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

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

Betsy wrote: "Agreed about Lannes but that's also why it's difficult to criticize Wellington (or any major military leader) for that attribute. Wellington seemed genuinely touched by the loss of Sir William De L..."

That's very true Betsy!

Betsy wrote: "Would you say that Napoleon had a great deal of sympathy for others? If so, he had a strange way of showing it."

I take your point Betsy. But I don't think you won't find too many great military leaders in history with a lot of sympathy for others. Hard to rise to the top during these violent and traumatic times being a nice guy. I doubt those caught up in the French Revolution had much of a chance to be too sympathetic to others. However, I think Napoleon deeply cared for a very few select people, take Lannes for example.

Betsy wrote: "The next chapter deals with Wellington in contrast with his Imperial opponent: "To say that Wellington from the first was trusted alike by his officers and his men, is by no means to say he was lov..."

I liked this statement in regard to Wellington; "They recognized that he was marvelously capable, but that he was without the supreme gift of sympathy for others."

Betsy wrote: "Great book. I got my copy at Waterloo. Hope you enjoy it."

Best place to buy a copy - makes it special eh!

"Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny" - Still on the chapter where the author is discussing the British Army that fought at Waterloo, this time artillery:

Corporal John Bingley, Royal Horse Guards, wrote of a fellow trooper, two or three files on his right, decapitated by a round shot, while Ensign George Keppel, a 16-year-old in the 14th Foot, observed the same ate befalling a bugler of the 51st Foot:

... a round shot took off his head and spattered the whole battalion [deployed in square] with his brains, the colours and the ensigns in charge of them coming in for an extra share. One of them, Ensign Charles Fraser, a fine gentleman in speech and manners, raised a laugh by drawing out, 'How extremely disgusting!' A second shot carried off six of the men's bayonets, a third broke the breastbone of a Lance-Sergeant, whose piteous cries were anything but encouraging to his youthful comrades.

Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny by Gregory Fremont-Barnes

"France seeks me and cannot find me.". . .It is not in my nature to be an angel. The first law is necessity." . . ."I repeat, Messieurs--the old arm of the Emperor must be found again and must be seen. . .France needs my arm to subdue Europe."

Napoleon certainly had a way with words eh!

"Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny" - Poor old British cavalry and its reputation for charging at everything:

"Even the French commented on this indiscipline. After the Waterloo campaign General Exelmans, commander of a French cavalry corps, observed that although British cavalry possessed the finest horses in Europe and pronounced their riders better than any on the Continent, their commanders consistently squandered these advantages. 'The great deficiency', he explained to Gronow:

is in your officers, who have nothing to recommend them but their dash and sitting well in their saddles; indeed, as far as my experience goes, your English generals have never understood the use of cavalry: they have undoubtedly frequently misapplied that important arm of a grand army, and have never, up to the battle of Waterloo, employed the mounted soldier at the proper time and in the proper place. The British cavalry officer seems to be impressed with the conviction that he can dash and ride over everything; as if the art of war were precisely the same as that of fox-hunting. I need not remind you of the charge of your two heavy brigades at Waterloo: this charge was utterly useless, and all the world knows they came upon a masked battery, which obliged a retreat, and entirely disconcerted Wellington's plans during the rest of the day.

Not how the British saw it:
https://www.waterlooassociation.org.u...

Betsy wrote: "It happens, but it just seemed a strange remark. If it had been Davout, it would have been obvious, but he would never have been so oblivious to danger."

It also could be that they figured this French officer needed glasses as he attacked the largest British soldier on the field! :)

Betsy wrote: "How did they know he forgot his spectacles?"

Good question Betsy, maybe they figured all French officers had poor eyesight - a bit of British bias :)

"Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny" - Still on the chapter where the author is discussing the British Army that fought at Waterloo:

Infantry officers carried swords and at least one flintlock pistol. In his memoirs Kincaid recalled the facility with which one officer wielded his bladed weapon in hand-to-hand combat:

A French officer rushed out of their ranks and made a dash at one of ours, but neglecting the prudent precaution of calculating the chances of success before striking the first blow, it cost him his life. The officer he stormed happened to be a gigantic Highlander about six feet and a half - and, like most big men, slow to wrath, but a fury when roused. The Frenchman held ... in his hand ...a good small sword - but as he had forgotten to put on his spectacles, his first (and last) thrust passed by the body and lodged in the Highlander's left arm. Saunders's blood was now up (as well as down), and with our them small regulation half-moon sabre, better calculated to shave a lady's maid than a French-man's head, he made it descend on the pericranium of his unfortunate adversary with a force which snapped it at the hilt. His next dash was with his fist (and the hilt in it) smack in his adversary's face, which sent him to the earth; and though I grieve to record it, yet as the truth must be told, I fear ... that the chivalrous Frenchman died an ignominious death, viz, by a kick. But where one's own life is a stake, we must not be too particular.

Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny by Gregory Fremont-Barnes

'I was caught in the whirlwind and lost my head.' - I think that covers his decision pretty well Betsy!

"Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny" - The author discussing the British troops at Waterloo:

Recruitment focused largely on the lower classes - those who sought an alternative to prison, a quest for adventure or, most commonly, release from poverty, as Moyle Sherer observed:

Wander where he will, a regiment is ever, to a single man, the best of homes ... For him, who by the want of fortune or other controlling circumstances, is debarred the exquisite happiness of reposing his aching heart on that blessed resting-place, the bosom of a wife - for such a man there is no life, save one of travel or military occupation, which can excite feelings of interest or consolation. The hazard of losing life, which a soldier is often called on to encounter, gives his existence, as often as it is preserved, a value it would, otherwise, soon cease to possess ... if it is painful at a certain age, to think that, when you fall, no widow, no child, will drop a tear over your grave - it is, on the other hand, a comfort to know, that none are dependent upon your existence; that none will be left unprotected and in misery at your death.

Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny by Gregory Fremont-Barnes

Isaac wrote: "I've been listening to the Age of Napoleon podcast recently, and, the host, Everett Rummage, talks about how armies of the era preceding the Napoleonic age fought campaigns of maneuver. Hibbert men..."

I quite liked this quote, quite correct for the times he was talking about:

"It became frequent, Daniel Defoe, himself a soldier observed, "to have armies of 50,000 men of a side stand at bay within view on one another, and spend a whole campaign in dodging, or, as it is genteelly called, observing one another, and then march off into winter quarters."

My pleasure, I'm happy sharing books and reading views with a bunch of like-minded and nice people :)

Betsy wrote: "Hibbert's first words deal with a brief background on Napoleon, his rise to power, his battles and his 1814 downfall. There are quite a few quotes about the man, most of which are complimentary, bu..."

'When I need someone I am not squeamish, I would kiss his arse.' - Sadly sounds like most politicians throughout history, and even today (maybe more so today!)

"Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny" - In the Introduction the author discusses the issues historians have in the accuracy of first-hand accounts of the battle. He also provided some great quotes from some of the soldiers involved in the battle:

"Lieutenant William Ingilby Royal Artillery described the battle as:

' ... the greatest of all sights I have ever yet witnessed ... I believe the veterans of the veterans hardly could form an idea of the struggle we had for the victory. The continued and incessant roar of the cannon during the whole of the day, accompanied by the regular rolls of musketry, and [the] perfect view I had of all the different charges of the cavalry, certainly rendered it the grandest and most awful scene I have ever been present in, i my life.'

Ensign Edmund Wheatley was equally descriptive:

'Nothing could equal the splendor and terror of the scene. Charge after charge succeeded in constant succession. The clashing of swords, the clattering of musketry, the hissing of balls, and shouts and clamours produced a sound, jarring and confounding the sense, as if hell and the Devil were in evil contention.'

Lieutenant John Sperling's account is equally compelling about the chaos of battle:

'Sometimes we were enveloped in smoke; shells bursting on all sides, cannon balls and bullets flying about. Nevertheless, every movement was effected with that order and precision which excited admiration, even in such a terrific scene of desolation, in which were continually multiplying the dead and dying. Horses were galloping about, having lost their riders; others were maimed. Wounded men were limping or creeping to the rear; others, more severely [wounded] were being assisted'."

Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny by Gregory Fremont-Barnes

So many good books on the subject! I hope everyone enjoys their theme books :)

No problems Scott, join in when you can.

My book for the June theme read is going to be this book; "Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny" by Gregory Fremont-Barnes.

Waterloo 1815: The British Army's Day of Destiny by Gregory Fremont-Barnes

The theme read page for June - the Battle of Waterloo - is up and ready to go:

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