"The personal opinions of Napoleon." Topic

sergeis,

Surely the biggest mistake was 1811, when Napoleon had the chance to effectively achieve a European peace with what he had, but spurned the chance? Obviously that then led into the 1812 fiasco, of course.

I wonder what would have happened to European history if he had stopped? But that's another topic, probably for Armand…

thanks for the idea Mr. Old Bear.

A very good one indeed!. But I prefer you made it.

Amicalement
Armand

Well, holding crossed fingers, while shaking Alexander's hand at Tilsit-??? And that with the fact that most Russians were ( and still are) Francofiles. The whole invasion was a Grand Booboo, especially with "Spanish ulcer"…
Why I put him on the par with Chinghiz and Timur- like them he started very humbly, was quite miserable and like them managed to build quite something out of nothing. His was not to last, due to his own doing, unlike Timur's and Chinghiz'…

Russia and Spain (via Portugal) got invaded because Bony didn't like them trading outside Europe. In fact he wanted to lock up European business, control exports, tax imports to the hilt and internalise trade as far as possible. Economically, a wholly retrograde step.

Why do it? It makes sence only if you want to transfer as much of your own citizens' wealth as possible into your own pockets.

I thought it was just to blockade the Brits?

As well. It also put in place internal tariffs, all favoring France and hurting the other nations of Europe.

Ah OK. That makes sense.

Still, had the British let Napoleon emigrate to the United States in 1815, the impact of his presence in America would have yielded some interesting consequences….

Regards,
Wayne