Algiers, the Last Napoleonic Conquest
Résumé
As the bicentenary of Napoleon’s death has just reminded us, Chateaubriand’s backhanded tribute to the emperor has echoed on through the ages, if in oft-truncated form: “that which he was unable to conquer, his fame usurped; alive he missed the world, dead he owns it.” From today’s vantage point, it pays to both literalize and challenge Chateaubriand’s prophetic words by asking ourselves whether the emperor might not be credited with the conquest of Algiers as well—that is, nine years after his death. Algiers, as a last Napoleonic conquest? The idea is seductive, a counterfactual “what if” such as there inevitably seem to arise when it comes to Napoleon’s legacy. Of course, he indulged such histories from Saint Helena; but he admitted no such hypotheticals from his subordinates a few years earlier as head of state and commander in chief: “I want your answer in a month, not before; but in the meantime, gather material so that there are no buts or ifs or becauses”, he demanded of his minister Decrès in 1808 when ordering a full report on an expedition against Algiers.