Symposium on the
Russian Campaign of 1812
Hildesheim, Germany – February 2003
Napoleonic Newsdesk
by Gary Cousins
 |
The Römer- und Pelizaeus-Museum in Hildesheim, Germany held an extremely successful special exhibition called “Napoleon und Alexander” from October 2002 to March 2003. As part of the exhibition, on Saturday February 1st 2003 the Museum gave over one its spacious lecture rooms to a Symposium on the Russian Campaign of 1812, with special emphasis on experiences of German troops to the campaign. The event was hosted by Markus Stein, well known to Napoleonic enthusiasts as co-editor of the late “Depesche“ magazine and its successor, the Napoleon Online website (www.napoleon-online.de): his introduction set the scene, and later he gave a presentation on the Battle of Borodino. Another co-editor, Markus Gärtner, presented on the participation of German contingents in the 1812 campaign, particularly the Rheinbund troops. Dr. Thomas Hemmann (www.napoleonzeit.de) provided some local interest, drawing from his extensive knowledge of memoirs of the period to share the experiences of two Hildesheim men in Russia. Alfred Umhey told the audience about the raising and equipment of the Russian “Opolchenie“, including the contrast with the equivalent Prussian Landwehr. Prussia of course provided a contingent for Napoleon’s army in 1812, and well-known author Oliver Schmidt spoke about the Prussian Combined Uhlan Regiments. For his piece called “Recycling 1812“, Helmut Börner passed around a selection of artefacts - pistols, sabres, and a cannon ball for example - used on the battlefield, giving us the chance to feel what these weapons were like to wield or face - no injuries in the audience fortunately! But the fate of the wounded after battle was the subject of the talk by Jan Friedrich (www.koenigreich-westphalen.de), with particular reference to the Westphalian troops on which he is an expert, and Peter Schuchhardt (www.compagnie-d-elite) then described the fate of prisoners – including a graphic demonstration of the pitiful rations they received, using bread and meat cadged from the Museum restaurant! The whole-day event was well attended, drawing about 100 people from all over the country – (including me, the only Englishman!) - particularly impressive, as it coincided with a spell of heavy snowfall and freezing temperatures in Germany. All of the presentations were excellent, stimulating numerous questions, and clearly a lot of effort had gone into the individual lectures and into using the latest PC graphic / text presentation technology. The final applause was well-deserved. And a CD-ROM of the 1812 Symposium will be available from April 2003. As well as the content (and more, including all the graphics) of each presentation, this will also contain (in .pdf format) 6 rare texts on the period:
The CD-ROM will cost only € 25 (about £17) exclusive of postage and packing, and interested readers can order by writing to Markus Stein, Egellstrasse 4, D - 68167 Mannheim, Germany or by emailing him at stein@napoleon-online.de. This group is presenting material in a way exciting and interesting to both enthusiasts and the general public, which deserves encouragement. They hope to present more events in Germany in the future – the next being a workshop on the Bavarian Army of the Napoleonic period, provisionally planned for September 2003. So check out the presenters’ websites! More Napoleonic Newsdesk
Call for Contributors: Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Launch of Major New Paperback Series: Pen & Sword Military Classics Correspondence of Napoleon I Project The Big Battalions Symposium on the Russian Campaign of 1812 – Hildesheim, Germany – February 2003 Ken Trotman Web Site Relocation Revolution & Empire See Action at Waterloo Back to Table of Contents -- First Empire # 70 Back to First Empire List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by First Empire. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com |