Those who fail to learn from History...
And the lesson is, I know what happened to them, but I'm smarter than they were, so I'll succeed where they failed, because...
Posted on 05/31/2009 1:03:31 PM PDT by decimon
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Even as the Russians retreated before him in disarray, Napoleon found his army disappearing, his frantic doctors powerless to explain what had struck down a hundred thousand soldiers. The emperor’s vaunted military brilliance suddenly seemed useless, and when the Russians put their own occupied capital to the torch, the campaign became a desperate race through the frozen landscape as troops continued to die by the thousands. Through it all, with tragic heroism, Napoleon’s disease-ravaged, freezing, starving men somehow rallied, again and again, to cries of “Vive l’Empereur!”
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(Excerpt) Read more at amazon.com ...
Thanks!
That looks Polish. I see it now...Napolean and Hitler made the mistake of going through Poland on the way to Russia. ;-)
Remember that every General or Emperor or Tyrant or whatever is always fighting the last war and thinks HE has solved the problem(s) thereof.
Ergo, Hitler no doubt thought he could beat General Winter in Russia via the use of blitzkreig tanks, even though the majority of German transport in WWII was still horse-drawn.
Hitler certainly made his errors. But looking strictly at military prowess, the Werhmacht was likely as good an army as there has been. I'm sure that even the Israelis study their tactics. No choice, really.
Thanks everyone for putting me straight on the difference between typhus and typhoid. You learn something new everyday with Free Republic!
Those who fail to learn from History...
And the lesson is, I know what happened to them, but I'm smarter than they were, so I'll succeed where they failed, because...
Napoleon's big successes were all in highly developed western Europe. He didn't do so well in guerilla wars in backward countries.
Napoleon peaked early in his career as supreme field commander. If he’d had more patience and aptitude for politicking, he’d have been better off, and so would have Europe. OTOH, we wouldn’t have “The 1812 Overture”, so...
Well, c’mon, they’ve got the sausage.
In a way, he had the right idea — his entire host numbered something like 1.5 million, which is an enormous number. Obviously not all were soldiers, there was a remarkably well-thought-out support staff. About one-third of them made it back to the border of Russia. Horrendous. And some people still say Wellington beat Napoleon. :’)
Just be glad we didn’t make you sit in the time-out chair. ;’) ;’) ;’)
That’s very true, the Israelis primarily model their strategy and tactics after those of the Germans in both WW’s. Not surprisingly, in the 1973 war the Syrians and Egyptians followed the model of the Red Army in WWII, which was itself an adaptation of and amplification of and counter to certain aspects of German approaches. I love that line from the movie Patton — “Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance.”
Success in battle is, more often than not, due to what for want of a better term we call good luck. :’) Napoleon should have concentrated on building French industry and keeping the British off the continent, rather than worrying about what the Russians were doing.
Their supply lines were too long and subject to Russian guerilla attacks, and they couldn't live off the land due to the Russian scorched-earth policy./bingo
Something the Romans were well aware of. They stressed hygiene among their troops.
http://www.antonine-way.co.uk/history/the-roman-empire-army-life.html
We still get a few cases around here.
So many ways to die.
urrrrrrrrrp...BARFFFFF
The 1812 Overture is awesome!
He was no piker, until he got full of himself. Napoleonic Complex, anyone?
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