Here's To Lord Nelson, slayer of frogs

[Kuciwalker]

Originally posted by Az
1812

You have to be American or Canadian to do that.

[Winston]

Originally posted by BlackCat
Waterloo pwns !!!

It has been elected as the best song in the ESC in 50 years - guess that Winston is totally ecstatic

This is actually the first I've heard of it - I don't have a TV, you know.

1974 was a brilliant year in so many respects..

[GePap]

Didn't a Frog slay Nelson?

What kind of man get shot down by a frog? Not a very good man....

If Napoleon had wanted to invade Britian at some point after 1805, the French could have certainly gathered the resources to rebuild their fleets. Besides, who knows if a French Invasion of England would have even been sustainable?

I think the fact that the Continental powers never gave up permanently to join the Napoleon camp is what did him in-and that occured due to his own oversized ambitions. I know the Brits love to think their actions were paramount, but I think Napoleon's defeat in Russia and him getting chased out of Germany had more to do with his downfall than the fall of the puppet French regime in Spain.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Winston




This is actually the first I've heard of it - I don't have a TV, you know.

1974 was a brilliant year in so many respects..

It was on the radio too

Besides, I didn't know that you don't have a telly - how do you survive without such ?

[duke o' york]

Well he posts here, Warlord!

[Az]

He would never would've been chased out of Germany, had he not lost in Russia. and except the Prussians, most Germans were quite favorable to Napoleonic rule.

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Spiffor

Simple. The Rosbifs benefited from a civil war in France, where the evil Burgundians invited the monstrous Rosbifs to step in.

And despite this terrible situation, despite diplomatic isolation, despite the large footholds already held by Rosbif inbreds at the beginning of the war, France prevailed.

Not only because of Joan, mind you, but because of the bravery of the French. Joan is only the symbol of this victory for great JUSTICE!

So to paraphrase, the french ignore the facts and celebrate that at the end of the hundred years war they were in the rather unusual situation of having won a couple of battles right at the end and that they hadnt given up too many times during the war itself

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Well he posts here, Warlord!

Well dear Duke, I doesn't read all what Winston posts, and it might have been told before I joined

Besides that I've earned my spurs through real posting - not like those PLUS bastards that has bought their current status

[duke o' york]

Sorry - it was only a lazy gag that appealed, er, only to me.

I meant that he posts here so much because he has no telly, not that he had already posted the information here, and you might have missed it because you're newer than some.

[SpencerH]

I'd like to know why winston would care?

On a side note, Waterloo being elected as the best song in the ESC in 50 years is not surprising the other 49 winners were complete and utter ****e. I can say with some confidence that I have no idea why that particular song was so popular at the time. I can recall that most of the words were completely unintelligable. It was actually better in Swedish in that regard (although the lyrics are meaningless in any language).

[Dinner]

Originally posted by GePap
I think the fact that the Continental powers never gave up permanently to join the Napoleon camp is what did him in-and that occured due to his own oversized ambitions. I know the Brits love to think their actions were paramount, but I think Napoleon's defeat in Russia and him getting chased out of Germany had more to do with his downfall than the fall of the puppet French regime in Spain.

The naval blockade was very important in the time before railroads when virtually everything had to be moved by ships either at sea or on rivers. The blockade caused major economic hardship. The Peninsular Campaign and the numerous raids did indeed consume vast French resources because the French had to move troops out of the land war in the east and use them to garrison the many ports and coastal areas. Then you have the fact that the British Army was the one which ultimately defeated and captured Napolean both times.

The Russians, Austrians and Prussians played no small part but the UK was the fancial power which kept Prussia in the war (reportedly they paid almost half of Prussia's war costs in the form of subsidies) and all throughout the period the UK remained the greatest industrial and economic power which France, much less Russia or Austria, was never able to free itself from. Supposedly, a great deal of the fabric used to make French Uniforms continued to come from the UK even though Napolean had announced an embargo. They just never could free themselves from the need for British made goods.

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by duke o' york
Sorry - it was only a lazy gag that appealed, er, only to me.

I meant that he posts here so much because he has no telly, not that he had already posted the information here, and you might have missed it because you're newer than some.

I think that you need a course in irony or maybe I should have a course in not being to subtle .

Since I have a TV, RL, radio and a job that occationally demands more than 24 hous a day, I din't caught you lazy gag

@SpencerH : you can't be serious I guess that Winston is the most busy poster of Abba babe pics on this site - not even Molly reaches his level !

[Odin]

The French sucked for the most part in the HYW. The French knights used outdated tactics and got massacred by the longbowmen. Only when the French got competent leadership (Joan) and started using cannons better did the English get kicked out.

[Spiffor]

Well, it's not only about Joan.

1) The Burgundians eventually rallied France. The Rosbifs, being deprived of their dear traitors, were considerably weakened. (As an aside, the Rosbifs believe they have been betrayed by the Burgundians )

2) Joan was far from being the only competent leader during the war. And she wasn't even the one who used the most modern tactics. However, she managed to motivate the French king, and led him to understand that the war wasn't lost. Also notice she died in 1431, 22 years before the last Rosbif debacle.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Oerdin


The naval blockade was very important in the time before railroads when virtually everything had to be moved by ships either at sea or on rivers. The blockade caused major economic hardship. The Peninsular Campaign and the numerous raids did indeed consume vast French resources because the French had to move troops out of the land war in the east and use them to garrison the many ports and coastal areas. Then you have the fact that the British Army was the one which ultimately defeated and captured Napolean both times.

Napoleon lost at Waterloo to an Anglo-Dutch Prussian force. He was never going to win in 1815, not against all the European powers when he had far less troops to use. The fact that he failed to rmeove the Prussians frmo play before moving on Wellington's Anglo-Dutch forces is what ruined him. I also don't get this notion that the British "got him" in 1814. Napoleon abdicated, which was all he could do given that he was facinga war against everyone, specially after the Austrians and Sweded joined the Coolition against him, and more and more minor German states left his side.

As for the Pininsular campaign, any extra campaign is a drain in resources, but that does not mean that that drain was somehow the critical balancing point. Napoleon's military defeat in 1814 was brought forth in Germany.

The Russians, Austrians and Prussians played no small part but the UK was the fancial power which kept Prussia in the war (reportedly they paid almost half of Prussia's war costs in the form of subsidies) and all throughout the period the UK remained the greatest industrial and economic power which France, much less Russia or Austria, was never able to free itself from. Supposedly, a great deal of the fabric used to make French Uniforms continued to come from the UK even though Napolean had announced an embargo. They just never could free themselves from the need for British made goods.

How then would France have ever beaten the UK even if Napoleon would have been able to land an army? I seriously doubt that France could have sustained a large army overseas with the technology of the day. The point also being that if Napoleon really wanted to invade Britian, he could have spent all of 1806 and his resources building a fleet to do so (and hey, no Nelson!), but he didn't. As others had said, by the time the Franco-Spanish fleet was beaten, Napoleon was deep in Europe, and was soon to land his most spectacular victory at Austerlitz.

Land powers are beaten on land.