ePub Native American Wisdom: A Spiritual Tradition at One with Nature (Sacred Wisdom) by From Brand: Watkins in History

Description

Once Napoleon had consolidated his grip on the reins of power of the new-born French Republic; he began to change the nature of the state from a nascent democracy of sorts into an Empire with all the trappings of dynastic royalty. The Senatus Consultum of 18th May 1804 gave the form to the Imperial Court; households of courtiers were established for the Emperor and Empress and the Imperial family; dignitaries of the Empire; ministers of the Empire were appointed; and having previously been abolished in 1793 the dignity of the Marshal of the Empire was recreated. Fourteen active and four honorary Marshals were handed their batons; eight more would be created during the years following; intended to be bulwarks of the regime. However these men were not plucked from obscurity they were men of genuine renown; and in most cases significant military talent; they had fought in numerous battles and campaigns during the tumultuous early days of the Republic. However apart from a handful of individual biographies and collections of anecdotes which mainly dealt with the years of glory under the Empire; few works in English had really investigated the formative careers of the Marshals under the banners of the Republic. In his epic five volume work; published posthumously between 1926-1936; Colonel Phipps looks into the early careers of the Marshals as they pursued La Gloire from their varied beginnings as sons of inn-keepers; coopers; officers of the Royal French Army; some of noble blood; some of the most common. The careers of men such as Masséna; Ney; Soult; Mortier; Murat and Davout are charted in detail; they are compared and contrasted with each other with expert judgement. The Author uses his extensive knowledge of the numerous French first-hand sources of the period along with published histories which have never been translated into English. The second volume concentrates on the Armées de la Moselle; du Rhin; du Sambre-et-Meuse; de Rhin-et Moselle and their battles under the order of Jourdan; Moreau; Pichegru et al; as they fight for their republican values and their own skins. The text is whole and complete; there are no missing or indistinct pages; the fold-out maps have been re-aligned to fit into the text spread across two; or in the case of the A3 maps four; pages.