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PICTURES OF POWER

For Napoleon, image was all. His consummate skill of self-promotion is summed up in just one incident. During the spring of 1800, he marched 40,000 soldiers over the Alps to Italy across treacherous layers of snow and ice - an extraordinary military move. The adventure is captured by Jacques Louis David in his heroic portrait of Napoleon mounted on a gleaming stallion.

In fact, Bonaparte crossed the Alps riding a sure-footed mule, but the commander was astute enough to know that a realistic portrait would not convey the message of power and glory.

A succession of such portraits reinforced the super-human image in the minds not only of the French but also the British. They came to see him as capable of fantastic deeds: even that he might fly over the Channel.

But the British were no strangers to the power of propaganda. As an antidote to the staged French images of Napoleon, British cartoons at the time were vicious. Napoleon was portrayed as a little Corsican upstart and Josephine as a tart.

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Two of the most well-known caricature publishers in London were Sidebotham, at 96 The Strand, and Thomas Tegg, at 111 Cheapside in the City of London, both of whom printed the work of artist George Cruikshank, openly signed and credited. However the most renowned caricaturist was James Gillray. The publisher Ackermann drew people to his shop at 101 the Strand in 1802 with his advertisement: 'If people are struggling in France to preserve themselves from the Corsican agitator, people are fighting over here to see caricatures by Gillray in M. Ackermann's shop-window.'

Napoleon was also popularly demonised. Mothers would tell their children at night, 'If you don't say your prayers, Boney will come and get you.'

Schoolchildren were terrified by a popular lullaby.
Baby, baby, naughty baby,
Hush, you squalling thing, I say;
Hush your squalling, or it may be
Bonaparte may pass this way.

Baby, baby, he will hear you
As he passes by the house,
And he, limb from limb, will tear you,
Just as pussy tears a mouse.

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These anti-Napoleon tracts and pictures served to fan the flames of British patriotism against the threatened French invasion, about which many people were ignorant.

They were often translated and exported to the Continent to foster opposition to the emperor.

Some propaganda was more serious. One leaflet appealed: 'Did not our Harry the Fifth invade France, and at Agincourt oppose an Army of 9000 men, sickly, fatigued, and half starved, to that of the French, accounting 50,000; and did he not leave 10,000 of the enemy dead upon the field, and take 14,000 prisoners, with the loss of only 400 men? BRITONS STRIKE HOME! Or your Fame is for ever blasted - your liberties for ever lost!!!'

As with all forms of propaganda, the truth played little part.

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Bonaparte fostered his invincible image and made every attempt to ensure that was how he would be remembered. When he was 46 years old, imprisoned on the island of St Helena, he set about re-inventing himself for posterity.

Day after day, he dictated his memoirs, fashioning the story of his life into the stuff of legend. 'I shall survive,' he said, 'and whenever they want to strike a lofty attitude, they will praise me.'

He re-argued his decisions and re-fought his battles, recalling his greatest triumphs for all the world to admire — the Civil Code, the Bank of France, the bridges over the Seine, schools, roads, canals, libraries. Reworking the ambition to justify the means, he was the saviour of the revolution, he wanted peace, he wanted a new world.

The vital ingredient for Napoleon was to present himself as a martyr. He said, 'If Christ hadn't been crucified, he would never have been God.' Through his writing, even as a prisoner he created loyal, fervent followers. 'Everything on earth is soon forgotten,' Napoleon said, 'except the opinion we leave imprinted on history. There is no immortality but the memory that is left in the minds of men.'

His effectiveness in convincing people reveals him as an individual who could accomplish all through determination, energy and intelligence.

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This example was not lost over the years. A link can be made between this acute awareness of rewriting history to control the future and the Nazis' use of propaganda during the Second World War, enhanced by quickly advancing technology in radio, cinema and amplification. The Triumph of the Will, the classic film directed by Leni Riefenstahl, portraying attractive people achieving bold things, reveals the efforts to instil the Nazi vision of utopia.

The medium was the message that swayed viewers to be inspired by Hitler’s movement, just as Napoleon used the positive association of a powerful stallion rather than the awkward-looking mule. To a different end, the same technique is used by advertisers today, for instance selling drinks with the aura of an exotic location.

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