In 1814, the despondent French leader tried to die by suicide after a military defeat but was thwarted by a loyal aide.
Osenat Auction HouseThe pistols feature an engraved image of Napoleon himself.
Napoleon Bonaparte is known for his confidence, military prowess, and strength as a strategist. But on a spring night in 1814, the French emperor found himself in a dark place after a crushing military defeat. He planned to take his own life using a pair of engraved pistols — but an aide stepped in at the last minute. Now, those weapons have sold at auction.
The pistols not only represent a widely overlooked episode in Napoleon’s life; they also demonstrate that fascination with the French emperor remains strong to this day.
The History Of Napoleon’s Pistols
Public DomainA 19th-century depiction of Napoleon Bonaparte after his abdication in 1814 following his failure to conquer Russia.
The story of the pistols begins in April 1814, when Napoleon Bonaparte was reeling from the greatest defeat of his life. After his unlikely rise to power, the French emperor had managed to conquer much of Europe. But his attempt to invade Russia in 1812 had ended in disaster. His former foes had united against him, and on April 11, 1814, Napoleon agreed to abdicate his throne.
He also quietly decided that he would end his own life.
“The history of these pistols is part of the dark hours of the end of the Empire and the first abdication of the Emperor,” Osenat Auction House explained in a statement. “[T]hese pistols are doubly linked to the suicide attempt of Napoleon I, at Fontainebleau, on the night of April 12 to 13, 1814.”
But though Napoleon planned to use the pistols to die by suicide at Fontainebleau Palace in Paris, his grand squire, Armand de Caulaincourt, intervened by removing the gunpowder.
Osenat Auction HouseNapoleon planned to use these pistols to take his own life after he was forced to abdicate.
Napoleon then tried to ingest poison, but he vomited it up instead. He lived for another seven years but would never return to the peak of his power.
What Happened To Napoleon’s Pistols After His Death?
After his abdication, Napoleon was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba. He briefly returned to power, but he was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo and exiled to the even more remote island of Saint Helena. There, Napoleon Bonaparte died in 1821.
His pistols, meanwhile, had been gifted to Caulaincourt as an acknowledgment of the squire’s undying loyalty.
“I attach great value to these objects because they were given to me by [Napoleon] in 1814 at Fontainebleau when he left, as a souvenir of the loyalty and attachment that I had always shown him,” Caulaincourt wrote to his son when he bequeathed him the pistols upon his death in 1827.
Osenat Auction HouseThe pistols feature an engraving of Napoleon himself.
The pistols were passed on by Caulaincourt’s descendants until they fell into the hands of the Osenat Auction House, which sold the guns for $1.8 million to an anonymous buyer.
However, their future is still in question. The French Ministry of Culture has declared them as national treasures and banned their export from the country. According to the BBC, this means that the pistols can only leave France on a temporary basis. In addition, the French government has 30 days to make a financial offer to the pistols’ new owner.
The interest in the pistols goes to show that Napoleon Bonaparte’s historical legacy remains potent. Two centuries after he rose from humble origins to conquer much of Europe, the artifacts of his life continue to excite collectors.
After reading about the sale of the pistols that Napoleon Bonaparte tried to use to end his own life in 1814, see how — and why — Napoleon’s penis became a collector’s item. Then, go inside the surprising debate over Napoleon’s height.
