"Why no more guerrilla ?" Topic

Of course occupy a country with troops, taxes, rudeness, vexations, etc move people to act against their occupers.

It had happened at Nap Wars on Spain, North and South Italy and in the Vendée.

But why there were not more "guerrilla" on so many other countries under french rules as the german states?.
I know that there were some Free Corps that made the move, but with very little support of the whole population.

I had read once that the problem with the german states was that they were accostumed to obey the authorities (?) au contraire to the "latin" countries that had a long history to fight against their OWN authorities.

Was this the real reason?.

Thanks in advance for your commments.
Amicalement
Armand

The French were very good, and brutal, at putting down guerillas. They had lots of practice in the Vendee and Tyrol. The German states for the most part favored Napoleon as a balance against the Austrians and Prussians up until 1812. Thereafter, French troops manning the fortresses overlooking the major German cities had a lot to do with the peoples' good behavior. Without the British army to contend with in Spain, the French would probably have eventually suppressed the guerillas. Not completely eradicate them, but at least kept them down to a manageable level.

I once spoke to a German Jew who had fled to Switzerland during the war.

He described the difference between the US and the German approach to authority.

He said if a well dressed, authoritative looking fellow in a German train station shouted for people to line up in a certain way, they would.

He said the same thing in a US train station would have people saying "who the hell are you?"

Plus what Cold Steel said.

Spain is an interesting case because you have the "religious" authorities not only committing murders, but openly advocating it. In Naples with the brigands there, it was about poverty and trying to survive. In Germany it was just some select men who preferred to be part of the Austrian Empire than the French. In Vendee, I'd say see Spain.

I hate giving too much credit to the guerrilla because they did suffer massive deaths throughout Spain (being estimated at over 1 million) during the occupation. For all the losses the French suffered in Spain, it did not even approach those numbers.

I do appreciated the role of guerillas and asymetrical warfare in general.

Just wating for some remarks about how it was "English Gold" that kept the guerillos fighting. Which is true, much like English gold, guns and agents kept the resistance going in France between 1940-4.

The French occupation of the Iberian Penisular was brutal and they got what was coming to them.

There was, I would suggest also a much lower sense of national identity in Germany because of the fractured nature of the state. Yes, the Spanish had regional identities, especially is say somewhere like Catalonia, but you were also part of a larger state and world power. In Germany the smaller principalities in the west had less of tradition to cling to.

Could it also be the French really did not try to take down the national leaders of the smaller kingdoms unlike they did in Spain. I mean other than Westphalia created by the French and ruled by French Jerome Bonaparte they let the leaders rule their own kingdoms and expanded their lands and added prestige to their small kingdoms once dwarfed by the Prussians. So basically they let kingdoms like Bavaria, Baden, Wurttemburg, Saxony, and Hesse-darmstadt be ruled by their own national rulers with some sort of self rule with French influence.

Maborts

Your sentance should really read:

"Could it also be the French really did not try to ILLEGALY take down the national leaders of the smaller kingdoms unlike they did in Spain."

But then we have writers on this list who do claim that the Spanish & Portugese had it coming to them because they would not worship at the alter of the allmighty Boneparte.

Thanks for the correction. It just seems the smaller German kingdoms and their people fell under the awe of Napoleons' influence and were inspired to fight on the side of the French instead of against them until later on when his power was falling. There was a soldier from the 7th Bavarian Infantry regiment who fought during this period and he constantly wrote whenever he saw Napoleon they were inspired and even after fighting against him he told his sons how great a military leader Napoleon had been.

It also seems the French and German people were in more direct contact with each other and had somewhat a similar cultural values unlike the differences between the French and the Spanish. I know one of my ancestors who was born in Obergude Hesse had family from Calais and Aquitaine France as well as Bavaria through marriage. So at least through my relatives which I have found about 50 from this period had a lot of connections between the French and German states.