"Napoleon’s Undefeated Marshal: Louis Davout and" Topic

…the Art of Leadership

"The war of 1809 between France and Habsburg Austria, culminating in the titanic battle of Wagram, has been described often as Napoleon's last successful campaign. Napoleon said later that the manoeuvres and actions of the French army and their German allies in the opening two weeks of this conflict were among the most brilliant and skilful of his entire career. But matters might have gone very differently. A series of miscalculations, mistakes and poor communications, both prior to Austria's declaration of war and in the early days of hostilities, might have resulted in a major setback, if not a disaster, for the French Emperor. That they did not is due in large part to the decisions and actions of Marshal Louis Davout, the so-called "Iron Marshall"…"

See here

link

Armand

Servir l'empereur ou trahir la France ?

link

Armand

He is my favorite Marshal for ability, loyalty and personality.

I am with you, Shagnasty – the Iron Marshal took care of his troops, booked no foolishness and there was a reason his enemies called him "The Beast"

His only barely bad performance was the defense of Paris in 1815…

Armand

He should have been put in command of the left wing and not left in Paris, Soult should have been put in command of the right wing and not made Chief of Staff, Grouchey should have been left in command of the reserve cavalry and Ney in command of the guard – the Waterloo campaign would have ended differently. Chain of Command wins and loses campaigns……..

Gotta admire Davout. I admire many marshals for one thing or another, but Davout was really in a class apart.

I support Suchet…

Armand

With Napoleon concerned with the eventual muster of the Austrians and Russians, leaving Davout back in Paris to deal with them was imho a good idea.
Playing an all fronts 1815 campaign shows this.