Stop killing dogs! An episode from the 1814 campaign
Gladyshev Andrey
The article examines one of the characteristic episodes of the final stage of the Napoleonic Wars, namely the internal political struggle that unfolded in Besancon, besieged by the Austrians during the campaign of 1814. This political confrontation manifested itself in anonymous publications of various satirical epigrams, songs, poems, pamphlets. The most striking example of such literature was the so-called "dog petitions", the reason for the appearance of which was the order of the French Governor-General Marulaz on the complete elimination of stray dogs in the city. These animals were considered "useless mouths" and were subject to total extermination. No other motives for the extermination of dogs were reflected in the sources. Meanwhile, Besancon's urban society was already split under siege: in addition to the contradictions between the Governor-General and the prefect, there was a fierce confrontation between the military and municipal administrations, which had different priorities and interests. To these conflicts should be added the contradictions between Bonapartists and Royalists, which intensified with the approach of the armies of the Sixth Anti-French Coalition. The hidden royalist opposition intensified with the beginning of the siege. Its supporters included Baverel, a member of the city council, who preserved for posterity several samples of anti-government satirical literature. The works collected by Baverel testify to the popularity of the satirical genre in the society of that time. They also demonstrate the variety of methods of intellectual struggle, not to mention the fact that they encourage us to once again turn to a comprehensive analysis of the causes of the collapse of the Napoleonic Empire, to study the role of royalists in this process and to assess the degree of public support for the emperor's policy.
The study is sponsored by the Russian Science Foundation, grant 20–18–00113-П.
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