Thursday, October 4, 2007

1811 to 1813

Literature
Sense and Sensibility. Jane Austen. British. 1811. Novel. Two sisters represent sense and sensibility respectively in how they deal with lost suitors. Dignity and restraint vs. violently expressed grief.

"Bethgelert or the Grave of the Greyhound. William Rober Spencer. British. 1811. Poetry/ballad. Dog appears to have killed the baby and is stabbed. Actually he had saved the baby from a wolf.

"Undine." Friedrich von Fouque. German. 1811. Tale. Tragic love between water spirit Undine and a knight.

Poetry and Truth. Goethe. German. 1811/33. Autobiography. Attempt to explain the major strains of his inner development; the esential principles of his poetry.

Society
1812. Napoleon invades Russia in June as Britain and the U.S. go to war over the impressment of U.S. seamen.

1812. The Grande Armee of 600,000 invades Russia.

1812. British troops under the duke of Wellington defeat the French at Salamanca.

1812. The Battle of Borodino is a bloody encounter on the Moskovia River. Russia's wily field marshal Mikhail Kutusov, now 66, retreats to save his army.

1812. Napoleon enters Moscow, but most of the 300,000 inhabitants have fled, and fires set by the Russians burn much of Moscow in the next 5 days.

1812. Napoloon begins a retreat from Moscow, October 19, and the retreat turns into a rout. Crippled by ;hunger, cold and the lack of salt, harassed by Cossack troops and Russian irregulars, the invading force has dwindled to no more than 100,000 by mid-December when the survivors finally struggle across the Nieman river.

1812. The War of 1812 between Britain and the U.S. begins June 18.

1812. The British frigate Guerriere that has seized so many U.S. seamen is destroyed August 19 by the 15-year-old U.S. frigate Constitution under the command of Isaac Hull. The Constitution has won the name "Old Ironsides"because enemy cannonballs appear to bounce off her.

1812. The Luddite riots that began last year in England spread. Public opinion supports the rioters expecially after soldiers shoot down a band of Luddites at the reqquest of a threatened employer who is subsequently murdered.

Literature
Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Lord Byron. British. 1912. Narrative Poetry. Spenserian stanzas. Solitary pilgrimage. Evokes events, people associated with each place.

Society
1813. Wars of liberation against the French begin in the wake of Napoleon's disastrouos Russian expedition.

1813. The Battle of Leipzig October 16 to 19 will be called the "Battle of the Nations"; it ends in defeat for the emperor Napoleon, who has lost 219,000 men to typhus and 105,000 in battle.

1813. The War of 1812 continues between British and u>S. forces.

1813. Leaders of England's Luddite movement are hanged or transported after a mass trial at York.

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