Churchill’s Admiration for Napoleon

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Keith Bleddyn

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Sep 16, 2019, 5:32:45 PM9/16/19
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I’ve long been puzzled by Churchill’s admiration for Napoleon, a man he described as “a great emperor and warrior.” I’ve seen the bust of Napoleon on Sir Winston’s desk and a portrait of the French dictator on a wall at Chartwell, and it’s always seemed ironic that perhaps my greatest hero in history (Churchill) should have been an admirer of Napoleon, whom I had concluded was a power mad tyrant and a bit of a coward. Paul Johnson’s masterful bio/analysis of Napoleon points out that Napoleon’s military “genius” was always contingent upon the continued success of his campaigns, and that more than once he abandoned his armies when It appeared that they were going to be defeated (i.e. his Egyptian Campaign). I’ve read Allen Packwood’s monograph on the subject, and I asked Mr. Packwood for further explanation at a book signing in London last spring. He said Churchill thought of Napoleon as a “man of action.” By that definition, a number of Mr. Churchill’s contemporary adversaries could be considered worthy of admiration. I’m still not satisfied. Can anyone enlighten me?

johnm...@aol.com

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Sep 16, 2019, 5:52:54 PM9/16/19
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Maybe some greater in depth reading of Napoleon would be in order first.  Read Andrew Robert's book Napoleon from a few years ago which I found to be enlightening at the time of reading it.  Andrew received may awards from the French for his portrayal, not all positive at all.

The bust on Churchill's desk shows that he a great respect for Napoleon's "talents", maybe misguided, I don't really know.  Which "talents" they are I am not sure about, but an in depth side by side analysis of their personalities and character could be quite instructive and worthy of some scholarship.

John  H. Mather MD FACPE
Medical Biographer,
Secretary, Federation of Churchill Aficionados  (FOCA)

In a message dated 9/16/2019 4:32:48 PM Central Standard Time, bledd...@gmail.com writes:

I’ve long been puzzled by Churchill’s admiration for Napoleon, a man he described as “a great emperor and warrior.”  I’ve seen the bust of Napoleon on Sir Winston’s desk and a portrait of the French dictator on a wall at Chartwell, and it’s always seemed ironic that perhaps my greatest hero in history (Churchill) should have been an admirer of Napoleon, whom I had concluded was a power mad tyrant and a bit of a coward.  Paul Johnson’s masterful bio/analysis of Napoleon points out that Napoleon’s military “genius” was always contingent upon the continued success of his campaigns, and that more than once he abandoned his armies when It appeared that they were going to be defeated (i.e. his Egyptian Campaign).  I’ve read Allen Packwood’s monograph on the subject, and I asked Mr. Packwood for further explanation at a book signing in London last spring.  He said Churchill thought of Napoleon as a “man of action.”  By that definition, a number of Mr. Churchill’s contemporary adversaries could be considered worthy of admiration.  I’m still not satisfied.  Can anyone enlighten me?

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Director, Churchill Archives Centre

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Sep 17, 2019, 3:08:20 AM9/17/19
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Dear Keith,

To elaborate on our brief conversation in London, I think Churchill probably saw Napoleon as:

1: A young man in a hurry with an amazing ability to seize the opportunity and make his own luck (a man of destiny - as Churchill famously said of De Gaulle);

2: A military and political genius capable of ripping up the established rulebook and doing things differently;

3: And perhaps most controversially as a force for change and progress in Europe - although this does not man Churchill would have approved of all his methods or actions.

In a way, Napoleon vindicates Churchill's belief in great men and great deeds, even if it ends badly.

Hope that helps,

Allen
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Richard Langworth

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Sep 17, 2019, 5:11:10 PM9/17/19
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On Monday, September 16, 2019 at 5:32:45 PM UTC-4, Keith Bleddyn wrote:
I’ve long been puzzled by Churchill’s admiration for Napoleon, a man he described as “a great emperor and warrior..."

I forwarded your question to Andrew Roberts, author of Napoleon the Great, who asks me to post this excerpt from his speech at the British Embassy in Paris on being awarded the Grand Prix of the Fondation Napoleon:

 

"As an English Tory, I was expecting not to like Napoleon when I took up my pen, the man whom many Britons of the generation older than me still called ‘Bonaparte’, or even occasionally ‘Boney’. Yet it was one of the most enjoyable parts of researching this book to discover that of course the Emperor had a hugely engaging personality and attractive character, and particularly that he had a deliciously dry, ironic wit. This made the job of researching his life a great pleasure, as I was always looking to where the next Napoleonic joke would come from. My favourite of them all was when the Grand Almoner of France, the Archbishop de Rohan, wrote an extremely oleaginous letter to Napoleon at the time of the Coronation, comparing him to Jesus and saying that he wished he had the opportunity to die for the Emperor. ‘Please pay the Archbishop Fr.12,000,’ Napoleon noted in the margin of the letter, ‘out of the theatrical fund.'  


"The reason that I entitled my book Napoleon the Great was because far too many British historians persist in seeing only the dictator in his, and not the positive aspects of the man I like to think of as the Enlightenment on horseback. The builder, the educator, the encourager of science and industry, the self-made man, the thinker, the writer, the giant and the genius. Instead my countrymen only see the soldier, the conqueror, the invader. They blame all the Napoleonic Wars on him – ignoring his pleas for peace and despite the fact that many more wars were declared on France by the seven coalitions than he declared against others.

     
"In the words of George Home, a midshipman aboard HMS Bellerophon, Napoleon ‘showed us what one little human creature like ourselves could accomplish in a span so short.’"   
 
 

Jonathan Hayes

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Sep 17, 2019, 7:28:25 PM9/17/19
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Doesn't surprise me.  When you look at his other accomplishments, it's quite amazing.  They were both workoholics  -  Napoleon was known to dictate to several secretaries on different subjects at once  -  a feat WSC didn't (to my knowledge) attempt.

Jonathan Hayes
 


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Antoine Capet

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Oct 10, 2019, 4:12:55 PM10/10/19
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Dear All,

This afternoon, a friend asked me whether Churchill had a passport and if
Yes where it was now.

I had never thought about it and I had no answer.

Any clue ?

With all best wishes,

Antoine CAPET, FRHistS
Professor emeritus of British Studies
University of Rouen
76821 Mont-Saint-Aignan
France
antoin...@univ-rouen.fr

'Britain since 1914' Section Editor
Royal Historical Society Bibliography

Reviews Editor of CERCLES
http://www.cercles.com/review/reviews.html
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johnm...@aol.com

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Oct 10, 2019, 5:37:13 PM10/10/19
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I thought it was at the churchill Archives in Cambridge. If not there I suspect Allen Packwood knows where it is to be found.

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Judson Alphin

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Oct 10, 2019, 6:23:27 PM10/10/19
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Dear all,

I think first we should ask: which passport? 

He was, of course, in his later years, a citizen of more than one country. 

Bw,

Judson Alphin
Oxford 

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Donald Jakeway

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Oct 10, 2019, 6:38:45 PM10/10/19
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As an “honorary” US Citizen, Sir Winston was not eligible for a US Passport.

Don Jakeway
San Antonio, TX

On Oct 10, 2019, at 4:47 PM, Judson Alphin <judson...@gmail.com> wrote:



phle...@aol.com

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Oct 10, 2019, 7:54:59 PM10/10/19
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JFK gave Churchill an Honorary Passport booklet, but it could not be used as a U.S. Passport. I saw it somewhere, maybe at Chartwell. 
Parker Lee

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Craig Horn

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Oct 10, 2019, 9:11:01 PM10/10/19
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The passport booklet given to Churchill by JFK is indeed (or, at least was) on display at Chartwell.
Craig
D. Craig Horn, Representative
North Carolina General Assembly
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