'Aussie Rick'’s Comments (group member since Jun 13, 2009)

'Aussie Rick'’s comments from the THE NAPOLEONIC WARS group.

"Clausewitz" - After seeing action at Ligny and Wavre, Clausewitz finished the campaign in Paris where he had this to say about the Prussian desire to seek revenge on the French nation:

"I dislike this position of having my foot upon someone's neck and the endless conflicts of interests and parties are something I do not understand. Historically, the English will play the better role in this catastrophe, because they do not seem to have come here with a passion for revenge and for settling old scores, but rather like a master who wishes to discipline with proud coldness and immaculate purity; in brief, with greater distinction than ourselves."

Clausewitz had a complete reversal of opinion on the French since 1814 and later stressed that political control over a war was absolutely necessary.

Clausewitz by Roger Parkinson

"Clausewitz" - The Waterloo campaign has started, and Clausewitz has been assigned to the Third Prussian Corps:

"On 30th March, Clausewitz joined the Prussian General Staff. Anxiously. he awaited news of his posting: where would he go, to whom, and in what capacity? On 22nd April, Clausewitz was nominated Chief of Staff to the Third Prussian Corps which was commanded by Lieutenant-General von Thielmann. So Colonel von Clausewitz, as he now was, began his fourth campaign against the French. He was one of the very few Prussian officers who could claim to have done so."

Lieutenant-General von Thielmann:
https://warhistory.org/@msw/article/f...

The ramifications continued on and finally peaked in 1914 with the citizen armies all marching off to Armageddon!

"Clausewitz" - As a result of the 1813 campaign and the huge numbers of soldiers involved, Clausewitz reflected on the changing nature of warfare had this to say:

Clausewitz fully realized the changing nature of war, and would one day study the full implications in On War. Meantime, he wrote: 'The old ways of war ended with the French Revolutionary struggle. This was forced upon us by the French sword. By revolutionary methods, the French had burned away the old concept of war, as if with acid. They unleashed the terrible power of war from its former confines. Now it moved in its naked form, dragging massive force with it ... However, a new system of war was yet to be clearly perceived. War was handed back to the people, from whom it had been taken away in part, by the use of select standing armies.' Clausewitz continued: 'Now war had thrown off its shackles. This was all that could be understood of the new development. What would be built upon this broader and firmer basis would only become apparent little by little'."

Betsy wrote: "1807-08 were calculating years for Talleyrand. Tilsit, Erfurt, and the Opening of the Peninsular War were cracks in his service to Napoleon. He would soon be displaced from Foreign Affairs, only to..."

This does sound a bit like Napoleon; "it may be true, as some people at the time believed, that Napoleon was displeased at the great importance which he found was attached to Talleyrand's opinion and advice in all the capitals of Europe that he had recently visited. As he grew more self-confident and more autocratic he resented the presence of a Minister with views of his own, and hated to be thought that he was dependent on the assistance of any individual."

Manray9 wrote: "An arrival in the mailbox this morning from the University of Chicago Press. In their Winter Sale a hardcover edition was just $9.99!

[bookcover:Napoleon at Peace: How to End a Revolution|60557381..."

Nice find MR9! That should be an interesting account.

"Clausewitz" - During the Battle of Lutzen, Clausewitz was on the staff of Blücher. According to one of the staff officers, during the fighting, this incident took place:

... Blücher's staff officer continued: "Once, for a time, we halted quite near a Russian battery, and a French bomb fell directly in front of us. Everyone shouted: 'Your Excellency, a bomb!' 'Well, leave the damned thing alone then,' said Blücher calmy. He stood by until it burst and then, and only then, changed his position."

Battle of Lutzen 1813:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_...

"Clausewitz" - Clausewitz had this to say in On War in regard to Wittgenstein's alleged failure to trap Napoleon at the Berezina:

"With hindsight, Clausewitz said, it was easy to say that Wittgenstein should have marched sooner for the Berezina. Yet as Clausewitz wrote in On War: 'In war all is simple, but the most simple is still very difficult ... War is moreover a movement through a dense medium.' This medium was made dense by the appalling conditions, by the difficulty of knowing what was happening, and by the often incorrect reports which reached Wittgenstein. Clausewitz also wrote in On War: 'A great part of the information obtained in war is contradictory, a still greater part is false, and by far the greatest part is of a doubtful character'."

Clausewitz by Roger Parkinson

Elizabeth wrote: "Not a book about a Napoleonic personality but a monument I saw at the weekend which astonished me no end! I hope it's all right to tell you about it here – I know so few people who would even recog..."

I found this discussion on that monument with a few photos:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Orthodox_Chu...

"Clausewitz" - Clausewitz's view on Napoleon's retreat from Moscow:

"The Emperor was determined to return by the way he had come, rather than retreat through the southern provinces. Some of his critics said that he should have taken the latter route, in order to utilize the undamaged villages. Clausewitz was the first military writer to say Napoleon was correct. If he had gone south, he explained, 'the French army would have been starved in a week.' He continued: 'I could never understand why it has been so obstinately contended that Bonaparte should have taken another line for his retreat, than the one by which he advanced. Where could he have drawn his supplies from, except from his prepared stores? What could an exhausted country do for an army which had no time to lose ... what commissary could go in front to collect supplies ... what Russian authority would have obeyed his orders?'

Clausewitz maintained that Napoleon must first move towards Kaluga to remove the threat from the Russian main army. If he had marched direct from Moscow to Smolensk, Kutuzov could have reached Smolensk before him. But if Bonaparte managed to manoeuvre the Russians back, and suddenly switched the direction of the French retreat, valuable time could be gained. He might even have led Kutuzov into a disastrous mistake and exposed his army to a decisive defeat. Besides, Kaluga contained Russian stores which the French might be able to capture."

Clausewitz by Roger Parkinson

Betsy wrote: "Crime or Blunder? Good quesion. It's questionable that it 'helped' Napoleon, and certainly seemed to have left a 'sour taste' in the mouths of many as Scott said. As for Talleyrand, I doubt that he..."

Talleyrand was a survivor, a bit of a chameleon, and a character I've never liked.

Here is a very good article on the d'Enghien incident, interesting to read the letter from Talleyrand:

"In a letter dated 8 March 1804, only days prior to d'Enghien's arrest, Talleyrand wrote: "The First Consul must prevail against his enemies...As justice obliges him to punish rigorously, politics requires him to punish without exception....May I recommend M. de Caulaincourt to the First Consul, a man to whom he can give orders and who will execute them with as much discretion as fidelity." Both Chateaubriand and Mneval attested, separately, to this letter."

The d'Enghien Affair: Crime or Blunder?
https://www.napoleon-series.org/resea...

"Clausewitz" - Clausewitz has resigned his commission in the Prussian Army and has joined the Russian Army, just in time for Napoleon's invasion of Russia. This has caused a bit of a quandary as Clausewitz's two brothers are still both serving in the Prussian Army and are part of Napoleon's invasion forces in 1812:

"In the siege of Riga, Wilhelm von Clausewitz, now a company commander, received the Pour le Mérite for his conduct, and Major Friedrich von Clausewtiz fought bravely in command of an East Prussian Jäger battalion."

Clausewitz by Roger Parkinson

Great opener Betsy: "The death of the Duke of Enghien was the last scene in the brilliant drama of the Consular period, which had started so hopefully, prospered so wonderfully, and was thus bought to a conclusion in tragedy and crime. . . ."

The death of the Duke of Enghien always raises a bit of a debate on the rights and wrongs of Napoleon's actions. I do find it a bit hypocritical of the British to attack Napoleon on breaching a sovereign nation's borders when they themselves had no issues with two unprovoked attacks on Copenhagen in 1801 and 1807.

Great post Betsy! Hard to imagine Napoleon singing at work! I wonder if he was any good :)

"Clausewitz" - Clausewitz teaching the new tactics and methods of warfare at the Allgemeine Kreigschule (General War School) in 1810:

"Clausewitz also continually underlined the fact that the light infantryman and the line soldier could be the same person, and that the tactics of both could be amalgamated. All forms of war were interconnected, he said. War was not the realm of exclusive groups or specialists. 'We employ a classification according to which war is divided into large and small types. But the frontiers between the little war and the large-scale merge into one another.' To Tiedemann, skirmishers were important auxiliaries, whereas to Clausewitz they were an integral part of all infantry groups. Prevailing circumstances alone should determine the exact formula, and even then both kinds would generally be used. 'In skirmishing, the infantry never completely deploys into open order, but a suitable number of men always remain in close formation ... wherever you wish to thrust forward in attack, you must have soldiers in close formation in readiness. Yet although close formations appear generally more suitable for attack, clear advantages are attached to the skirmish line, even in regular combat.' So, carefully and methodically, Clausewitz revealed to his pupils the full changes that were being brought about in Prussian infantry tactics, which also affected strategy, and which would be heavily relied upon in the coming struggle with the French. Emphasizing the use of light troops, the interplay between open and close order and, at the far extreme, the use of guerrillas, Clausewitz showed just how far tactics were being altered from those which had formed the basis for the military doctrine of less than six years before: he showed the shift from the old to the new forms of war."

Light Infantry Theory and Employment:
https://www.napoleon-series.org/milit...

The Reformers:
https://www.napoleon-series.org/milit...

Betsy wrote: "Great history about Prussia, AR. It took them while but they did learn. Am sure both Scharnhorst and Gneisenau would have turned over in their graves had they known about the Nazi battleships."

Very much so Betsy!

"Clausewitz" - Some of the giants of German military history teamed up in the newly established Military Reorganisation Commission - Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Clausewitz to name a few.

Prussian Army of the Napoleonic Wars:
http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/Pru...

Betsy wrote: "Talleyrand had to leave France in 1792 because of his condemnation by the Convention. He would eventally spend time in England and the U.S. before returning to France with the downfall of Robespier..."

Great post Betsy, I really liked this part of Talleyrand's statement; "France ought, therefore, to remain within her own boundaries, she owes it to her glory, to her sense of justice and of reason, to her own interest and to that of other nations who will become free."

Owen wrote: "Hi guys little late as I've just joined the group, but I've just picked up 'Napoleon's Shield and Guardian: The Unconquerable General Daumesnil' by Edward Ryan from the Frontline Napoleonic Library..."

Nice selection for the theme read Owen. Glad you could join us with a good book :)