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Napoleon's famous "wiff of grapeshot" event: his notoriety begins...
Napoleon's famous "wiff of grapeshot" event: his notoriety begins...
Item # 691033
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October 13, 1795
KENTISH GAZETTE, Canterbury, England, Oct. 13, 1795 A handsome issue of the 18th century, with two decorative embellishments in the masthead & ornate lettering in the title.
Page 3 has a very descriptive account of the battle between the French Revolutionary troops and Royalist forces in the streets of Paris. This battle was part of the establishing of a new form of government, the so-called Directory, and it was a major factor in the rapid advancement of the then relatively unknown Republican General Napoleon Bonaparte's career.
Bonaparte commanded throughout the two-hour engagement, and survived unscathed despite having his horse shot from under him. The effect of the grapeshot and the volleys from the Patriot forces caused the Royalist attack to waver. Bonaparte ordered a counterattack led by Murat's squadron of Chasseurs. At the close of the battle, around three hundred Royalists lay dead on the streets of Paris.
Historian Thomas Carlyle later famously recorded that, on this occasion, Bonaparte gave his opponent a "Whiff of Grapeshot" and that "the thing we specifically call French Revolution is blown into space by it" thus ending of the French Revolution.
Category: The 1600's and 1700's
No Longer Available
