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

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

The June 2024 theme read is any book or books of your choice that covers the Battle of Waterloo,

Betsy wrote: "Got up early this morning to see 'Hearts Divided' (1936) with Dick Powell as Jerome Bonaparte and Marion Davies as Betsy Patterson. Since it is a semi-musical that gives you a clue about its authen..."

I've never heard of that movie Betsy but glad to hear you enjoyed most of it :)

Something a bit different there MR9. Sounds like a pretty interesting account!

Excellent posts Betsy, I really enjoyed reading both of them! Eugene de Beauharnais certainly was one the shining star out of the whole Napoleonic family eh! I suppose you could say that in the end, Josephine did her duty for France!

Isaac wrote: "Work ended up keeping me from doing much reading this month unfortunately. Sorry I couldn't participate in this month's read as I intended to do. I look forward to reading the discussion that has t..."

No problems at all Isaac, family and work must come first :)

Great post Betsy, you're not wrong about Louis Napoleon either!

Betsy wrote: "Actually she planned to lie to him about the amount, so I have a feeling he didn't know the entirety when he agreed to pay. He probably thought that was all. Bourienne might have been the only one ..."

Hmmm, sounds like she really annoyed Napoleon!

Thirty-eight summer hats! Hmmm, at least she saw the light and tried to stop her prolific spending. I bet Napoleon was not too pleased when he heard about her outstanding debts :)

Betsy wrote: "Sounds like it would be worth seeing."

I have the series on DVD and I've watched it a number of times.

Josephine managed to scrape by that incident by the skin of her teeth!

That scene was very well depicted in the 2002 TV series "Napoleon" with Isabella Rossellini playing the role of Josephine. It's still one of my favourite TV show/movie covering the Napoleonic period.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0253839/

Jonas wrote: "That reminds me to read the biography I spotted on Raffles and the founding of Singapore. There is a Napoleonic link! ;)"

Yes, I was surprised to see that Raffles popped up in Java as well!

Sounds like an interesting book Jonas! One of my favourite books on Britain and the Napoleonic Wars is; "Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon, 1807-1815" by Rory Muir.

Britain and the Defeat of Napoleon, 1807-1815 by Rory Muir

"Revolusi: Indonesia and the Birth of the Modern World" - During the period of the Napoleonic Wars the Kingdon of Holland became part of the French Empire. The new king, Louis Napoleon, sent Herman Willem Daendels to Batavia:

"On 1 January 1808, Daendels arrived in Batavia and did exactly what was expected on him: he expanded the remnants of the VOC administration (some 9,000 men) into a fearsome military force of 20,000, which included new indigenous troops from Java, Bali, Sulawesi and Ambon. He ordered the construction of barracks, powder magazines, arsenals and military hospitals, fortified the port of Surabaya and moved the centre of Batavia a few kilometres inland, where the climate was healthier. But that wasn't all. Just as Napoleon had ordered the construction of roads and waterways in Europe, Daendels had an east-west road built in Java, parallel to the coast, so that messages and troops could be dispatched more easily. This impressive thoroughfare, the Grote Postweg of Great Post Road, more than 1,000 kilometres long, was completed within a year. Some 12,000 forced labourers died while building it. The travel time from Batavia to Semarang, for instance, was reduced from ten days to three or four. To this day, the road remains Java's main traffic artery."

Herman Willem Daendels:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_...

Betsy wrote: "Interesting. You only hear about Larrey usually."

That's true Betsy. I may well consider this title for a future purchase :)

Here is a new release that may be of interest to some group members; "Surgeon in Napoleon's Grande Armee: The Campaign Journal of Baron Percy" by Calum Johnson.

A Surgeon in Napoleon’s Grande Armée: The Campaign Journal of Baron Percy by Calum Johnson
Description:
Pierre-François Percy was Surgeon-in-Chief of Napoleon's Grande Armée. This is the first English translation of Baron Percy's notebooks, containing his interesting, revealing, and informative testimony of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic campaigns in which he played an active role, as the most senior surgeon in the French Army, from 1799-1807. In his journal, Percy writes intimately about his life on campaign. He recounts his experiences across Europe, particularly in Switzerland (Helvetia), Germany, and Poland. The journal shows Percy's delight at seeing his surgeons recognised for their work at Eylau, and his notes express his shock at the brazen corruption of military officials and the indiscriminate pillaging to which the French army frequently resorted. He recounts his audiences with Napoleon, during which his pleas for more resources and a more professional military surgical corps frequently fell on deaf ears. Details that may have seemed trivial to Percy's contemporaries – about food, accommodation, dress, and transport – now offer a vital insight into the persistent struggles, and occasional pleasures, of those who followed Napoleon on his quest to conquer Europe. Percy documents his experiences of some of the major battles of the period; namely, Jena, Eylau, and Friedland. As a surgeon, he witnessed the enormous scale of devastation wrought by these significant battles, so often glorified in the historiography as tactical successes. His descriptions are meticulous and personal; injuries are described scientifically, their stark details offering a vivid and horrifying picture of the aftermath of the fighting. Percy's singular position – living with the soldiers and sharing in their poor conditions, while also being aware of the administrative decisions that governed (and often negatively impacted) their lives – makes for an account that is simultaneously fascinating for the general reader and invaluable for scholars of military and surgical history.

Betsy wrote: ""No matter how great Napoleon professed his love to be, it would always come second to his military ambition."

In the months leading up to the marriage of Rose (now known as Josephine) and Napol..."

I suppose she saw in Napoleon a shelter from the storm that had surrounded her. Can't fault her for trying to find a protector for her and her children, especially as who knew what the future held for France and its citizens.

Betsy wrote: "Kind of reminds you of the violence felt in the U.S. over the draft for the ACW or Vietnam."

I suppose there comes a breaking point in any society during these types of periods.

"In These Times: Living in Britain Through Napoleon's Wars, 1793–1815" - The press-gangs didn't always get their own way:

"Ports like South Shields and Whitby became refuges where the gangs dared not tread: over a thousand sailors were said to be living in the North Yorkshire moors. At Whitby, in May 1803, townsfolk attacked the Eagle cutter which had come to impress men, killing two of the crew, and two months later a gang of women cursed and stoned the new regulating officer. A few months later, when the officer tried to press returning Greenland whalers, a great cry went up from the crowds on both sides of the river and the whaling boat's crews grabbed their harpoons, took to the boats and rescued their fellows, 'approved by loud huzzas from the shore'."

In These Times: Living in Britain Through Napoleon's Wars, 1793–1815 by Jenny Uglow

Betsy wrote: "By 1794 everything had changed. Alexandre was no longer in the Assembly, and he failed in a military career. In fact, he found himself in a notorious prison. His still maintained his loyalty to rev..."

Rose was lucky in this instance; she seems to have a lucky streak and managed to fall on her feet and do well in many trying times.

"In These Times: Living in Britain Through Napoleon's Wars, 1793–1815" - Now that war has been declared upon France, the press-gangs are back out and active:

"At the other end of Britain, William Lovett's mother sold fish in Penzance market - his father, captain of a small trading vessel, had been drowned just before he was born. One of his earliest memories, apart from the illuminations for the Peace of Amiens, and the treat of eating raisins rescued from a wreck, was terror of the press gang. He remembered the cry that the gangers were coming, and the young men rushing out of town, and how, if the roads were blocked, you could see soldiers with drawn cutlasses, 'riding down the poor fishermen, often through fields of standing corn where they had sought to hide themselves'. One local heroine, a deaf girls called Honour Hitchens, saved her father from being dragged off by smacking the ganger across the face with a dogfish."

In These Times: Living in Britain Through Napoleon's Wars, 1793–1815 by Jenny Uglow