"What if Napoleon were born British" Topic

Interesting what if…

link

Amicalement
Armand

No, it's not. You get interesting what ifs by getting your facts straight. Plenty of British commissions were NOT sold--artillery and engineers, naval, HEIC, line units, especially in wartime. How much worse was Napoleon's social status than that of some real British officers of the period? Picton the Welsh squire? DeLancey the American exile? Just how far up the ladder does he imagine the Wellesleys were starting out? Though certainly there were more commercial and manufacturing opportunities in Great Britain than in France had he been so inclined.

And it's a long, long leap to "if Napoleon hadn't done it, no one else could possibly have stabilized the French Revolution." Really? We know absolutely Moreau or Davout, say, could not have led French armies to victory? And replacing a republic with a hereditary monarch and nobility is "stabilizing" the Revolution? What would "terminating" the Revolution have looked like?

you lost me a quora.com

Agreed – given that Napoleon was a gunner he could have risen by merit alone in His Majesty's Royal Artillery

I think you can dwell too much on the sale of commissions. In reality, wasn't it essentially just the posting of a performance bond- I.e., do it badly, and you lose your deposit?

I have no idea, but it would seem one would need to compare the percentage of field grade officers who were not of the gentleman class in either army to arrive at some idea.

He would have been played by Sean Bean in a series of books and movies like "Napoleon's eagle"

He would have died an artillery man of low rank since he was not a noble.

He would have died an artillery man of low rank since he was not a noble.

He was a noble, noble enough to get accepted into the French Army as an officer before the revolution.

He would have been taller :)

Something often forgotten about purchased commissions was that you owned and could sell the old one.

If it cost you £5.00 GBPk for a lieutenancy and £11.00 GBPk for a captaincy (IHNI what it did cost but just e.g.), then when you bought the latter you sold the former, meaning you needed another £6.00 GBPk to make captain. You did not buy each step and write off what you had spent so far.

If you had spent your career borrowing to buy the next grade and paying each loan off, eventually on retirement you could flog your current commission and that became your pension lump sum.

This must have been the biggest impediment to abolishing the purchase system, because at any time, there would have been a lot of officers whose net worth was the rank they held and expected to be able to sell.

There is, of course, not a lot of evidence that the purchase system resulted in worse officers.

If Napoleon had gone into the artillery, he would indeed have died as a major, or something, as RudyNelson says. He would have been much better off in the Royal Navy, where his personal qualities and a modicum of luck would have ensured meteoric rise. He would probably have ended up emperor of some south American ex-colonial country.

He would indeed have been taller. Very nice observation. Clever!

The British vs French inch would have indeed increased his vertical dimensions, as often discussed here.

One might argue what if he had been born French? My reading of Zamoyski's book (Only half way through) does emphasise how much his Corsican ancestry moulded his personality.

@deadhead

No – The General he would have shrunk.

he was 5 pieds 2 pouces tall = 62 * 27.07 mm = 1,678.34 mm in his chausettes; (this is about 5 feet 4 inches)

in badly English 5 feet 2 inches = 62 * 25.45 = 1,577.9 mm.

So will have shrank roughly 100 millimetres (4 inches).

In any case a goodly height from which to inspect skirting board dust!

The General was similar age to Duke of Wellington?

Surely he'd have sought his fortune either in RN (per 4em) or in the Honourable East-India Company – amusingly – maybe working for the Duke's brother?

Not so sure. Discussed here before also

Much also on the Internet about this (sad really).

French called him 5 pieds 2 pouces.

Badly translated, without any conversion, the English have taken him to have been 5ft 2ins.

But if he had been born British he would have been stood against a vertical measure in England maybe and come out at 5ft 6 ins approx. In England he is magically 4 inches taller.

In Ireland, as long as he bought his round, he would have been a six footer, sure he would, and who would dare argue?

LOL.

Reminds me of that Harry Enfield character Short Bloke
YouTube link

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

Love it. Half time, in the bar, at any West Ham away game you'll meet him, or his like