Tone Borren

An account of his ancestor's life

It's now 200 years since Napoleon marched on Moscow. 600,000 soldiers went on the campaign, some unwillingly. Only 15,000 returned.

An Account of My Life is the story of Aart Kool (1787-1862), a Dutch engineering officer pressed into service in Napoleon's campaign. Copies of the book can be purchased from Tone by contacting him on tone@sfx.co.nz

The Introduction is reproduced below:

INTRODUCTION

In 1836-37 Aart Kool gathered his papers and documents to write about his military career and his experiences as a young Dutch engineer in the 1st Corps of Napoleon's Grand Army campaign to Moscow of 1812.

Twenty year later he wrote, "These notes about my life were to be expanded at the end of my military career, witht he main memories I still have. Unfortunately a nerve-related illness makes this taks so difficult for me that I have failed to do much. In rereading this material, and the many official documents I have, I can imagine that my son, or one of my grandchildren, might find a pen to write up my history one day. I give my blessing from resting place for this, as I assume this will not happen until after my death.".

A century after Napolieon's campaing, Aart's grandson, Pieter Cornelis Kool delivered part of this account to a newspaper in Rotterdam, the Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant, which published it in serial form. A local publishing company then printed the newspaper material with some introductory words written by Pieter. This manuscript is available at the International Institute of Social Geschiedenis (History), the IISG in Amsterdam. In his introduction, Pieter Kool says, "The centenary of the Russian campaign has made me reread my grandfather's document and brings to mind the many timeshe used to tlell his stories during my youth and my teenage years... Given my grandfather's final words, publishing these excerpts of his account will in no way oppose his intention in writing it, but I wouldn't consider making any changes to it... His descriptions are those of one who has lived through the reality of it. It does not seem possible to make any changes to it. He paints no excessive pictures."

Having translated this document into English to make it available to may family in New Zealand, who are direct descendants of Aart, I agree with Pieter Kool's sentiments and have done my best to reflect Aart's style in this translation. I have added no content to the original document or made any changes to its approach. It describes what Aart experienced during a part of his life, written like the engineer I imagine he was.

It is now two hundred years after Napoleon's invasion of Russia. Interest in that campaign was strong for a long time, but appears to have waned somewhat, other than for historians and historical novelists. It is pure chance that this translation was carried out in 2011 for completion this year (2012) but it seems a nice touch. There is a huge amount of material available about the campaign in French, Engish and Dutch and, presumably, German, Polish and Russian. I have added a separate background to the actual document to provide context, with information mostly obtained from Wikipedia. I have not carried out extensive research for this background, being satisfied to expand a little on the political scene at the time in Holland, the structre of Napoleon's Grande Armee, and on some of the people Aart refers to who are remembered in popular history.

I am indebted to my aunt, Nora Pont Diemer Kool, who typed the original handwritten manuscript and distributed copies to family members. She has donated the original document to the Dutch Ministerie van Defensie, in whose archives it is kept. These archives are part of the Alexander Kazerne (Barracks) in The Hague, which has more informaton about Aart, his son and grandson. At the time of writing, the Kazerne collection was being relocated and its archives were not accessible, so I do not know the extent of its files.

I hope you enjoy Aart's account of his life.

Tone Borren