Lucien Rousselot is one of the world's most important military artists; having played an integral role in establishing uniformology as a true science. He was born in France at a time when the 1871 military defeat by Prussia was still very present in the psyche of the French people. After all; it had not been long since the French army under Napoleon I had not only amazed the world; but had stood victoriously astride the whole of Europe. Indeed; triumphant armies guided by the military genius of Bonaparte had marched down the avenues of Paris to the delight of enormous crowds.It is no surprise; therefore; that the talented young Rousselot decided to devote much of his life to recreating the martial splendor of France’s greatest age. The Napoleonic period offered innumerable opportunities for his skills; as uniforms varied widely in style and color; as befitted an age when individual glory still counted for much on Europe’s battlefields.Rousselot received his artistic training at the renowned School of Decorative Arts in Paris while at the same time immersing himself in the study of the classic military illustrators. His immense talent was equaled only by his innate modesty and intense commitment to his work. This level of dedication ultimately resulted in the marvelous watercolors and exacting narrative presented in this publication.Aside from a now-rare work published in France costing many hundreds of dollars; Napoleon’s Army: 1790–1815 is the only complete collection of Rousselot’s life’s work on the period; here presented admirably yet affordably for the English-speaking public.
#3689580 in Books International Debate Education Association 2008-01-10Original language:EnglishPDF # 1 8.94 x .68 x 6.10l; .98 #File Name: 1932716300262 pages
Review
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Judeocentric Holocaust Supremacism: The Same Arguments Used to Marginalize the Poles’ Genocide and the Gypsies' GenocideBy Jan PeczkisThis Hungarian-based work; now in the English language; provides interesting perspectives on the PHARRAJIMOS (PORAJMOS); the Nazi-German genocide of the Sinti and Roma peoples during WWII. Editors Barsony and Daroczi belong to one of the original organizers of the Romany civil rights movement in Hungary. One striking feature of this work; which I emphasize in this review; is the recycling of old arguments to justify the supremacy of the Shoah over all other genocides; this time against the Gypsies. I elaborate on this.IF YOU DISAGREE WITH THE STANDARD NARRATIVE; YOU ARE A NATIONALISTThe term nationalist has often come up; in recent years; in conjunction with the governments of Hungary and Poland; and towards anyone who values patriotism. That is; anyone who does not fall in line with the leftist and Judeocentric ways of thinking gets dismissed as a nationalist. This is nothing new. In this book; the editors; Barsony and Daroczi quip; “The editors of this volume have been called Gypsy nationalists; fundamentalists; and functionalists. We were labeled well before those who labeled us thought about our arguments; and the fact is that not much is known about the PHARRAJIMOS.†(p. ix).JEWS CONTINUE TO MONOPOLIZE THE TERM HOLOCAUSTMost of the authors of this book state that the term Holocaust should encompass the Nazi genocides of the Gypsies as well as those of the Jews (e. g; Barsony; p. 240). In contrast; Jews usually want the Holocaust to mean only their genocide. These are the “exclusivistsâ€; and include one of the authors in this book—Laszlo Karsai. (p. 1).Again; this is nothing new. In the 1980’s; at the height of the debate about the content of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM); Polish-American spokesmen wanted the term Holocaust to include the Nazi German genocide of ethnic Poles; while the Jews; adhering to a Jews-are-special mentality; maintained that the term Holocaust should refer exclusively to Jews. The USHMM ended up adopting the exclusivist Judeocentric definition of the Holocaust; and to engage in an almost-comical exercise in Orwellian doublespeak in order to pay lip service to the genocides of non-Jews. See my review of PRESERVING MEMORY; by Linenthal.THE SAME RATIONALIZATIONS FOR A JUDEOCENTRICALLY-DEFINED HOLOCAUSTLaszlo Karsai; Professor of History; asserts that the overwhelming majority of the Gypsies of France; Belgium; etc. survived the war; that the Nazis never intended to exterminate all the Gypsies; that Gypsies were targeted for alleged crimes (and “asocial†conduct) rather than out of purely racial motives; etc. (pp. 227-229). Other scholars; in this volume; rebut Karsai’s PORAJMOS-delegitimizing contentions.Exactly the same genocide-belittling arguments had been used against Poles: That “only†10% of Poles died during WWII; that Hitler never intended to exterminate all the Poles; and that Poles were targeted “because it was war†and to “forestall resistanceâ€; and not out of purely racial motives.Of course; these arguments; besides being fallacious (see comments); tacitly assume that a total planned genocide is more meritorious than a partial planned genocide. SAYS WHO?A RATIONAL (ECONOMIC) MOTIVE FOR THE SHOAH AFTER ALLInterestingly; Barsony presents evidence that undermines the argument that the Nazis had no rational motives in their killing of Jews (and this is supposed to make the Jews’ genocide special and qualitatively different from all other genocides). Barsony suggests that; after Nazi Germany directly invaded Hungary in 1944; Hitler did not target the Hungarian Gypsies as comprehensively as he did the Hungarian Jews; in part because the Roma; unlike the Jews; had few possessions worth plundering. (p. 249).Genocide-Recognition Equality Now!
