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Napoleon 13 Plots

"Everything passes rapidly on earth, with the exception of the mark we leave on history."

Ends war with Austria and "quasi war" with America. . . . numerous assassination attempts . . . Letter from the would be Louis XVIII asking for restoration.  Napoleon's reply is polite, but a firm no. . . . Talleyrand uses inside knowledge to enrich himself . . . Tsar Paul 1 assassinated . . . Alexander I in his place--a mystery to N. Will he be pro-British? . . . Peace between England and France, at last, brings about exultation in England . . . peace favorable to France, Napoleon as excellent bargainer . . . Napoleon and Josephine start to dress like royalty making some wonder why the French had gone to the bother of decapitating Louis XVI . . . Haiti--rebellion by L'Overture . . . French troops struggle to put it down (N.'s racist ideas on display--he assumes Haitians can't fight.) L'Ouverture, "a black freeman who had owned slaves, imposed a constitution on Saint-Domingue that made him dictator for life." Brutal fighting follows . . . 30,000 French dead; 350,000 Saint Dominguans (of both races) dead.  "The Saint-Domingue business was a great . . . folly. It was the greatest error I ever committed. . . I ought to have treated with the black leaders."

Slave trade reintroduced by Napoleon in 1802 . . . Britain retained slavery until 1834 . . .

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