There are a number of interesting and varied conferences to be held this year and next, covering different aspects of the Napoleonic Wars.

Grand Strategy in the Mediterranean This is an international naval conference to be held in HM Naval Base, Portsmouth on Saturday 12 September 1999. The meeting will be followed by a cocktail party on board HMS Victory. For full details contact Peter Warwick, 10 1 Pepys Road, West Wimbledon, London, SW20 8NW. Tel 0181 947 9061 Email. peterwarwick@compuserve.com

Napoleonic Association Autumn Conference This will take place on Saturday 2 October 1999 in the Picture Gallery of the National Army Museum, Royal Hospital Road, Chelsea, London; beginning at I 1.00am and ending at 4.00pm. This meeting will have as its theme John Bull's Front Line, and will examine different aspects of the Militia, Volunteers, Veteran Battalions and Barracks in Britain during the period. The list of speakers and topics is as follows:

Old Soldiers Never Die: The Story of the British Veteran Battalions by Right Reverend Michael Mann.
Barracks, Bounties and Beer: The Story of Horsham Barracks by Ray Cusick.
The Berry Head Forts by Edgar Lawrence.
The British Militia Brigade in France, 1814 by David Bell.
Traders or Administrators?: The East India Company by Peter Williams.
Bayonets and Bone Ships: The British Militia and French Prisoners of War by Paul Chamberlain.

Admission is free. The museum has a cafeteria and bookshop. For further details contact Paul Chamberlain, 14 Overfield Road, Stopsley, Luton, Beds., LU2 9JU. Tel. 01582 616674 Email. pchamber@nibsc.ac.uk

Seminar on Britain and Europe in the Napoleonic Era Dr Thomas Munch-Fetersen of the Department of Scandinavian Studies, University College London is organising a one day conference to be held at this college on Friday 15 October 1999. The idea behind it is that it will act as a forum at which scholars in this country who work on the Napoleonic period can meet and exchange ideas.

There will be three papers and then a business meeting at which those present can discuss whether there is a future for similar seminars on this subject and if so, what form they should take. The meeting will be followed by a dinner in the college or at a nearby restaurant. There will be a conference fee of £ 5 plus the cost of the dinner. The programme for the conference is:

11.00-12.15Dr Richard Butterwick (Belfast). Napoleon and the Late Enlightenment in Poland.
12.15-14.00 Lunch.
14.00-15.15 Mr Christer Jorgensen (London). The Downfall of Gustavus IV of Sweden, 1807-1809.
15.15-15.45Tea.
15.45 7.00 Dr Charles Esdaile (Liverpool). Britain, the Peninsular War and the Downfall of Napoleon.
17.00-18.00 Business meeting.

If you are interested in this meeting and the concept of such a regular forum then contact Dr Munch Petersen at the Department of Scandinavian Studies, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC 1E 613T. Tel. 0171 419 3176 Fax. 0171 380 7750 Email. t.munch-petersen@ucl.ac.uk

The Terrain and Tactics of the Peninsular War This is a Study Day to be held on Saturday 6 November 1999, run jointly by the Battlefields Trust and the University of Birmingham School of Continuing Studies, 10.00am-5.00pm, in the Arts Faculty, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham. The cost will be £ 15 per head including buffet lunch with wine.

Speakers will include: Paddy Griffith on Column, Line and Sir Charles Oman, Ian Fletcher on The Battlefields Today, Arthur Harman on The Memoirs of Wellington's Light Infantry, A re-enactment demonstration and discussion, to be arranged, and there will also be a bookstall run by Caliver Books.

To book a place please send a cheque payable to The Battlefields Trust to Dr Paddy Griffith, 22 Callendar Close, Nuneaton, CV11 6LU.

The Napoleonic Era and its Impact on Scandinavia Following its highly successful conference on Borders and Communities in the Nordic Region held in September 1998, the Centre for Nordic research at University College London is organising a new conference on the important and understudied theme of the Napoleonic era and its impact on Scandinavia.

Speakers will include:
Ole Feldbek - The Destruction of the Danish- Norwegian Union.
David Kirby - Russian Policy and Finnish Loyalty in 1812.
Thomas Munch-Fetersen - Tilsit and Scandinavia, 1807-1809.
Henrik Stenius - The French Revolution and the Concept of Citizenship in Scandinavia.
Stephen Walton - The First Stirrings of the Enlightenment in Rural Norway.

Anyone wishing to offer a paper should send a written proposal of no more than 200 words to the Secretary of the Centre for Nordic Research, Ms Sheila Rust, no later than I September 1999. If you wish to attend the conference, please write to Ms Rust at the Centre for Nordic Research, Department of Scandinavian Studies, at the address given above. Tel. 0171 380 7176 Fax. 0171 380 7750 Email. cnr@ucl.ac.uk

And finally, following on from the interesting article on the Russians during the Napoleonic Wars in Issue 31, here are details of a Study Group set up to deal specifically on the subject of the Russian side of the period.

Russian Army Study Group The Russian Army was respected throughout Europe for its bravery. In February 1813 when the Tsar offered to send troops to Spain Wellington wrote that if 15,000 men were sent 'there can be no doubt that this number (of Russians particularly) would have the most decisive effect on the next campaign. Even if 1,000 or 2,000 only were sent it would show the power of the Russian Empire'. Unfortunately these soldiers were needed in Northern Europe, so Russian troops did not take part in the Peninsular War.

This Study Group looks at all aspects of the Russian Army, from army life to the battles they fought. In 1998 articles in the Group's newsletter The Kiwer included The Don Cossack Opoichenie in 1812; items on uniforms and equipment; The Patriotic war of 1812; translation of Suvarov's Catechism; the Battle of Eylau and various contemporary accounts.

The March 1999 issue saw the newsletter dedicated to the 1799 campaigns, with articles on Prince Condt's Army; contemporary accounts of the battles; the Russian Army of 1799; and the Russians on Jersey and Guernsey. This year also se Study Group Co-ordinator: Laurence Spring, 12 Puckshill, Knaphill, Woking, Surrey GU21 213S.