-demented?

hunboldt

Time Out
May 5, 2013
2,427
0
36
at my keyboard
200 years ago- 1813 did Napoleon suffer a total breakdown?



But then Napoleon surprised them all. He proposed a truce, which was meant to last from 4 June until 20 July and which became the Armistice of Plaswitz…
He thought this was a brilliant coup. (He would.) His own troops were exhausted, they were hungry, many of them were untrained novices, the cavalry required building up and training and he needed the six or seven weeks to whip the entire lot of them into some sort of shape so that come autumn he could annihilate those annoying Allies and be king of the world once more.
I have to tell you, when he was in exile on St. Helena, even he admitted this was one of his biggest mistakes.
Precisely because it allowed the Russians and Prussians (and their horses) to get organised and fed and rested and nursed back to health, (the Prussians didn’t even have enough food in their stores to feed their own army and required assistance from Russia…) and this …) and this was essential! It allowed the Russians to move vast amounts of fodder and supplies to the front from their bases in Russia, and this would facilitate the autumn campaign. It allowed Britain to work on Austria, promising boatloads of money and uniforms and weapons if they would enter the war on the side of the Allies, and it allowed the Austrians to get their army in order a bit and play chief negotiator with everyone.

Austria tried to press Napoleon for peace, but he–as ever the Corsican strongman–refused to negotiate and blew them off.
The Allied powers of Russia, Prussia and Austria took the field against Napoleon’s new Grande Armee and inflicted staggering casualties upon the French forces at the three-day Battle of Leipzig, 16th-18th October 1813.
The disorganised French fled westward, and for the next several months, Napoleon attempted to stave off the advancing Allied invasion of France, but with his supplies, his finances, and his wasted troops exhausted, he ultimately failed.
Thus after the Battle of Paris on 30th March 1814, Tsar Alexander entered the city in triumph. On 6th April, Napoleon was forced by his generals to abdicate power


Napoleon « M.M. Bennetts
i'm a huge MM Bennetts fan...
 
Last edited:

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
48,340
1,650
113
He did have some sort of personality disorder did Old Boney.

But I've always just put it down to him being French.
 

hunboldt

Time Out
May 5, 2013
2,427
0
36
at my keyboard
He did have some sort of personality disorder did Old Boney.

But I've always just put it down to him being French.

Long ago, I was on this 'napoleon internet site' where I used to argue that he had Ahem , some flaws. Talk about bizarre backlash...Then I suddenly noticed that almost all of their avatars were Napoleons generals..

MM Bennetts has a point - after June OF 1812 HE had increasing 'departures from reality'.
 

Blackleaf

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 9, 2004
48,340
1,650
113
Long ago, I was on this 'napoleon internet site' where I used to argue that he had Ahem , some flaws. Talk about bizarre backlash...Then I suddenly noticed that almost all of their avatars were Napoleons generals..

I've had the same experience. But these people who peddle their bizarre and wrong beliefs to me on internet discussion sites never beat me. I don't stand for it. I always give them ten barrels back and tell them, in no uncertain terms, that they are wrong and deluded.

Old Boney seems to have an unusually large number of fans in the modern world. I don't know why. He even has his own international fan club - International Napoleonic Society - La Soci?t? Napol?onienne Internationale

Imagine Hitler having his own international fan club.

MM Bennetts has a point - after June OF 1812 HE had increasing 'departures from reality'.

Napoleon was always insane. He was always demented, like all mad dictators.

But, like all mad dictators fighting a war, when they realise that they are suddenly losing that war and heading for defeat they become increasingly insane and out of touch with reality. It happened to Hitler.

Did you also know that Boney was afraid of cats, so much so that there was even a time when a kitten entered the room Boney was in and Boney jumped up onto a footstool and refused to come off it until the kitten was removed.

Napoleon was also once attacked by rabbits:
The Time Napoleon Was Attacked by Rabbits | Mental Floss
 

hunboldt

Time Out
May 5, 2013
2,427
0
36
at my keyboard
I've had the same experience. But these people who peddle their bizarre and wrong beliefs to me on internet discussion sites never beat me. I don't stand for it. I always give them ten barrels back and tell them, in no uncertain terms, that they are wrong and deluded.

Old Boney seems to have an unusually large number of fans in the modern world. I don't know why. He even has his own international fan club - International Napoleonic Society - La Soci?t? Napol?onienne Internationale

Imagine Hitler having his own international fan club.



Napoleon was always insane. He was always demented, like all mad dictators.

But, like all mad dictators fighting a war, when they realise that they are suddenly losing that war and heading for defeat they become increasingly insane and out of touch with reality. It happened to Hitler.

Did you also know that Boney was afraid of cats, so much so that there was even a time when a kitten entered the room Boney was in and Boney jumped up onto a footstool and refused to come off it until the kitten was removed.

Napoleon was also once attacked by rabbits:
The Time Napoleon Was Attacked by Rabbits | Mental Floss


I actually like his brother Louis- Louis, fascinated by the Canal work of Holland, proposed pre Russia that they build a massive ten foot deep mittleeuropa canal frorm the Rhine to the Narew.rivers, where 20 horse teams would tow nine foot draft super barges. the continental system might have stood a chance, then... along with the Russkie expedition.