 Editor in Chief Bill   | 04 May 2019 6:30 a.m. PST |
You were asked – TMP link Which individuals would you say were 'good guys' in the Napoleonic Wars? And in the final round of voting: 15% of the votes: "Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington"
13%: "Louis-Nicolas Davout"
11% (tie): "Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen" OR "Joseph-Anthony Poniatowski"
10%: "Napoléon Bonaparte" |
 deadhead  | 04 May 2019 7:24 a.m. PST |
Strikes me that, if you were to be successful and therefore still known to this day, from the Napoleonic Era, you had to be a thoroughly unpleasant, arrogant, supremely over-confident, individual….. bordering on the psychopathic. Not too many "good guys" emerged. My vote would have been for Larrey. Unless we are voting for their cause rather than their personalities of course. |
| Garde de Paris | 04 May 2019 7:45 a.m. PST |
I agree. Also Eugene de ?Beauharnais?, Josephine's son before marrying Napoleon. Good commander, marriage was love at first sight, honorable, and took care to help French veterans when he could from his holdings in Bavaria. GdeP |
| wrgmr1 | 04 May 2019 9:23 a.m. PST |
+1 deadhead. Larrey gets my vote as well. |
| 15th Hussar | 04 May 2019 9:36 a.m. PST |
Larrey the Surgeon His Colleague the Doctor (name escapes me at present nor is my Google Fu working today) Eugene Beauharnais (as related above) Gouvion St Cyr (if you consider his Stiff Necked Integrity and Complete Sense of Honor as a quality, which I do) A toss up on #5…either Truly INNOCENT civilians caught in the Storm, or, (this last bit being a trifle humorous) …Royal Navy Chef's  |
| deadhead | 04 May 2019 10:12 a.m. PST |
Might be much more fun to say vote for thoroughly unpleasant individuals (regardless of their achievements or competence).
Obvious ones;
Wellington
Napoleon
Nelson
Crauford
Fouche (too obvious and not military)
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| Marcel1809 | 04 May 2019 10:39 a.m. PST |
Larrey, Percy and the other field doctors. They were the real heroes.
another "good" guy was Napoleon's brother Louis, really tried to be a good king of Holland, did amazing work in helping the people especially after the explosion of a powdership in Delft. And gained a lot of respect despite being only King of Holland for four years. |
| Gunfreak | 04 May 2019 11:36 a.m. PST |
Napoleon lavished praise for his soldiers but would sacrifice them all for another victory.
Wellington trash talked his soldiers but genuinely did try and minimize their loses and did everything he could to keep food and supplies coming. I may not want to dine with him(given I'm a lower class than him) but I'd rather be a British soldier under Wellington in Spain then a French soldier marching into Russia with Napoleon. |
| 42flanker | 04 May 2019 11:57 a.m. PST |
Basing Wellington's attitude to his soldiers on one irate letter after a disgraceful collapse of discipline offers a limited perspective. "My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won." Thoroughly unpleasant? |
| 15th Hussar | 04 May 2019 12:10 p.m. PST |
Marcel1809…Thank YOU, I was going nuts trying to think of and Google the name. |
| Major Bloodnok | 04 May 2019 2:11 p.m. PST |
RN Chefs? Rather an oxymoron init? |
| 15th Hussar | 04 May 2019 3:58 p.m. PST |
Ahem, which is why I posted it… |
| martinwilliams | 04 May 2019 4:38 p.m. PST |
Jacques Cathelineau? Do we count the Revolutionary Wars as Napoleonic? Martin |
| 15th Hussar | 04 May 2019 8:07 p.m. PST |
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