Napoleon's last 100 days

 

La Grande Armée

 

Rouge River

 Toronto forests supplied the ship masts that the British navy used to thwart Napoleon.

forced into exile

"Estimates vary, but experts believe that at least 450,000 Grande Armée soldiers and perhaps as many as 650,000 ended up crossing the Niemen River to fight approximately 200,000 soldiers on the Russian side ... But less than 100,000 were around to retreat shortly after ... and with winter's onset, a small fraction made it all the way home."

dissembling

"History is a set of lies agreed upon."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

giddy up

"Victory belongs to the most persevering."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

effervescent

“Champagne! In victory one deserves it, in defeat one needs it.”

- Napoleon Bonaparte

on playing it safe

"The side that stays within its fortifications is beaten."
- Napoleon

240 billionaires and counting

"Let China sleep for when it wakes the world will tremble."
- Napoleon

emperor

"History is a set of lies agreed upon."
- Napoleon

implosion

"Never Interfere With an Enemy While He’s in the Process of Destroying Himself."
- Napoleon Bonaparte

on Napoleon

"You can't trust short men as their brains are too close to their bottoms."
- Noel Coward

Nelson and Wellington

The only thing Napoleon liked about being incarcerated on St. Helena was the coffee.

on history

"May my son study history, for it is the only true psychology, and the only true philosophy."
- Napoleon to the duke of Reichstadt at St. Helena

19th century caesar

"Napoleon was a speed eater preferring macaroni and boiled meat."

"He on the side of technology wins."
- Attributed to Napoleon

give up

"When one is alone and unarmed, surrender may be pardoned."
- Napoleon

10%

Just 10% of Napoleon's forces survived the Russian campaign.

undefeated 29 year old

"Say what you will about Bonaparte, he wasn't afraid. That's why they respected him."

dreamer of dreams

"He would deal with three or four alternatives at the same time and endeavour to conjure up every possible eventuality—preferably the worst. This foresight, the fruit of meditation, generally enabled him to be ready for any setback, nothing ever took him by surprise … perhaps the most astonishing characteristic of his intellect was the combination of idealism and realism which enabled him to face the most exalted visions at the same time as the most insignificant realities. And, indeed, he was in a sense a visionary, a dreamer of dreams."
- This description of Napoleon is by Louis Madelin, his contemporary and biographer.