'I am going to blow up the Kremlin': Encoded letter from Napoleon sold at auction
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Your support makes all the difference.A letter sent in 1812 by Napoleon Bonaparte vowing to blow up the Kremlin has sold at auction for more than 10 times its estimated pre-sale price.
The Museum of Letters and Manuscripts in Paris bought the document, in secret code, for €187,500 (£197,000). The pre-sale estimate was €15,000. Auctioneers said the letter, written to the French Foreign Minister Hugues-Bernard Maret, revealed the strains on Napoleon of his calamitous Russian invasion. One line said: "At three o'clock in the morning, on the 22nd I am going to blow up the Kremlin." He carried out his threat.
AP
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