Was Napoleon a hero or a villain ?

A) Listen to the audio about the events in Jaffa, Egypt in 1799 and explain the painting and the caricature above 

B) Click on the link here to read the text. Group A will find arguments for Napoleon being a "hero", and Group B will find arguments for him  being a "villain".

Télécharger «Was Napoleon good or bad ? »

London (AFP) - Two hundred years after the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon is still under attack in Britain, where the image persists of a military genius consumed by a fanaticism comparable with Hitler or Stalin.

The emperor of French revolutionaries and regicides continues to strike fear in his neighbours across the Channel, long after his death on the South Atlantic island of St Helena, according to British historian and author Andrew Roberts.

"Mothers used to calm their children with the threat that if you don't watch out, Boney will get you," he told AFP. "There were still children in the 1950s being scared by this particular threat."

Indeed, the title of his latest 900-page biography -- "Napoleon, the Great" -- raised more than the odd eyebrow. Firstly, most Britons would argue that "the Great" was not a fitting epitaph for "little Boney", who is still ridiculed for his small size and lust for war.

"He was also very unlucky that he came to power at the same time as the greatest political caricaturists that the British ever created -- James Gillray and Thomas Rowlandson," said Roberts."They always made him, somehow, to be small like a dwarf but also completely bloodthirsty."

Their drawings depicting "the Lilliputian", "the Corsican plague" and "Beelzebub" recently went on display at an exhibition in London's British Museum.

"I don't suppose anybody in history had been vilified and ridiculed in the way that Napoleon was vilified and ridiculed ever before," said Tim Clayton, a Napoleon expert.

"Because you were frightened of him, you had to belittle him, make him seem not so frightening," added Sheila O'Connell, curator of the exhibition.

"Unfortunately, the British do have a very old-fashioned view of Napoleon, one that was created by the propaganda of the Napoleonic wars," said Roberts. 

Since then, the conservative image of Napoleon as "a monster and an evil dictator" has stuck, with the notable exception of great wartime leader Winston Churchill, who described him as "the greatest action man since Julius Caesar".

"He was a conqueror," added Roberts. "Of course he was ruthless. However, all of these things must be seen in the context of a total war, one that lasted 22 years."

"To blame him... for all the wars that took place and killed so many people in Europe, about six million people, I think is totally unfair."

Faced with colleagues such as historian Adam Zamoyski, for whom Napoleon was "megalomaniac, incompetent and a usurper", Roberts argued that his hero was as much the victim of aggression as the perpetrator. After all, Roberts added, The British, Austrians and Prussians launched the first war against revolutionary France in 1792, when Napoleon "was still a second lieutenant of artillery".

However, he could be blamed for "the appallingly opportunist attack in the peninsula against Spain and Portugal in 1807 and 1808 and, of course, the invasion of Russia."

The debate over whether he was a tyrant or hero has provided fodder for thousands of books, cluttering the shelves of British libraries and online shopping sites. With so much detailed analysis in the public domain, historian Roberts is perplexed that Napoleon can still be compared to Saddam Hussein and Moamer Kadhafi or Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, as in a recent BBC documentary.

A) Listen to the speech and complete part A of the worksheet 

Télécharger « obama-opens-us-black-history-museum »

B) Read the text and do part B of the worksheet 

A country which refused to offer respect or even basic humanity to African Americans is honoring black history in an extraordinary way. Yesterday former President Obama inaugurated the opening of the National Museum of African American Culture and History in the nation's capital Washington D.C. 

Everything about the museum is bold : the mission, the collection, the $540 million dollar building inspired by ancient African art and designed by David Adjaye, a British architect born in Tanzania to Ghanian parents. 

To say that the museum stands out is an understatement. Across the street from the White House you can find it on the green that surrounds the Washington Monument. The façade is a laticework of deep brown metal and is similar to the ornate gates and balconies of New Orleans which were mostly made by African American metalsmiths. "I wanted a building that spoke of resiliency, uplift and spirituality, but I wanted a building that had a dark presence too" the architect explains.

At their best, museums help us to understand and interpret our complex world by illuminating history and influencing attitudes. That becomes a challenge when we must examine our darkest episodes. Any society scarred by war, genocide, famine, displacement or slavery must decide what to remember and how to remember. Individual memory is one thing but this museum will be able to help define our collective memory. And collective memory, transferred from generation to generation, defines a nation's character. 

National Geographic Magazine (Michele Norris, slightly adapted) October 2016

A) Speak about these paintings. Say what you can see and try to guess what is happening.

B) GROUP A : Find out more about the first painting and the event it depicts. Listen to the audio here :

Télécharger « Audio : a famous painting »

C) GROUP B : Find out more about the second painting and the event it depicts. Watch the video here :

Télécharger « Video : Napoleon goes to England »

A) Read the article from the London Evening Standard

Tuesday 25 October 2022

King Charles III crowned Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister on a historic day for Britain. 

His Majesty appointed Mr Sunak as premier, the first British Asian to reach the top job in UK politics and the youngest Prime Minister since the Napoleonic Wars more than 200 years ago. Mr Sunak's political coronation took place as he was the only contender to get the support of 100 MPs after Liz Truss resigned after just 44 days in office, becoming the shortest-serving PM ever. 

The ex-Chancellor of the Exchequer headed to Buckingham Palce mid-morning where the King asked him to form a government. With the world watching the chaos in British politics which has seen three prime ministers in 50 days, US President Joe Biden hailed Mr Sunak's appointment as "a milestone" which "matters". 

Mr Sunak, 42, is the first PM that the King has appointed, with his late mother Queen Elizabeth having seen 15 premiers during her 70 year reign, from Winston Churchill to Liz Truss. After the recent disatrous period at the heart of government and the financial turmoil that it has caused, former Home Office minister Victoria Atkins told Times Radio "We can be extremely proud of the fact that we now have a Prime Minister who has the character, the decency, the brains and the vision to do this job really well and we should also be quietly proud that he is the first British Asian Prime Minister that we will see work at number 10 as well."

Mr Sunak's grandparents were from Punjab state before the Indian subcontinent was divided into two countries, India and Pakistan, in 1947 after British colonial rule ended. His family settled in the UK in the 1960s and he was born in Southampton in 1980.