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

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

Scott wrote: "The Hussar General: The Life of Blücher, Man of Waterloo

Blucher at his best; attack, attack, attack:

"N..."

Great post Scott! Sounds like Blücher leant a good life lesson: "This action taught me in the future not to advance to far without support". :)

I found this cool internet site, click on the little camera buttons for some great photographs:

The Campaign of 1806 in Prussia day by day:
https://www.napoleon-empire.org/en/ba...

"Clausewitz" - The author had this to say about the start of the 1806 campaign:

"From the first the Prussian commanders were caught off-balance. They were never able to recover. 'We went to sleep on the laurels of Frederick the Great,' said Queen Louise. Prussia's brutal awakening shocked the whole of Europe. 'The indecision and embarrassment of the Prussians in 1806,' wrote Clausewitz in On War, 'proceeded from antiquated, pitiful, impracticable views and measures being mixed up with some lucid ideas and a true feeling of the immense importance of the moment'."

Clausewitz by Roger Parkinson

Betsy wrote: ""And in fact, battles were sometimes counted as defeats even if they had never taken place.". Now there's a scary idea! Wonder how that affected morale? But at least no one died!"

If I was in the front rank of one of those advancing armies, I would prefer that sort of battle to the one determined by musket fire :)

"Clausewitz" - On the advent of the new way of warfare with the French Revolutionary army and the use of tirailleurs swarming across European battlefields:

"Until the French threw grit into the complex military machine, the decisive factor in battle was the concentrated weight of metal fired. Thus at the battle of Crefeld in 1758 the first Prussian volley slaughtered 75 per cent of the enemy front line. At the Battle of Prague on 6th May, 1757, Frederick the Great's soldiers themselves came out the worst in one of these mass executions: the Prussian battalions were ripped to pieces, and in one shattering volley several units lost over 50 per cent of their men - over 350 troops out of 700. But even before the French tactical changes, a number of disadvantages and adverse implications could be seen in the Prussian method. Drill had to be as near perfect as possible; in turn, discipline had to be harsh. There was always the fear of confusion, of the unexpected, which might throw the tight formations into a rabble of panicked men. Because of this inflexibility, the lines of battle had to be organized before the battle opened, rather than after fighting had started, one side could more easily be manoeuvred into defeat: if the opposing army had stolen the advantage of the approach march, and was organized for battle before the other, then the battle was lost before it had begun. And in fact, battles sometimes were counted as defeats even though they never actually took place. This added to the artificiality, and gave disproportionate importance to manoeuvre. As a result, it was difficult to snatch the sudden opportunity; and it was hard to follow up a victory once it had been gained. Beaten enemy forces could not be easily routed, because the exact Prussian formations could not pursue them quickly enough without losing cohesion themselves. Armies were often allowed to regroup and fight another day."

Clausewitz by Roger Parkinson

Two interesting posts on two very interesting characters!

From the Introduction by Michael Howard to "Clausewitz", bearing in mind this book was published in 1970:

"There is one aspect of this book which should be of particular value to the British, if not to the American reader; and that is the full and vivid account it gives of the Wars of Liberation in Germany in 1813-1814. British military historians, with very few honourable exceptions, tend to concentrate exclusively on the activities of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars, which as a result consists for them ll too often simply of the Peninsular campaigns and the Battle of Waterloo - and a very restricted view of Waterloo at that. But the climax of those wars was reached in military campaigns fought by Continental armies numbering hundreds of thousands in a huge theatre extending from Moscow to the Rhine. The British did o more than pin down and defeat a segment of the French Army in Spain before arriving to assist in administering the coup de grace at the very end; rather like the Americans in France in 1918. Mt. Parkinson's account of the succession of merciless battles from Borodino to Waterloo, of the ghastly bloodshed they involved on an unprecedented scale, rubs our insular noses in the full horror and grandeur of the Continental experience; one which was to dominate the European consciousness until it was eclipsed, a hundred years later by yet more terrible events. This was part of the European experience which the British never shared. It is all the more important that we should understand it."

Clausewitz by Roger Parkinson

Scott wrote: "
The Hussar General: The Life of Blücher, Man of Waterloo

Amazingly, Blücher didn’t start his military ca..."

Good book for an introduction on Blücher, then you can move on to Leggiere's excellent study :)

Yes, good guess Betsy, it would have to be Blücher!

Could it be Marshal Ney?

Betsy wrote: "My book for February is Talleyrand by Duff Cooper."

Nice one Betsy!

Magnolia wrote: "So ,do you mean by this a book about a person who was with Napoleon? Or.... how do i need to see this? :)"

Anybody from the Napoleonic period will be fine :)

My theme book for February is going to be; "Clausewitz" by Roger Parkinson.

Clausewitz by Roger Parkinson

Hi folks,

This first theme read for 2025 is up and ready to go, it covers a Napoleonic personality:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The February 2025 theme read is any book or books of your choice that covers a Napoleonic personality.

It's a hard thing to do. Some of my books I've had since the late 1970's and early 1980's. Carried them around from home to army base and back again. However, it's time that they found a new home. I think by the time I move I will have culled my library by 2/3rds!

Nice purchase MR9! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. It's one of the few bio's I kept on Napoleon during my library cull.

Here are the suggestions for the 2025 theme reads:

Feb. - A Napoleonic Personality
April - Russian Campaign of 1812
June - A General Napoleonic History
Aug. - Your favourite Battle
Oct. - The Spanish Ulcer
Dec. - Readers' Choice

One thing to be aware of is that my level of participation may be limited during some of these months due to packing up of my house, selling and moving and with stuff in storage. I will have access to some of my books but not all as a lot have to be sold or given away as part of the downsize. Plus, Oct-Nov I will be overseas.

Very smart move Scott! :)

I will get the theme reads organised in the next day or two. I have been busy is packing books and moving some to storage and others into the garage annex to sell or give away - a lot of hard work - physically and mentally :)