Napoleon, a man who was born 250 years ago, not only made the entire Europe of his time tremble, but even 250 years later, few people in the world did not know him.
When we think of Napoleon, we all think of such a person:
Wearing a three-cornered hat and riding a white horse. No matter who the French army faced back then, as long as Napoleon appeared in front of the two armies, it would definitely boost the morale of the French army and make the other side fearful.
He is proficient in mathematics and loves science; he has a resolute and arrogant personality and is decisive in doing things.
He won 56 major battles in his life. He smashed 5 of the 7 anti-French alliances.
He had countless famous quotes throughout his life, which are still heart-wrenching to read. This article selects 6 of them for a brief review.
In 1798, in order to cut off the connection between Britain and India, the French government at the time decided to lead an expedition to Egypt under the leadership of Napoleon. When the French army arrived in Egypt, they were all excited when they looked at the dazzling pyramids standing in the sun. Not long ago, their country defeated the first anti-French alliance, forcing the arrogant Austria to sue for peace. Every French soldier is proud to be born in such a great country and to have such a wise commander.
It also happened during the expedition to Egypt. The French army had just broken through the British navy's blockade and landed in northern Egypt, and was about to march towards Cairo. Napoleon issued an order that will go down in history: let the donkeys and the scholars walk in the middle of the procession.
Donkeys carry the entire army’s supplies; scholars are the future of France.
In 1814, France suffered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Leipzig and failed to crush the Sixth Anti-French Alliance. Soon, the Allied forces were approaching the city.
France lost its own fresh troops in its previous expedition to Tsarist Russia. In order to defend the homeland, France urgently needs to expand its troops.
At a critical moment for the nation, students from the Polytechnic University of Paris volunteered to join the war.
But Napoleon refused without thinking, on the grounds that "I don't want to kill my old hen to get the golden eggs."
In 1815, Napoleon restored the Hundred Days Dynasty. France is once again a lit torch.
But the reality is so cruel: Britain, Russia, Prussia, and Austria formed the seventh anti-French alliance, with a total strength of more than 1 million, and they are coming one after another.
The newly recruited French army has no combat experience. Even so, there are only 300,000 soldiers available for combat at the moment.
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that victory is impossible. Even those who followed Napoleon in the past discouraged him.
But Napoleon said: Nothing is impossible. The word "impossible" is only in the dictionary of fools.
In order to defeat the armies of various countries before the Allies joined forces, Napoleon formulated a plan to take the initiative. It was in this plan that he encountered the famous Waterloo.
Many historians and military strategists in later generations said that even if Napoleon won Waterloo in the north, he would not be able to crush the Russian-Austrian coalition forces on the southern border, because there were not so many troops, and it was difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without straw. But they don't know that from the perspective of a person who can't find the word "impossible" in the dictionary, this cannot stop him from taking action.
The French army during the Napoleonic period was like a ball of fire. The turbulent Revolution brought hope to the people at the bottom, and the upper echelons of all walks of life in France were no longer the private domain of the nobility.
After the French Revolution, it attracted joint intervention from other European countries. But in France, the senior generals were all nobles, and the nobles were purged due to the Great Revolution. For a time, France had no generals available. Of course, this also gave lower-level officers with military talents like Napoleon an extremely broad space to display their talents.
After Napoleon came to power, France promoted generals based only on their military abilities and contributions, without considering his origins at all, even if he was just a top soldier at the beginning. So Napoleon had the famous saying that inspired his soldiers: A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier.
In 1820, a British ocean-going fleet crossed the Indian Ocean and came to the ancient country in the Far East. In this country, the timeline is the 25th year of Jiaqing. The fleet brought envoys requesting trade. What the envoy did not expect was that the favorable trade conditions he brought would be bluntly rejected by the imperial officials. The condition of the rejection was that the empire had everything and no trade was needed.
The envoy had no choice but to prepare to return to his country. On the way back, he passed by the island of St. Helena, where Napoleon was imprisoned, and decided to visit the island.
The envoy told Napoleon about his experiences in the ancient Far East Empire, and said that after returning, he would definitely declare war on this country and use force to pry open its gates.
Because at this time, Britain had countless colonies around the world and was already an empire on which the sun never set. He did not say that he would destroy the empire in the Far East, but only taught him a lesson and opened its doors for business. The envoy thought that he was being polite.
Unexpectedly, Napoleon firmly opposed it. He believed that Britain would win at first, but with the empire's national strength and population base, it was completely possible to hire a large number of technicians from Europe to help them manufacture modern weapons. In turn, it would be Britain who would be taught a lesson.
"China is a sleeping lion. Once it wakes up, it will shake the world. Thank God, let it continue to sleep. Let us not disturb it."