CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE

OF THE PRINCIPAL EVENTS IN

THE LIFE OF NAPOLEON

by Ben Weider, CM, CQ, PhD, SBStJ,

This week we present the first chapter in the life of Napoleon. Every first and third week of the month from now on, we will be presenting a new section that will lead you progressively through each stage of his life: from the day he was born until the day he died. Our aim is to show that life in the light of plain truth, i.e. stripped of legend and slander.

We will highlight his exploits, his great common sense, the unbelievable energy he devoted to improving the living conditions of people of all races and religions; we will explain why, at the beginning of this third millenium, the Emperor has become a true world hero.

Napoleonic societies thrive on five continents. Many publish reviews that examine Napoleon from every possible angle. They not only organize conventions, but pilgrimages and cruises to places made famous by his memory.

Napoleon exhibitions proliferate in Canada and the United States and as far away as Russia and Japan. The number of Napoleon magazines in every language is constantly on the rise and books and articles about the Emperor are being published a rate of more than one a day.

The bicentennial celebrations continue:

1969 was the 200th anniversary of his birth, 1993 of the English expulsion from Toulon; in 1996-1997, more than fifty cities and villages in Italy organized major festivals to celebrate their liberation from the Austrian yoke. Currently we are commemorating the achievements of the golden age of the Consulate.

At the University of Florida, students from every corner of the world who devote the major part of their four-year study program to Napoleon. Monuments have been erected to his glory, even by the descendants of his adversaries. At Lobau Island on the Danube, Borodino on the outskirts of Moscow and on the banks of Bérézina at the spot where he broke his way through the vice of Russian forces three times greater in number.

Hardly a week goes by without some television channel airing a documentary or a movie about Napoleon. Two hundred full-length motion pictures have already been made and right now a 6-hour epic is being filmed, based on the masterpiece by Max Gallo. It will be released simultaneously in English and in French, in the fall of 2002, in a series of four 1hr and 30 min episodes. Christian Clavier will play the part of Napoleon and Isabelle Rosselini will play Joséphine. The producer, Gérard Depardieu, has chosen to be Fouché and has cast John Malkovich in the role of Talleyrand. Didier Decoin wrote the screenplay and Canadian Yves Simoneau is the director. The film should prove a real triumph... if it presents the true Napoleon.

Why this passion? Quite simply because men and women the world over, disoriented by the all-pervasive violence that reigns today, are searching for a symbol, a universal model of youth, strength and enthusiasm.

Napoleon always sought peace and showed the ways to obtain it. If he did not succeed in achieving this goal, it was because he was unfailingly too good and generous toward the warmongers, whom he always forgave after overcoming them. There is surely a lesson in this for the democratic forces of today.