Camp of Boulogne


The Boulogne camp may designate two military camps around Boulogne-sur-Mer in France.

First camp

The first camp was prepared by Julius Caesar, in 54 BCto prepare the fleet for his second expedition to Britain.
One hypothesis is that Julius Caesar set up his camp at the current location of the :fr:Ville fortifiée de Boulogne-sur-Mer|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 :

Second camp

The second camp was established by Bonaparte in 1803, and continued by Napoleon until 1805. This was where he assembled the "Grand Army", or Army of the ocean, to invade Britain.
On May 16, 1803, the British, without previous declaration of war, seized a hundred French and Batavian ships. France declared war on England then. Bonaparte then chose Boulogne-sur-Mer as a base for attacks against England.
The Boulogne camp housed about 60,000 soldiers in 1805, it 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 :fr:Château de Pont-de-Briques|Castle of Pont-de-Briques.

Related article