The Boulogne camp refers to two military camps established around Boulogne-sur-Mer in France.
The Boulogne camp refers to two military camps established around Boulogne-sur-Mer in France.
The first camp was prepared by Julius Caesar in 54 BC to prepare the fleet for his second expedition to Britain. One hypothesis is that Caesar set up his camp at the current location of the old City of Boulogne-sur-Mer. Some historians believe that the Old City was built on the camp; at a vicinity to Itius port which he cites in Chapter IV of its Gallic Wars:
The second camp was established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1803 and continued until 1805. It was here he assembled the Armée des côtes de l'Océan (Army of the Ocean Coasts) or the Armée d'Angleterre (Army of England) to invade Great Britain.
On May 16, 1803, Britain (without a previous declaration of war) seized a hundred French and Batavian ships. France then declared war and Napoleon chose Boulogne-sur-Mer as a base for attacks.
The Boulogne camp housed about 60,000 soldiers in 1805, and was divided into two large camps:
At the top of the cliff were the command barracks, including that of Napoleon, but the headquarters was located at Castle of Pont-de-Briques. [1]
Boulogne-sur-Mer, often called just Boulogne, is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the Côte d'Opale, a touristic stretch of French coast on the English Channel between Calais and Normandy, and the most visited location in the region after the Lille conurbation. Boulogne is its department's second-largest city after Calais, and the 183rd-largest in France. It is also the country's largest fishing port, specialising in herring.
Étaples or Étaples-sur-Mer is a commune in the department of Pas-de-Calais, Hauts-de-France, northern France. It is a fishing and leisure port on the Canche river.
Count Joseph Lagrange was a French soldier who rose through the ranks and gained promotion to the rank of general officer during the French Revolutionary Wars, subsequently pursuing a successful career during the Napoleonic Wars and winning promotion to the top military rank of General of Division. His name is inscribed on the west side of the arc de triomphe de l'Étoile. He later became a politician in Gers department – in its capital of Auch there is a portrait of him in the town museum and the gendarmerie barracks was named after him in January 2002.
Cap Gris-Nez is a cape located in Audinghen, a commune of the Pas-de-Calais département in northern France.
Vice-Admiral Count Pierre Étienne René Marie Dumanoir Le Pelley was a French Navy officer, best known for commanding the vanguard of the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. His conduct during this battle was the subject of controversy.
Nicolas Joseph Maison, marquis de Maison was a French military officer who served in the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars, and as commander of the Morea expedition during the Greek War of Independence. He was made a Marshal of France in 1829 and served as Minister of War from 1835 to 1836.
Ambleteuse is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France.
Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom at the start of the War of the Third Coalition, although never carried out, was a major influence on British naval strategy and the fortification of the coast of South East England. In 1796 the French had already tried to invade Ireland in order to destabilise the United Kingdom or as a stepping-stone to Great Britain. The first French Army of England had gathered on the Channel coast in 1798, but an invasion of England was sidelined by Napoleon's concentration on the campaigns in Egypt and against Austria, and shelved in 1802 by the Peace of Amiens. Building on planning for mooted invasions under France's ancien régime in 1744, 1759, and 1779, preparations began again in earnest soon after the outbreak of war in 1803, and were finally called off in 1805, before the Battle of Trafalgar.
The Column of the Grande Armée is a 53 metre high Corinthian order triumphal column on the Rue Napoleon in Wimille, near Boulogne-sur-Mer, France.
Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais, Comte de l'Empire joined the French army during the French Revolutionary Wars. He became a general officer of cavalry during the Napoleonic Wars and fought in several major battles under Emperor Napoleon I of France in 1805–1807. He was killed by a long-range shot fired by a British rifleman during the Peninsular War in 1809.
Étienne Tardif de Pommeroux, comte de Bordesoulle was a French nobleman and soldier, who fought in the Napoleonic Wars and the Spanish expedition.
Jean Boudet was a French général de division of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The campaigns in which he was involved include the Saint-Domingue expedition. He was made a grand officer of the Légion d'honneur on 2 June 1809 and a knight of the Order of the Iron Crown, as well as a Comte de l'Empire in 1808. His name is engraved on the 16th column of the east side of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris.
Michel Marie Claparède was a French general.
Jean-Baptiste Broussier was a French Divisional General of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars.
Manuel Louis Jean Augustin Ernouf was a French general and colonial administrator of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. He demonstrated moderate abilities as a combat commander; his real strength lay in his organizational and logistical talents. He held several posts as chief-of-staff and in military administration.
Claude Louis Petiet was a Commissioner of war in 1778, elected to the Council of Elders in 1795, and was appointed Minister of War on 8 February 1796. He was dismissed on 14 July 1797 by the French Directory of Paul Barras, Jean-François Reubell and Louis Marie de La Révellière-Lépeaux. Appointed to the State Council by Napoleon Bonaparte, he became steward of the army camp at Boulogne in 1805 and senator in 1806.
Pierre David Édouard de Colbert-Chabanais was a general of the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. He was regarded as a cavalry officer of the highest caliber and noted for his unbreakable loyalty to Napoleon.
Antoine François Eugène Merlin was a French soldier and general of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, who fought in central Europe, the Peninsular War and at Waterloo. Later in life, he became a politician and sat in the Chamber of Deputies as a supporter of the July Monarchy.
The Fort of the Crèche is a coastal battery of the Séré de Rivières system, whose construction was completed in 1879. It is near Wimereux, in the Pas-de-Calais on the tip of Pointe de la Crèche. It is built on the remains of a Napoleonic defense system consisting of Fort Terlincthun and a sea fort, opposite the tip of the cape, of which only the foundations remain.
Jean-Chrysostôme Calès was a French military officer who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was born on 27 January 1769 in Caraman (Haute-Garonne) and died on 21 April 1853 in Cessales (Haute-Garonne).