Cinema Monarchies Observations Mores Humour

On Josephine's birthday, let us recall the hilariously funny American melodrama "Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story", with a young Armand Assante as the Emperor

On Josephine's birthday, let us recall the hilariously funny American melodrama "Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story", with a young Armand Assante as the Emperor. It is a miniseries, so it will see you through several evenings. Do take note of the costumes, hairstyles and make-up, written, quite literally, into the style of the 1980s. As for the historical accuracy of the script, I shall say nothing: it is as though the plots of my beloved "Dallas" or "Family Ties" had been transplanted into lavish Napoleonic scenery, simply a delight.

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Letter from the Decembrist Mikhail Lunin to his sister, written in the village of Urik on 29 September 1836

I live among people who see me and do not understand me, or with the Invisible One whom I cannot comprehend. The darkness of my sins veils him, even when the deadly lead had grown numb in my body; a gleam of his gaze flashed before me when the blade

Alexander I as King of Poland and the Incorporation of the Duchy of Warsaw into the Russian Empire in 1815

Alexander I, King of Poland, Tsar and Autocrat of All the Russias Just a reminder of Russia's borders before 1918: in 1815 the greater part of the Duchy of Warsaw became part of the Russian Empire as the Kingdom of Poland, or the Vistula Land, until everything fell

A 1930 photograph showing the eviction of a kulak and his family during dekulakisation.

How Many Suffered in Dekulakisation: Estimates by Zemskov, Ivnitsky and Conquest

A photograph of 1930 showing the deportation of a kulak and his family The number of victims of dekulakisation has still not been established and can hardly be stated unambiguously, since the figure includes both those directly repressed (stripped of their property, evicted, exiled, arrested) and, on occasion, the victims

Félix Bonfils, photographs of a dragoman and guide for travellers in Syria

From a guidebook to Syria. Photographs by Félix Bonfils (1831-1885)

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Letter from the Decembrist Mikhail Lunin to his sister, written in the village of Urik on 29 September 1836

Alexander I as King of Poland and the Incorporation of the Duchy of Warsaw into the Russian Empire in 1815

How Many Suffered in Dekulakisation: Estimates by Zemskov, Ivnitsky and Conquest

Félix Bonfils, photographs of a dragoman and guide for travellers in Syria