Paris (AFP)
"The emperor eight days before had recognized the heights of the battlefield" ... A unique manuscript, dictated and annotated by Napoleon during his exile in Saint Helena, and relating to his glory the legendary battle of Austerlitz (1805) , is on sale from Wednesday in Paris.
Long of 74 densely written pages, this manuscript dictated to his faithful among the faithful, General Henri-Gatien Bertrand, is corrected by Napoleon, who crosses out words or inscribes his remarks in tiny handwriting.
A total of eleven annotations.
It is accompanied by a plan of the battle on tracing paper drawn by the general.
As the bicentenary of the death of the French emperor begins on May 5, 1821, this manuscript on his greatest victory, on December 2, 1805, despite the numerical inferiority of the Grande Armée, is exhibited in the gallery " Arts and Autographs ", at the Odeon, and put on sale for one million euros.
While there are many writings on this battle, exemplary for its strategic ingenuity to the point that it is still taught in military schools like Saint-Cyr, this text shows a Napoleon extremely concerned about his posterity.
The day before, Napoleon Bonaparte seems tormented by his conscience, but the warrior wins in him: "I regret to think that I will lose many of these good people, I feel badly that they are really my children. , and, in truth, I sometimes blame myself for this feeling because I fear that it will end up rendering me unfit for war ".
- "The emperor says, does, decides" -
The coalition of Francis I of Austria and Tsar Alexander I, funded by England, dissolved after the failure of Austerlitz.
The manuscript was acquired in the 1970s by the owner of the gallery, Jean-Emmanuel Raux, an expert in autographs, who had found it during the sale of the Bertrand heirs in their chateauroux castle.
"Nobody looked at the writings of Saint-Hélène at the time. It is the most fabulous historical document that one can find in private hands on the history of France", declared Mr. Raux to AFP.
Napoleon, although the Revolution is now far away, still writes "frimaire" (from November 21 to December 20 in the republican calendar).
The first person is not used, but the formula: "the emperor says, does, decides" ...
"Napoleon delivers an embellished version of the battle. We can observe it in the intonation of sentences. It is the famous sun of Austerlitz", observes Alizée Raux, daughter of the gallery owner who works alongside her father.
All the campaign having preceded the battle, the withdrawals, negotiations to make believe in the weakness of the Napoleonic army, then the confrontation itself are detailed.
The account insists: "eight days before", the emperor had chosen the site where to trap the enemy.
Two days before the battle, Napoleon goes on reconnaissance.
He adds with his own hand: "he even advanced so far with few people that the picket of his rear guard was charged by the Cossacks".
Heroism and enthusiasm are exaggerated in an exaggerated manner: "not an officer, not a general, not a soldier who was not determined to conquer or to perish".
When, after the battle, the emperor traverses the battlefield strewn with dead and wounded, "nothing was more touching than to see these good people recognize him. They forgot their sufferings and said: at least victory, was she well insured? ".
The Russian attackers will be defeated in nine hours, partially drowning in frozen lakes.
The enemy is treated with pity and magnanimity, according to the story: when for example the emperor addresses a wounded Russian officer: "for having been defeated, one does not cease to be among the brave".
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