The haunting finality of "the last survivor" The last man to gaze upon Napoleon and march with the Grande Armée

Valheur substack ^ | 24th November 2025 | Patrick Valheur

[SaveFerris]

[The iron sword cut through the bronze with ease!]

Indeed. I imagine it was quite a surprise.

[SaveFerris]

(Petrol. He would run out of fuel.)

😁😁😄

[rxh4n1]

“citing Napoleon’s occupation of the capital as ineffective.”

Indeed, and he was wrong. In 1941 Moscow was the main objective. Guderian was right. Moscow was the center of the most centralized government on Earth. It was also the center of every transportation line in the Soviet Union. Take Moscow and the Soviet Union is effectively cut in half. Also the main industrial and population region of the Soviet Union.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Thanks for posting!

[alexander_busek]

Incidentally the Slavic languages are closer to Indo-Iranian languages than they are to Germanic languages

What evidence is there of that?

Regards,

[equaviator]

He died exactly 60 years before Buddy Holly did.

[Zhang Fei]

[Apparently Adolf Hitler was no student of history.]

---

He was. Napoleon had a minimalistic logistical setup, hoped to live off the land, i.e. resupply via plunder. French supply arrangements that were always tenuous became disastrous when Russia burned as it retreated. Napoleon’s lunge for Moscow came to grief as his supplies dwindled.

Whereas Hitler was fully supplied as he advanced. His problem was twofold - (1) his excessive haste wasted large numbers of German troops and (2) massive US resupply prevented a rerun of Germany’s WW1 victories over Russia. Instead of Russia being at a material disadvantage due to its poverty, US aid to Russia gave it something it lacked in WW1 - superior firepower.

[NFHale]

Just… WOW!

Amazing article, thank you for posting it

[plangent]

Ping

[edwinland]

Phenomenal photograph

[SMARTY]

While suggesting and planning the invasion of Russia with his Marshals, Napoleon I asked ..."How far is it from Paris to Moscow?".

I think it was Marshal Davout who said, "Too far." It was such a disaster almost from start (way too late in the year) to the finish.

Marching into Russia, a great many men died of sickness, thirst and exposure. The steppe is something no one anticipated and the late summer/early autumn conditions were almost like a desert. Many horses were lost as well, cavalry had no mounts and there was no proper way to be re fitted.

They outran their supply system (such as it was) and they almost immediately ceased to be an army on entering Moscow. They were a mob that over ran the city and command was not up to controlling the men.

Needless to say they began their retreat in the worst possible condition and it never improved.

[shotgun]

his post was about a Saturday Night Live skit. Dan Akroyd was the pilot.

[dfwgator]

I was definitely a Frida guy.

[Cronos]

Good point. If Moustach3 man had instead gone for a head shot at Moscow, following Napoleon, then he could have won, are you saying that?
I have not gamed that scenario in my head though.

[Cronos]

Aleksander, thanks for calling me out on that. I was looking fir proof fir my statement, mostly around the fact that Slavic languages are SATEM like Indo Iranian and not CENTUM like Germanic and Italic.

But on digging I found that, while Slavic languages are SATEM, they are still phonologically and lexically closer to Germanic rather than indo Iranian.

So, I was wrong.

If you hadn’t pushed me for proof I would have continued believing what I said. Thank you for correcting me

[SunkenCiv]

👅😛😜😝 (that's a series of tongues, y'know, languages, not a double enton, entan, uh whatever, it's one of those seldom-seen single entendres)