Rats or Cats? - Facing Phobias.

My mid week blog post involved the Emperor Napoleon and 30,000 rabbits. Writing that post reminded me of Napoleon’s reputation for being afraid of cats. Apparently this was an open secret amongst his contemporaries, friend and foe alike. Indeed, during an important political debate, an opponent got the upper hand and threw Napoleon off his stride, merely by bringing the subject of cats into the conversation.

Another example of this deep seated fear happened during the campaign for the Battle of Wagram. An Aide de Campe passed Napoleon’s tent and was alarmed to hear screams and cries for help. Fearing his leader to be in mortal danger, the Aide drew his sword and burst in.... to find Napoleon sweating profusely and wildly stabbing at the air…because a stray cat had wandered into the tent!

My favourite Napoleon-and-cat story, and wonderfully demonstrates the British sense of humour, takes place after the Emperor’s defeat by Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo. Sent into exile on the island of Saint Helena, Napoleon’s new residence was the damp, vermin infested estate at Longwood. Contemporary accounts report:

“Rats…came out at night…so thick as the floor appeared black.”

Over time reports filtered back to England that the French Emperor had been bitten by a rat. Magnanimous in victory and ever compassionate, posters appeared in English market places offering the princely sum of sixpence per cat for those collecting felines go to Napoleon’s aid. Strays and farm cats were rounded up by the wagon load and a special ship commissioned to carry this special live cargo to Saint Helena and rid the prisoner of his vermin infestation.

Poor Napoleon, this must have been a case of “good news” and “bad news” when that shipped docked!

Ahhh - Widget! (Guess where I stand on cats!)

I’m not a fan of spiders (to put in mildly) and if my house was infested with flies, I wouldn’t be overly pleased to receive boxes of spiders….so how about you? Would you rather put up with rats and flies….or be prepared to face a phobia?

Exit Napoleon Pursued by Rabbits.

My midweek blog post is a blend of animals, history and trivia! This almost Monty Pythonesque tale involves the French Emperor Napoleon, his Major General ‘Berthier the Ugly’ and 30,000 rabbits.

But first, some background  to the story.
Events are reported by Andrew Roberts (historian and biographer) in his book:

 “The Battle of Waterloo – and the great commanders who fought it.”

Roberts’ book aims not just to give a factual account of battles, but to get under the skin of the main protagonists: Bonaparte and Wellington.
In 1815, the Battle of Waterloo was Napoleon’s greatest defeat but, according to Roberts, it wasn’t the Emperor’s most embarrassing one. This award goes to an afternoon’s sport in 1807, after Napoleon signed a peace treaty with Russia and Prussia.To celebrate ‘The Peace of Tilsit’, Napoleon ordered his Chief of Staff, Major General Berthier, to entertain the Imperial Courtwith an afternoon rabbit shoot.

Known as ‘Berthier the Ugly’ because of his squat build and talon like nose, he had a healthy respect for Napoleon. In fact this successful General, with many victories under his command, is quoted as saying:

“I don’t know why but that little b*****d scares me.”

Napoleon Bonaparte.

In order to make the hunt a success Berthier ‘imported’ 30,000 rabbits. However, what he didn’t realize was high taxation had forced peasants to trap and eat all the wild rabbits. In order to fulfill Berthier’s demands for game, local gamekeepers had to buy captive bred rabbits, fattened up for eating, and release them into the wild. These same rabbits, not having eaten for 24 hours, when they saw a short man in a big hat (Napoleon) approaching, assumed it was food being delivered and mobbed him.

Napoleon’s retainers beat the rabbits off with whips, but there were just too many and the Emperor was forced to flee back to the safety of his carriage…making this by far his most humiliating defeat.

TEASER: But of course, Napoleon was terrified of cats….more of this in another post!