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Date Posted: 11:49:36 10/29/05 Sat
Author: Sunshine
Subject: Re: Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!
In reply to: Celebaelin 's message, "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!" on 09:15:51 10/29/05 Sat

What can I say, I admit to baiting you (good naturedly I hope you realize as I knew you were British). I realize how the thread got to where it was. I was more commenting on my focusing on a rather small part of the total discussion.
In terms of Napoleon vs Wellington, I will stick with my contention that Napoleon was the superior master of 19th century warfare. By the time they met at Waterloo, Napoleon was a shell of his former self and the French army was just about spent. His campaigns against the Austrians, Russians, and Prussians in 1805-1807 are classics of maneuver. Time and time again, facing superior opponents, he managed to bring his forces together at the place and time of his choosing. He was a master at maneuvering to an opponent’s rear that would panic his adversary and defeat their will to fight. Wellington was certainly an excellent general; I just don’t think in the art of war, in a historical context, he was as innovative as Napoleon. I think it is easy to forget how different Napoleonic war was from previous conflicts. As you acknowledged, logistics and maneuver was the brilliance of Napoleon. The fact that those skills continue to be of paramount importance tend to make us think that they were always so. I really don’t have the time to start hitting the books to support a Napoleon vs Wellington argument so I think we should just let it rest with an acknowledged difference of opinion.
Really, my point, aside from the baiting, was that it is really not all that rare for a smaller force defeating a larger force and certainly not limited to Wellington. Big numbers certainly matter but I think it is surprising the number of occasions where it is not the key to victory. Wars of attrition are, of course, a different case.

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