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| Napoleon's Return from Elba Charles Auguste Guillaume Steuben |
A bit more than I intended to cover, but the ride has been fun so far. I like this writing thing.
The War in the Wild grew faster than I originally intended, as I mentioned in the comments yesterday, the French and Indian War was meant to be a prelude to the American Revolution followed by the French Revolution and the Wars of Napoléon. The stories would have the same families running through it in multiple threads.
So yes, I'll get to my favorite period of history yet, the years of Napoléon Bonaparte. Probably a symptom of an early exposure to the Napoleonic Wars through a book I picked up in junior high school. (They don't call it that anymore, do they even have books on warfare for kids that age? Something makes me doubt that.)
I've already done a bit of writing in that area, covering the Waterloo campaign. You can read those here:
I have to write this one, because as much as I like juvat, I really don't want him haunting me. (Read the first comment on the last post above.) Can you imagine, having the ghost of a fighter pilot roaming the hallways telling all those "There I Was ..." stories?
Truth be told, I can think of worse things. Still and all, I am going to write the Napoleonic book, even if no one else cares for it, I will.
That's important, I think ...
A very interesting period in history, though, as ever, YMMV.
Be seeing you ...
Where did five years go?
ReplyDeleteGood question.
DeleteSeems to me that writing what you want HAS to be the most important part. If it's not it's just another job....
ReplyDeleteIt is indeed.
DeleteRelief! For a moment I thought this was about the attempted return of Boris Johnson,
ReplyDelete(Hogdayafternoon😉)
DeleteNow that would be "interesting." (Where have all the adults gone in this world that we're left with strutting, pompous, boors in charge? Seemingly everywhere.)
DeleteCheers mate!
DeleteI guess my mileage DOES vary; for all of the historical reading I've done, the great ground campaigns of Napoleon have received short shrift. The war at sea; sure, I've read the fiction of Forrester and O'Brien mostly.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the writing you did of the American frontier; those are my ancestors.
Boat Guy
Well then, I must teach you of the campaigns of Napoléon.
Delete(And I really do need to get back to the frontier.)
Glad to learn; though I would be very dismayed if it were to delay the process of Almost A Lifetime and the prequel.
DeleteI have read a bit about the Peninsula Campaign (mostly the Brit rifle unit) and will look for Seven Men From Gascony.
If you've not heard Mark Knopfler's "Done With Bonaparte" you owe it to yourself.
Boat Guy
Ah yes...while finding (and ordering) Seven Men of Gascony; I ran across C.S. Forrester's Rifleman Dodd, great book.
DeleteBG
Mark Knopfler, check!
DeleteRifleman Dodd, C. S. Forrester, what's not to like?
DeleteFinally! It took a while (searching through my archives and the internet for things I remembered seeing but could not find). Here are some (nonfiction) sources that are free on Archive: “Recollections of Rifleman Harris”, edited by Henry Curling, 1848, British – Denmark and Portugal. “Memoirs of Sergeant Bourgogne”, 1899, French. “A German Conscript with Napoleon”, Jacob S. Walter (also for sale as “Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier”). And do not forget the ‘Old Guard’, men in their thirties and forties in the Napoleon army that had special privileges because of their age. And there was a French soldier decorated for term of service by Napoleon in 1804 when he was in his 80’s – still on active duty!
DeleteThe Old Guard wasn't called that because of their age. Picked veterans all, experienced campaigners, and very tough men. They were the Emperor's trump card when needed. The rest of the army called them "The Immortals" because they were seldom committed to action. At Plancenoit (on the right rear of Napoléon's army at Waterloo), the Young Guard (soldiers culled from the best of the draftees to set an example) were having a tough time against Blücher's Prussians. The Emperor committed a single battalion of the Old Guard, who promptly drove the Prussians out.
DeleteGood books those, I've read a couple of them over the years.
My first thought:
ReplyDeleteJuvat’s gonna write Haunting Sarge. 😉
"So there I was, in Little Rhodie...."
DeleteSkip - You'll only encourage him ...
DeleteTB - Well, he did visit once, he and the lovely Mrs. J.
DeleteSkip,
DeleteBwaaaa-Haaa-Haa. What an excellent idea.
See what I mean, Skip?
DeleteSarge, I know almost nothing about the Napoleonic War period, so I would welcome your book on it (he says, eyeing bookshelf space for the inevitable "I just need to get one book for reference" moment...)
ReplyDeleteI too have many "reference" books. 😁
DeleteWrite it, we will read. And, if history is any indicator, we will enjoy it immensely.
ReplyDeleteOne caveat, do it because YOU want to and ENJOY it, not in some expectation that it will bring great wealth and fame. At best, a modest but small market and far less than minimum wage for the hours involved. But, time spent as YOU chose, and because YOU enjoy it. The best of all jobs. And, no complaints about a boss!
Now, as another whose Napoleonic history awareness is shamefully lacking, how about a recommendation for ONE easy introductory book to provide an overview while we wait for you to scribble something better?
John Blackshoe
I would recommend a work of fiction, one which inspired me. Seven Men of Gascony by R. F. Delderfield. It's a good read and gives a fairly decent overview of the Napoleonic Wars from the viewpoint of seven simple soldiers of the Empire. There are others out there, but this one conveyed to me the spirit of that time. A very good book, I lost my copy somewhere in the past, so I ordered a new one today. (Now you know the inspiration for Sieben Männer von Sachsen, which gave us Jürgen von Lüttwitz and Manfred Sauer!)
DeleteI enjoyed the Richard Bolitho series written by Douglas Reeman back when I was far younger. He used Alexander Kent for that series.
DeleteLoved that entire series.
DeleteHow long do you spend writing your war story blog posts? Do you have them already written and you're pulling parts out of a manuscript, or doing it on the fly? You are quite prolific either way it seems.
ReplyDeleteOn the fly, it's easier that way. For me at any rate. Trying to write for hours at a time? I really can't spare the time for that. But if I could, I think I would still do it on the fly. It's more entertaining for me to do it that way.
DeleteOk. Maybe your book will sell well enough to give you all the time you need for Napolean!
DeleteOne can but hope.
DeleteAny more works on Napoleon? The thing that impressed me the most on a visit to the Kremlin was the piles and piles of French cannon barrels stacked around the walls of some of the buildings. These were picked up by the Russians from the battlefields and those left by the defeated army as the French retreated.
ReplyDeleteAs you run out of horses to pull the cannon, you have to leave the guns behind.
DeleteAs to books, The Campaigns of Napoléon by David Chandler, perhaps one of the best ever written.