Napoleon and Russia: Recent Historiographical and Social Trends

Abstract

This article analyses the trends that have emerged in recent years in the study of issues connected with the history of the Napoleonic era, including the study of relations between France and Russia. As the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s death approached, a serious debate broke out in France, sometimes turning into sharp public clashes on various issues of Napoleon’s policy. A characteristic feature of the discussions was the transfer of the controversies of today (democracy or authoritarianism; the role and place of women in society; repentance or refusal to repent in relation to the slavery of black people, etc.) to the realities of the historical past. In this situation, French historians have made significant efforts to thoroughly study the events and processes of the turn of the nineteenth century and shown the state and society the illegitimacy of such a “modernisation” of the past. Several brilliant and deeply founded works by T. Lenz and other researchers, mainly from the Napoleonic Foundation, as well as the willingness of historians to engage in public discussions, have led to a noticeable improvement in the attitude of French society and the state towards the Napoleonic era. A prominent place in the efforts of French historians to present a “true” past was occupied by the analysis of Franco-Russian relations, e. g. the origin, course, and consequences of the war of 1812. Along with French researchers, historians of Britain and the United States have achieved notable success, having carried out, together with their colleagues from other countries, the extensive project “Cambridge History of the Napoleonic Wars”. Thanks to this project, it was possible not only to include the history of Napoleon (including his Russian campaign) in the global context but also to dwell on the problems of the development of society as such – from moral issues to the specifics of the development of historical memory. In recent years, researchers from Russia have continued to publish yearbooks reflecting the history of the era and have published several important monographs. Along with an in-depth study of the factual side of the events of the Napoleonic time, a noticeable feature was the consistent appeal of Russian authors to the issues of historical memory. Several works by N. P. Tanshina, N. V. Promyslov, and, in particular, A. A. Postnikova helped reveal the mechanisms of functioning not only of domestic historical memory in relation to the era but also of the memory of peoples and other countries, primarily France.