"Vive l’Empereur!: The Rise and Fall of Napoleon’s Military Maxims" (Part 1 of a Series)
The late eighteenth and early nineteenth century bore witness to the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) and his Military Maxims. The Corsican born, artillery trained military acolyte, experienced a meteoric rise in political and military fortunes during the tumult of the late Revolutionary period of France. His battlefield successes during the age, often against numerically larger forces, would become the basis for his methodology of warfare. This methodology, along with Napoleon’s thoughts on such matters, would coalesce and become known as his Military Maxims. The development of Napoleon’s Maxims are closely interwoven in the man himself. The earliest indications of the fire and defiance against the traditional establishments of the day, were evidenced early in his burgeoning career. Having been sent to the Royal School of Brienne at the age of nine on 23 April 1779, Napoleon struggled to fit in with the other more cultured cadets, being smaller of build, easy to anger,…
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