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Post by kueifei on Oct 5, 2020 3:28:17 GMT
Emperor of France, all from being a small time military officer to an Emperor of huge amounts of land.
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Post by Admin on Oct 5, 2020 16:58:54 GMT
Emperor of France, all from being a small time military officer to an Emperor of huge amounts of land. I like your style.
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2020 17:31:52 GMT
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2020 17:38:09 GMT
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Post by kueifei on Oct 9, 2020 17:38:31 GMT
Emperor of France, all from being a small time military officer to an Emperor of huge amounts of land. I like your style.
Thanks! I find it amazing how he almost never seemed to really burn out until he married that Austrian Archduchess. He did try to get a Russian Grand Duchess as a consort, but that was mooted mainly since Napoleon was a divorcee, a commoner, and someone who has regularly butchered Russian soldiers. The Russian Dowager Empress was livid at the thought of any child of hers being married to 'the tyrant who rules France with an iron scepter' were supposedly her own words on the matter. I wonder how different it would have been if he had ended up being interested in marrying a Russian aristocrat instead. Because of his lack of actual royal blood, he was considered ineligible for a royal princess. The Austrian Emperor didn't have much choice since after Austerlitz, Napoleon was basically in complete charge of Austria in everything but title.
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2020 17:39:23 GMT
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2020 17:44:23 GMT
Thanks! I find it amazing how he almost never seemed to really burn out until he married that Austrian Archduchess. He did try to get a Russian Grand Duchess as a consort, but that was mooted mainly since Napoleon was a divorcee, a commoner, and someone who has regularly butchered Russian soldiers. The Russian Dowager Empress was livid at the thought of any child of hers being married to 'the tyrant who rules France with an iron scepter' were supposedly her own words on the matter. I wonder how different it would have been if he had ended up being interested in marrying a Russian aristocrat instead. Because of his lack of actual royal blood, he was considered ineligible for a royal princess. The Austrian Emperor didn't have much choice since after Austerlitz, Napoleon was basically in complete charge of Austria in everything but title.
You are welcome! Thanks for starting these items, too. Just a side item: not many people know or realize that Prince Albert's maternal grandfather, the Duke of Gotha, was a HUGE admirer of Napoleon. Went against the grain of German rulers of the time in backing him. Also, the Swedish RF, for one, is descended from a step-daughter of Napoleon's (from early 19th century). I would expand on that more, but cannot right now. So the RF is descended from Josephine through her son. Go figure, eh?
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Post by kueifei on Oct 9, 2020 17:48:52 GMT
Yeah. Napoleon's stepdaughter was Hortense Beauharnais and truth be told, Josephine's side of the family had more class than the entire Bonaparte clan.
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2020 18:49:20 GMT
Thanks! I find it amazing how he almost never seemed to really burn out until he married that Austrian Archduchess. He did try to get a Russian Grand Duchess as a consort, but that was mooted mainly since Napoleon was a divorcee, a commoner, and someone who has regularly butchered Russian soldiers. The Russian Dowager Empress was livid at the thought of any child of hers being married to 'the tyrant who rules France with an iron scepter' were supposedly her own words on the matter. I wonder how different it would have been if he had ended up being interested in marrying a Russian aristocrat instead. Because of his lack of actual royal blood, he was considered ineligible for a royal princess. The Austrian Emperor didn't have much choice since after Austerlitz, Napoleon was basically in complete charge of Austria in everything but title.
You are welcome! Thanks for starting these items, too. Just a side item: not many people know or realize that Prince Albert's maternal grandfather, the Duke of Gotha, was a HUGE admirer of Napoleon. Went against the grain of German rulers of the time in backing him. Also, the Swedish RF, for one, is descended from a step-daughter of Napoleon's (from early 19th century). I would expand on that more, but cannot right now. So the RF is descended from Josephine through her son. Go figure, eh? Sorry descended from a step son of Napoleon.
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Post by Admin on Oct 9, 2020 18:51:08 GMT
Yeah. Napoleon's stepdaughter was Hortense Beauharnais and truth be told, Josephine's side of the family had more class than the entire Bonaparte clan. Sorry descended from his stepson. Correction.
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Post by kueifei on Oct 10, 2020 21:05:47 GMT
LOL, no need to apologize! I find it intriguing how Josephine ended up like a lot of wives of grand men; they are there for the upswing and then discarded once they get to a certain point. After he had been emperor for a while, Napoleon needed an heir, but he looked down on Josephine for not having royal blood in her veins. As if a royal house would marry their daughter off to a penniless Corsican of no social or military distinction. Even after he was crowned and conquering Europe on a regular basis, the royal houses were giving Napoleon the side-eye over the possibility of surrendering one of their daughters to him.
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Post by Admin on Oct 20, 2020 4:14:22 GMT
You are welcome! Thanks for starting these items, too. Just a side item: not many people know or realize that Prince Albert's maternal grandfather, the Duke of Gotha, was a HUGE admirer of Napoleon. Went against the grain of German rulers of the time in backing him. Also, the Swedish RF, for one, is descended from a step-daughter of Napoleon's (from early 19th century). I would expand on that more, but cannot right now. So the RF is descended from Josephine through her son. Go figure, eh? Sorry descended from a step son of Napoleon. Further to this: Josephine of Leuchtenberg, Queen Consort of Sweden and Norway en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_of_Leuchtenberg
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Post by Admin on Oct 20, 2020 4:16:01 GMT
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Post by Admin on Nov 30, 2020 3:13:38 GMT
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Post by kueifei on Jun 25, 2021 0:51:48 GMT
I know that royal princesses are tops, but I think Napoleon was wrong to try to be as viewed as on par with the rest of the more established royalty. If he had married a Russian aristocrat, he might have secured Russia as an alliance, had a wife with prominent lineage, and basically spared himself and France being defeated by the Allies. Then he would have had a wife who was tougher and likely to provide more iron in his rule. Realistically, marrying an Austrian was his downfall. It was highly unpopular and it was as if he lost interest in all his duties as Emperor. I dislike the idea that somehow after a guy reaches a certain status, he is entitled to someone at a certain level who realistically might not want him. It's becoming evident that Hollywood actors are no longer content with either fellow entertainers or anonymous types, but are hankering after non-Hollywood professionals and Brad Pitt put out a PR campaign about dating a professor who worked at MIT, but ended up getting humiliated after the professor publicly denied it and announced an engagement to a billionaire. Then there is Clooney with his junior barrister wife who got hyped up as some kind of legal unicorn and he bleated about how he was now credible for political office. Guys call women climbers, but men are more insufferable.
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cheryl
Baron/Baroness
Posts: 66
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Post by cheryl on Nov 22, 2021 0:54:11 GMT
Like Hitler after he made the classic mistake of invading Russia. Napoleon was an opportunist and quite a brilliant general. He got too big for his boots and Wellington dealt with him.
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Post by kueifei on Dec 21, 2021 23:53:26 GMT
Like Hitler after he made the classic mistake of invading Russia. Napoleon was an opportunist and quite a brilliant general. He got too big for his boots and Wellington dealt with him.
Plus the French got sick and tired of war. Even all he had wasn't enough and then he made the bad choice to grab for more. He betrayed his allies and for some deranged reason, he really did believe that he could manage to run all of Europe with deteriorating stamina and increasingly shaky authority and waning popularity.
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Post by Admin on May 7, 2022 20:15:07 GMT
Aside: A descendant of the Belgian royals and House of Bonaparte. Interesting things to find when one is randomly googling... Laetitia de Witt AuthorGreat-grandparents: Victor, Prince Napoléon, Princess Clémentine of Belgiumwww.napoleon.org/en/magazine/interviews/laetitia-de-witt-the-aiglon-a-political-life-september-2020/Laetitia de Witt is the author of the biography L’aiglon. Le rêve brisé de Napoléon (The Aiglon, Napoleon’s dream dashed, ed. Tallandier; published with the “Année Napoléon 2021” logo). In it, she goes beyond the romantic myths engendered by the short life of Napoleon’s heir. Here, she kindly answers a few questions for napoleon.org. (Interview by Marie de Bruchard, September 2020, English translation Peter Hicks)
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