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Napoleon and His Marshals
Due out in August, Andrew Roberts, Napoleon and His Marshals: Victory, Rivalry, Betrayal. ISBN: 97820241711354.
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Where to Study Napoleonic History?
What are the best universities to study Napoleonic History at either the undergraduate or graduate level?
Florida State University used to be the best in the U.S. but its program now focuses on getting a doctorate and its Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution has only two professors now.
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Karl Friedrich Emil zu Dohna-Schlobitten
Does anyone know when this officer was promoted to Premier-Lieutenant and then Rittmeister in the Prussian army? I assume he was not made Major until he joined the Russian army in 1812? Also it is mentioned he attended the Kriegsschule Berlin in 1804. Does he remain an officer of the 6th Dragoons throughout these events?
Also he is mentioned as a POW after being wounded at Eylau. Was he held for long or did the end of hostilities effect his release within weeks?
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Thomas Hemmann
05 mrt
P.S. I forgot to answer the question on Dohna's POW time: Priesdorff says, he was wounded in the action at Halle (17th October 1806) and later taken POW, when the fortress Magdeburg capitulated (8th November 1806). I guess Dohna was there in a hospital or under private care. His exchange took place on 1st March 1807.
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The 11th Light Dragoons?
https://www.britishbattles.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/8-1st-Hussars-KGL-1808-768x573.jpg
This is often cited as an image of the 1st Hussars KGL. Is it actually an image of the 11th LD? They were brigaded with the KGL Hussars in 1811.
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john fortune
18 feb
The 11th Light Dragoons had buff facings and the 'regulation feather' on the cap of white over a red base. The details visible in the OP illustration indicate the red fadings of the 1st KGL and a rather faded depiction of the regulation feather with red base only just discernible.
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Shadowy advisers and scandals - nothing new
In view of current events in UK politics, I thought I would put up some research I have been doing on one of Austria’s shadowy figures: Matthias Von Fasbender. I was going to place this on Wiki, but they have said there is too much primary material and not enough “reliable secondary material” - the lack of the latter is why Fasbender is a shadowy figure! He is also called an ‘eminence guise’, so I was interested to read that this term does not derive from Cardinal Richelieu, but his own adviser, who as a Capuchin monk, work the grey robes of that order.
So, you will all be saying “Fasbender - who is he?”. He was the chief civilian adviser to Archduke Charles from 1796 to 1805 and did much of the implementation work in the First Reform Period (1801-5), before siding with the Archduke’s opponents in 1805 in…
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Alfred Brans
09 feb
On my website I do have a little bit on Fassbender, but he shows up in only two articles, (2 in 14.313) so very shadowy indeed)
On my wiki the prerequisite is that the content has to be primary and contemporary. And in german, although that should be no problem with this person.
Matthias von Faßbender | Von Bastille bis Waterloo. Wiki | Fandom
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1st KGL Hussars in Spain
I have been confused by the various representations of their headwear but it seems to me that the busbee they wore in the Peninsula was a variation of the British Army light dragoons of that period i.e. a tall version of the busbee with a small semicircular leather flap at the front to cover the eyes from the sun. Knotel et.al appear to show a shorter round brown fur hat in use by 2nd and 3rd but I believe if so these were possibly a later introduction in common with the heavy dragoons becoming the light dragoons in 1815. However at this end of a long war I doubt there was much enthusiasm for uniform changes among auxiliary forces of the British Army. Thoughts, forumites?
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John Cook
05 feb
I’m not sure if ‘busby’ is a Napoleonic term but I don’t think so. It is usually referred to as a fur cap. British Light Dragoons wore the Tarleton crested helmet, not the fur cap. Quite how KGL Light Dragoons were dressed prior to 1808 seems to be one of those ‘nobody knows’ questions. By c1808 the KGL light dragoon had become hussars and dressed accordingly, with a fur cap. The illustrations in Beamish’s 'History of the King's German Legion', executed by a member of 3rd Regiment, are perhaps the best known primary images and are largely the basis for many secondary renditions of the uniforms. British hussars wore two versions of the fur cap, the earlier one being some 5 inches taller than the later one. KGL hussars regiments seem to have received the earlier cap, at least initially. Those in the Beamish illustrations include a small peak, perhaps a local addition because the usual British hussar fur caps do not seem to have had one. See the article here which is as good a summary as any of what is known of KGL uniforms. https://thisreilluminatedschoolofmars.wordpress.com/the-dress-of-the-kings-german-legion-1-some-primary-sources/
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skirmish on the Spanish coast
I am researching the life of Captain Sir Thomas Staines RN, who was involved in a minor skirmish with the French army on the coast of Catalonia in August 1808. An officer aboard his ship (the frigate Cyane) describes the events of August 14th and 15th, when Staines harassed a French column bound for Barcelona at the little town of Calella some 30 km east of the city. He describes the ship firing at French soldiers who returned artillery fire, and then a French 'colonel of cavalry' making a rude gesture towards the British offshore. According to the RN officer, Staines replied with a couple of warning shots, and then when the colonel did not move, sent a cannonball towards him, which wounded or perhaps even killed him.
Does anyone know the French units that were involved in this fracas, and the identity of the French colonel who was so…
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paulmartinovich
03 feb
Thanks for this information Antonio...chasseur Maymat (or Meymat which looks to me like the spelling) seems a possibility. Were there any other French cavalry forces (dragoons or even cuiraissiers) operating on the Catalonian coast in mid-August 1808?
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Voltigeurs of the Guard
Can anyone tell me where the 2nd and 3rd Voltigeurs of the Guard were in 1812? I don't see them in Russia, at least not initially? I am looking for the whereabouts of Cambronne between January 1812 and January 1813, he was colonel of the 3e Voltigeurs de la Garde.
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Ian Brooks
28 jan
Jonathan,
From a further look at Nafziger's OoBs the 3rd Voltigeurs were still with the Armee du Nord on 1 February 1813 (813BSXC), but do not feature in the return for 1 March (813CSXB).
Ian
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Research on War of 1812 private Shadrack Byfield - "From Amputee to Author"
Private Shadrack Byfield of the 41st Foot was an English War of 1812 veteran who buried his own arm, designed a custom prosthesis, and wrote multiple memoirs. My article about him has recently been published in the Journal of British Studies; it's free to read via the link below.
From Amputee to Author: Shadrack Byfield and the Making of a War of 1812 Veteran
doi.org/10.1017/jbr.2025.10169 The University of Cambridge, where I was working when I wrote the article, has put together a short summary of the research: https://www.cam.ac.uk/stories/disabled-redcoat-veterans-lost-autobiography-discovered
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Skip Smoyer
26 jan
Appreciate that write up. I do like to read how former soldiers made out longafter their service was up.
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With no added research - just anything to flog to Bonapartists