Napoleon was afraid of cats. Napoleon was deathly afraid of cats. Historical figures: fears and phobias

We all fear something. And great people are no exception; they also have their own fears, sometimes very unusual ones.

Salvador Dali

I was terribly afraid of... grasshoppers! “If I were on the edge of an abyss and a grasshopper jumped into my face, I would rather throw myself into the abyss than endure these touches,” the artist wrote. He always drank coffee on the porch of the house, and not on the lawn, afraid of meeting this “vile creature.” “The heavy, clumsy gallop of this green filly,” writes Dali in “The Secret Life,” “plunges me into numbness. Vile creature! All my life she has been haunting me like an obsession, tormenting me, driving me crazy!”

Fear of insects, especially spiders, is quite common in the world of greats. Spiders scare Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise, Scarlett Johansson and even the lead actor in the movie “Spider-Man” Tobey Maguire.

Nikolay Gogol

The great writer was afraid that he would be buried alive. It must be said that the creator has some reasons for this “ Dead souls" were. The fact is that in his youth Gogol suffered malarial encephalitis. The disease made itself felt throughout his life and was accompanied by deep fainting followed by sleep. Nikolai Vasilyevich feared that during one of these attacks he might be mistaken for dead and buried. IN last years he was so scared of life that he preferred not to go to bed and slept sitting up so that his sleep would be more sensitive. By the way, Gogol was not alone in his fears. The first American president, George Washington, was also afraid of being buried alive. He repeatedly asked his loved ones that the funeral take place no earlier than two days after his death.

Vladimir Mayakovsky

I was afraid of getting an infection. That is why the poet never touched door handles and always wore gloves. Wherever Mayakovsky went, he carried with him a small soap dish, iodine and several clean handkerchiefs. The king of popular music, Michael Jackson, was similarly afraid of germs and infections. Adolf Hitler suffered from the same phobia. The Fuhrer took a bath several times a day and was terrified of people with a runny nose.

Stephen King

The King of Horrors is afraid of flying airplanes, black cats and the number thirteen. When he writes, he never stops at the thirteenth page or its multiples. He is also very afraid of the dark and cannot fall asleep without light.

Sigmund Freud

He was afraid to look people in the eye, which is why he came up with his own “signature” way of working with patients. The same one when the patient lies on the couch and the doctor sits behind him. In addition, the father of psychoanalysis was awed by the number 62. For this reason, Freud never stayed in hotels with more than 61 rooms, so that he would not accidentally be placed in an “unlucky room.” In addition to one-on-one conversations and the number 62, Freud was frightened by weapons and ferns. The psychoanalyst considered the fear of weapons to be a consequence of late sexual maturation, and he never got to the bottom of the reason for the frightening influence of harmless plants on himself.

Napoleon Bonaparte

He was afraid of white horses. Pictures where the emperor sits on a white horse are just the author’s imagination. However, the emperor also did not have much love for horses and mares of other colors. Contemporaries testify that the commander was a very mediocre cavalryman. He repeatedly fell from his horse and once, having taken to driving the carriage with his own hands, he almost killed his daughter and wife, who were sitting in the carriage. The emperor “lost control,” the horses bolted, and the carriage crashed into the fence of one of the surrounding houses. Napoleon was also afraid of cats. They say that in childhood a stray cat jumped on the boy’s chest, and from then on the future commander hated the mustachioed tabby.

Alfred Hitchcock

The famous director of thrillers and horror films was afraid of... eggs! In his entire life he had never tasted a single omelet or scrambled egg. Items oval shape, reminiscent of hated eggs, also brought the director to panic.

Woody Allen

The famous director's greatest fear is... of acquiring some kind of phobia. You can understand him - the list of his fears is already extensive. Allen is afraid of heights, crowds, germs, sunlight, deer and much more.

Honore de Balzac

The great writer Honore de Balzac was afraid of getting married more than anything else in the world. Long years he was in love with a married lady - Countess Evelina Ganskaya. However, it so happened that 10 years after the lovers met, Evelina became a widow. Balzac resisted for another 8 years, but still the Countess insisted on the wedding. The writer fell ill from fear, and even wrote to his fiancée: they say, my health is such that you would rather accompany me to the cemetery than have time to try on my name. But the wedding took place. True, Honore was taken down the aisle in a chair, since he himself could not go. And five months after the wedding he died.

Sergey Yesenin

He suffered from syphilophobia - the fear of contracting syphilis. Anatoly Mariengof, a friend of the poet, recalled: “It used to be that a pimple the size of a bread crumb would pop up on his nose, and he would walk from mirror to mirror looking stern and gloomy. Once I even went to the library to read the signs of a terrible illness. After that it got even worse, almost like the corolla of Venus!”

Ailurophobia is a mental illness characterized by an obsessive fear of cats. Comes from the Greek words: ailuros - cat and phobia - phobia. Synonyms: galeophobia, gatophobia.

Ailurophobia can arise either as a result of an unsuccessful personal experience with cats - receiving emotional and/or physical trauma, or indirectly - as a result of a painful reaction to information received from any sources or as a result of communication with people who have suffered from contact with cats.

Ailurophobia manifests itself unconsciously, as a defense mechanism. As long as negative impact on the subconscious is strong enough, then when you see a cat, negative emotions arise automatically and remind you of “danger.”

At the same time, ailurophobia can manifest itself in different ways. For some, the phobia occurs at the sight of a cat or in response to a direct threat from a cat. IN severe cases The fear of cats continues almost all the time.

Among famous people suffering from ailurophobia: Napoleon Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Goebbels Paul Joseph, Beria Lavrenty Pavlovich.

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And here real story from the biography of Napoelon Bonaparte:

Napoleon and cats.

When Napoleon was a small child, when he was six months old, the nanny who was taking care of him left him in the garden and went into the house to get something, and a stray cat jumped on the child. A six-month-old child... the cat must have looked like a huge lion to him! Everything is relative, and for small child it was a big lion. The cat was just playing, but the child was so shocked, and this shock went so deep...

When he became a young man, he fought in many wars, was a great soldier, could have fought a lion - but he was afraid of cats. Seeing the cat, he immediately lost all courage; suddenly he became a six-month-old baby, he began to sweat even in the cold and became very nervous.

This fact was known to the English commander-in-chief Nelson. Nelson released seventy cats in front of his army—one was enough for poor Napoleon—and he suffered a nervous attack. He simply said to his assistant:
- Take command of the army. I can't fight; I'm not able to think. These cats are killing me.
And, of course, he was defeated.

Historians who say Nelson defeated him are wrong. No, he was defeated by a psychological trick. He was defeated by cats, he was defeated by his childhood, he was defeated by fear over which he had no control.

People have a special relationship with cats. You can be indifferent to them, admire them, dislike them, or, conversely, adore them. But to be afraid of these cute creatures? That's great rarity. And yet such a phobia exists. For example, Napoleon was terribly afraid of cats, to the point that he could not make any decisions when he saw these animals.

This is not a guess, but a well-founded one. historical fact, confirmed by eyewitness accounts. And it’s not about any special personal qualities Bonaparte. It’s just that he, like some other people, suffered from ailurophobia - mental illness, which appears obsessive fear in front of domestic cats.

What is ailurophobia?

The cause of ailurophobia (gatophobia, galeophobia) is stress personal experience communication between a person and a cat, as a result of which he receives severe emotional and/or physical trauma. The impetus for the development of ailurophobia in Napoleon was an incident that happened to him in infancy.

The nanny, who was supposed to walk the six-month-old baby in the garden, left him alone for a while. While he was sleeping in the cradle, a yard cat jumped onto the boy’s chest.

Nothing bad for the child she certainly wasn't going to do it. However, the fact of the unexpected appearance of an unfamiliar creature, huge by the standards of a baby, caused the child great fear and shock. Fear penetrated deep into the child’s subconscious, which became the reason for the development of a rare, incurable mental illness.

That is why Napoleon was afraid of cats all his life, while remaining a rather decisive, brave, sensible person.

How does ailurophobia manifest itself?

Any phobias manifest themselves at the level of reflexes as a defense mechanism. Strong negative impact on the subconscious, in the case of ailurophobia caused by the image domestic cat, provokes an automatic surge of negative emotions, forcing a person to experience a range of feelings, as if there is a danger to health or life.

When a person is afraid of cats or suffers from another type of phobia, the fear is not only strong nervous tension, but also physical signs. So, Napoleon, seeing a cat, began to sweat, lost the ability to think sensibly, and became irritated and nervous.

A well-known historical fact that can be called curious. The commander-in-chief of the British army, Nelson, aware of Napoleon's unusual phobia, released 70 domestic cats onto the battlefield in front of his soldiers. Bonaparte was so frightened by the “cat army” that he had a nervous attack. He was forced to hand over command to an assistant, explaining that he could not think.

Napoleon's famous phrase, included in all history textbooks, “these cats are killing me,” was uttered on this very day. It is interesting that not only Napoleon suffered from ailurophobia, but also Hitler, Beria, Mussolini, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar.

25.08.2015

Alexander the Great, Napoleon Bonaparte, Kutuzov... These great people seem fearless to us, but few people know that Macedonsky was actually afraid of... cats. Yes Yes. Fluffy little kitty could send the commander into panic with just his purring. It’s good that the opponents did not take advantage of this weakness, otherwise it is unknown what kind of glory Macedonian would have had now. But besides him, both Genghis Khan and Hitler were also afraid of cats... So let's learn more about the phobias of great people.

Napoleon Bonaparte did not like horses. And not all of them, but white ones. How, you ask, was the artist able to paint a portrait of the emperor if he walked around such a beautiful animal a mile away? Alas, we have to admit that the painter embellished reality a little. What caused Napoleon's fear? As his contemporaries said, Bonaparte was a bad horseman. He often fell from his horse, and once he took to driving a carriage and almost killed himself and his family.

Peter the Great was deathly afraid of insects. He looked with horror at pictures of butterflies, beetles and spiders, and at the mere mention of cockroaches the king shuddered in disgust. Peter was also afraid of large rooms and high ceilings. That is why a false low ceiling was created for His Highness in his home in St. Petersburg.

Adolf Hitler was afraid of germs. Frequent washing hands was a daily procedure, since he was afraid of even a common runny nose. Hitler also suffered from claustrophobia. To avoid fear in confined spaces, the elevator in his estate was decorated with mirrors. Thanks to this trick, the room visually expanded, and Hitler could easily move between floors.

Joseph Stalin also had phobias. For example, fear of being poisoned and flying on airplanes. Some scholars also suspect that the “father of nations” was afraid to go to bed. But these are just guesses...

Julius Caesar was terribly afraid of thunderstorms. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, when he heard thunder, he ran to the basement to hide. But maybe these are all evil jokes of enemies?

Sigmund Freud could not overcome his own fears. He avoided the number 62. The luminary of science did not go to visit a house with that number, he skipped page 62 in the book...

The hardest thing was probably creative individuals. Endowed with a rich imagination, writers, artists and musicians had the most unusual phobias.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau was afraid of getting sick. He was wary not only of the sick, but also of the doctors! Books about health and conversations about diseases were also banned. But medical reference books the philosopher still had to read. It was necessary to know about the ailments that could overcome his body.

Nikolai Gogol had a whole bunch of phobias. For example, the fear of being buried alive. He even wrote a letter asking that he be buried only when the body began to decompose.

Vladimir Mayakovsky washed his hands at every opportunity, did not touch door handles and tried to wear gloves, since his father died of blood poisoning and since then the poet was afraid of any infection.

Mikhail Vrubel, when he saw beautiful woman, fell into a panic. By the way, he did not disdain to use the services of corrupt women. Apparently, he equated them with ugly people.

Honore de Balzac was afraid to get married. No, he did not avoid women and often fell in love, but when it came to the crown... Then the writer’s knees gave way and his hands grew cold. But one countess still managed to marry him. Honore was taken to church in a chair, because he himself could not walk, and six months later he died completely.

Despite all the splendor of Yesenin's poems, he suffered from syphilisophobia. As soon as a pimple appeared on the poet’s face, he became gloomy and vowed to quit hanging out with young ladies.

Salvador Dali was afraid of grasshoppers. He avoided lawns and clearings, thinking that the green monster would jump at him.

The great “king of horror” Stephen King is afraid of the number...13. Yes, yes, the mystic simply hates this number. He is also afraid of the dark and black cats, so he sleeps with a night light and a dog.

The famous Walt Disney was afraid of death and mice. To overcome his fear, he created Mickey Mouse, and in all his cartoons, dead characters are resurrected.

Life is also difficult for modern celebrities. Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, for example, are afraid of getting fat, Madonna is afraid of wrinkles, and Tom Cruise is afraid of going bald.

As we see, all of us - both mere mortals and great people - are afraid of something. And if they start joking about your “stupid” fears, you will say that Peter the Great was also afraid of spiders, and you are not the least bit ashamed of your phobia.

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