"Favorite Part of the Napoleonic Era?" Topic

If we define 'Napoleonic era' as from the French Revolution to Waterloo, which is your favorite part within that era?

* French Revolution?
* Russian Campaign?
* 100 Days?
etc.

German War of Liberation

The war at sea

French Revolution, specifically the Vendee Revolt.

The apex of the Grande Armée before Napoleon drove it into the ground in the 1807 campaign. Then the 100 Days.

French Revolution

1809 Wagram
1812 Borodino
1815 Waterloo

In order, they would be:

The 1809 Danube Campaign
The 1812 Peninsular Campaign
The 1813 German Campaign

So much variation and a mix of victory and defeat for all sides.

French revolution 1792-1796 (but not the massacre of the Vendee
followed by 1809

Napoleon in Italy, Napoleon vs Austria, Russia, & Prussia 1805-1807.

Campaign of France, 1814.

Small, agile battles and manoeuvring once again, with Napoleon on top form.

Competent coalition opponents, who have now absorbed doctrinal lessons from earlier failures.

Rapid interplay between tactical and strategic/political/diplomatic events.

My personal sympathies are fairly neutral: Napoleon is the very much the star of the drama and the French are now the underdog defending home territory. Still, they are paying for the misery visited earlier on Germans, Spanish, Russians etc. Napoleon pulls off most of the battlefield successes, but the outcome is still Cossacks camping in the boulevards of Paris.

A chance to actually use the Imperial Guard in action, rather than it remaining a spectator.

The localities have become well-known to me after many happy visits poking around.

The same terrain can be used for the battles of 1914 – also of interest to me.

-Marengo.

-The Jena Campaign.

-The 1809 Campaign.

-The 1814 Campaign.

-The Battle of Dresden.

-The Crossing of the Berezina.

1796-7 Italy and Germany
1799 Suvarov baby!!!!

1806-7 Both Prussian phase and Russian

1809 Germany

1815 The campaign offers all sorts of gaming potentials.

The battle against the rabbits.

Peninsular war

The Italian campaigns (1796-7 and 1800)

The second coalition and all of the odd, fascinating campaigns and plans it spawned, particularly the eccentric Russian participation.

One Sunday afternoon in Walloon Brabant, just south of Brussels.

Russia 1812 and the Peninsula for classic battles. The guerrilla fighting and combined operations in the Caribbean for small actions in an exotic theater. Remember, and entire French Army was destroyed in Haiti together with Napoleon's brother in law.

Early Peninsula, the Caribbean, and the Russian/Ottoman/Balkans conflicts.

Austerlitz, Jena/Auerstadt, and 1809 campaign. If I have to choose one it is 1809 campaign.

The "Befreiungskrieg" (War of Liberation) in 1813. The greater part of my Napoleonic armies are explicitly raised for actions in central Germany in 1813.

Although I do like to do actions in the Peninsula as well.

Jim

The First Restoration and the Household units created (yes, I know this is the equivalent of being a heretic). Best dressed soldiers of the era and worst performing by far, but they make great models that no one else in their right mind could possibly want

Mine has changed constantly but I think the Austrian-Polish phase of 1809 gets my current vote.

The Peninsular War and the War of 1812.

The uniforms.
Oh, you don't mean that. 1813 Germany.

1812-14. With the Peninsula a close second.

100 days, I just grew up loving those post 1812 uniforms!

1815
1805-1807
1809
1812
India
The Peninsula
1813

Revolution and Peninsula

The War of 1812 – American Style

Peninsular

Handlebarbleep
you mean 1793 Battle of Mont St Jan I presume?

1812 Russian Campaign

1795-1813 gets my vote. Too hard to choose as everything is so different and interesting (expect the peninsula which I find uninteresting).

I guess I'm the only guy who likes Friedland, 1807. Peak of uniform styles on both sides, in my opinion.

Apogee of the military Empire- 1804-1807.
From dancing ladies to frozen wastes, precursor of other events.
Interests include how and why, not just what.

Non-Buonaparte Italy, 1799 and 1800 Moreau.
And yes 1813-14 as a mnemonic for what could be done, and should have, had the political accumen followed the military.
-

The end.

1809-14 in central europe. The most evenly matched troops with loads of firepower and cavalry plus rather evenly matched skirmish doctrines.

1804-1807

Отечественная война 1812 года (Otechestvennaya voyna 1812 goda) The Patriotic War of 1812 – not that North American sideshow.

"Befreiungskrieg" (War of Liberation) in 1813

The War at Sea 1792-1814

Army of the Rhine during the Revolution

Suvorov in Italy 1799

1805-1807

I'm a sucker for Elizabeth Bennett (Kiera Knightly *swoon*), but probably the pragmatic Becky Sharp.

1813-1815.
The re-establishment of Dutch independence and the re-raising of a Dutch Army and the inclusion of the Belgian State and Army form my special field of interest.

Otherwise my interest is mainly 19th Century and Ancient Rome.

1792-1815

The Evening of the 18th of June 1815, when the Guard melted away and Napoleon had it away on his toes for the last time. A habit of his that he first got a taste for 16 years earlier

Napoleon did indeed have a habit of scarpering from failure and leaving some hapless schmoe subordinate to own his defeats: 1799, 1808, 1812, 1815….

How was Napoleon 'defeated' in Spain in 1808? He left Spain for Paris because of Austrian aggression lacking a declaration of war.

And the Imperial Guard did not 'melt away' at Waterloo. And it was not committed in one mass, but employed at Plancenoit and in the final attack in which only five battalions participated.

And it has been noted that the 1st Grenadiers a Pied left the battlefield in order, as did the Grenadiers a Cheval.

Before Napoleon left for Egypt, he told the Directory that if needed he would return to France. And the Directory did send two recall orders to him, which he anticipated and found out about when he landed in France.

In 1812 Napoleon got the remnants of the army across the Berezina and then returned to Paris, leaving Murat in command. Murat deserted and Berthier convinced Eugene to assume command, which he did.

What was Napoleon supposed to do in 1815? The army in general was routed…

I refer you to other threads pertaining many of your responses…Especially this one:

And the Imperial Guard did not 'melt away' at Waterloo. And it was not committed in one mass, but employed at Plancenoit and in the final attack in which only five battalions participated.

And it has been noted that the 1st Grenadiers a Pied left the battlefield in order, as did the Grenadiers a Cheval.

'And' Instead of derailing this one, you might like to open up another thread 'pertaining' to your quote above.

Cheers Kevin!