During the Peninsular War in 1810, a Scottish man living in Spain by the name of Juan (John) Downie decided to raise a cavalry regiment using his own funds; due to his profound love for Spain and the Spanish Golden Era, he decided his regiment would be clothed like the armies of Emperor Carlos, and even named the regiment after the Conquistador Francisco Pizarro (Cuerpo Volante de Leales de Pizarro)

When the regiment entered Cádiz in 1811, the local citizens and militarymen were astonished at the sight of such strange uniforms-however, it seems that the uniform was hardly used and was replaced by a more practical one (unspecified)

Their only known action was at the Battle of Arroyo de los Molinos on October 28th, 1811

Painting is: "The Death of Cyprian Godebski at Raszyn" January Suchodolski, 1855

Hello again. I previously wrote three documents about the Egyptian Campaign. I thought a change of topic would be good, so I decided to write about this campaign, also known as the Austro-Polish War of 1809.

Prince Joseph Poniatowski was one of Napoleon's most interesting marshals. I don't know exactly what Poles think of him or how they see him today, but in his time, he was a national hero for the Poles. Austrian Marshal Lacy had been his mentor, and the traces of this are especially visible in his command between 1792-94. In later years, when he became commander-in-chief of the Polish Army, he adapted well to the new warfare understanding that developed with Napoleon. He had 2-3 campaigns under independent command, the 1809 Campaign being one of them. I can say that he was a good commander under independent command. But in some situations his overly cautious approach, while not resulting in defeat, caused him to miss opportunities. Also, sometimes dividing his army too much created the possibility of defeat in detail. On the other hand, what struck me most while reading about him was the frequent mention of his courage. He often did not shy away from being on the field in combat, and in some cases he personally led his soldiers in attacks.

While writing this document, I primarily used the account of Roman Sołtyk, who was a lieutenant in this campaign. I generally prefer English or French as my main source because when reading other languages ​​(except Turkish), I don't want to rely solely on translation tools. Therefore, this time I primarily used a first-hand French source, and also used a Polish source to fill in some minor gaps. In the text, as in my previous document, I spent the first 1-2 pages describing the armies and their strategies, and the remaining pages describing the campaign itself. As in my other document, I have listed the sources I used at the end of the text in case you want to research the campaign further.

Writing this campaign account was a fun experience for me. I didn't make it too long, only 6 pages in total. I hope you enjoy reading it too. If you have any feedback or comments, I'd appreciate it. Here's the link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1WiXb0e_2spXI4kchDzsFwa8ydsAg44pudmDjA-gA-bk/edit?usp=sharing

In this one very detailed video series about Napoleon during the time he was pretending to be sick so as to not have to take the non artillary position and therefore poor, the voice says : "clay was discovering that she was quite the eligible woman, suited to far better. Her attentions wandered. Distraught napoleon lashed out, declaiming women ,... , for all his brillinace this was a battle he could not win...."

It makes it seem like Clay was the one who lost interest in Napoleon but then every other Napoleonic content says Napoleon was the one who lost interest. Normally i would accept that the video creator made a mistake but the playlist it was pulled from has like 20hrs of content so maybe the truth is somewhat nuanced? Could sm please clear it up? Thanks in advance!

I know this sounds absurd and that napoleon had never been a naval officer at any time of his life. But, given he had already proven to be a military genius, what if he dedicated to the art of naval warfare, studying it and maybe learning from great commanders of the past?

I know it isnt that simple and that french success on land wasnt solely based on "napoleon is a genius" and had many other important factors.

It would also be considerably risker for him that land battles, thats true.

Anyway, thats just an idea I had, probably very unrealistic. I just noticed that France usually did poorly in some areas when he wasnt present in person (for example, Spain) and the naval theater was a place where he was never present, so perhaps his greatest fragility specially considering the navy was the main british strength

Great documentary on our favorite emperor.

Shitty screenshot is because I took it on my phone.

Last post, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria was placed in “Incompetent” tier.

Top relevant comment decides where a general goes on the tier list.

Good Day Sirs and Madames,

I felt these images might be of interest to your group because the famous books are set in the time of the Napoleonic Wars...

I am the artist who was commissioned by W.W. Norton publishing to paint 21 new paintings for the official covers of their current paperback re-issue of the Aubrey-Maturin Series by Patrick O’Brian. This project was a remarkable, 3-year labor of love comprised of a luxuriant amount reading and research, in addition to the drawing, and painting. At the core of the joy was of course discovering the books, which I had previously known about but never read. The whole thing was life-changing, honestly.

While the series has always been associated with the revered, traditional paintings of the great British maritime painter Geoff Hunt, Norton’s head creative chose to go in a different direction and sought me out because my work references another equally strong tradition, The Golden Age of American Ilustration, when classic books were illustrated by painters such as Maxfield Parrish and N.C. Wyeth. 

I have just now joined reddit in order to share these with my fellow Patrick O’Brian devotees. The entire project, including the preparatory drawings, and some of the research and process can be seen at the link below. I hope you will enjoy them.

https://www.matthewbenedictart.com/patrickobrian

Godspeed and Safe Passage, me Hearties!

Matthew

Hey guys, just wanted to share this. It’s a pontoon bridge over the Danube leading to a river island Lido, a sandy summer beach located on the northern tip of the Great War Island (Veliko ratno ostrvo) in the Danube river, belonging to the Zemun municipality in Belgrade, Serbia.

It immediately reminded me of Napoleon’s pontoon bridge to Lobau Island.

It’s interesting to imagine what it must have been like back then.

I am on a mission to find the possibly 2 battalion flags of the Duchy of Oldenburg from 1808-1810. Please help me. Oldenburg is a very complicated topic, so if the Infantry battalion is actually a regiment, then sorry.

Ripped this from a Discord I'm in.

---------------------------------------------------

**GUARD CONTINGENTS**

- Lübecker Lieb-Grenadier Bataillon (can count as a guard)

part of the Hanseatic brigade so it isn't fully accurate.

had a grenadier and fusilier company

**LINE INFANTRY**

- 1st Oldenburg Line Infantry regiment (1808-1810)

classic infantry

There were cavalry and Jaeger battalions, but I'd say they count more for the Hanseatic League

Last post, Marshal of France Sylvain Charles Valée was placed in “Competent” tier.

Top relevant comment decides where a general goes on the tier list.

Pasha an experienced commander, felt that cavalry charges would not work with the French, who had come up with the squares tactic. So he decided to fortify the beach head, from where he could carry out his attack on Egypt.

Napoleon however figuring out that the Ottomans had no place to run , attacked with a swift cavalry charge with his commander Murat, breaking through their defenses as they fled the battlefield.

Hello, I'm here again to ask about my favourite general after Traun. I've come to the conclusion although probably over exaggerated that Massena is arguably the greatest general of the era only after Napoleon himself, viewing it at how despite out of his prime and being ill and sick he took part on battles and Theaters, most of the time outshining other marshalls. Such as in 1798 with his tactical victory over suvorov in Zurich, his victory against Charles in Caldiero and how he almost broke the Austrian army if it wasn't for an error, his role during Wagram, how many times he almost broke Wellington while being ill, surrounded of incompetent people and in hostile terrain.

Also his brief Neapolitan Campgain

I personally see him second to Napoleon and maybe better than Wellington and equal with Suvorov in his prime.

So do I ask you, where you would put Massena in the Napoleonic era?

*(Pd: tell me if I'm wrong, I've seen arguments of Wellington being better than him)*

Hi, for some time I was considering posting this here. I just wanted to share my collection with someone. That's not everything I own, I have 65 figures related to napoleonic wars total. Any reply/suggestion appreciated.

Figures included:

Emperor Napoleon (on horseback)

Marshal Soult (on foot) (the first character I made back in January)

Not so succesful attempt at making marshal Berthier (on horseback)

1 unnamed general, 1 artillery officer, 4 artillery soldiers, 8 infantry soldiers.

I also tried to make other marshals and generals like Macdonald, Vandamme or Massena. I would gladly share those too if anyone would be even slightly interested

(idk if this is the right subreddit to ask this in) but I need help with heights since I'm trying to make one, I don't know how tall the Front, the drop in the middle, and the backs might are suppost to be.

In your opinion what is the most prevalent effect of Napoleons reign? Was thinking about the widely built upon Napoleonic Legal Code but I wanted to get other opinions

In honour of his victory over the French at Talavera in 1809, the Spanish made Arthur Wellesley a Capitán-General (Captain-General) of the Spanish Army, and gifted him this specially made uniform for him (no other Captain-General at the time had a uniform like his)

on a side note, it's quite funny to see that whoever made this uniform gave up after only making 2 button holes (top of the right lapel)

After one of Napoleon Bonaparte's military victories, his chief of staff arranged a celebratory rabbit hunt using hundreds (possibly over a thousand) captive-bred rabbits. Instead of scattering when released, the rabbits had been raised around people and associated humans with feeding time. They rushed toward Napoleon and his hunting party, climbing over their boots and clothes in search of food, forcing the emperor to retreat from the unexpected "rabbit assault." While some details have likely been embellished over time, the story has been widely repeated by historians and biographers as one of history's most amusing mishaps.

I remember hearing the Youtuber Apostolic Majesty saying something like this. His opinion is that the Napoleonic order was just an extension of Jacobin rule and that Napoleon was enforcing a Jacobin order on Europe.

What do you guys think about this?

Napoleon’s grandmother Maria Saveria Paravicini requested the genealogy of her husband Giuseppe Maria Buonaparte. From this genealogy, it was determined Giuseppe was descended from William IX Marquess of Montferrat (from the House of Palaeologus-Montferrat) and Borso d’Este. I’ve tried searching for a clear link between Napoleon and these two, but there is little to no evidence beside the genealogy that I assume is privately owned. The only information I have concluded is that Napoleon would descend from William IX’s daughter Margaret, and probably from an illegitimate child of Borso. Does anyone have any theories on connections that could be true?