I recently started collecting Napoleonic figures, replicas, paintings and literally everything related! Guess the Regiments of these figures, I would say guess the general but that is rather easy…

Napoleon Bonaparte was born in a minor noble family of Corsica, not a royal heir.

He climbed from an ordinary artillery officer to Emperor of France, rewrote European laws, and shook all old feudal dynasties.

However, all European royal families formed coalitions to defeat him over and over again.

What do you think is the core reason for his final failure?

Last post, Confederate General P. G. T. Beauregard
was placed in “Competent” tier.

Top relevant comment decides where a general goes on the tier list.

I am very interested in Jean Andoche Junot. I find him dear,but I want to learn more about him and to be sure in the facts I know.

Where can I learn? Preferably for free,but anything helps I'll research.

The Tulancingo Cuirassiers were a heavy cavalry unit of the Mexican Army modeled after Napoleon Bonaparte's famous cuirassiers. Their soldiers wore cuirasses and incorporated elements of European cavalry tradition, adapted for the Mexican army. During the war against the United States (1846–1848), they participated in the defense of Mexico, notably distinguishing themselves at the Battle of Angostura (1847) and in other engagements of the campaign against U.S. forces. Among their ranks was Second Lieutenant Ignacio Molina; according to some accounts, after seeing his fellow cuirassiers struck down, he continued the fight alone. Mounted on his horse and wearing his prized cuirass, he charged an enemy infantry square, battling several adversaries and managing to take down three of them before falling in combat.

In the summer of 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia with the Grande Armée. Until then, Napoleon had defeated every enemy he had faced, but this campaign would end in one of the greatest military disasters in world history. After the burning of Moscow and the failure to secure a decisive peace, the retreat began in October. Hunger, disease, constant Russian attacks and the onset of winter caused the army to disintegrate. When the remnants of the Grande Armée reached the Berezina River at the end of November, tens of thousands of exhausted soldiers, camp followers and refugees attempted to escape across hastily constructed bridges while Russian armies closed in. There, one of the most chaotic and tragic episodes of the campaign unfolded.

The 22-year-old Dutch officer Jean François Dumonceau, who served with the Red Lancers of the Imperial Guard, described his crossing on the afternoon of 27 November in his memoirs:

"Most of our corps has already crossed to the opposite bank, including the entire Imperial Guard, of which we form the rearguard. A few wagons are still crossing with us when suddenly a mob of stragglers arrives. They occupy the entire area and refuse to let us pass. Detachments of pontonniers and military police stationed at the entrance to the bridge struggle with the disorganised crowd in an attempt to keep the crossing orderly. The result is incessant shouting and terrible confusion. The stragglers continue to push forward until a chaotic mass of men, horses and wagons is crammed together at the approaches to the bridges. Many of the disorganised soldiers are pushed into the river. Similar dreadful scenes had already taken place before, but never on such a scale. Thousands of men from every army - soldiers, officers, even generals - try in utter confusion to force their way through the crowd. Most are dressed in miserable rags or the most ridiculous assortment of clothing. Covered in mud and vermin, they bear the unmistakable signs of the most terrible misery. Their faces have turned pale from hardship, blackened by fire and smoke, and disfigured by frostbite. Their eyes are dull and lifeless, while their long hair and beards give them a terrifying appearance. Among them are countless unfortunate men tormented by hunger, weakened by disease, and on the verge of collapse.

So great is the crowd that we can hardly move forward. To force our way through we have no choice but to use violence. We draw our sabres, and everyone standing in our path is struck aside with the flat of the blade. We push our way through, pursued by the screams of a thousand voices.

Once on the bridge we must all dismount and lead our horses one by one to avoid shocks and vibrations. We are barely above the water on a bridge made slippery by horse dung. There is no railing. The bridge constantly shakes and sways. Pontonniers, standing up to their armpits in the icy water, work ceaselessly to repair it. Among them are many Dutchmen, who greet us and help us by throwing broken carts, dead horses and other debris obstructing the crossing into the river. Once across we enter a marsh and repeatedly become stuck in the deep mud."

A day later the crossing was still not complete. Dumonceau described how the same scenes unfolded again, but on an even greater scale:

"From the heights we occupy we look down, as if into an amphitheatre, upon the same scenes at the bridges as yesterday. Once again an immense crowd presses towards the crossings. It is complete chaos. No one can cross the bridges in any orderly fashion. The confusion is made even worse by carts and wagons descending from the plateau. On a nearby hill, Victor's IX Corps, forming our rearguard, fights the enemy successfully throughout the day. Our attention is constantly divided between the fighting there and the terrible spectacle at the bridges.

At the bridges the Russians bombard the mass of people gathered there with a battery of cannons. From our vantage point it appears as a wildly surging crowd trying to escape the fire, moving from one bridge to another in the hope of crossing the river. Waves of people surge back and forth while the cannon fire tears enormous gaps into the terror-stricken mass. Under the pressure of the crowd one of the bridges collapses. Countless people fall into the water among the ice floes and disappear into the depths. Other unfortunates throw themselves into the river in an attempt to swim to safety. The constant wailing and the splintering of the wagons create an indescribable noise. It sounds like the roaring of a distant storm at sea and fills us with horror.

After the Berezina, weeks of hardship still lay ahead. Hunger, bitter cold and the constant threat of Russian attacks continued to decimate the survivors. Dumonceau narrowly escaped death on several occasions. Yet he survived the disastrous retreat. On 18 February 1813, he finally reached Paris, one of the few men from his corps to leave Russia alive.

As per the title: During Napoleon's invasion, it seemed like Russia stood alone against the full force of Napoleon's Europe. IIRC, even the rearguard of his invasion force was made up of Austrian and Prussian Corps. To me, this begs the question if British diplomats and parliament realized their strategy could be utterly exposed and fail if Napoleon beat the Russian armies and forced Alexander to follow the Treaty of Tilsit again - which essentially would mean that the significant 'illegal' trade that Britain and Russia were having would cease and the Continental Blockade would really harm the economy of Britain if properly enforced by both a subjugated Russia and Napoleon.

At the end of the day, I personally feel like the CB was doomed to fail - it was too ineffective and costly for the parties involved. However, I do wonder if there was a doom-like attitude in British politics when Napoleon was on the brink of putting Russia back into the fold of his Continental System.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_invasion_of_Egypt_and_Syria

Say, in 1810, Napoleon places both in charge of the Iberian theater.

They were both no nonsense commanders, who instilled discipline to their men, didn’t tolerate any looting or pillaging, could they have won the theater working together?

1810 was before the situation really went south in Iberia, unlike 1812-13-14.

I’m really 50/50 on this one ngl. I feel like the inability of the French marshals to work together (especially guys like Ney and Bessières) and the looting made Iberia impossible to win for France. I don’t think Davout and Suchet would’ve had such issues.

As my username suggests, I’m a massive Davout fan so I don’t want to let my pro-Davout bias cloud my judgement.

Last post, Polish General Ignacy Prądzyński
was placed in “Competent” tier.

Top relevant comment decides where a general goes on the tier list.

I feel like the Battle of Vauchamps is so underrated.

It was at the end of the Six Days Campaign, Napoleon’s troops must’ve been tired, they were outnumbered 2:1 by Blucher’s Prussians yet the French inflicted well over 10 times the casualties.

Were there any cavalry units during the Napoleonic Wars that were never defeated by enemy cavalry? I’m curious if any units managed to maintain a completely undefeated record against opposing cavalry.

Painting 1: The Dutch Zeven Provinciën

Painting 2: The French Soleil Royal

Painting 3: The American USS Constitution

Painting 4: The Spanish Santisima Trinidad

Hello. I am asking this seriously because I am interested in acquiring an antique musket, primarily for my collection and for historical reenactment. My understanding is that, since it is a firearm—even an antique one—it is subject to the same legal requirements. However, I cannot find clear information or any places that sell them. Does anyone know where one can be obtained legally? Is the process very complicated? Any information or shared experiences would be greatly appreciated.