"Serious question: Napoleon Bonaparte's hat" Topic

At what point did Napoleon choose to keep wearing his hat 'athwart' as the Royal Navy would put it (i.e. sideways) while military fashion was favouring a change to wearing the cocked hat 'fore and aft' or en colonne as the French put it. Was it a conscious decision from the first or a quirk that gradually was recognised as effective branding?

Apparently, we have the receipts for Wellington's boots but has the history of the hat "worth 20,000 men on the field' been written? Or is it something that has just been taken for granted?

We do actually have Wellington's boots. They are with his sword in the Museum in the Wellington Arch in London, near Apsley House.

Fore and aft was far from universal amongst the military, but they tended to wear a much taller hat and, for senior officers, with much more ornamentation.

Wsa his hat not actually a civilian variant?

"Fore and aft was far from universal amongst the military"

Are we talking about the French in particular, here?

I'm assuming the "serious question" bit refers to the fact that there's an alternative meaning for "Napoleon's hat".

Wearing 'athwart'as it is put, was quite common in the French Army in the 1790s as the headwear evolved from a tricorn with a shorter and shorter front 'peak'. As a young artillery officer Napoleon would have worn his hat in the same way as his comrades and probably simply kept on in that manner through habit. By the time he was First Consul, the wearing of hats 'en colonne' was more common and no doubt Napoleon began consciously to wear his differently to mark himself out. Also, I have heard his hat described as of the 'Swiss Pattern' and only he and Berthier continued its use.

Didn't we once have a discussion about how inconvenient it was to wear a hat athwart while loading a musket, because you would knock it off all the time? Hence that wearing a hat athwart marked you out as not rank-and-file?

Highly stratified hierarchies, disdain for the lower orders, obsessive preoccupation with social status, and snobbery in general are extremely important features of self-professed egalitarian societies such as post-Revolutionary France and Soviet Russia. They re-emerge in them time and again, whether it's through having a "Middle Guard" or having special traffic lanes for the ruling clique (probably the only reason Napoleon never brought that one in was because under his rule everyone was too poor to keep a carriage and he had all the horses anyway). It seems particularly marked where the system of monarchy was abolished and replaced with, er, a system of monarchy.

Did Napoleon wear his hat in a silly way simply to remind everyone that he was the top boy, and had no need to wear it sensibly?

as revolutionary general he did wear the usual hat of a general, later when he was a big headed emperor – he had a special designed hat, only peculiar for him, which could only fit his head sideways, as for other generals and marshals of France, it seemingly could vary – at least in the Revolution, under the empire it seems that when you were a corps commander or général en chef it was usually worn sideways.

It always amuses me to read of a fortune paid for "Napoleon's hat" or a museum exhibiting Napoleon's coat. As an Emperor he was not short of a bob or two and could probably run to a couple of spares. Bit like the Genappe carriage (the blue one) which "carried him to Moscow and back". Remarkable, when it was constructed by Genting in Brussels, early in 1815.

I think Napoleon both naturally and via contrivance always marched the beat of his own drum.

Fashions and social strata went hand in hand across Europe. It's the way fashion worked back then; class was important.

Highly stratified hierarchies, disdain for the lower orders, obsessive preoccupation with social status, and snobbery in general are extremely important features of self-professed egalitarian societies such as post-Revolutionary France and Soviet Russia.

Pure unadulterated blither. Spain and Britain were two of the most stratified, class obsessed countries in Europe. Frankly, Britain arguably still is quite a bastion of class snobitude.

Did Napoleon wear his hat in a silly way simply to remind everyone that he was the top boy, and had no need to wear it sensibly?

Even if stumbled upon through guessing, this be closer to truth.

He wasn't cheap about his hats though:

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He needed a big hat to cover his big head.

Well! His forward combed hair covered his front while his hat covered his flanks. He had nothing to cover his rear other than his neck

Au Passe la Sel

Pure unadulterated blither

Says the Marshal de la Bouche Blitherer

I have to agree with Au Pas. "Obsessive preoccupation with social status and snobbery" seemed every bit as much of a characteristic of Britain as anywhere else. I may have got this from Bernard Cornwell novels, however.

"I have to agree with Au Pas. "Obsessive preoccupation with social status and snobbery" seemed every bit as much of a characteristic of Britain as anywhere else. I may have got this from Bernard Cornwell novels, however."

I don't think 4th Cuirassier is saying that Britain, Spain and other countries were not preoccupied with social status and snobbery, simply that the self-professed egalitarian societies were just as bad. I think he's right

But, his hat. "His hat". It did change shape, did that hat. The rear peak progressively grew taller, way beyond the traditional Airfix 1/12 version. By 1815 all such hats were far taller and drooped far more at either side.

By 1815 all such hats were far taller and drooped far more at either side.

A splendid metaphor for the Corsican parvenu's empire: big in the middle but drooping badly to the east and west.

I don't think 4th Cuirassier is saying that Britain, Spain and other countries were not preoccupied with social status and snobbery, simply that the self-professed egalitarian societies were just as bad. I think he's right

You are in error, there can be no equivalent because both Spain and Britain had codified class differences that were acted upon both with enthusiasm and brutality. To suggest that someone wanting to wear a different hat or labelling some military units as better than others as a source of pride is the same as legally keeping most of one's population in squalor like in Britain and Spain would be a most powerful form of cognitive dissonance.

In any case, if 4th Cuirassiers has no problem with snobbery and class distinctions then I have no idea why he would find fault with his opinion that the French Revolution and Napoleon continued those qualities; rather, one would think he would approve. If, however, he thinks that snobbery and class distinctions are abhorrent, then one would have to wonder why those issues would be ignored in both Spain and Britian where they were more intense than elsewhere in the West and focus on Revolutionary France and Napoleon where those qualities took a milder form.

Napoleon never shied away from grandeur, from pageantry or from rank or status, nor did he ever pretend he didnt like all of those things. The real question is why someone would have to force such a directionless comment into the conversation which seems more like an inability to refrain from inexhaustible personal attacks rather than any intellectual analysis or discussion of the subject matter.

It is nearer to the truth that Napoleon wore his hat sideways because he was constantly reconnoitering forward and didnt want the enemy to think he was of high rank like the rest of the generals who wore their hats fore and aft but rather an ordinary soldier.

By contrast, we know that the way that Wellington wore his hat demonstrated the soullessness of a sociopathic killer with a deep disdain for his men and a desire to waste their lives in unsupported sieges. He wore braid and plumage in his hat to distinguish himself from his fellow aristocratic officers to make it clear he was above them all. He pretended to not care about clothes or rank but in fact he was obsessed with these things and disliked the common man to the point that while alive he fought with all his might to oppose government reform.

don't forget he got bloated quite a lot after 1809, he needed special cut of cloth as well, a low collar due to being short necked.

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It is incorrect to say that Wellington opposed reform. He was responsible for Catholic Emancipation. See this.

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Wellington also frequently appeared on the battlefield in civilian clothes, wearing a low cocked hat without much in the way of ornament.

APDC, Wellington wore his cocked hat 'fore and aft' as did the majority of British officers at that time, so one cannot really read into that fact the assumptions you make. You are determined to make everything fit your own prejudices!

People getting upset and insulting about the great man's hat just goes to show their sad bias and jealousy. Can't imagine how such poor souls would react if someone posted about big nose's sweaty and smelly wellies! Lol

Wellington wore the cockades of the armies in which he was a field marshal, which from memory were Britain, Spain, Portugal and the Netherlands.

Napoleon couldn't do the same because he had not been appointed by others to his highest rank but had appointed himself to it, and because he commanded other armies not because he was a field marshal in the army in question but because he'd subjugated their countries.

"…we know that the way that Wellington wore his hat demonstrated the soullessness of a sociopathic killer with a deep disdain for his men and a desire to waste their lives"

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

Wellington did support Catholic emancipation, which was a good thing. However, as the linked article points out, he did seem to support it primarily to stave off revolt in Ireland, rather than through a belief that Catholics should enjoy the same rights as Protestants.

Erzherzog Johan,

Wellington had been a long term supporter of Catholic Emancipation. In his first speech as an MP in 1792 he said that the government's plans to grant concessions to the Catholics deserved universal support.

‘I have no doubt of the loyalty of the Catholics of this country, and I trust that when the question shall be brought forward we shall lay aside animosities, and act with moderation and dignity, not with the fury and violence of partisans".

Taken from Muir, "Wellington, The Path to Victory"

He was a member of the governing party and had to toe the line which was pro-concessions but this seems to have been a consistent theme throughout his career rather than a short term response to the threat of a revolt 30 years later.

I'll leave it to you to judge if these are the words and actions of a sociopath.

About the Duke of Wellington:

His popular reputation is still that of a wartime genius but a peacetime Blimp. His resistance to parliamentary reform is vividly remembered, but his adoption of Catholic emancipation is lightly passed over in comparison. It is widely believed that he yielded to emancipation only because he was forced to do so by the irresistible demands of O'Connell and the Irish Catholics. More recent accounts have hinted at a different picture, but the old image is far from being completely exorcised.

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"Peacetime blimp" is a priceless image for Wellington.

Whatever the controversy, motivation and confusions around this 1829 Act, his efforts for Catholic emancipation offers a even stronger, curious contrast that he doggedly resisted every other type of government and social reform for the little guy some gamers seem to think he represented.

Much of his reactionary arrogance can be deduced by the way he wore his hat and the decorations he placed on them; mostly fuss and feathers.

Well next year should see leadership elections both sides of The Pond.

But, dear God, I hope they are decided by more significant considerations than which way one wears one's hat.

General officers on both sides in 1815 wore their hats athwarts or fore and aft, even them Proosians. Personal taste, if you were of sufficient rank.

But do remember DoW's hat, like Boney's was a civilian rig, personally "tailored" and adapted for campaign. No RSM will challenge the CiC about his headwear after all.

There was a line in Ponty Python. "This is getting too silly" etc, you maybe know the rest, but, however quiet the forum is getting, we must have more important topics (like button counts or turnback ornaments in 15mm figures)

"I want to be so great that even 200 years after my death, my enemies are yet still foaming at the mouth over…my hat" – me

Well this might answer your question
Bicorne
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Tricorne
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Thank you 14Bore for these fascinating links. I thought that it was a good question from 42flanker and despite some of the answers and diversions into the character of the two great men, I think that 14Bore has provided the most sensible and illuminating answer.