Blog category: Elba
-
Pauline Bonaparte on Elba
February 8, 2019
Pauline Bonaparte was the only one of Napoleon’s siblings to join him in exile on Elba. She became the life of his small court, and helped to finance his stay on the island, as well as his escape from it.
-
Able was I ere I saw Elba: 19th-Century Palindromes & Anagrams
December 16, 2016
Napoleon Bonaparte did not say, “Able was I ere I saw Elba,” although this palindrome is often attributed to him. Anagrams were a more popular form of word play in the early 19th-century. Napoleon even made a pun or two.
-
Caricatures of Napoleon on Elba
March 4, 2016
While Napoleon Bonaparte provided rich fodder for caricaturists throughout his reign, his exile to Elba in 1814 occasioned a burst of gleeful activity among the cartoonists of the time. England had been fighting against France for over 20 years. Audiences there were jubilant about Napoleon’s defeat and receptive to anything that made fun of the fallen French Emperor. Here’s a look at some caricatures related to Napoleon’s sojourn on Elba.
-
How did Napoleon escape from Elba?
February 26, 2016
In April 1814, with a European coalition occupying Paris, Napoleon Bonaparte was forced to abdicate the French throne. He was sent into exile on Elba, a small Mediterranean island located 260 km (160 miles) south of France and 10 km (6 miles) west of the Italian coastline. Ten months later, in one of those life-is-stranger-than-fiction episodes, Napoleon managed to spirit himself off the island and regain the French crown. How did Napoleon escape from Elba?
We must confess that fate, which sports with man, makes merry work with the affairs of this world.
Napoleon Bonaparte