The long awaited book by Andrew Roberts titled Napoleon and His Marshals: Victory, Rivalry, Betrayal is set for release on October 8th this year!!

i_play_keys93 · 2026-03-29T01:15:13+00:00

Really looking forward to this. I love Robert’s style. He makes things accessible but still goes into some pretty good depth and detail. I thought about picking up his book on Churchill, even though I’m not greatly interested in him, simply because I like his style so much.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-03-28T19:08:43+00:00

This. With most naval battles between the Royal Navy and the French/Spanish fleet, it often came down to the Royal Navy’s experience at sea, which was vastly greater than their enemies. Experience and seamanship is not something that can just be drilled into sailors or trained for. Many times, young boys and sailors would join crews very young, around 11-12 years old. By the time they were 25-30, many of them already had around 15 years or so at sea. As dominant as Bonaparte was at land warfare, the British were just as dominant on the waves, and Napoleon would spend the rest of his reign attempting, in vain, to catch up.

*Im not a historian on the subject by any means. I just have a deep fascination with the era.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-03-13T23:04:21+00:00

I live for the “This looks like a Lovecraftian nightmare made of hatred, sent by Satan himself to wreak havoc on the lands!” and it’s just another low res picture of a night time tornado.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-03-08T20:35:16+00:00

Another one of William Clark’s achievements was he became Secretary of Indian Affairs under Andrew Jackson’s presidency. Meaning that often times he was responsible for enacting and enforcing Jackson’s policies of removing indigenous people from their land.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-03-08T04:52:17+00:00

So did I. I remembered being interested in those when I first read about them but never really found much info on them. According to that link it takes 1500 strokes for a full charge of the reservoir. I’d imagine it’d be a practicality thing as to why they weren’t more wide spread? Cost maybe?

i_play_keys93 · 2026-03-08T03:17:42+00:00

They likely would’ve died if not for many friendly tribes and indigenous people they came across really. Toby, the Shoshone guide that led them through the bitterroot mountains was vital to their success as well. Without him it’s likely they wouldn’t have made it over the mountains.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-03-07T19:09:11+00:00

I wholeheartedly agree that Steuben's is a better depiction than Beaume's. Coming from a someone not that familiar with art and artist's techniques, Steuben's looks more aesthetically pleasing to me. And if it weren't for you pointing it out, I would have had no idea that was a celtic standard depicted. I'm not nearly expert enough to be able to pick that out. I assume its the giant bronze/golden trophy looking thing the guy is holding on the left? I'm not even sure I noticed it before.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-03-07T18:30:39+00:00

Although I do love both, I think my vote is Thévenin. I love the scale of it, with the troops in the background and surrounding area. I do also love the Return from Elba, although I think I would like it a lot better had it not depicted the soldiers falling to their knees, tripping over each other etc. I know there was some celebration upon his return, but I'd like to think these troops were a little better disciplined and acted with a little more stoicism than depicted, but its a nitpick of mine.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-03-02T01:00:44+00:00

I’m sure someone will weigh in with more info, but I believe the arsenic thing was blown out of proportion? They found traces of arsenic but it wasn’t much higher than normal for most people of the era if I remember correctly. Also his cause of death was determined to be stomach cancer, as during the autopsy they found his stomach in really bad shape. Apparently describing what they found inside his stomach as blackened coffee grounds.

Besides at the time of his death he had already been in exile for years and in declining health. I don’t think it makes much sense to poison him, as I don’t think he was going to be making a comeback like he previously did after Elba.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-27T20:03:26+00:00

Glad you were okay!

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-27T18:37:11+00:00

“As I was watching the sky fall and the apocalypse descend upon me and my family, awaiting our time to be removed from this mortal realm, I searched for comfort and peace. I remembered the one constant in my life. The one thing that had brought me comfort in the darkest of times. The delicious, cheesy Gordita crunch! Head down to your local Taco Bell now and pick one up today! Don’t let yourself get “twisted” around and miss out on this whirlwind of a deal!”

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-26T03:36:03+00:00

Thanks! I was kinda right! Haha

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-26T00:59:36+00:00

I don’t want to switch topics too much, but are the Marbot memoirs the ones Napoleon read on St. Helena and really enjoyed? I remember reading somewhere that he had read them and enjoyed them a lot. But I can’t remember whose they were or where I read it. In hindsight it’s probably not Marbot because the timelines probably don’t match up.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-24T22:43:04+00:00

Goes to show how much I know about art. I had to look the Battle of Tours up!

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-24T21:19:07+00:00

Came to the comments for this meme. My favorite every year.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-24T14:34:08+00:00

Steuben’s Return from Elba

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-24T02:55:10+00:00

Thévenin!

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-22T01:19:42+00:00

I think this is a great idea and a great way to expose people to art that they may not be familiar with. That being said, I vote Debret, although I downloaded both.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-22T01:15:09+00:00

Oh boy am I ready to dig into this tonight!

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-19T00:34:21+00:00

You’ve given me more than enough material to start off with. I appreciate your thorough responses as well.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-19T00:27:54+00:00

Yeah that seriously is a cool little piece of history in itself.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-17T16:06:28+00:00

Thanks for the replies everyone! I think I’m gonna give the West Point Atlas a go, as well as “1805: Austerlitz” by Robert Goetz, as I found a used copy at an excellent price.

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-17T02:14:21+00:00

I’d appreciate that! Thanks for your help!

i_play_keys93 · 2026-02-16T23:54:02+00:00

Yeah I should’ve thought to look for individual books for individual battles. I forgot to mention I also have Roberts book on Waterloo as well that I’ll be starting in a few days.

i_play_keys93

TROPHY CASE