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Apr. 27th, 2012 02:31 pmWarning: Eurocentric point of view follows:
I’ve been reading Frank McLynn’s biography of Napoleon on and off for the last little while. It’s a BIG book, or would be if I had it in physical rather than e-book form, so I’ve been reading bits and pieces at a time. We’ve now reached 1813, at which point the disastrous invasion of Russia has already failed, and he’s living on borrowed time. Should I spoiler cut? I don’t want to spoil anybody for the eventual fate of a historical personage. Um, I may spend too much time on the internet if I’m seriously considering adding spoiler cuts for Napoleon. Anyway, if you didn’t already know, things end badly for him (there, I’ve spoiled you).
It’s been a very long time since I’ve studied the Napoleonic Wars. In fact, I’m not sure I ever studied the Napoleonic Wars, at least never in depth. In high school we focused on the War of 1812-1814 (a mere sideshow as far as the Europeans were concerned, but a huge moment for Canada. As my social studies teacher never tired of reminding me, Canadian troops penetrated as far south as Washington DC and burned down the White House. They then had to retreat in haste to avoid compromising their supply lines, but still, considered a great moment). And in university my nineteenth century history courses mostly didn’t start until 1815. Which is not to say that I was totally ignorant on the subject, but there was stuff that was new to me. In particular, just how much of a JERK Napoleon was. Not that I had an especially high opinion of the guy before I read this bio, but I really don’t now.
What’s especially striking, though, is what a massive effect railroads, telegraph lines and steamships would have on, well, everything. Bear in mind that the last history book I read was about the British Empire in the nineteenth century. This bio is mostly about wars, because Napoleon spent most of his adult life at war with one country or another (often with many at the same time). And really, the technology of how to make war hadn’t changed *that* much in the past few thousand years. If you wanted to transport troops on land, you could go as fast as a man could walk or ride a horse. By sea, you could go as fast as a ship could sail, and were dependent on the winds. La Grande Armee was considered radically high-tech at the time because on clear days they used a semaphore system to communicate. But it would all change radically within just a few decades, and all forms of transport and communications would change with it.
I realize these are not original thoughts, and that many historians consider the 19th century to contain a bigger technological leap than the 20th century precisely because of the innovations I mentioned (railways beat out spacecraft in terms of changing the world). But it’s the first time I really got what they meant. The contrast between the Europe of 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Europe of the Great Exhibition in 1851 is HUGE. Basic things like how people travelled, how they sent their mail and transported their goods, how they sent urgent messages, all completely up-ended in less than forty years.
I’ve been reading Frank McLynn’s biography of Napoleon on and off for the last little while. It’s a BIG book, or would be if I had it in physical rather than e-book form, so I’ve been reading bits and pieces at a time. We’ve now reached 1813, at which point the disastrous invasion of Russia has already failed, and he’s living on borrowed time. Should I spoiler cut? I don’t want to spoil anybody for the eventual fate of a historical personage. Um, I may spend too much time on the internet if I’m seriously considering adding spoiler cuts for Napoleon. Anyway, if you didn’t already know, things end badly for him (there, I’ve spoiled you).
It’s been a very long time since I’ve studied the Napoleonic Wars. In fact, I’m not sure I ever studied the Napoleonic Wars, at least never in depth. In high school we focused on the War of 1812-1814 (a mere sideshow as far as the Europeans were concerned, but a huge moment for Canada. As my social studies teacher never tired of reminding me, Canadian troops penetrated as far south as Washington DC and burned down the White House. They then had to retreat in haste to avoid compromising their supply lines, but still, considered a great moment). And in university my nineteenth century history courses mostly didn’t start until 1815. Which is not to say that I was totally ignorant on the subject, but there was stuff that was new to me. In particular, just how much of a JERK Napoleon was. Not that I had an especially high opinion of the guy before I read this bio, but I really don’t now.
What’s especially striking, though, is what a massive effect railroads, telegraph lines and steamships would have on, well, everything. Bear in mind that the last history book I read was about the British Empire in the nineteenth century. This bio is mostly about wars, because Napoleon spent most of his adult life at war with one country or another (often with many at the same time). And really, the technology of how to make war hadn’t changed *that* much in the past few thousand years. If you wanted to transport troops on land, you could go as fast as a man could walk or ride a horse. By sea, you could go as fast as a ship could sail, and were dependent on the winds. La Grande Armee was considered radically high-tech at the time because on clear days they used a semaphore system to communicate. But it would all change radically within just a few decades, and all forms of transport and communications would change with it.
I realize these are not original thoughts, and that many historians consider the 19th century to contain a bigger technological leap than the 20th century precisely because of the innovations I mentioned (railways beat out spacecraft in terms of changing the world). But it’s the first time I really got what they meant. The contrast between the Europe of 1815 at the end of the Napoleonic Wars and the Europe of the Great Exhibition in 1851 is HUGE. Basic things like how people travelled, how they sent their mail and transported their goods, how they sent urgent messages, all completely up-ended in less than forty years.
