"Sir John Moore: The Making of a Controversial Hero" Topic
13 Posts
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Tango01 | 04 Feb 2016 10:07 p.m. PST |
"Sir John Moore is perhaps the second most famous British soldier of the Napoleonic Wars after the Duke of Wellington, yet his remarkable career has been neglected in comparison to his celebrated contemporary. His death in battle at Corunna overshadows the wide range of his earlier campaigns and his achievements as an innovative soldier. Janet Macdonald's fluently written and insightful biography focuses on the development of his character as well as his career as a commander. From it emerges a many-sided portrait of a fascinating man and an outstanding soldier, a key figure in the history of the British army. Admired by his peers but distrusted by his political masters, Moore was a controversial figure. He is best known for saving the British army in Spain by leading the retreat to Corunna, but he is also credited with developing the training system that enabled Wellington's army to beat the French in Spain and at Waterloo. Janet Macdonald's account will rekindle interest in a leading actor in the struggle against the French revolutionary and Napoleonic armies"
See here link Amicalement Armand |
steamingdave47 | 05 Feb 2016 5:21 a.m. PST |
First heard of Moore 65 years ago, when my dad used to recite Charles Wolfe's poem " The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna". Spine tingling stuff for a small child, especially when read by a WW2 veteran who had experienced the loss of comrades in battle. |
15th Hussar | 05 Feb 2016 6:48 a.m. PST |
One of my top four favorite generals of all time…I guess I can be suckered into buying it once I know the financing on my new house went through. Seemingly not available yet… |
138SquadronRAF | 05 Feb 2016 9:42 a.m. PST |
For steamingdave: The Burial of Sir John Moore after Corunna NOT a drum was heard, not a funeral note, As his corse to the rampart we hurried; Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot O'er the grave where our hero we buried. We buried him darkly at dead of night, The sods with our bayonets turning, By the struggling moonbeam's misty light And the lanthorn dimly burning. No useless coffin enclosed his breast, Not in sheet or in shroud we wound him; But he lay like a warrior taking his rest With his martial cloak around him. Few and short were the prayers we said, And we spoke not a word of sorrow; But we steadfastly gazed on the face that was dead, And we bitterly thought of the morrow. We thought, as we hollow'd his narrow bed And smooth'd down his lonely pillow, That the foe and the stranger would tread o'er his head, And we far away on the billow! Lightly they'll talk of the spirit that 's gone, And o'er his cold ashes upbraid him— But little he'll reck, if they let him sleep on In the grave where a Briton has laid him. But half of our heavy task was done When the clock struck the hour for retiring; And we heard the distant and random gun That the foe was sullenly firing. Slowly and sadly we laid him down, From the field of his fame fresh and gory; We carved not a line, and we raised not a stone, But we left him alone with his glory. |
IronDuke596 | 05 Feb 2016 10:09 a.m. PST |
Nice one 138. :) Who was the author? |
Whirlwind | 05 Feb 2016 10:11 a.m. PST |
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Tango01 | 05 Feb 2016 10:29 a.m. PST |
Glad you like it Andrew! (smile) Amicalement Armand |
Tango01 | 05 Feb 2016 10:30 a.m. PST |
I always think what would happened if Moore survived and return to Portugal to fight with Wellington… what about those two …. side by side… against the French?… Moore was senior?. Amicalement Armand |
rmaker | 05 Feb 2016 12:25 p.m. PST |
Moore was the equivalent of McClellan, a good drillmaster who was over his head in the field. His campaign in the Peninsula was a bloody shambles, the retreat was horribly mismanaged, and the fact that Moore sought death in the front lines at Corunna rather than directing the embarkation, shows that he knew he had not done well. And Moore's supposed brilliant inspirations about light infantry were anything but. In the later 18th Century, the British officer corps was split between the "American" and the "German" schools, depending on where they had served, with the "Germans" being especially in the ascendant after the AWI. Moore was simply the first "German" to finally understand what the "Americans" had been preaching since the 1750's. |
Supercilius Maximus | 05 Feb 2016 1:05 p.m. PST |
Except that Moore was an "American" having seen action in 1778 and 1779 (the latter being the famous Penobscot operation) in the 82nd Foot, remaining in N America until the end of the war. The bulk of the rest of his pre-FRW experience was with the 51st Foot in the Mediterraenean. So hardly typical of the "German" school. |
steamingdave47 | 05 Feb 2016 2:41 p.m. PST |
@138SquadronRAF- thanks for that. Still brings a tingle down the spine. @rmaker- sadly, I think you are correct about his strategic limitations in the Peninsula, but he was an inspirational commander, a great trainer of troops and was clearly admired by his men. The fact that my dad still admired him 140 years after his death says much for his reputation amongst the ordinary soldiers of the British Army. We must also remember that he had to actually face Napoleon, who was then at the peak of his powers, and I don't think Wellington would have fared any better in those circumstances. |
15th Hussar | 05 Feb 2016 2:47 p.m. PST |
Wellington himself stated that the Peninsular War would never have been won, or even had a second chance, had it not been for Moore, who had a proven battlefield record as a successful senior commander. His shambles allowed what was left of the Spanish field forces to fight and hold on until British field ops resumed in the spring of 1809. Again, everyone is welcome to their opinion and I'm not going to get into a spitting match with anyone over this, but IMHO, Moore was top notch. |
138SquadronRAF | 05 Feb 2016 4:54 p.m. PST |
Thinking of poetry, this one's always moved me: The Sailing Of The Long-Ships They saw the cables loosened, they saw the gangways cleared, They heard the women weeping, they heard the men that cheered; Far off, far off, the tumult faded and died away, And all alone the sea-wind came singing up the Bay. 'I came by Cape St. Vincent, I came by Trafalgar, I swept from Torres Vedras to golden Vigo Bar, I saw the beacons blazing that fired the world with light When down their ancient highway your fathers passed to fight. 'O race of tireless fighters, flushed with a youth renewed, Right well the wars of Freedom befit the Sea-kings' brood; Yet as ye go forget not the fame of yonder shore, The fame ye owe your fathers and the old time before. 'Long-suffering were the Sea-kings, they were not swift to kill, But when the sands had fallen they waited no man's will; Though all the world forbade them, they counted not nor cared, They weighed not help or hindrance, they did the thing they dared. 'The Sea-kings loved not boasting, they cursed not him that cursed, They honoured all men duly, and him that faced them, first; They strove and knew not hatred, they smote and toiled to save, They tended whom they vanquished, they praised the fallen brave. 'Their fame's on Torres Vedras, their fame's on Vigo Bar, Far-flashed to Cape St. Vincent it burns from Trafalgar; Mark as ye go the beacons that woke the world with light When down their ancient highway your fathers passed to fight.' Sir Henry Newbolt : |
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