Produktbeschreibung
This is one of the classic memoirs of the Napoleonic period, and one of the most accurate. Blaze started his military career as a student, ended up an officer, and as the author/translator, John Elting, informs us, ended up deserting from Hamburg before the war was over. This was new information uncovered by Col Elting as he was translating the book.
This is also the most complete translation of Blaze's book and it offers an insider's view of the Grande Armee, how it fought, how it lived, and the colorful people who made it up, marshals and generals, colonels and junior officers, and the mass of soldiers who did the marching, killing, and dying for their Emperor.
Blaze was a careful observer, and he had to ability to sum up in a few pithy phrases the general outlook of soldiers and veterans of one of the greatest armies that has marched through history, and the Grande Armee marched the length and breadth of Europe, and stabled its horses in every capital of continental Europe. His comment, 'The Grande Armee fought hard, seldom cheered, and always bitched' sums up the attitude of all who humped a pack across Europe from campaign to campaign, 'swift-marching, furious in the attack, grimly enduring, high-hearted, stubborn in disaster.' blaze also sums up the veterans viewpoint, especially after the fall of Napoleon and the return of the hated Bourbons:
'In the career of glory one gains many things; the gout and medals, a pension and rheumatism...And also frozen feet, an arm or leg the less, a bullet lodged between two bones which the surgeon cannot extract...All of those bivouacs in the rain and snow, all the privations, all those fatigues experienced in your youth, you pay for when you grow old. Because one has suffered in years gone by, it is necessary to suffer more, which does not seem exactly fair.'
This memoir is a must for every student of the period. It is a view of the daily life of a soldier in the Grande Armee, and that story is told with wit, verve, and an unerring eye for detail and descriptions of what went on from a soldier who usually did his duty.
Then called Military Life Under the First Empire, it appeared in 1837 and at once enjoyed such success that copies became quite rare. Poor but sensationalized translations appeared in English. Turned author, the onetime captain of the Grande Armee described his service with racy good humor. All its characters, from marshals of the Empire to buck privates, are depicted with an astonishing accuracy; the reader senses that they have really lived. After finishing this volume, we are certain that you will feel the same inexpressible regret that comes when you turn, all too soon, the last page of a best-selling novel. |
