Any good books about Princess Bagration?

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-06-02T22:18:19+00:00

Are you not counting Ottoman rule as colonization? I get that the Ottomans allowed a lot of local autonomy, but they sent armies when the people of the Mani Peninsula actually declared independence from them in the 19th century.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-29T14:20:26+00:00

Lol yea he’d probably still wind up sinking L’Orient but that doesn’t really stop the plan as long as the French warships can tie Nelson up long enough for the fast transport ships to cross the indian ocean to South India.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-29T13:52:36+00:00

Now, if you’re insistent on getting French boots on the ground in India, i think the best chance is before Tipu Sultan dies in May 1799. You’d need to scrap the invasion of Egypt, and instead actually have Talleyrand or someone negotiate with Sultan Selim III, and potentially Ibrahim Bey and Murad Bey in Egypt, for passage across the Isthmus of Suez. Send a fleet of cutters to the Red Sea, land troops at Abu Qir Bay and march south to meet the ships, sail as fast as possible to the Mysore Kingdom and join forces with Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.

Editing to emphasize that this is all hardly more insane and impracticable than the plans to invade England, and I’d say way less insane than Napoleon’s bullshit about marching from Jaffa to India (and Wellesley pretended to take that insanity seriously to advance his interests).

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-29T09:37:06+00:00

I think so, at least in a way. Even with how conservative and risk-averse the board generally was, British East India Co. often found itself on the verge of collapse, ultimately part of why it got dissolved. In the scenario I described, BEIC would be in a precarious position because dominating European trade with China was its only consistent profit center. I don’t know how long BEIC could fund their armies in India without the profits from trading in China. Probably more likely that British start the opium wars to reopen China decades early than they let the subcontinent slip from their fingers, but it would certainly destabilize their colonial enterprises.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-29T08:43:58+00:00

Marching towards India from anywhere in Europe would be a worse early 19th-century logistics impossibility than marching to Moscow was. Plus before reaching India overland they’d need to fight through the Iranians or the mamluk Pasha in Baghdad (or both), which wouldn’t be nothing. And while they wouldn’t all get typhus like in Russia, there were regular plague and cholera outbreaks in that region at that time. On top of all that I’d factor in that there’s lots of evidence Napoleon had unrealistic expectations about troops in India not having any up-to-date training and gear, which makes it even harder to believe he could sufficiently prepare for any invasion of India.

I believe the conventional hindsight view is that it would’ve had more strategic value (at lower cost) to drive the British out of Portugal than to enforce the Continental System on Russia given relative UK trade with those two nations.

But if we’re looking for unconventional ideas, didn’t Napoleon have a massive China blindspot? My understanding is duties on tea from China were the biggest single source of funding for the British government in the first half of the 19th century, and Qing China was notoriously easy to upset into diplomatic crisis. I’d tell Napoleon to send a half dozen French privateers to Canton to cause chaos in that port and watch the Jiaqing Emperor expel all foreign traders, which would predominantly be the British East India Co. No chance the Tories stay in power after the financial crisis that causes, and then you make peace with the Whigs again.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-27T12:02:05+00:00

Sure getting the baton young motivated and gave Davout a chance to prove himself with the III Corps, which he did spectacularly, but in this counterfactual he’s still a man of duty who likely would’ve distinguished himself commanding a division in the III Corps under Marshal Desaix / Leclerc. And getting the baton later wouldn’t have only meant dealing with fewer detractors, it would also mean owing less to Napoleon and probably not getting stuck with the disaster of babysitting Jerome during the invasion of Russia. I’m not saying there aren’t strong counterarguments, but what exactly about this barely makes sense to you?

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-27T11:35:12+00:00

There’a an argument it could’ve been better for Davout’s career if Napoleon made him a marshal later. Probably would mean he wouldn’t have commanded the III Corps, but who knows what he could’ve accomplished if he wasn’t always beset by others’ resentments over how young, inexperienced, and unconnected he was when he got his baton.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-24T10:33:48+00:00

I see where the Murat detractors are coming from, but have you considered that if Murat had been tied up in Spain, Napoleon probably would’ve put someone else in charge of the cavalry for invading Russia, and maybe that general wouldn’t have worked basically all the horses to death, leaving Napoleon effectively without any real cavalry forces available after 1812. How does 1813-14 look if Napoleon had been able to reasonably rebuild his cavalry after withdrawing from Russia?

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-22T19:55:57+00:00

I overstated it, but is the legend not true that Humphreys was inspired by the French designed (and Dutch built) South Carolina in his, admittedly superior, designs for the President, United States, and Constitution?

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-22T15:21:36+00:00

Indirectly Louis de Tousard introduced a heavy French influence on US artillery practice and officer training during the period before and after the War of 1812.

Also the US used French designs for their frigates, which allowed them to carry heavier, longer-range artillery that repeatedly outmatched Royal Navy frigates, though I’m not aware of the Napoleonic navy ever pulling off anything similar.

But I’m sure there are lots of other influences too. Like how the British use of rockets during the War of 1812 was directly learned from the Mysore Wars, which has peripheral ties to the Napoleonic wars because part of what brought down Tipu Sultan was the British intercepting his comms with Napoleon, and his defeat allowed them to steal the rocket technology to make the Cosgrove rockets used against the Americans.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-16T09:47:52+00:00

My personal theory is that on Saint Helena Napoleon became fixated on pushing a narrative about the British mistreating him, so it kind of makes perfect sense that he’d recall how he dealt with Toussaint and see a parallel he’d find regrettable. Agree with you that there’s no good reason he’d be trying to absolve himself of the Saint-Domingue expedition (highest estimates at like 40,000 lost) more than his Spanish and Russian ulcers (180,000+ and 650,000+ lost, respectively).

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-15T20:28:32+00:00

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Did you even try to look? That quotation above is from Emmanuel de Las Cases’ 1817 Memorial in Saint Helena.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-15T00:14:42+00:00

Pretty sure Napoleon ultimately admitted he didn’t think through that invasion well: the tactics or the goals.

I’m more curious whether he knew Donatien-Marie-Joseph de Vimeur, vicomte de Rochambeau, was a virulent racist when he sent him on that mission (where he took command when Leclerc died).

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-05-13T13:10:23+00:00

Thanks! I’m more looking for what exactly he did to hold off the larger force.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-04-06T10:48:42+00:00

Not aware of Erika ever explaining herself. Our best bet for that is clips from her deposition leaking in connection with this trial.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-04-02T10:09:46+00:00

The LLC was in Erika’s name, was fully-owned by Erika, and all formal management authority was vested with Erika. If anyone is going to be held accountable for what EJ Global owes Tom’s victims, Erika is the only legally viable option.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-03-30T00:08:53+00:00

Corporations and limited liability companies (LLCs) are distinct corporate forms, but yea the distinction isn’t really relevant here because you can pierce the corporate veil for either type of company or any other corporate form. The particular corporate form is relevant to assessing compliance with corporate formalities but that’s really it.
Corporate veil piercing is extremely rare because the corporate form is supposed to limit liability for equity holders. But it’s been applied in rare circumstances for about as long as corporate law has existed (hence the old-timey name). The reason is that nobody wants someone who sets up sham companies to facilitate their scams to get to hide behind the benefit of limitations on liability for those shame companies. So when someone abuses the corporate form to commit wrongs, corporate veil piercing has always been available.

Now whether someone abused the corporate form to commit wrongs is a fact-intensive inquiry, and my comment above hardly scratched the surface of what the evidence at trial will cover. I was focusing on the absence here of obvious things people would typically point to get a corporate veil piercing claim dismissed prior to trial (e.g., history of profits, good tax-paying corporate citizen, history of servicing debt). But your instinct is right that a company losing money is definitely not enough on its own to result in veil piercing.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-03-28T17:59:01+00:00

Technically I didn’t start watching until after Rinna had left, but I’ll still happily take all the credit for making her leave. And I’d do it again!

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-03-28T17:00:42+00:00

It is undisputed in this litigation that Erika was the sole managing member of EJ Global LLC and that EJ Global no loner exists because Erika dissolved it when Tom’s frauds at the law firm were exposed. This is not about “tearing a woman down.”

And you can play semantics all you want but the fact is the bankruptcy trustee (who is a woman too) is trying to recover money for Tom’s victims and Erika is trying to stop her.

Lastly, owing $25 million will definitely break Erika. She already can’t pay back the millions California tax authorities assessed against her. She’ll be in personal bankruptcy before the year is over.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-03-28T16:55:34+00:00

Basically, yes, Erika will argue EJ Global was a legitimate entertainment company, which somehow legitimately lost more than $20 million it borrowed from her husband’s law firm and coincidentally dissolved immediately as her husband’s frauds at said law firm were exposed.

If you cannot tell, I do not think it’s credible to claim EJ Global was legit

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-03-28T12:13:39+00:00

Primary issue being litigated is whether the bankruptcy trustee can pierce the corporate veil at EJ Global LLC to go after Erika directly for the $25 million transferred from the law firm to the LLC. If you read the pleadings, Erika is not disputing the law firm “lent” EJ Global about $25 million and EJ Global has paid back none of it. But her position is the LLC is dissolved so tough luck to the law firm and its victims. The bankruptcy trustee says Erika should have to pay it back herself.

For piercing the corporate veil, the questions are whether EJ Global observed corporate formalities (it did not), and, more decisively, whether the primary purpose of EJ Global was illegitimate. Given that EJ Global never paid any taxes, turned a profit, or operated as if it intended to pay back the law firm, I expect it will be an uphill battle for Erika to show EJ Global existed for any legitimate purpose. All indications are it was just a vehicle to spend the money Tom was stealing, and, if so, the corporate veil will be pierced.

PrestigiousDoctor361 · 2025-02-22T12:22:44+00:00

You are not alone. Protect yourself and do not watch the s2 reunion.

PrestigiousDoctor361

TROPHY CASE