"Napoleon's Paper Kingdom: The Life and Death of ..." Topic

…Westphalia, 1807-1813

"Placing the creation of Westphalia within the context of the larger German story of the Napoleonic Wars, this groundbreaking book offers the only complete history of Napoleon's grand experiment to construct a "model state." In 1807, in the wake of two years of victories over the Austrians, Prussians, and Russians, Napoleon redrew the map of central Europe by fashioning a new German state. Dubbing it the Kingdom of Westphalia, he appointed his 23-year-old brother Jerome as its king. Sam A. Mustafa shows how Westphalia became a proving ground for the allegedly liberating and modern concepts of the French Revolution, brought by foreign conquest and enforced by a powerful new centralized state. Over the next six years, the inhabitants of this region experienced fundamental and often jarring changes in almost every aspect of their lives. They witnessed a profound clash of French and German culture, as well as new ideas about law, nationality, and citizenship. And yet, for all of its promise on paper, Westphalia ended up despised by most of its "citizens," who cheered at its collapse and in many cases helped to bring it down. What went wrong with this early example of what we would today call "nation building" and how did Germans react to the changes? Napoleon's Paper Kingdom is the first book in the English language to provide a comprehensive investigation of this fascinating chapter of the Napoleonic Wars…"
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Amicalement
Armand

Interesting, and an even more interesting price!

It's undoubtedly in the 'class' of an 'academic' work, hence its overpriced. And that's too bad as there might be useful information in the volume.

Yes, looks very interesting. Out of my price range mind, so need to have a word with the librarian…

checked on Amazon.ca……..$C129.00……it'll come down. Just ordered "From Tobruk to Tunis" (the effect of terrain on strategy/tactics in the North African Campaign, started at something like $C89-90.00, now I've seen it for $US10.00. Fabulous book based on the author's Master's thesis (had a look at it in Foyles when I was in London earlier this year).

Hmm. I have the greatest respect for Sam Mustafa, and this is only a single-page summary, but it's perhaps worth noting that Napoleon's Satellite Kingdoms stressed that there was a body of persons loyal to the Kingdom of Westphalia.
Probably hard to get many when Napoleon himself never took it seriously--fiddling with the borders and only using it to add German blood and treasure to his resources.
I suspect a lot of Napoleon's charm comes from our distance from him.

But I'll keep an eye out for the book. Thanks, Tango!

Glad you like it guys!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

it's perhaps worth noting that Napoleon's Satellite Kingdoms stressed that there was a body of persons loyal to the Kingdom of Westphalia.

Yes, and there was a similar body (the Afrancesados) loyal to King Joseph in Spain – mostly people who benefited from the new government. There are always those ready to toady up to a conqueror – since 1940, they've been referred to as "Quislings".

I don't believe that the use of the term applies here-either in Spain or Westphalia.

The situations are entirely different, both politically and socially.

"Quislings" would certainly cover some of them, but not the brigade commander, decorated in 1812 and locked up on suspicion in 1813, who refused release after the fall of the kingdom because only the rightful King of Westphalia could rescind the arrest order. (One of the von Hammersteins, I'm thinking?)

It is, after two centuries, sometimes hard to sort out the politicians sincerely attached to a foreign political doctrine from the opportunists taking personal advantage of foreign conquest. There were presumably both.

There was no state of Westphalia, or a king of Westphalia, after late 1813.

Prussia took some of it, and the rest of it was broken up into the original German states that Napoleon used to create it.

Pricy but at least it does not contain the word truth in the title. LOL

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

The price probably accurately reflects the time and cost of the research that went into producing it. I find in my own field that the most prized books often proven to have been labours of love benefitting from in depth qualuty research on the part of the authors