Back
Books
Next

Buonaparte and his Marshals, Generals...

We start with a summary of the Duke of Rovigo and then begin a discussion of the Marshals of France.
Berthier is chiefly responsible for Napoleon's victories! Considering Berthier's blunders at the beginning of the 1809 Campaign that might be a bit of an exaggeration. Nevertheless, there is no denying that he was the consummate staff officer and much of the operational problems of the Waterloo campaign can be attributed to his absence.
Bernadotte, the first of the traitors to France is a good guy, since he's an ally.
Massena, the Prince d'Essling of these pages, has a good character, but is avaricious. That part of his nature led him to loot, among other things, numerous medals from the countries he campaigned through.
Davoust (modern spelling Davout) is a cruel, infamous character.
Augereau and Soult, thieves both, have other skills such as desertion, housebreaking, plundering and rapacity between them. Soult's wife is another of those common prostitutes that seem to have swarmed around Napoleon and his men, if you believe this little booklet.
Page 3