Saturday 30 December 2023

My Favourite History Stamps of 2022 and 2023 + An Outlook of 2024

"Do you know that feeling that whenever you want to devote your time to a specific theme there are already multiple other themes that are at least as interesting?"

I had written down this sentence a year ago on 30th December 2022. Back I then I was planning to write a blog post called Looking Back and Looking Forward - 2022 and 2023 like I had done the year before for 2021 and 2022. I had structured the post, included pictures, but never came around to actually write it. Now a year has passed without any activity here on the blog (or on my main blog for that matter) and I was actually intending to write a post for 2023 and 2024. What however should happen to the things I have written down in 2022? I have now decided to at least show you my favourite history stamps of 2022 and include those of 2023 plus some outlook for 2024 below them. Thus there is leastwise a single post for 2023 on this blog. 

So without further ado these were my favourite stamps about historic themes issued in 2022.

9. Leaders of the Lithuanian Anti-Soviet Resistance (Lithuania)
These two stamps show Romas Kalanta and the Priests of Vilkaviškis. Citing Wikipedia, "Romas Kalanta (22 February 1953 – 14 May 1972) was a 19-year-old Lithuanian high school student who killed himself by self-immolation in an act of protest against the Soviet regime in Lithuania. His death provoked the largest post-war riots in Lithuania and inspired similar self-immolations." The contrast of the coulourful stamp and the fact that the man killed himself by setting himself on fire strikes me as an interesting design choice. 


8. Underwater Archaeology (France)
This stamp is a beautiful remainder of how many magnificient historic items might still be found in the oceans. 


7. 150th birthday of Alexander Roda Roda (Austria)
Alexander Roda Roda was an Austrian writer and satirist born in 1872. Since 1911 he was writing articles for the Neue Freie Presse, one of Austria's most respected newspapers, and especially during World War I produced over 700 articles as war correspondent for the paper. He also contributed to the German satirical magazine Simplicissimus and in the 1920s his humorous and satirical book publications were largely successful. He lived in Germany when the Nazis seized power in 1933, which forced him to move to Graz, which again he left after the Anschluss in 1938 for Switzerland and later the USA. Alexander Roda Roda died in New York in 1945. I included this sheet, because last year I had read the book Februar 33 by Uwe Wittstock, which chronicles the lives of different literary figures during the first month of Adolf Hitler's rule in 1933.


6. 20 years Introduction of the Euro (Portugal)
In 2002 the Euro was introduced as common currency in different European countries. Unfortunately the 20th anniversary was not really commemorated on stamps making these stunning stamps from Portugal even more special. The coins on the stamps are embossed and metallic.


5. Centenary of the Territoire de Belfort (France)
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 the city of Belfort offered fierce resistance to the German troops. To honour their resistance the city was not annexed by the newly formed German Empire like the rest of Alsace, but remained with France. The monumental Lion of Belfort was created in 1880 by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty. Anything connected to the Franco-Prussian War deserves to be included on this list in honour of my master thesis.


4. 900th birthday of Emperor Barbarossa (Austria)
The stamp commemorates a jubilee which I would have liked to see on a German stamp as well. Shown here is the famous Cappenberg Head, a reliquary of John the Evangelist. For a long time it was believed that this sculpture shows the Emperor, as it was a present to his godfather, researches however have shown that this is not true. I have seen it twice in Magdeburg 2021 and Münster 2023. 


3. 150th Birthday of Otto Braun (Germany)
Otto Braun was a Social Democratic politician and Minister President of Prussia during the time of the Weimar Republic. He reorganised Prussia along democratic lines, thus turning it into the "Rampart of Democracy" in Weimar's turbulent years. In 1932 however he was ousted from power in the Prussian coup d'état (Preußenschlag) by Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen. I really like the design of this stamp resembling an old election poster and I am always happy to see stamps about the Weimar Republic.


2. Centenary of the Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun (France)
I really like to see Egyptian antiquities. Actually I wanted to use the jubilee of Tutankhamun to dive deeper into Egyptian history, but other things prevented me from doing so. For some reason I am delaying it as much as the opening of the Grand Egyptian Museum. This French stamp is printed with gold foil. 


1. 450th anniversary of the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel (Germany)
The Herzog August Library was founded by Duke Julius of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1572. It houses a large collection of manuscripts of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period and is one of the oldest libraries in the World which have never suffered loss to its collection. Its most famous librarians were Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz and Gotthold Ephraim Lessing. Today it is a major international research centre for Medieval and Early Modern culture. Some of its rooms are used as museum. Among the most important and famous manuscripts of the library are the Gospels of Henry the Lion, a copy of the Sachsenspiegel, a printed edition of the Latin Psalter with annotations by Martin Luther, Luther's German translation of the New Testament and parts of the Bibliotheca Corviniana Collection. The latter three are even part of the Memory of the World Programme of the UNESCO. How could I not put this wonderful stamp about a regional anniversary on the first spot for 2022?


Due to external circumstances my collection had to lie still for a big part of the year. Nonetheless I still get some amazing stamps, so after the nine issues of 2022 let's get right to the ten issues of 2023. 

10. Centenary of Bambi (Austria) 
Bambi is probably best (only?) known due to the 1942 Disney movie. However the young deer first appeared in a book by Felix Salten in 1922, which was used as the basis of the movie. On a sad note, the government of Nazi Germany banned the book in 1936 as "political allegory on the treatment of Jews in Europe." Many copies of the novel were burned.


9. Max Oppenheimer (Austria)
Max Oppenheimer was an Austrian artist, however this stamp is not on the list due to him. Way more I included it due to the depicted woman in the artwork: Tilla Durieux was an Austrian actress. She played a minor role in Fritz Lang's 1929 science fiction silent film Woman in the Moon, which played a role in my state examination this year.


8. Alphonse Mucha (France)
After the hard years of Covid-19 the museums are finally back on track. This year I hence visited some wonderful special exhibitions including Dürer in Berlin, Machine Room of the Gods and Renaissance in the North in Frankfurt am Main, Benin Bronzes in Hamburg, Otto the Great in Magdeburg, Venetian art in Munich, Barbarossa in Münster and Fischer von Erlach in Salzburg. One of favourites was Goddesses of Art Nouveau in Braunschweig. Of course also Mucha was thematised in the exhibition. 


7. Stralsund Letter (Germany)
One of the big jubilees of 2023 was the 175th anniversary of the Revolution of 1848. Once again however there was no stamp to honour an important event in Germany's  history. As some type of mockery or probably more due to historic ignorance this stamp about the Stralsund Letter was issued in the series Treasures of Philately. The stamps used on this historic piece show Frederick William IV of Prussia, the king who crushed the revolution. I just had to get this stamp together with a special postmark about the revolution. 


6. Wreck of a Hanseatic Ship (Estonia)
Following my post about the Hanseatic League I am always happy to have a new stamp. This one I bought during the IBRA in Essen. 


5. 400 years First Calculating Machine (Germany)
Wilhelm Schickard, a friend of Johannes Kepler, created the first Calculating Machine in 1623. The original one is long lost, but it was possible to reconstruct it due to an image in a letter sent by Schickard to Kepler. As a mathematician and historian this stamp was supposed to be higher on my list, but went down due to its ugly design. 


4. 100th Death Anniversary of Gustave Eiffel (France)
For the creator of its most famous landmark France issued this beautiful souvenir sheet. Not sure why, but I just like it.


3. 150th anniversary of the 1873 Vienna World's Fair (Austria)
The World's Fair in Vienna was just the fifth event of its kind and the first in the German-speaking World. It was held to commemorate the 25th throne jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph and was a way to show the new confidence of the Austro-Hungarian Empire after the lost war against Prussia in 1866. It must have been a magnificient event to visit. 


2. Orient Express (France)
The Orient Express is a symbol of the elegant travelling by train and one of the great train journeys in the World. This souvenir sheet perfectly captures the spirit of the time. Regarding design aspects this might be in my opinion the most beautiful stamp issue of the year. 


1. 550th Birthday of Nicolaus Copernicus (Poland and Vatican)
Copernicus was one of the most influential persons in European history. Although he might not be the first to formulate such a model, he is connected with the heliocentric worldview, which places the sun in the centre of the universe rather than the Earth. The publication of the model in his book De revolutionibus orbium coelestium, just before his death in 1543, was a major event in the history of science, triggering the Copernican Revolution and making a pioneering contribution to the Scientific Revolution. A few countries issued stamps for his jubilee, but my favourite is this joint souvenir sheet from Poland and the Vatican. 


So these have been my favourite history stamps of 2022 and 2023, which I have chosen not only due to artistic reasons, but mainly by looking at the themes which left an imprint on me during these years, two years which have been extremely exhausting. Luckily I hope that 2024 will be much calmer, so it is suitably to look forward to what comes next. 

One of the backbones of this blog have been the Big Jubilees, but for the fourth year in a row there seems to be no deserving theme. Looking at stamp programmes the 150th anniversary of the Universal Postal Union will be celebrated by many countries. I am however hesitatant to consider it as the Big Jubilee. The themes I have chosen for myself for a deeper involvement are the 100th death anniversaries of Franz Kafka and Lenin, the 125th birthday of Erich Kästner and the 300th birthday of Immanuel Kant. Other interesting jubilees include the 150th anniversary of Impressionism, the 150th birthday of Winston Churchill, the 250th anniversary of the First Continental Congress and Benjamin Jesty's experiments of smallpox inoculations, the 250th birthday of Caspar David Friedrich, the 500th anniversary of the German Peasants' War and the 700th death anniversary of Marco Polo. Will I write blog posts about any of these themes? I hope so, but I doubt it. 

Wishing You all a Happy New Year that will hopefully be filled with learning and collecting!

Sunday 23 October 2022

The European Heritage Label Sites of 2022, err 2021

I am already very late to the party, but the new European Heritage Label Sites had been announced in late April 2022, whichs of course means these are the sites inscribed in 2021. You get it? The following sites got the label:
  • Vučedol Culture Museum and Archaeological Site (Croatia)
  • Archaeological Site of Nemea (Greece)
  • Thracian Art in Eastern Rhodopes: Aleksandrovo Tomb (Bulgaria)
  • Almadén Mining Park (Spain)
  • Echternach Saint Willibrord Heritage (Luxembourg)
  • Historic Centre of Turaida (Latvia)
  • Medieval wall painting in Gemer and Malohont Regions (Slovakia)
  • The Oderbruch (Germany)
  • Palace of the European Commission of the Danube (Romania)
  • Seminaarinmäki Campus - Equality in Education (Finland)
  • Ventotene (Italy)
  • MigratieMuseumMigration (MMM) (Belgium)
That means that the following pre-selected sites did not get the label:
  • Grand Commandery Alden Biesen, Belgium
  • Fulda and Petersberg – Centers of the Carolingian Education Reform, Germany
  • The Wellspring of Multilingualism - Baška Tablet (Bašćanska ploča) and the Complex of the Church of St Lucy, Croatia
  • Mariapocs National Shrine, Hungary
  • Land of Water, Land in Water. The Po River Delta and Venice, Italy
  • The Address of the Polish Bishops to the German Bishops, November 18, 1965, Poland
  • Lech Hill with Gniezno Cathedral, Poland
  • Lines of Torres Vedras, Portugal
  • ASTRA Museum of Traditional Folk Civilization, Romania
Comparing the final list with those pre-selected sites earlier released and discussed (see here) some names had been changed. For Bulgaria and Slovakia those are the first inscribed sites. The only countries without inscribed sites are now Cyprus, Denmark, Ireland, Malta and Sweden, but if I remember right none of them has ever nominated a site. Like I have said before, some of these new sites are definitely worthy of the site while other seem to be strange selections. That is primarily due to the criteria of the selection which looks more closely at the narrative than the site per se. The Medieval wall painting in Gemer and Malohont Regions and the Oderbruch are for sure interesting sites, but I think that their stated European significance could be illustrated by many other sites as well. On another note many of these sites will be very difficult to collect on cards or stamps. So far I only have cards of Echternach and the Oderbruch plus a stamp about Ventotene. Any help is very welcome. Using the label Eurorpean Heritage Label on the right side you can always see my collection. There you will also find short information about all sites. Let's see which sites will be pre-selected in the next round. Those can be expected in late 2023. 


Grand Commandery Alden Biesen - not inscribed

Echternach Saint Willibrord Heritage - inscribed!

Thursday 13 January 2022

Looking Back and Looking Forward - 2021 and 2022

2021 has come and gone and I doubt that I will miss it. It was a stressful year and a strange for my personal study of history. In fact I have devoted even more time to history than usual, as a very big part of the year was filled with writing my master thesis. That however means on the other hand that I had very little time for leisure with my stamps, postcards and blogs. My main blog suffered, but this blog suffered even more. Only four posts I have published here, one each in January, March, April and December. I had actually planned many more including two or three bigger posts. Maybe I will write them this year, but I do not think so, as it will be another stressful year and I have already new plans. Apart from these personal reasons for a different year of devoting time to history also the pandemic still plays a role in changing plans especially with regard to museums, which for me are an important part of engaging with history in a leisurely way. Due to Covid-19 museums here in the region were closed on 1st November 2020 and apart from one week in March were just allowed to reopen in late May. Nonetheless I still managed to do roughly 20 museum visits in 2021. The highlights were the Nebra Sky Disc exhibition in Halle an der Saale, the new permanent exhibition at the Bavarian Army Museum in Ingolstadt, "Kinosaurier" in Hanover, the Premonstratensians in Magdeburg, Plagues in Hildesheim and exhibitions about Rudolf Manga Bell and the Silk Road in Hamburg. In my Outlook of 2021 I had written about nine exhibitions that I had hopes to visit during the year. Two of them were postponed and six of them I actually visited. Only the Late Gothic exhibition in Berlin I have not seen. When I wrote that the opening of the Humboldt Forum was not on my radar. I have not visited it yet, but hope to do so this year. 

In my outlook I had already mentioned that there seems to be no big jubilee in 2021 and I was right. I had added some jubiless to my original list and these here the stamp issue numbers I have for them:
  • zero issues: 150 years Proclamation of the German Empire, 500 years Diet of Worms, 650th birthday of Zheng He, 750 years Beginning of Marco Polo's Journey
  • one issue: 100th birthday of Friedrich Dürrenmatt (Switzerland), 100th birthday of Sophie Scholl (Germany), 150th birthday of Friedrich Ebert (Germany), 450th birthday of Johannes Kepler (KEP), 500 years Fuggerei in Augsburg (Germany), 1600 years Venice (Italy), 1700 years Jewish Life in Germany (Germany), 1900th birthday of Marcus Aurelius (Slovakia)
  • two issues: 100th birthday of Joseph Beuys (Germany, Serbia), 100th birthday of Stanislaw Lem (Poland, Serbia), 150th birthday of Marcel Proust (Monaco, Portugal), 200th birthday of Charles Baudelaire (France, Serbia), 200th birthday of Gustave Flaubert (France, Monaco), 200 years Beginning of the Greek Revolution (Cyprus, Greece), 300 years End of the Great Northern War (Åland Islands, Russia)
  • three issues: 450 years Battle of Lepanto (Italy, Montenegro, Spain)
  • four issues: 450th birthday of Caravaggio (Bulgaria, North Macedonia, San Marino, Vatican), 550th birthday of Albrecht Dürer (Bulgaria, Hungary, KEP, San Marino)
  • five issues: 100 years Communist Party of China (Armenia, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Serbia), 100 years Discovery of Insulin (Brazil, Canada, North Macedonia, Pakistan, Switzerland), 200th death anniversary of Napoleon (Andorra - French Post, France, Italy, Malta, Saint Helena + Cuba (EDIT: 6th February 2022)), 400th birthday of Jean de La Fontaine (Bulgaria, France, Hungary, Monaco, Portugal)
  • six issues: 700th death anniversary of Dante Alighieri (Czechia, Georgia, Italy, Liechtenstein, Uruguay, Vatican)
  • seven issues: 200th birthday of Fyodor Dostoevsky (Bosnia and Herzegovina - Republic Srpska, Bulgaria, KEP, Monaco, North Macedonia, Russia, Serbia)
And just for comparison these are the number for recent BIG jubilees:
  • 16 issues: 100 years End of World War I (2018)
  • 19 issues: 500 years Reformation (2017)
  • 30 issues: 50 years Moon Landing (2019)
  • 40 issues: 250th birthday of Ludwig van Beethoven (2020)
In the outlook I wondered whether Dante or Napoleon might become the BIG jubilee of the year and indeed both performed rather well, but are nothing near the jubilees of the last years. Fyodor Dostoevsky on the other hand was not on my radar at all.



The end of the year also means once again to choose My Favourite History Stamps of the Year in addition to my general My Favourite Stamps of 2021 over on my stamp blog. Unlike last year I am contended with this list, so without further ado:

11. Robert Blum (Germany)
Robert Blum is one of the most famous German proponents of the Revolution of 1848, yet this is the first time that he is shown on a stamp. I actually thought that this might be the "prequel" for a 175th anniversary stamp issue of the revolution itself in 2023, but no such stamp is planned. This souvenir sheet is not connected to any anniversary and is actually part of the stamp series "Aufrechte Demokraten" (Upright Democrats), which was started in 2002, but for which this is just the sixth issue. It is great to see Blum honoured with a stamp, but I do not like this design at all with the white streak on his face and the text in the background that is covered and thus unreadable. Hence just the 11th rank.


10. 400th Birthday of Jean de La Fontaine (France)
I really like the design of this sheet, but more so because I collect also Childhood Heroes on Stamps. La Fontaine was not on my historical radar until recently, his works are however of immense importance and this sheets thus deserves to be included here.


9. Bicentenary of the Congress of Laibach (Slovenia)
This congress in Laibach, which is now called Ljubljana and is Slovenia's capital, was one of four successor congresses of the Congress of Vienna and an "attempt of the five Great Powers to settle international problems after the Napoleonic Wars through discussion and collective weight rather than on the battlefield" (Wikipedia). I guess it is not widely known that these congresses existed at all, but it is nice to see that at least one is remembered on a local/national level. This is a nice little stamp, but unfortunately a victim of my own course of the year. I bought it online, scanned it, put in my album and did not think about it further. Still a worthy addition to any stamp collection about European history.


8. Industrial Revolutions (United Kingdom)
This is a very interesting set. I am not aware of any other issue that decidedly thematises this theme and shows different inventions of the era (although I am actually sure that there are some), so this is a set of immense interest for my collection.



7. Birth Centenary of Sophie Scholl (Germany)
Standing up against extremism is once again of big importance these days and so a list like this would not be complete without Sophie Scholl. It is nice to see that they used a different image than usual and they have chosen an interesting quote: "Such a nice, sunny day and I shall go. What however is my death due to, if through us thousands of people are startled and awaken" (22nd February 1943, Scholl's death day). The question however remains why her brother Hans did not get the same treatment in 2018.


6. 230th anniversary of the Constitution of 3 May 1791 (Poland)
Did you know that Poland (or more precisely the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth) was one of the first democratic states in Europa? A democratic constitution was introduced already in 1791, but was not effective very long, as the country was divided soon after and disappeared from the map for over 100 years. A rather odd jubilee, but this constitution got the European Heritage Label. Once again a painting by Jan Matejko was chosen to illustrate a historic theme on a Polish stamp.


5. 1700th anniversary of Jewish Life in Germany (Germany)
This is a striking yet simple design and once again a theme to remember these days. Like the Slovenian stamp this one was issued in early 2021 and I have forgetten it a bit in the course of the year. I guess Covid-19 prevented many bigger celebrations. This stamp is also a reminder for the sad fact that the number of special postmarks in Germany was drastically decreased in 2021. In 2019 there were over 360 special postmarks used in Germany (I mean those that are organised locally and not officially tied to a stamp issue), last year there were only roughly 170. That means a great loss for the philatelic commemoration for smaller and local events and anniversaries. In a normal year I guess there would have been multiple postmarks highlighting local connections to this jubilee, but under these circumstances there was only this one from Seelow. It is nonetheless interesting for showing a Stolperstein, the ubiquitous memorial to the Shoa.


4. Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky and the Frankfurt Kitchen (Austria)
This is another stamp without jubilee, but I like it very much, as it closes a big gap in the philatelic documentation of modern architecture. The Frankfurt Kitchen was designed by Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, one of the first women to study architecture in the Austro-Hungarian Empire and probably the first who actually worked fully as architect, for Ernst May's social housing project New Frankfurt. It is considered to be the forerunner of the modern fitted kitchen. Schütte-Lihotzky however was not only a designer, but also a communist activist in the Austrian resistance to Nazism. A worthy and long overdue commemoration!


3. Margaret Atwood (Canada)
Do not worry, Margaret Atwood is not dead yet. So you might wonder, why do I include a stamp like this in my list of history stamps? Well the reason is that reading The Handmaid's Tale shaped my interest in historic themes in the recent years like nothing else. Compared to Brave New World, Nineteen Eighty-Four and Fahrenheit 451, I think that this dystopia is the most frightening and also most realistic and in case you did not know, Atwood says that everything that she described in her book had an equivalent in real history. Is that not reason enough to investigate the dark sides of humanity's past from dictatorships to genocides for many years to come? 


2. 150th anniversary of the Internment of the Bourbaki Army (Switzerland)
As I said before, I have written my master thesis this year. The theme was the change of depiction of the Foundation of the German Empire in German history schoolbooks between 1971 and 2021 and the reason why I chose this theme was the omission of a German stamp for the jubilee. 1971 there was a stamp and my assumption was that if back then there was and now there is not a stamp there had to be changes as well in how the schools want to communicate the theme to the following generations. Well, in the books however there is no big change at all and so I am wondering even more why there was no such stamp. Our southwestern neighbour however issued a stamp about an event in the atmosphere of the German Empire's foundation. The French Armée de l'Est originally under General Charles Denis Bourbaki was interned in Switzerland in the late phase of the Franco-Prussian War and Switzerland was thus able to consolidate its reputation as a humanitarian nation. The stamp shows a detail of a panorama painting about this event. Apparently you could scan it with a particular app to view the complete painting, but I have not tried.


Honourable Mention: Konrad Adenauer (Spain)
Last year my first place stamp was the Spanish stamp about Robert Schuman that was said to be the start of a series about the Founding Figures of the European Union and I said that I was looking for the stamp about Konrad Adenauer. That stamp was now already issued, but I do not have it yet, so just a honourable mention.

1. Death Bicentenary of Napoleon Bonaparte (France)
Even if I would have got the Adenauer stamp it would not have stand a chance against this sheet. I think this is one of the most beautiful stamp issues that I have ever seen and talking about history-themed stamps nothing comes near it for me in 2021. A well deserved first place and in fact the only theme I managed to write a post about in 2021, so nothing more to add.


With Looking Back finished, let's now begin the Looking Forward.

2022 will bring us of course the announcement of the new European Heritage Label sites. That is something I always look forward to and it might happen in March. Checking out some museum programs and other online news the biggest German history exhibition of the year seems to happen in Trier. From June to November a state exhibition in three museums will thematise the Fall of the Roman Empire. Other German exhibitions I hope to visit will be held in Hildesheim (Islamic Art in Medieval treasures), Münster (Barbarossa) and maybe Stuttgart (History of Beer and Wine). The National Museum of History and Art in Luxembourg plans an exhibition about the Luxembourgian entanglement with the (Belgian) imperialism, which sounds very enticing. Too far away but still noteworthy are the exhibition about the Nebra Sky Disc at the British Museum in London and the openings of Grand Egyptian Museum in Cairo, the Palace Museum in Hong Kong and the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art in Los Angeles. 

This is my preliminary list of Jubilees in 2022:

50 years The Limits to Growth
75 years Independence of India
100th birthday of Betty White
100th birthday of Doris Day
100th birthday of Kurt Vonnegut
100 years Discovery of the Tomb of Tutankhamun
100 years Irish Free State
100 years Soviet Union
150th birthday of Piet Mondrian
150th birthday of Otto Braun
150th death anniversary of Giuseppe Mazzini
150 years Yellowstone National Park
200th birthday of Gregor Mendel
200th birthday of Heinrich Schliemann
200th birthday of Louis Pasteur
200th death anniversary of Karl August von Hardenberg
200 years Decipherment of the Hieroglyphs
200 years Independence of Brazil
250th birthday of Novalis
250 years First Partition of Poland
350th birthday of Peter the Great
350 years Rampjaar
400th birthday of Molière
450 years Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel
450 years Os Lusíadas
450 years Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre
550th birthday of Lucas Cranach the Elder
900th birthday of Frederick Barbarossa

Once again there is no jubilee that stands out, so most likely there will be again no BIG jubilee. I am however aware of at least one stamp for most of the themes. I would guess that of these either Mendel, Moliere or Pasteur will have the most stamps issued by the end of the year. As this year will be busy, I do not want to plan too much, but I think about posts for Ancient Egypt, Louis Pasteur and maybe Guiseppe Mazzini.


Sunday 19 December 2021

Napoleon on French and European Stamps

The year went by so fast that I sometimes completely forgot that I have neglected this blog for so long. Actually I made plans for at least four bigger posts I wanted to write during the course of the year and some smaller ones, but like so often other things prevented me from doing so. This post however I still want to write now, as I had the idea a long while ago and really liked it. As you all probably know 2021 marks the Bicentenary of the Death of Napoleon Bonaparte. I knew I wanted to do something about this anniversary, but did not want to just plainly write down his life. Instead I came up with the idea of diving into his presentation on various stamps and this is now the result of this idea. At first I will have a look at French stamps to see how one of the most famous Frenchmen in history is depicted and afterwards I will add up this story with some other stamps from Europa. Below all the stamps I will also write a bit more about vacancies and the development of this post if that is something that interests you and if you are not only here for the stamps.

But let's get this post started and where would it be better to start than at the beginning? Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio on the island of Corsica on 15th August 1769 and Napoleon's Birth Bicentenary was honoured with a French stamp in 1969. The building on the left is the Maison Bonaparte in Ajaccio, the ancestral house of the family. It is often said that Napoleon is actually not a Frenchmen, because he was from Corsica which was supposedly not part of France at the time of his birth. That is however not true. Corsica was at the beginning of the 18th century indeed a territory of the Republic of Genoa, which lost the control of most of the island in the middle of the century. By 1768 France began the capture of the island which was concluded in May 1769. At that point various powerful Corsican families joined the French side including the Bonapartes. Napoleon later got his education in France and although he had an affection for the Corsican nationalists in his early years, he ultimately devoted himself to the French cause. The portrait on the right shows Napoleon at the age of 23 as member of the French Republican volunteers on Corsica. This first stamp thus mainly highlights Napoleon's Corsican heritage. 

Fighting for the Revolution his tactical skill soon became apparent. Three years after the stamp above two campaigns in Napoleon's early career were shown on French stamps, the Battle of Arcole during the Italian Campaign and the Egyptian Expedition. Napoleon went to Italy shortly after his marriage with Joséphine de Beauharnais in 1796. He quickly defeated the Austrian ally Piedmont and became involved in the Siege of the Austrian garrison in Mantua. The Battle of Arcole was part of an Austrian attempt to lift the siege, which however failed, and the overall campaign resulted in the Treaty of Campo Formio granting France the rule over Northern Italy and the Low Countries, which were subsequently exploited by Napoleon and his troops. During this period his influence in France increased. Plans for an invasion of Great Britain followed, but Napoleon decided that the French marine was not strong enough and so decided that at first Egypt should be captured to hamper Britain's access to India. This Egyptian Expedition began with the capture of Malta, but at the end resulted in a French catastrophe. After Horatio Nelson destroyed or captured most of the French fleet, Napoleon went on some brutal attacks on the Ottoman cities of Arish, Gaza, Jaffa and Haifa and ultimately fled back to Paris in August 1799. The focus of this second stamp is however not the French defeat, but the scientific dimension of the expedition. More than 150 scientists joined Napoleon and their discoveries included after all the Rosetta Stone, which Jean-François Champollion later used to decipher the hieroglyphs. 

The following events in Napoleon's life and career are ignored on French stamps. The next event to be honoured is the preparation of the Code Civil. The Code Civil or Code Napoleon entered into force in March 1804. This collection of written laws was a important step in the defeudalistion of Europa and is still used in France to this day. Even in parts of Germany it survived the end of Napoleon's rule and was in use until the end of the 19th century. Shown on the stamp are the Conseil d'État, Napoleon and Jean-Étienne-Marie Portalis. Portalis drew up the Code Civil together with François Denis Tronchet, Félix-Julien-Jean Bigot de Préameneu and Jacques de Maleville, but also worked on the Concordat of 1801 and later became a member of the government as Minister of Public Worship. Another stamp about the Code Civil was issued in 2004. Also there are two stamps about the creation of the Légion d'honneur in 1802 (1954 and 2002), which falls in the same period but which I unfortunately do not have.

On 2nd December 1804 Napoleon was coronated Emperor at the Notre Dame de Paris in the presence of Pope Pius VII. During the ceremony a golden laurel wreath recalling the Roman Empire and a replica of Charlemagne's crown were used. Napoleon had the laurel wreath on his head and crowned his wife with the replica. The stamp shows a detail of the painting The Coronation of Napoleon by Jacques-Louis David. It was created as official depiction of the event and is now kept in the Louvre. As France decided not to thematise anything that happened before the coronation, I guess it is fair to do the same.

Last year this stamp about La Roche-sur-Yon was issued. The city had been destroyed during the Vendée Revolt and was rebuilt had the behest of Napoleon. In May 1804 it officially became the seat of the Vendée. At this time it was called Napoléon-sur-Yon. Shown on the stamp is the statue of Napoleon that was erected in 1854.

Today the first French Emperor is naturally known as Napoleon, but did you know that this was not always the case? During his early career the man was known as Bonaparte or even earlier as Buonaparte. It was just when he became Emperor that the given name became synonymous with the ruler and as such he went out to gain his biggest victory at the Battle of the Three Emperors near the small Austrian/Czech town of Austerlitz (Slavkov u Brna) on the first anniversary of his coronation. Known as tactical masterpiece, Napoleon defeated the outnumbering armies of Austria and Russia. After this battle Napoleon was definitely the hegemon of Continental Europa. For the 200th anniversary of the battle France jointly issued this stamp with the Czech Republic. As you have seen so far this is one of the very few Napoleonic battles that was honoured with a French stamp, which makes this one a bit outstanding. Probably they have chosen the battle, because it was his biggest victory, but on the other hand maybe the idea for this joint issue came from the Czech Republic, which however later issued stamps about Napoleon's big defeat in Leipzig. A gorgeous, but mysterious issue! Apropos, the monument on the stamps is the Cairn of Peace Monument in Prace.

After his victory in Austerlitz installed friends and family as rulers in various European states. The only one of them who was shown on a French stamp was Joachim Murat. Murat was a military commander and married Napoleon's younger sister Caroline in 1800. He became Grand Duke of Berg (1806-1808) and King of Naples (1808-1815). The stamp however only calls him Roi de Naples, his earlier title in the small artificially created grand duchy in Germany is ignored. After the Battle of Leipzig he switched sides to save his throne, but switched back after Napoleon's return from Elba in 1815 and was killed in the end by the forces of the rightful King Ferdinand IV of Naples.

From Austerlitz and Joachim Murat we jump in time straight to 1815. You might remember that there was some sort of battle this year and you remember right. Who does not know the Battle of Huningue? Huningue is a small Alsatian town right at the border between France, Germany and Switzerland and is more or less a suburb of Basel. Due to its location the Sun King Louis XIV instructed Vauban to built a fortress there. The fortress was first besieged by the Austrians in 1796/97, later by the Bavarians in 1813/14 and once again by the Austrians in 1815. When the new French government demanded a ceasefire after Napoleon's abdication, the commander decided to bombard Basel instead. Ultimately however the fortress surrendered. 

The first French stamp about Napoleon was issued in 1951 and now 70 years later his death is acknowledged with a stunning souvenir sheet. In my opinion this is one of the most visually appealing stamp issues of the year. You really need to seek it out to see it in real life. A scan can not do it justice. It is printed in a combination of offset and intaglio printing and much gold foil is applied. Of special interest are those small bees recalling artifacts from the grave of the Frankish king Childeric I from the Merovingian dynasty, as Napoleon wanted a royal symbol that has a historic model without being connected to the Ancien Régime. The pomp of this issue however can not disguise Napoleon's fate. Beaten he was sent to exile on the island of Saint Helena. There he could either watch the sea as shown on the lower stamp or play with the rats as was often shown on contemporary caricatures. There on a remote island in the South Atlantic Ocean one of the most famous and influential men in European history died on 5th May 1821.

After all those French stamps it is time to add the narrative of the First Emperor of France with some stamps from other European countries. Let's get one thing out of the way, not all of them are as flattering as this Monégasque stamp issued for Napoleon's Birth Bicentenary in 1969. 

Adding the stamps in the chronological order of the depicted events the first I have is however another victory, the Battle of Marengo. This battle was part of the War of the Second Coalition and was fought near the city of Alessandria in Northern Italy in June 1800. After all the Battle of Arcole and the Treaty of Campo Formio had not ended the Austrian involvement in Italy. Barely four years later they had to be driven out again. This battle also consolidated Napoleon's rule as First Consul. It has to be mentioned that this battle has also appeared on a French stamp. In 1968 there was a stamp about General Desaix, the French commander during the battle, which also shows a scene of the battle. Unfortunately I became aware of it too late to add it to my collection. 

Leaving Europa for a stamp, the rule of Napoleon had also an influence on the USA. In 1803 Napoleon sold the French colony of Louisiana or more precisely for most of the area the right to obtain it. Napoleon actually planned to re-establish the French rule in the territory, but after some failures decided to sell it instead. This Louisiane Purchase nearly doubled the size of the USA. Shown on this US stamp are not only the US negotiators, but also French Treasury Minister François Barbé-Marbois. After this sesquicentennial issue from 1953 a bicentennial stamp was also issued in 2003.

Everyone who has ever been to London probably knows Trafalgar Square and the Nelson's Column there, but many maybe do not know what Trafalgar was. Or was that just me when I was in London in 2011? The Battle of Trafalgar was a naval battle in the War of the Third Coalition in October 1805. Napoleon had the idea to conquer Great Britain and to accomplish that plan the French and Spanish navies were combined to take control of the English Channel. The fleet however was met off Cape Trafalgar on the southwest coast of Spain by the British navy under the command of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson and Nelson was against all odds victorious, although loosing his own life. The battle became a focal point in the history of British naval supremacy in the 19th century. As such it was already honoured on many stamps. I think for the Bicentenary in 2005 not only the United Kingdom itself, but also all overseas territories and crown dependencies issued stamps, which in the usual British tradition are not just single stamps, but always bigger sets. In my collection I have this set from Gibraltar issued on 31st January 2005. Actual timber from the original HMS Victory, Nelson's ship during the battle, is affixed to the £1.60 stamp and similar stamps have been issued in Ascension Island, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the British Indian Ocean Territory, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Kiribati, Naura, Saint Helena, Saint Lucia and Tristan da Cunha.


As philatelist you probably know that there are French and Spanish stamps issued for Andorra. The reason is that this small country is actually headed by two co-princes, one from France and one from Spain. The turbulent years of the French Revolution however brought change on the French side and in 1806 Napoleon restored the status quo ante. I could not find much about what this means in detail, but it was enough for this Bicentenary issue in 2006 by the French Post in Andorra.

About the Napoleonic era on the Iberian Peninsula I know very little, as it is never the focus for German depictions of the time. For my collection I got this Portuguese set about the Bicentenary of the Peninsular War issued in 2010, so I will focus on that period and ignore the background. Well, Portugal was that time still an ally of the United Kingdom and had no interest in joining the Continental System (the German word Kontinentalsperre or the French blocus continental somehow sound nicer). To change that Napoleon decided to attack Portugal and invade Spain on the way. That was in 1807. It is however also said that Napoleon's real motive might have been to dethrone the Spanish King to replace him with one of his brothers. The result was a big political mess and a military catastrophe, as the Spaniards did not like to be conquered and began a bloody guerrilla uprising that binded French forces which should been used in other theaters. Portugal and Spain were later supported by the United Kingdom. Shown on these stamps are the battles of Vimeiro (1808), Bussaco (1810), Grijó (1809) and Pombal (1811). In 1928 there had already been a set about the Battle of Rolica (1808). The fightings on the peninsula had actually World-historical dimension, as it enabled the independence of the South American colonies of both countries.


Inspired and scared by the events in Spain, Austria began to fear a similar fate for its monarchy and also hope for uprisings in the German territories. To help in both cases armaments and reforms were started. Napoleon thought that Austria would not do anything without allies and thus not acted at all. Austria however feared that Napoleon just waited for an ending of the fightings in Spain to do the same with the Austrian monarchy and became active with an attack on the French ally Bavaria. After some small battles Austria was defeated in Eckmühl near Regensburg in April 1809 and Vienna was captured three weeks later. Another week later the Austrians however defeated Napoleon in the Battle of Aspern and Essling (21st/22nd May 1809), before being defeated again by Napoleon in the Battle of Wagram (5th/6th July 1809). The Austrian fate was not as bad as that of Prussia or Spain, but the consequences of this hubris were not good either. Although Austria mainly fought alone, these fightings are known as War of the Fifth Coalition, as they were theoretically backed by Sardinia, Sicily and the United Kingdom. Good to see the ultimately pointless victory in Aspern and Essling on an Austrian souvenir sheet. 

Not all Austrian hopes for uprisings were baseless. In Tyrol the innkeeper Andreas Hofer started in the context of the War of the Fifth Coalition in April 1809 a rebellion against the Bavarian occupiers, who controlled the territory by Napoleon's grace since 1805. The rebellion failed, but Hofer is to this day celebrated as a Tyrolean national hero. His remains are buried in the Hofkirche in Innsbruck next to the cenotaph of Emperor Maximilian I and I know of at least three Austrian stamps about Hofer including this souvenir sheet as most recent one. As consequence of the rebellion Bavaria had to cede parts of Tyrol to direct French control. 

From the events in Austria we jump straight to Russia. Checking the timetable in the small monography by Johannes Willms I had read about Napoleon this seems to be justified, as he also does not include any events between 1809 and 1812. Russia was at this time the probably most independent European great power. The relations with Napoleon had been for a while amicably and on eye level. When the Russian Emperor however decided in December 1810 to leave the Continental System, which had more disadvantages than advantages for Russia, the conflicts began anew. In June 1812 Napoleon began his Campagne de Russie. He thought that the war would be over the faster the more troops he would send there, but in the end this idea just meant that more soldiers died in the harsh Russian winter. This Soviet souvenir sheet honours the 175th anniversary of the bloody Battle of Borodino, which ended with a French victory used to capture Moscow where Napoleon waited too long. The invasion ended in a desaster, but Napoleon was not yet defeated. The other European states however hesitated to seize the moment. 

The governments might have hesitated, but in the population it began to seethe. Especially in Prussia the people demanded to join the fight and the king had to grant their wish. Together Prussia and Russia were now fighting against Napoleon, but after some French victories, Austria negotiated a ceasefire between the three and afterwards Austria, Prussia and Russia signed a modest proposal which would have saved Napoleon's rule in France and big parts of Europa against the loss of former territories of the three powers and some of their allies. Napoleon denied and the for the being final war began. He soon lost the big Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, his Confederation of the Rhine crumbled, the allies were on their way to a war-weary France and due to his hubris Napoleon was eventually dethroned and send to Elba. This War of the Sixth Coalition is in Germany usually known as Befreiungskrieg(e) (War(s) of Liberation) and is connected with an idea of national identity. Although they played a big part in the conception of a united German history, they were rarely featured on German stamps. A Berlin stamp showed the Prussian National Monument for the Liberation Wars, the "anti-imperialist" German Democratic Republic (East Germany) showed some nice Prussian militaries on a set for the 150th anniversary and here in West Germany only the participants Blücher (shown below), Clausewitz, Körner and Stein were shown on some incoherent stamps. For the Bicentenary of the Battle of Leipzig the Czech Republic and Russia issued souvenir sheets, but here in Germany only a stamp for the Centenary of the Monument to the Battle of the Nations was issued. The focus is thus not the victory over France, but the technical feat of constructing Germany's biggest monument. 

Napoleon might have been defeated and in exile, but it was not long until he returned. He quickly gathered an army and created a new rule which soon ended with the War of the Seventh Coalition and the Battle of Waterloo. This battle in modern day Belgium is unlike the Battle of Huningue probably one of the most famous battles in European history. It occured while the European powers were already discussing the political future of the continent in Vienna and led to Napoleon's final exile on Saint Helena. For the Bicentenary Belgium issued a stunnng souvenir sheet with five stamps about leaders during the battle. I have those two about Napoleon (on a Waterloo card) and the Prince of Orange and the other three are Blücher, Ney and Wellington. The Isle of Man and the United Kingdom also issued some stamps and in Germany we got a special postmark. 


I had written about it earlier this year and will hopefully do so again soon, but unlike the last years 2021 does not have one big jubilee. The Death Bicentenary is however a jubilee that spawned at least a resonable number of stamps. Beside the obligatory catch penny issues to my knowledge there were only stamps from Andorra (French Post), Italy, Malta and Saint Helena. In my collection I only have the one from Italy. It shows a detail of Andrea Appiani's painting Ritratto di Napoleone (1805) and includes the opening phrase of Alessandro Manzoni's ode Il cinque maggio (1821) written in response to the news of Napoleon's death, Ei fu (He was). Unlike the French sheet this stamp was issued on Napoleon's actual death day the 5th May. 


Both the French and the European stamps only offer a desideratum of Napoleonic history. While France is more focused on the domestic politics of Napoleon (Code Civil, Légion d'honneur, Coronation, reconstruction of La Roche-sur-Yon), much of his way to power is generously ignored. Interestingly all the foreign affairs are either connected to Austria or Italy (Arcole, Marengo, Austerlitz, Joachim Murat as King of Naples), but never to for example the Netherlands, Prussia/Germany or Spain. The other European countries on the other hand are mainly issuing stamps about Napoleon's defeat and do not care about how pointless those defeats might have been in the end (Aspern and Essling). The good sides of Napoleon's rule are never touched. The two exceptions are the Czech stamp for the Battle of Austerlitz and the Italian stamp for the Battle of Marengo. Both stamps are a bit mysterious to me. The Czech Republic can laud itself to be the only country to honour both a Napoleonic victory (Austerlitz) and defeat (Leipzig). The Italian connection to Napoleon is something I would be interested to know more about. As an outsider I do not really understand why there is a reason to celebrate the switch from Austrian supremacy to French supremacy and whether the Italian situation was better afterwards. Biased on the other hand by German historical education, which is of course focused on the Napoleonic era in Germany and Prussia in particular, I think it is strange that no country seems to care about it. My assumptions would be that either the German and the French spared each other due to the post-World War II friendship (the Élysée Treaty was after all signed in the year of the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Nations in 1963) or that in the German case the era is not much shown on stamps, as there were not only those German states that suffered during the time (e.g. Brunswick, Hanover, Prussia), but also strong Napoleonic allies (e.g. Baden, Bavaria, Württemberg). In conclusion I can say that there are many interesting stamps to collect about this theme, but that there are also many vacancies that I would wish to see on stamps.




_____________________________________________________________________________

Shown here are by far not all stamps about Napoleon. First and formost I have limited myself to European stamps with the single US stamp as exception. There are many thematic stamps from African and Arabic countries and territories which in most cases however are cheap catch penny wallpaper issues. Also I have not added any stamps about contemporaries of Napoleon which might have had some sort of connection to the ruler. This also includes some of his generals. The only exception here is Joachim Murat, as he was no simple contemporary, but a relative of Napoleon. Furthermore these are some stamps which I would have liked to add to this post, but which I was not able to get on time:
  • From France I have already mentioned the stamps about the Battle of Marengo and the Légion d'honneur. In 2004 there was also a very interesting set showing Napoleonic soldiers and the Emperor himself as some sort of small toy figures
  • The Free State of Danzig in the Interwar Period issued a stamp about the city's return to Prussia in 1814 in a set about historic events.
  • From Germany I have already mentioned the stamps about Clausewitz, Körner and Stein. Of interest might be also a stamp about Prussian Queen Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz who met Napoleon in Tilsit in 1807.
  • As part of sets about the Battle of Trafalgar Gibraltar and the Isle of Man also included stamps about the Battle of the Nile, the latter also included the Battle of Copenhagen. 
  • During the Napoleonic era the French colony Haiti became independent and of course there are some stamps of that event from the country.
  • For the Bicentenary of the French Revolution Italy issued a stamp showing a Bicorne, the hat famously worn by Napoleon. In 2014 there was a stamp about the New City of Bari, which was constructed at the behest of Joachim Murat.
  • Malta issued a set of four about the Bicentenary of Napoleon's French capture in 1998. One of the stamps shows Napoleon himself.
  • Apart from the stamp above Monaco issued some more stamps about the Emperor. A set of four about the Bicentenary of his Coronation also includes a stamp about his wife Stéphanie de Beauharnais. In 2011 for some reason even a stamp about the Bicentenary of the Birth of his son Napoleon II was issued.
  • With the grace of Napoleon Poland was reborn as (semi-)independent state after it was divided between Austria, Prussia and Russia at the end of the 18th century. As I have learned too late, there are a few Polish stamps about this time of the Duchy of Warsaw.
  • In 2002 Russia issued a set about Emperor Alexander I. One of them shows him entering Paris after Napoleon was defeated.
  • Saint Helena of course issued many stamps about its most famous inhabitant. The most interesting in my opinion is the souvenir sheet issued for the Bicentenary of Napoleon's Arrival in 2016. Unfortunately I was not able to get it.
  • Napoleon liked San Marino and offered the state an enlargement at the cost of its neighbours. The offer was denied, but nonetheless was honoured with stamps.
  • The Czech Republic issued a stamp for the Battle of Austerlitz and Slovakia followed with a stamp for the Peace of Pressburg/Bratislava signed as result of the Austrian defeat. The stamp shows a small portrait of Napoleon and the Primate's Palace in Bratislava where the treaty was signed.
  • As I have written above, my knowledge of the Napoleonic era on the Iberian Peninsula is rudimentary and due to that I was not sure which Spanish events and stamps I had to include. I know now however that there are at least stamps about Agustina de Aragón, artworks by Francisco Goya, the Spanish flagship during the Battle of Trafalgar and the Constitution of 1812. In a series about Spanish history in caricatures issued in 2002 there is also one stamp about Napoleon. 
Napoleon influenced the whole of Europa and due to that it is virtually impossible to write a complete history about his rule. Especially in Germany and Italy which were not united countries at the time as they are today there are so many different stories that you can never expect to know them all or see all of them on stamps (I am living rather close to the site of the Battle of Ölper where the local Black Duke Fredrick William of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel fought against the troops of the Napoleonic puppet Kingdom of Westphalia). Nonetheless these are some things that I somehow regret that they have never been on European stamps:
  • As I had mentioned before, it would be nice to see a bit more of Napoleon's early life and way to power on stamps. Things and events I might imagine are the military academy at Brienne, the École Militaire in Paris, the Siege of Toulon and Napoleon together with the other Consuls.
  • The War of the Fourth Coalition is not honoured on any European stamp. This war followed the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine and saw the Prussian defeat at Jena and Auerstedt, the Russian defeats in Eylau and Friedland and the Treaties of Tilsit. For the Bicentenary of the Battle of Jena and Auerstedt there were two special postmarks used in Jena and Auerstedt respectively, but so far I have never seen them for sale anywhere. There were however some catch penny issues about the battle from territories like Chad, Congo, Equatorial Guinea and Sharjah.
  • Above I have already mentioned the Battle of Wagram from the War of the Fifth Coalition. That one was also never shown on a European stamp (there is however a rather nice one from Ascension Island). Generally I would have wished that all the big Napoleonic victories had got the "Austerlitz treatment" for their Bicentenaries.
  • Additionally it would be nice as well to see more relatives of Napoleon on French stamps like the one about Joachim Murat. Those might include King Joseph of Spain, Grand Duchess Elisa of Tuscany, King Louis of Holland, King Jérôme of Westphalia, Eugène de Beauharnais, Napoleon II and his wives Joséphine de Beauharnais (shown on a stamp from Monaco) and Marie Louise of Austria.
  • I am not aware that there were any stamps about the Napoleonic time in Belgium (apart from Waterloo), Denmark, Central Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden or Switzerland. Generally a stamp about the map of the Napoleonic Empire would be very interesting.
  • No stamp has ever shown Napoleon on Elba. Stamps about the Villa Mulini and the Villa San Martino would be nice.
Sources:
The French philatelic website, Phil-Ouest, that I often look at has a site about Napoleon on French stamps (click here), which was a good start to create this post. Later I also found the great blog Napoléon Art et Philatélie. Although it is in French, it is easy to navigate and includes a complete(?) list with stamps about the Napoleonic era. The texts here like usual rely on Wikipedia, but I also used a short monography simply called Napoleon written by Johannes Willms and published by C.H. Beck in Munich in 2019.