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Hi,

I've just listened to the latest podcast and found a related map. Unfortunately its one of the "sketch type" maps of the time. In the absence of contour lines, etc. is it fair to assess the River Lamato as an obstacle that "turned" (with regard to obstacle effects) the French cavalry supporting Digonet and therefore reduced their ability to flank Cole?

Or was it just a creek that the horses could easily ford/cross?

I suppose it shows how deeply Napoleon struck into the Russian psyche when Stalin accused the successful Marshal Zhukov (notably Kursk and the capture of Berlin) of Bonapartism. This meant he was a potential ‘Red Bonaparte’, who would use his popularity for his victories and the support of the army to seize power from the Cimmunist Party. Stalin was more effective than the Directory, sending Zhukov to far corners of the USSR in 1947-49. Although rehabilitated after Stalin’s death in 1953, Zhukov was again denounced for Bonapartism by the next Communist leader, Krushchev. Politicians getting nervous about successful leaders, eh?

The Napoleonic Wars Podcast has an interview with Bernard Cornwell and Sean Bean. It is well worth listening to!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2e0VLTETSKrLwT4PMTAVMp

I recently came across AJP Taylor’s famous talk in this series about how WW1was unstoppable, due to German railway timetables. That could be debated endlessly, but it does demonstrate that events can take on a momentum of their own, which the parties involved cannot control.

Anyway, I had forgotten (yes, I am old enough to remember these talks and the first manned flight around the Moon) that Taylor began his series with the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Perhaps, his talk might seem rather quaint with his ideas about Napoleon being forced into war and a rather Anglocentric approach, but here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzvse8bZ-Fc

Due out in August, Andrew Roberts, Napoleon and His Marshals: Victory, Rivalry, Betrayal. ISBN: 97820241711354.

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.

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?

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.

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…