short Napoleon stereotype is false: a book said Napoleon was actually an inch or so taller than an average French-man.

NATIONALISM????

how did napoleon help start nationalism????? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.139.248.249 (talk) 23:18, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

He didn't help start it and the article doesn't say that. He consolidated the german and italian states helping to facilitate their later nationalist movements. Also, a by-product of most of Napoleon's work was an attempt to further the power of his nation state, France. Tom B (talk) 14:22, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Language

What was his native language? Corsu? Sca (talk) 20:54, 19 December 2008 (UTC)

Yes, Tom B (talk) 14:22, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

poop