The Little Dog of Castiglione
Nothing seemed likely to stop Napoleon Bonaparte from conquering Europe, but one little fellow slowed him up a bit.
1796
King George III 1760-1820
Nothing seemed likely to stop Napoleon Bonaparte from conquering Europe, but one little fellow slowed him up a bit.
1796
King George III 1760-1820
The Battle of Castiglione in northern Italy, on August 5th, 1796, was a resounding victory for Napoleon Bonaparte over the Austrian Empire. The general, who at that time was still serving the French Republic, read Helen Maria Williams’s account of his Italian campaign and told her later ‘that he would answer for the truth of all that she had reported’ — including, presumably, this poignant little scene.
AT the moment when the ranks of the Imperialists were broken,* and the heat of the pursuit was in proportion to the obstinacy of the contest, Bonaparte coming up to the spot where the thickest of the combat had taken place, where French and Austrians lay strewed in horrible profusion, perceived one living object amidst those piles of corpses, which was a little barbet-dog.
The faithful creature stood with his two fore-feet fixed on the breast of an Austrian officer; his long ears hung over his eyes, which were riveted on those of his dead master. The tumult seemed neither to distract the attention, or change the attitude of the mourner, absorbed by the object to which he clung. Bonaparte, struck with the piteous spectacle, stopped his horse, called his attendants around him, and pointed out the subject of his speculation.
* By ‘the Imperialists’ Williams meant the Austrian Empire. She was writing in 1801, when the French Republic seemed to be spreading liberty, equality and fraternity — or at any rate, what they said was liberty, equality and fraternity — across Europe, and she hero-worshipped their all-conquering general. Just three years later Napoleon declared himself Emperor of France, and to her credit Williams changed her opinion of him — much as Ludwig van Beethoven did, though Williams never cherished the great composer’s unabashed admiration of the United Kingdom and her general Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington.