"The Emperor's Tipping Point: Napoleon At Eylau" Topic

"Poland, February 8, 1807. In the midst of a blizzard, Napoleon I, emperor of France, stands in the steeple of a church in the little East Prussian village of Preussisch-Eylau, commonly called Eylau, straining to see what is happening as a desperate battle rages about him. Advancing Russian troops are within a few hundred feet of capturing or killing the emperor, and what once seemed a routine battle has suddenly taken on far greater importance. N Just 10 days earlier, French armies had been some 145 miles south, standing on the frozen Vistula River, relishing their capture of Warsaw. They had marched hundreds of miles across Prussia, shattering the military might of a country the French had feared since Frederick the Great ruled there.

In Warsaw, French diplomacy had confronted Polish nationalism, and Napoleon saw its face take the form of the beautiful countess Marie Walewska. That encounter was the beginning of a torrid love affair, and became a perhaps fateful distraction, as the Age of Napoleon was poised to either wax or wane. For more than a decade, in the face of every obstacle, Napoleon had fought wars and scrounged supplies for his troops, while simultaneously supervising the political and social transformation of his army, which was then serving Revolutionary France, and was now serving an empire…"
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Amicalement
Armand

And Friedland followed four months later…

The article is one of those pop history/history lite puff pieces by a prolific writer who covers everything from ancient Rome to Vietnam--and a master of none of it.

Prados has written 30 books, none of then on the Napoleonic period.

I first read this article when it came out ten years ago and was not impressed.

The article is like the Powder River-an inch deep and a mile wide.

Glup!….

Amicalement
Armand