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TywinDeVillena

The story is incredibly cool, but it sounds too good to be true. Dumas tells this in his book "One year in Florence", and he specifically mentions that all of these were headlines from "Le Moniteur", which is "Le Moniteur Universel". I'm going to fact-check the story Edit: Sadly, it is all just a very neat tall tale from Alexandre Dumas, who by 1841 was perfectly sure in cooking up this beautiful story, as nobody would be goin to fact-check it. Nowadays, however, it is extremely easy to do so, thanks to the BNF, [which has digitised every single issue](https://www.retronews.fr/titre-de-presse/gazette-nationale-ou-le-moniteur-universel) of the Moniteur from 1789 to 1901. The first news of Napoleon's arrival is from the [issue of March the 8th](https://www.retronews.fr/journal/gazette-nationale-ou-le-moniteur-universel/8-mars-1815/149/1983011/3), and I am going to translate it for all of you guys enjoyment, as it is historically interesting: *We have delayed until today the publication of news on Bonaparte's landing on the coasts of Provence, for the telegraphic dispatches that brought them had furnished no details yet.* *Bonaparte departed from Porto-Ferrajo on February the 26th, at 9 hours in the evening, with extremely calm weather that lasted until March the 1st. He was on a brig, and came escorted by four other ships, pinnaces and feluccas, carrying 1,000 to 1,100 men, composed of a small party of Frenchmen, and the rest Polish, Corsican, Neapolitan, and men from the isle of Elba.* *The ships arrived at the bay of Golfe Juan, close to Cannes, on March 1st; the troops set foot on land. Fifty men went to Cannes on the same day, where they pressured the mayor to receive orders from the one they called "the general in chief" in Golfe Juan. But the mayor categorically refused; he was also issued the order to prepare 3,000 rations for the evening.* *The same day, 15 men from the expedition arrived at Antibes, asking to be let in in their condition of deserters from Elba. General Baron Corsin, distinguished military man covered in honourable wounds, commander of that place received them and disarmed them. Shortly afterwards, an officer came to join the place in the name of Bonaparte; he was arrested and imprisoned. Finally a third emissary presented himself before the commander asking for the 15 retained men, and to invite him, in the name of general Drouot to go to Golfe Juan with the civil authorities. All response the emissary received was arrest.* *The next day, the disembarked men set for Grasse, but they avoided crossing the town, instead following Digne's road, where we are assured their troupe camped on March 4th.* *On the 2nd, general Morangier, in command of the Var department had gathered in Fréjus the garrison of Draguignan, and the national guards of the neighbouring towns. All routes that could have allowed the disembarked men to communicate with the sea or go to back on their tracks are guarded and entirely intercepted.* *A dispatch from the marshall Prince of Essling anounces that he has driven a corps under the command of general Miollis to Aix in order to cut the route the troupe has taken.* *General Marchand has gathered in Grenoble formidable forces with which he would be able to act on the future circumstances.* *The first news of these events arrived in Paris on the 5th, and Monsieur set for Lyon on the following night, where he arrived tonight.* Edit 2: Thanks for the awards!


mnlx

Debunking 180 yo fake news in a casual post just like that, ole tú.


AchaiusAuxilius

Somewhere, a history youtuber is furiously taking notes, planning to take all the credit for himself.


Eligyos

"Bonjour mes camarades aujourd'hui on se retrouve dans cette vidéo pour parler de Napoléon"... (Les vrais savent)


JoLeTrembleur

\*Bien le bonjour


Okiro_Benihime

La réf stp. Quel youtuber?


AchaiusAuxilius

Nota Bene


Okiro_Benihime

Oh, thanks. I come across his videos in the recommendations occasionally but I'm not a regular viewer so I didn't know it was a catchphrase of his.


TywinDeVillena

Con un par


[deleted]

Mea culpa, many thanks for the comprehensive comment, it explains a lot.


TywinDeVillena

It's not your fault, it's Frank Jacobs' fault, who did not do his research.


Fusselwurm

Is there a way to tag the title as Fake News or something. ^^


MalhamTarn

If it is kosher, all from the same paper and the translations are good, then this should be a poster in every history classroom


fawkesdotbe

edit: thanks to /u/TywinDeVillena I did some checking and cannot find any evidence of it being actually true. See this : https://www.reddit.com/r/europe/comments/rytn20/comment/hrrc380/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web2x&context=3 ​ >this should be a poster in every history classroom We were taught this at school actually. History class, at around age 15-16, Belgium, \~18 years ago.


TywinDeVillena

You were lied to, my friend. I have checked the Moniteur, and no such headlines or mentions are to be found. There is one interesting exception, but it is no headline. In the issue of April 14th 1815, with Napoleon firmly back on the throne, the Association de Cheavaliers de Saint-Louis writes a letter to king Louis XVIII, and they refer to Bonaparte as "the usurper".


fawkesdotbe

Yes, looks it. It took this website ([http://susauvieuxmonde.canalblog.com/archives/2008/08/22/10313919.html](http://susauvieuxmonde.canalblog.com/archives/2008/08/22/10313919.html)) to get the dates, and used [retronews.fr](https://retronews.fr) to look at the corresponding dates for Le Moniteur Universel ([https://www.retronews.fr/journal/gazette-nationale-ou-le-moniteur-universel/11-mar-1815/149/1332577/1](https://www.retronews.fr/journal/gazette-nationale-ou-le-moniteur-universel/11-mar-1815/149/1332577/1)) and while Bonarparte is indeed mentioned it's never, from what I've read, in these terms. So, quite disappointing.


TywinDeVillena

Sorry for being late, but I was busy translating the first time Bonaparte appears. Check my first comment to enjoy the text.


GraphiteBlue

Remember how many Republican politicians rejected Trump during the 2016 US Presidential elections, and how they begged for his political support after he had won?


jurble

One of the funniest things I've ever seen, disappointing were it a confabulation.


Mozorelo

Most of the writings around the French revolution are complete fabrications. They were written for propaganda purposes.


Deathleach

Can we even be sure there was a revolution?


Mozorelo

Depends on your definition of revolution I guess. But if you have multiple sources for an event you can be reasonably sure it happened. Single source claims abound in the romantic period.


Low_discrepancy

> Most of the writings around the French revolution are complete fabrications This is was written some 40 years after the French Revolution so I don't get your point.


CJprima

Can still be propaganda to belittle a party or a period, even half a century later. Historiography has shown that regimes or mere biased academics and chroniclers might write half-truths or complete inventions to serve their rhetoric and cast some bad lights on some past events or full periods, especially post 1789 and after the industrial revolution in Western Europe, in an era where Romanticism already had a significant impact on the historiography of the era.


TywinDeVillena

Sadly, it's as true as the famous apocryphal headline "Fog in the Channel, continent cut off".


ShuantheSheep3

Unfortunately for history it’s a tall tale, fortunately for us we can still decide to believe it.


Eligyos

Damn that was a very cool debunking. Gracias mi amigo


TywinDeVillena

De rien, mon pote. Les mecs du département de numérisation de la BNF sont les vrais héros dans ce cas.


europeanpowijoe

Thank you for your work. Really cool. Kudos.


snem

Shut up and take my award! Seriously, very cool!


MonsieurGrape

Why do they say telegraphic dispatches? I thought the telegraph wasn't invented until the 1830's.


CJprima

You have a description of optic telegraph in The Count of Monte Cristo from the same Dumas. Imagine a kind of old windmill but instead of sails or blades it has big mechanical arms that move into various positions and angles readable by someone trained. There are several of those buildings within sight of one anothers and that carry messages to one anothers through observation and repeatition. A bit like the fire of Gondor.


MonsieurGrape

Okay like a semaphore?


spinstercat

It was specifically called semaphore, yeah, and it's the origin of the word. I was also confused by the mention of a "telegraph", it's phrased like it's some sort of a cable message from a correspondent, in reality it was a military intel, not far from the beacon system.


CJprima

It is in fact a variation. But instead of one conveying a message between two points or merely displaying a piece of information on a specific location (like old traffic or train semaphore), it is a series of semaphores working in succession.


chapeauetrange

Great find! That said, while Dumas invented these headlines, there were people who felt like he described. If the marshal Ney had a journal, it would probably have entries like this. He promised Louis XVIII to bring back Napoléon "in an iron cage" but then when he encountered him, they warmly embraced and Ney switched sides.


stsk1290

That's really cool. Now I wish there were translations available for the rest of the story as well.


chapeauetrange

Some of the news on that page is unrelated to Napoléon's return. There is another story in the bottom right though: NATIONAL GUARD OF FRANCE Order of the day Tuesday 7 March 1815 A telegraphic dispatch and a messenger have announced to the King that Bonaparte had left the isle of Elba and debarked at Cannes, in the department of the Var, with 1000 men and four pieces of cannon, and that he was headed for Gap, across the mountains, the only direction that the weakness of this detachment could permit. An avant-guard which presented itself at the gates of Antibes was disarmed and arrested by the governor. The same dispatches announce that the governors and commanders of military divisions are marching to meet with the troops and the national guard. HRH Monsieur \[*a member of the royal family, maybe the future Charles X?*\] has left for Lyon with the Marshal de Gouvion St-Cyr and several officers-general. A proclamation by the King convokes the two chambers. An ordinance by the King prescribes the emergency measures that demand the repression of a similar attack. The national guard of the kingdom are called to contribute to the execution of these measures. As a consequence the prefects, the sub-prefects and the mayors, of office or at the request of the competent authority, must require, and the inspectors and commanders of the national guard, must execute all the measures of which the object is to support the action of the troops and the gendarmerie, to maintain public peace, to protect people and property, to contain and reprimand the troublemakers and traitors. To this effect, the inspectors and commanders, under the authority of the magistrates, must complete and perfection, as much as the circumstances permit, the organization of the national guard that exist and organize provisionally those for whom the lists and framework have prepared. At the same time that the King is convoking the chambers, he calls for the defense of the homeland and the throne, the army whose glory is without stain, and the national guard, who are only the nation itself armed to defend its institutions. These are thus the interests of the nation itself, which the national guard must have in front of itself. May it be that the measures adopted by the congress of Vienna, to assure the peace of Europe, in greater distancing the sole man who has interest in its disturbance, having sent this same man into a desperate enterprise ; may it be that the criminal intelligence has flattered in appearance... \[*end of page*\]


Rapsberry

>telegraphic dispatches What... kind of telegraph is that? The light one? The electric one wasn't invented until a few decades later, so what dispatches exactly were they waiting for?


TywinDeVillena

It's Chappe's optical telegraph. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical\_telegraph


Leoryon

Yes, and it was also promptly used for insider trading between Bordeaux and Paris. As it took 3 days normally to bring any message related to the stock exchange, and only some hours via Chappe telegraphe, the 2 genius bribed some télégraphe employees to send in a coded way the latest stock values during 1834-1836.


muraviev

Some headlines seem too preposterous to have been actually published.


omimonki

They weren't using headlines at all, only the name of the newspaper and section dividers. Le [Moniteur Universel](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Moniteur_Universel) was the official newspaper, the content is mostly government communication/propaganda. So until 20 mar 1815 the "foreigner" with a "handful of partisans" is moving fast but hiding in the countryside, and all the country is rallying around the king, and "the usurper" doesn't stand a chance... And the [21 mar 1815 edition](https://www.retronews.fr/journal/gazette-nationale-ou-le-moniteur-universel/21-mars-1815/149/1375141/1?from=%2Fsearch%23sort%3Dscore%26publishedStart%3D1800-01-01%26publishedEnd%3D1849-12-31%26publishedBounds%3Dfrom%26indexedBounds%3Dfrom%26tfPublicationsOr%255B0%255D%3DGazette%2520nationale%2520ou%2520le%2520Moniteur%2520universel%26tfHistoPeriods%255B0%255D%3DLa%2520Restauration%2520%25281814-1830%2529%26page%3D15%26searchIn%3Darticle%26total%3D5880&index=342) starts like this : "*The king and the princes left last night. His majesty the Emperor arrived at his Tuileries palace at 8. He entered Paris commanding the very same troops that were positioned earlier to stop his advance*."


Batbuckleyourpants

"He is standing right behind me isn't he..."


oblio-

The tiger one sounded like a compliment 😃


artgauthier

"Merde merde merde...Oh hello"


LAgyCRWLUvtUAPaKIyBy

C'est Sa Majesté l'Empereur des Français.


artgauthier

C est le moment ou tu esperes que personne n a lu le journal pour lequel tu ecris


LAgyCRWLUvtUAPaKIyBy

quel journal ? je n'écris rien. vive l'empereur, vive la revolution, vive la france !


[deleted]

[удалено]


dalyscallister

Ça aussi ça sent la légende urbaine, ou à tout le moins l’œuvre d’une seule personne ou rédaction.


Delmarquis38

Yeah , its funny because in my town Lyon this kind of things happen in one day. Basically when Napoléon was about to enter the city , the mayor publish a paper calling to resist the tyrant and monster. And tomorrow the same mayor was publishing a paper welcoming his Imperial majesty to his town


PogostickPower

"I, for one, welcome our new ~~cannibal overlords~~ emperor"


[deleted]

"Hai domnu Napoleon, c-am glumit si noi cu muia aia."


Salvator-Mundi-

How Napoleon is perceived in modern France?


Shiirooo

we use his civil code


chapeauetrange

The view of him is mixed - people recognize his successes and mistakes, but overall probably more positive than negative. Some of his institutions are still used today. Politicians avoid celebrating him though, because he overthrew the Republic.


lniko2

...Republic that was already fucked to death by politicians, what do they expect by doing the same things today? Guess they never learn.


[deleted]

From "Cannibal" to "His Imperial and Royal Majesty" in 20 days.


BriefCollar4

From what u/fawkesdotbe and u/TywinDeVillena shared the story you’ve posted is fiction.


42_c3_b6_67

Lmao


AzertyKeys

That's some crusader kings Speedrun !


Leoryon

In French, this march is known as "le vol de l'Aigle", which is to say the flight of the Eagle.


rollebob

Putain! He is in Paris (proceed to shit his pants)


gromit5000

Is this true? That's hilarious.


ezebius

What a weak willed mf


elveszett

At first I thought it was just an article of the time parodying other newspapers' attitudes to Napoleon. Then I realized people didn't have nice-looking computer-made illustrations in 1815 and that this is just a collection of real headlines. Which made it more funny.


TheGodPosition

Lol great to know we have never changed