Plot Of The Rue Saint-Nicaise
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The Plot of the rue Saint-Nicaise, also known as the plot, was an
assassination Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...
attempt on the
First Consul of France The Consulate () was the top-level government of the First French Republic from the fall of the Directory in the coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799 until the start of the French Empire on 18 May 1804. During this period, Napoleon Bonapar ...
,
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
, in Paris on 24 December 1800. It followed the of 10 October 1800 and was one of many
Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...
and
Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
plots. Though Napoleon and his wife
Joséphine Josephine may refer to: People *Josephine (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) *Josephine (singer), a Greek pop singer Places *Josephine, Texas, United States *Josephine County, Oregon, a county located in the U. ...
narrowly escaped the attempt, five people were killed and twenty-six others were injured. The name of the , the 'infernal device', was in reference to an episode during the sixteenth-century revolt against Spanish rule in
Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...
. In 1585, during the Siege of Antwerp by the Spaniards, an Italian engineer in Spanish service made an explosive device from a barrel bound with iron hoops, filled with gunpowder, flammable materials and bullets, and set off by a
blunderbuss The blunderbuss is a 17th- to mid-19th-century firearm with a short, large caliber Gun barrel, barrel. It is commonly flared at the muzzle (firearms), muzzle to help aid in the loading of Lead shot, shot and other projectiles of relevant quantity ...
triggered from a distance by a string. The Italian engineer called it .


The plotters

The attempt on Napoleon's life was planned by seven royalist
Breton Breton most often refers to: *anything associated with Brittany, and generally **Breton people **Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany ** Breton (horse), a breed **Gale ...
Chouan Chouan (, "the silent one", or "owl") is a French nickname. It was used as a nom de guerre by the Chouan brothers, most notably Jean Cottereau, better known as Jean Chouan, who led a major revolt in Bas-Maine against the French Revolution. Part ...
s: *Pierre Robinault de Saint-Régeant (1768–1801): a supporter of
Louis XVIII Louis XVIII (Louis Stanislas Xavier; 17 November 1755 – 16 September 1824), known as the Desired (), was King of France from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. Before his reign, he spent 23 y ...
, Saint-Régeant had tried to stir up a revolt in western France the previous year, and had publicly torn up Napoleon's offer of amnesty to the Vendéens. *Pierre Picot de Limoëlan (1768–1826): the son of a
guillotine A guillotine ( ) is an apparatus designed for effectively carrying out executions by Decapitation, beheading. The device consists of a tall, upright frame with a weighted and angled blade suspended at the top. The condemned person is secur ...
d royalist nobleman. *
Georges Cadoudal Georges Cadoudal (; January 1, 1771 – June 25, 1804), sometimes called simply Georges, was a Breton counter-revolutionary and leader of the ''Chouannerie'' during the French Revolution. He was posthumously named a Marshal of France in 1814 by ...
(1771–1804): the
Chouannerie The Chouannerie (; from the Chouan brothers, two of its leaders) was a House of Bourbon, royalist uprising or counter-revolutionary, counter-revolution in twelve of the western departments of France, ''départements'' of France, particularly in ...
leader. *Jean-Baptiste Coster (1771–1804): one of Cadoudal's ablest lieutenants, known as Saint-Victor. *The other three plotters were the noblemen Joyaux d'Assas, Jérôme Pétion de Villeneuve, and La Haye-Saint-Hilaire. Cadoudal had charged Limoëlan and Saint-Régeant with the task of taking Napoleon's life. They in turn enlisted an older Chouan named François-Joseph Carbon (1756–1801), "a stocky man with a fair beard and a scar on his brow," who had fought in the wars of the
Vendée Vendée () is a department in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France, on the Atlantic coast. In 2019, it had a population of 685,442.Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont Louis-Auguste-Victor, Count de Ghaisnes de Bourmont (2 September 1773 – 27 October 1846) was a French general, diplomat and statesman who was named Marshal of France in 1830. A lifelong royalist, he emigrated from France soon after the outbreak ...
.


Assassination attempt

On the late afternoon of 3
Nivôse Nivôse (; also ''Nivose'') was the fourth month in the French Republican Calendar. The month was named after the Latin word ''nivosus'' 'snowy'. Nivôse was the first month of the winter quarter (''mois d'hiver''). It started between 21 and 23 ...
Year IX of the French Republic (Christmas Eve, December 24, 1800) the plotter Carbon, who had made the , harnessed a
mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...
to a cart carrying a large wine cask, and with Limoëlan drove it to the
Porte Saint-Denis The Porte Saint-Denis (; ) is a Parisian monument located in the 10th arrondissement, at the site of one of the gates of the Wall of Charles V, one of Paris's former city walls. It is located at the crossing of the Rue Saint-Denis continued by ...
, on the northern outskirts of Paris. In a deserted building, they loaded the cask with
gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...
. They then drove it to the rue Saint-Nicaise, north of the palace. Limoëlan crossed over to the
Place du Carrousel The Place du Carrousel () is a public square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, located at the open end of the courtyard of the Louvre Palace, a space occupied, prior to 1883, by the Tuileries Palace. Sitting directly between the museum and the T ...
, whence he could signal to his two fellow plotters to light the fuse. Saint-Régeant saw a fourteen-year-old girl named Marianne Peusol, whose mother sold fresh-baked rolls and vegetables in the nearby
rue du Bac The Rue du Bac () is a street in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. The street, which is 1,150 m long, begins at the junction of the quais Quai Voltaire, Voltaire and Quai Anatole-France, Anatole-France and ends at the Rue de Sèvres. Rue du Bac ...
. He paid her twelve
sous The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) (, ) is a historical, cultural and geographical region of Morocco, which constitutes part of the region administration of Souss-Massa and Guelmim-Oued Noun. The region is known for the en ...
to hold the mare for a few minutes. At 8 P.M., thinking his police had caught the plotters against him, a relaxed but tired Napoleon reluctantly drove to the Opéra to attend a performance of
Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
's oratorio ''
Die Schöpfung ''The Creation'' () is an oratorio written in 1797 and 1798 by Joseph Haydn ( Hob. XXI:2), and considered by many to be one of his masterpieces. The oratorio depicts and celebrates the creation of the world as narrated in the Book of Genesis. T ...
'' ('The Creation'), performed in France for the first time. Napoleon's carriage was preceded by a cavalry escort from the
Consular Guard The Consular Guard (), also known as the Guard of the Consuls (), was a French military unit responsible for the protection of the members of the Consulate, the executive government of France during the late First Republic. It was created by Firs ...
. War Minister
Louis-Alexandre Berthier Louis-Alexandre Berthier, prince de Neuchâtel et Valangin, prince de Wagram (; 20 November 1753 – 1 June 1815) was a French military commander who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was twice Minister of Wa ...
, General
Jean Lannes Jean Lannes, 1st Duke of Montebello, Prince of Siewierz (; 10 April 1769 – 31 May 1809), was a French military commander and a Marshal of the Empire who served during both the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He was one of Napol ...
, and Colonel
Jacques Lauriston Jacques Alexandre Bernard Law, marquis de Lauriston (; 1 February 1768 – 12 June 1828) was a French soldier and diplomat of Scottish and Portuguese descent, and a general officer in the French Army during the Napoleonic Wars. He was born in Po ...
, Napoleon's aide-de-camp, rode with the First Consul. From their memoirs, a nineteenth-century French psychologist named Garnier deduced that on his way to the Opéra the exhausted Napoleon fell asleep. As he slept, Napoleon is said to have had a nightmare reliving his defeat at the Tagliamento River by the Austrians three years earlier. While he had been dreaming, Napoleon's carriage, driven by a drunken man named César, passed the rue Saint-Nicaise and entered the
rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré The Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré () is a street located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Relatively narrow and nondescript, especially in comparison to the nearby Champs-Élysées, Avenue des Champs-Élysées, it is cited as being on ...
. Limoëlan, standing in the Place du Carrousel, panicked and failed to signal Saint-Régeant in the rue Saint-Nicaise, who thus lost a minute or two of preparation. When the leading
grenadiers A grenadier ( , ; derived from the word ''grenade'') was historically an assault-specialist soldier who threw hand grenades in siege operation battles. The distinct combat function of the grenadier was established in the mid-17th century, when ...
in Napoleon's guard rode past him, Saint-Régeant lit the fuse and fled. The exploded, killing the teenage girl Peusol while killing and injuring many other innocent bystanders. Unharmed, Napoleon insisted on continuing to the Opéra, where the audience cheered upon learning his escape.


Interpretation of Napoleon's dreaming

Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud ( ; ; born Sigismund Schlomo Freud; 6 May 1856 – 23 September 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of psychoanalysis, a clinical method for evaluating and treating psychopathology, pathologies seen as originating fro ...
believed that Napoleon was "an extremely sound sleeper" and wrote about this dream. Freud thought that Napoleon had harboured a "fantasy" of the Tagliamento River battle, which was revived by the explosion. To deal with this intruding physical stimulus, the sleeping Napoleon "wove" the sound of the explosion into his dream before waking up. Still dreaming that he was being bombarded by the Austrians, Napoleon woke up crying "" ('We have been mined!'). Freud thought that Napoleon "at last started up with a cry 'We are undermined!' ... the First Consul wove the noise of an exploding bomb into a battle dream before he woke up from it ...". Freud believed that Napoleon's dream was an "alarm-clock dream" that wove external stimuli into its structure in order to maintain the dreamer's sleep and prevent him from being disturbed by external noises. "Napoleon could sleep on – with a conviction that what was trying to disturb him was only a dream-memory of the thunder of the guns at
Arcole Arcole (pronounced ), historically also known as Arcola, is a ''comune'' with 5,274 inhabitants in the province of Verona. It is known as the site of the Battle of the Bridge of Arcole. History Between 15 and 17 November 1796, the Battle of Ar ...
." Napoleon did not sleep after the explosion: "Bonaparte decided to go ahead immediately, without losing one minute in which the enemy could take advantage to kill him." Freud admitted that he had two different sources for this dream: Garnier and another source, which "did not agree in their account of it," but he did not name or cite this other source.


Victims of the blast

Napoleon was badly shaken, but he had escaped the blast physically unscathed. When he reached the Opéra he received a standing ovation from the audience. The explosion, however, killed several innocent bystanders. How many is unclear. One scholar believed that "a dozen persons were killed, and twenty-eight were wounded" in the blast. Another thought that "nine innocent people died and twenty-six were injured." A third scholar wrote that the bomb killed two people and injured six people gravely (and others lightly).


Search for the suspects and punishments

Police informers believed that some extreme-left
Jacobins The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential List of polit ...
known as "" plotted to kill Napoleon with a . On 16 and 17 Brumaire (November 7–8, 1800) the Paris police arrested the suspects, including an agitator named Metge and a chemist named Chevalier. Metge had published a pamphlet entitled ''Le Turc et le militaire français'' ('The Turk and the French Military'), comparing Napoleon to the despotic Roman ruler
Julius Cæsar Gaius Julius Caesar (12 or 13 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC) was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war. He ...
, who was killed by
Marcus Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus (; ; 85 BC – 23 October 42 BC) was a Roman politician, orator, and the most famous of the assassins of Julius Caesar. After being adopted by a relative, he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, which was reta ...
, and calling for "the birth of thousands of Bruti to stab the tyrant Bonaparte." Chevalier had experimented with explosives in a hangar and was suspected of making a bomb to dispatch Napoleon; however, the that exploded a month later in the rue Saint-Nicaise was not Chevalier's bomb. Napoleon had apparently convinced himself that the attempt on his life had been made by the . Minister of Police
Joseph Fouché Joseph Fouché, 1st Duc d'Otrante, 1st Comte Fouché (; 21 May 1759 – 26 December 1820) was a French statesman, revolutionary, and Minister of Police under First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte, who later became a subordinate of Emperor Napoleon. H ...
accused the Chouans, but Napoleon would not listen. He was "deeply shocked and very angry." He believed that he had done wonders for France and that his would-be assassins were ungrateful. An enraged Napoleon told his
Conseil d'État In France, the (; Council of State) is a governmental body that acts both as legal adviser to the executive branch and as the supreme court for administrative justice, which is one of the two branches of the French judiciary system. Establ ...
, "For such an atrocious crime we must have vengeance like a thunder-bolt; blood must flow; we must shoot as many guilty men as there have been victims." Napoleon wanted his "Jacobin enemies" removed from France. Even after the real culprits were apprehended by Fouché's police, Napoleon refused to pardon the innocent ones, insisting that they be deported from
metropolitan France Metropolitan France ( or ), also known as European France (), is the area of France which is geographically in Europe and chiefly comprises #Hexagon, the mainland, popularly known as "the Hexagon" ( or ), and Corsica. This collective name for the ...
.Bainville 1933, p. 128 On 14 Nivôse Year IX (January 4, 1801), Napoleon and his fellow Consuls
Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès Jean-Jacques-Régis de Cambacérès, Duke of Parma (; 18 October 17538 March 1824), was a French nobleman, lawyer, freemasonry, freemason and statesman during the French Revolution and the First French Empire, First Empire. He is best remembere ...
and
Charles-François Lebrun Charles-François Lebrun, 1st duc de Plaisance (, 19 March 1739 – 16 June 1824) was a French statesman who served as Third Consul of the French Republic and was later created Arch-Treasurer by Napoleon I. Biography ''Ancien Régime'' ...
exiled 130 Jacobins from France. Their consular decree read: "130 citizens whose names are indicated, suspect of carrying partial responsibility for the terrorist attempt of 3 Nivôse, the explosion of the machine infernale, shall be placed under special surveillance outside the European territory of the Republic." On 15 Nivôse (January 5) the docile Sénat ratified this act by issuing a
sénatus-consulte A (French language, French translation of ) was a feature of French law during the French Consulate (1799–1804), First French Empire (1804–1814, 1815) and Second French Empire (1852–1870). Consulate and First Empire It was an act voted ...
certifying that the consuls' action "preserved the constitution." The 130 suspects were deported from France without trial and without the right of appeal. Working closely with Fouché, Dubois, the police prefect, had his men collect the remnants of the dead mare and of the cart at the scene of the explosion and question all the Paris horse traders. One of them gave the description of the man who had bought her from him. On 18 Nivôse Year IX (January 8, 1801), fifteen days after the assassination attempt, Carbon the bomb maker was identified by Lamballethe man who had sold (or rented) the cart to himas well as by the
blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
who had shod the mare hitched to the cart. Fouchéwho had known the Jacobins' innocence all alongbrought solid proof to Napoleon that the plotters were the royalist Chouans rather than the Jacobin . Fouché showed him the evidence that the bomb made by the Chevalier, whom Dubois' police had accused of having made the machine infernale, was quite different from the bomb that had exploded in the rue Saint-Nicaise. The police minister, who had plotted with
Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (; ; 2 February 1754 – 17 May 1838), 1st Prince of Benevento, then Prince of Talleyrand, was a French secularization, secularized clergyman, statesman, and leading diplomat. After studying theology, he b ...
and Clément de Ris to replace Napoleon, appeared eager to prove his loyalty to the first consul. Fouché wanted to prove that it was the royalist Chouans, not the republican , as Napoleon had thought, who had tried to murder his boss. But Napoleon would not listen to Fouché, vowing vengeance against the Jacobins. On 19 Nivôse (January 9) the four ('daggers conspirators')the Jacobins
Giuseppe Ceracchi Giuseppe Ceracchi, also known as ''Giuseppe Cirachi'', (4 July 1751 – 30 January 1801) was an Italian sculptor active in a Neoclassic style. He worked in Italy, England, and in the United States following the nation's emergence following the Am ...
, Joseph Antoine Aréna,
François Topino-Lebrun François Jean-Baptiste Topino-Lebrun (11 April 1764, in Marseille – 30 January 1801, in Paris) was a French painter and revolutionary. He worked in the Neo-Classical style and was said to be the favorite student of Jacques-Louis David. ...
and Dominique Demervillewere found guilty of plotting to murder Napoleon and condemned to death. Their protestations of innocence and of being tortured into confessing went unheeded. Napoleon, who had been a fervent Jacobin himself, now turned against his former allies. He still insisted that the Jacobin had tried to kill him. "A Royalist attempt would upset his policy of fusion. He refused to believe that; a Jacobin attempt suited him, as conforming to his system of the moment". On 21 Nivôse Year IX (January 11, 1801) Chevalier, who had not made the , was executed by order of Napoleon. On 28 Nivôse (January 18), the Chouan bomb maker Carbon was arrested. Under torture he gave the names of his fellow plotters, Limoëlan and Saint-Régeant. On 30 Nivôse (January 20), four weeks after the explosion, Napoleon executed the pamphleteer Metge and two of his friends, even though there was no proof that any of them had been involved in the plot. On 1 Pluviôse Year IX (January 21, 1801) Napoleon named the 44-year-old scientist Jean-Antoine-Claude Chaptal de Chanteloup to the post of France's interior minister. On January 25 Carbon's fellow plotter, Saint-Régeant, was arrested. One scholar thought that "Saint-Réjant escaped to the United States andthe least the would-be assassin could dobecame a priest." In fact, Saint-Régeant was executed on 30 Germinal (April 20) at the
Place de Grève Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Of ...
in Paris, where the attempted
regicide Regicide is the purposeful killing of a monarch or sovereign of a polity and is often associated with the usurpation of power. A regicide can also be the person responsible for the killing. The word comes from the Latin roots of ''regis'' ...
Robert-François Damiens Robert-François Damiens (; surname also recorded as ''Damier'', ; 9 January 1715 – 28 March 1757) was a French domestic servant whose attempted assassination of King Louis XV in 1757 culminated in his public execution. He was the last per ...
had been executed in 1757, and the man who escaped to the US was the conspirator Limoëlan. He had expressed feeling guilt about the death of the girl, Peusol, who had held the horse hitched to the cart. Limoëlan was ordained a priest in 1812, and died in 1826.


Napoleon's reaction

In reaction to the attempt on Napoleon's life, 130 prominent
Jacobins The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential List of polit ...
had been exiled. On 10 Pluviôse Year IX (January 30, 1801) the four Ceracchi, Aréna, Topino-Lebrun and Demervillewho had been found guilty of plotting to murder the first consul and condemned to death, were guillotined. Napoleon had gotten rid of his remaining Jacobin enemies. Their deaths, however, did not spell an end to plots against him. The
royalists A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gover ...
were still after him, and he saw plotters everywhere, especially in
Corsica Corsica ( , , ; ; ) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the Regions of France, 18 regions of France. It is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of the Metro ...
. The political journalist Pierre Louis Roederer claimed that Napoleon told him, "If I die in four or five years, the clock will be wound up and will run. If I die before then, I don't know what will happen." One biographer, however, believed that so many Frenchmen needed Napoleon and feared for his life that their fear made it possible for him to become
Emperor of the French Emperor of the French ( French: ''Empereur des Français'') was the title of the monarch and supreme ruler of the First French Empire and the Second French Empire. The emperor of France was an absolute monarch. Details After rising to power by ...
within three years.


In popular culture

The ''Attack of the rue Saint-Nicaise'' was written by
G. Lenotre G is the seventh letter of the Latin alphabet. G may also refer to: Places * Gabon, international license plate code G * Glasgow, UK postal code G * Eastern Quebec, Canadian postal prefix G * Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia, ...
, a historian who wrote mainly about the French Revolution and the
Reign of Terror The Reign of Terror (French: ''La Terreur'', literally "The Terror") was a period of the French Revolution when, following the creation of the French First Republic, First Republic, a series of massacres and Capital punishment in France, nu ...
. The rue Saint-Nicaise attack provides the backdrop of ''For The King'', a 2010 historical novel by . The rue Saint-Nicaise attack was the background of a mission in
Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...
's ''
Assassin's Creed Unity ''Assassin's Creed Unity'' is a 2014 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released in November 2014 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, and in December 2020 for Stadia. It is the eighth majo ...
''. In the mission, the Assassins help stop the radicals from setting off the device and eliminated gunners that aimed to kill Napoleon. François-Joseph Carbon appears as the main plotter behind the assassination attempt, and is eliminated by the Assassins shortly after saving Napoleon from Carbon's men.


Notes


References

* Roederer, Pierre-Louis (1909) ''Autour de Bonaparte.'' Paris: H. Daragon. * Clark, Leon Pierce (1929) ''Napoleon Self-Destroyed''. London: Jonathan Cape and Harrison Smith. * Bainville, Jacques (1933) ''Napoleon''. Boston: Little, Brown. * Castelot, André (1971) ''Napoleon.'' New York: Harper & Row. * Cronin, Vincent (1971) ''Napoleon''. London: William Collins. * Hall, John (1915) ''General Pichegru's Treason''. New York: E. P. Dutton & Company. * Tulard, Jean (1987) ''Dictionnaire Napoléon''. Paris: Fayard. * McLynn, Frank (1997) ''Napoleon: A Biography''. London: Jonathan Cape. * Falk, Avner (2006) ''Napoleon Against Himself: A Psychobiography''. Charlottesville: Pitchstone. *


External links

* {{cite web , last=Holmberg , first=Tom , authorlink= , author2=Max Sewell , year=2005 , url=http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/miscellaneous/c_infernal.html , title=The Infernal Machine , work=The Napoleon Series - Research subjects: miscellaneous , publisher=www.napoleon-series.org , accessdate=2006-03-23 1800 crimes in France Attempted assassinations of Napoleon 1st arrondissement of Paris 1800 in France 1800s in Paris French Consulate December 1800 Joséphine de Beauharnais Paris in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars Improvised explosive device bombings in Paris Mass murder in Paris