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| The Eagles Are Burned Wojciech Kossak |
The French Army, though torn to pieces, with the troops starving, and slowly freezing to death was still dangerous. Every time the Russians tried to force a battle, the French fought savagely. The Russians suffered grievous losses but bit by bit the 600,000 strong army which Napoléon led into Russia was worn away, like snow on a warm spring day. Until nearly nothing was left.
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| The tan line going from left to right shows Napoléon's army as it proceeds to Moscow. The black line going from right to left is the army as it retreats back to the Nieman River. (S0urce) |
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| Episode de la Retraite de Russie Joseph Ferdinand Boissard de Boisdenier |
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| Night Bivouac of the Grande Armée, 1812 Vasily Vereshchagin |
I've been out in the kind of cold Napoléon's men and the thousands of women and children who followed the army into Russia, experienced. Doing that day after day for over a month, in winter, is nearly inconceivable to me. That any of them survived amazes me.
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| Crossing of the Berezina Felician Myrbach |
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| Marshal Ney supporting the Rear Guard During the Retreat from Moscow Adolphe Yvon |
Brrrr...
* You can actually do a walking tour along the route Napoléon took into Russia, here.
And yes, it was rather chilly today compared to the last few weeks.
Just reading today's post got me a bit chilled but the weather here hasn't cooled off too bad yet although the high 60's are forecast for this weekend, it's good sleeping weather. Le Grande Armée was certainly not so grand at the close of 1812.
ReplyDeleteThe oncoming remnants of Dorian dropped the temperature quite a bit (10 to 20 degrees). We had a bit of blustery wind but no rain to pseak of, most of the rain stayed in a small band to the west and a really large band to the east over Cape Cod.
DeleteBut what I had been reading lately, and the drop in temperature, reminded me that winter isn't that far off.
That map is said by many military historians and cartographers to be the still greatest visual map extant of a military campaign ever created in terms of transmitting large-scale data at a glance.
ReplyDeleteThat is my understanding also. This map was used as an example in more than one class in college due to its excellence.
DeleteVX - That map is brilliant in its simplicity and the amount of information it conveys. Also brings home the destruction of that army. I just noticed the temperature scale running along the bottom, with vertical lines tracking up to the ever-dwindling black line of an army dying. Very evocative.
DeleteRon - It's a very effective teaching tool.
DeleteMy last winter in Germany ('62-'63) we spent two weeks at Grafenwöhr in temps that never got above 12 below zero. To this day I can still remember the rim of ice around my canteen cup that formed before I could get to a sheltered place to drink my formerly hot coffee. People in small towns were dying because the coal barges couldn't navigate the frozen rivers. I can't imagine being in that French army in those conditions and knowing there was no relief in sight. I think I'll go outside some today, it's supposed to get to 100 this afternoon here in Texas.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I do better in hot rather than cold. Spent a lot of time in Korea in the winter, hence, I live in Texas. Liked Korea, mind you, just not the Temps.
DeleteFlugelman - Yeah, that's cold. I remember days when the condensation from my breath would freeze on my scarf, which I had pulled over my mouth, breathing really cold air hurts, dangerous too!
DeleteJuvat - I'm still better at cold than I am hot. Spring and fall are perfect for me, winters here are getting a mite hard to handle though.
DeleteMuch like OldAFS, my body craves the cold, but now my freakishly long fingers and toes are decidedly against it, even properly fitted out with protection.
DeletePlus, my answer to people who ask me about living in a hurricane zone (who live in NY state, which is also a hurricane zone, duh,) "I can miserably survive without power during the summer. And chain saws open the roads pretty quickly. How long can you survive without heat during the winter? During a blizzard and after, when the plows can't or haven't reached you for days or more? Is you oil heat independent of electricity? If not, you're dead."
Yeah, I'd rather run the AC than pull a march from Moscva in order to get groceries every two weeks or so.
Yup, a good size blizzard can send us back to 1812 in a few hours. Fortunately those are rare, as are devastating hurricanes.
DeleteThe one thing most city dwellers don't understand is that the weather can kill you no matter where you live. Can you say tornado? I knew you could, those occur everywhere, some spots more frequently than others. (And they can happen due to hurricanes AND blizzards!)
How can you possibly live in a place that has lightning?
Bad weather juju is everywhere.
Next Sunday starts Septober!
DeleteYes, yes it does.
DeleteYou know what? I believe Ney did that. After all that retreat and defeat, a final act of defiance. Very French. Very Napoleonic.
ReplyDeleteYup, I believe it. This is the same guy who was seen beating his sword on a cannon barrel nearing the end of the battle of Waterloo, screaming in rage and frustration. Many modern observers believe that Ney suffered badly from PTSD, and not just from the Russian campaign, the man had been fighting Napoleon's wars for a very long time.
DeleteIt fits his character, from what we can glean oh 200 years in the future. As to beating his sword, it's like swearing, focuses the frustration on inanimate targets, which is far better than whipping the nearest soldier.
DeleteAs to PTSD, yeah, most likely. 'Fatigue' was an all-encompassing term for a variety of issues.
No question as to the PTSD.
DeleteI’m looking forward to the first day, in awhile, below 90.
ReplyDeleteIt’s overcast at the moment, but forecast to be sunny and in the 80s.
I feel fortunate that we don’t have to deal with the extreme cold here.
Relief from the 90s is a blessing!
DeleteIt got down to 66 last night. Whoohooo! Of course, by noon it was Adolf Hitler. (88, of course, is secret code for 'Adolf Hitler' according to the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Media and I believe everything those two evil forces say...)
DeleteHeh, 22 degree temperature swing...
DeleteWelcome to Earth.
One of my college history teachers (the cool one who said he was going to piss everyone in the room off at least once regarding history) said they've found mummified soldiers from the retreat, frozen in time, afterwards.
ReplyDeleteDunno if it's true, but sure sounds like it. The Germans experienced some rather 'intriguing' weather like frozen tornado-like things that would basically be circular swirly winds that would be between 10 and 30 degrees colder than the already cold temp. Insta-freeze.
The Russians were lucky that both Napoleon's campaign and Hitler's campaign happened after warm harvest years, which always trend to really brutally cold winter years, pleasantly comfortable and productive spring and summer, nice fall, winter is a killer, almost like it's a cyclic thing... hmmm.. weather works on a cycle, a massive multi-year cycle....
Yeah, that weather cyclical thing, who da thunk it?
DeleteCertainly not the idiot progs and their drooling minions.
As noted by other commenters, Minard's cart figurative may be the best statistical graphic yet composed. My copy is framed and on my office wall. Refer to: https://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/ whose excellent statistical graphic press produces similar graphics and -- Tuftes's lecture schedule. Go to one of his lectures and get all of his exquisite books. Best ... Tman2
ReplyDeleteNice!
Delete