upbeatmeeting

• history nerd • failure at life • feel free to tag me •

[upbeatmeeting]

upbeatmeeting

Sometimes stuff happens here. Mostly history and random crap.

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DO NOT SEND ME ANY MESSAGES OR ASKS BEGGING FOR "DONATIONS". YOU WILL BE BLOCKED AND REPORTED FOR SPAM. MY BLOG DOES NOT PROMOTE OR GIVE REACH TO SCAMMERS. SHAME ON YOU FOR USING REAL TRAGEDIES AS A BACKDROP FOR YOUR SCAM.

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Info: - Pronouns : they/them, he/him - Age : wouldn't you like to know [not a minor] - Timezone : BST [GMT+1] Languages: 🇵🇱 : Fluent 🇬🇧 : Fluent 🇩🇪 : A1/A2 [Can read okay, speaking bad] 🇫🇷 : A2/B1 [Can read well, speaking not great] * I'm happy to receive asks in any of these languages, but the response may be in English if I can't find the words in the original language. Also, be nice when I inevitably fuck up in German or French. Interests: - History : Napoleonic era, General Lasalle - Writing : historical fiction - Reading : historical fiction, classics - Physics : nuclear and particle physics Do Not Send: - Any explicit/NSFW content. - Any political content. - Whatever horseshit conspiracy theory you have. - Begging for "donations" for your scummy little scam taking advantage of real suffering. * I will block (and report if applicable) anyone sending me any of these through messages, asks or otherwise.

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[goth-queen]

[maggiec70]

Elementary/Middle School Napoleonica Fora

I didn't believe I would miss Bob Burnham's old Napoleon Series discussion forum as much as I do.

During its lengthy run, this forum averaged more than thirty posts each day on a variety of topics from almost all imaginable viewpoints and all sorts of nationalities. Additionally, the participants were historians with degrees, researchers with multilingual skills, reenactors, wargamers, uniform specialists, and artists, all of whom knew a thing or two, and were usually very happy in the weeds. Aside from arguments, some heated, some snarky [that was almost always me], some weighty and measured, we could count on the fact that we had only a minuscule number of uneducated fools to deal with. It is one thing to disagree with someone’s opinion, well-stated and well-researched, and quite another to suffer through a comment/post from someone who offers only garbage from Wikipedia or AI, too stupid to know where the inaccuracies are.

I disliked two things about Burnham, however. The first was his utterly misguided insistence on forbidding anyone to write and post book/article reviews that were analogous to the Amazon/Goodreads one- and two-star shellackings of what is, in truth, crap. This prohibition sailed much too close to the Southern grandmotherly admonition about saying nothing at all if one can’t say anything nice. Not only is that simply stupid, but it is also intellectually dishonest. The second thing is closing the forum because he claimed the original platform was past its prime, could not be sustained, was too expensive and too convoluted to change, and offered other typical excuses from men who are not tech-savvy and who no longer want the responsibility. As bad as that was, the true kiss of death was turning over the remnants of the once great forum to a thoroughly Brit-centric kid barely past acne and an advanced degree/studies centered solely on Wellington and his army, in—wait for it!—the Peninsula Wars.

The successor forum, TheNapoleonicWars.net, despite its desperate attempts to attract an audience and thus become relevant, manages on average five posts weekly from only a handful of folks who consistently play in the same anti-French, pro-British and Austrian sandbox. Its favorite experts are a Scots lass with a charming accent who does podcast episodes on the Marshalate, relying solely on questionable secondary sources; a female Dutch academic whose areas of expertise include international relations, terrorism and political violence, radicalism, and national security, and who ties herself in knots to translate some of the into a Napoleonic context – right up there with insisting Napoleon was a dictator just like Stalin and Hitler; and a military historian/psychiatrist claiming that Napoleon suffered from narcissistic derangement, probably bi-polar, and suffering from PTSD. Nothing like adding a bit of psychobabble to the witches' brew.

In fairness and transparency, the Brit-centric administrator banned me from this group after less than a year. Apparently, he disliked my demanding proof of quite a few statements by posters and arguing certain points without filters.

The other alleged Napoleonic site with a fair amount of traffic is “Generals and Napoleon,” which offers very little other than pirated filler like “OTD in History,” “Did You Know…?, and daily reprehensible AI “artwork,” about which many viewers have complained, to no avail. This site also offers episodes on YouTube, but unfortunately, borrows some of the very same [non]experts from White’s website. The administrator of the G and N clearly doesn’t vet the snippets of information he posts for accuracy; I could work full-time as an editor for him.

I did get carried away, I’m afraid, but I feel better.

I have also noticed that here on Tumblr, the frequent and engaging discussions in the Napoleonic community have slowed way down, with an apparent switch to art. I’d like to see more balance between the two.

[4emehautrhin]

OMG yes. Yes on all points. I remember Kevin and Digby going on about Stout. Major Manchin and his wonderful stories, James Parmenter, Bruno Nackaerts - George, Peter - you, me, Beryl - I miss a lot of it. Sadly here on tumblr, it's degenerated. Generals and Napoleon - I am saying that if that man was a history teacher in school, in secondary school like his biography states - well that tells you more about the state of schooling here in the US than anything else. He's got spirit, and enthusiasm, but little else. And that is sad. I'm still working on my Kleber stuff but that's rather niche. I'm seeing a LOT of AI creeping into the FB Napoleonica Pages too and that is.. well - look what I do with the AI - I admit to using it, but not for what these guys are doing. Blegh. I'd like to see more of the articles and discussions here as well - on more than just Waterloo. (at least it isn't Waterloo and Marengo, rinse and repeat, of the NapSeries but it's getting bad.) Do you remember Max Sewell's forum too - When the Great Split happened and Koen de Smedt and Fons Alpert's original Nap Series split into Bob and Max's two sites, and I had one I was running on Bravenet with Naplinks? The reasons for mine I don't remember other than I was tired of Bob's gatekeeping and wanted something more than Max's Waterloo/Marengo debates. I talked to Dallas Gavan not too long ago - he's doing well, but often too busy for our era anymore. So many of our friends are gone or no longer interested in the era. I kind of feel like the last of the Old Guard, holding out at Waterloo. Perhaps the mot de Cambronne (apocryphal but ske-rew it) is necessary here. La Garde meurt et ne se rend pas, indeed. I'd like to see more of our napblr folks getting into the histories of these men - their lives, their battles, their personalities. @mathildeaquisexta is starting to do that with her writings on Fouche and what not - I expect more to pop up once Exam season is done with. @upbeatmeeting is working on Lasalle, @rougeaud and @boneymichelon1769x are working on Ney stuff, and @joachimnapoleon still have the occasional entry. We've got @enlitment and @nesiacha on the Frev/Vendee fronts - perhaps - perhaps it's time to create a community on here, one focused on the histories.

I know we also have @alsatianus as well in this history group. There are more, perhaps. Some are mainly Frev and off of my radar for personal reasons, but those I cannot mention are still valid in their historical knowledge.

[upbeatmeeting]

To be subjected to my historical BS once my exams are finished (only 4 days left but I have never been so over a set of exams), please see @a-historical-companion, where I have several things planned once I recover from the carnage of this academic year. I am trying to do my part to contribute to the actual discussions here, as I am an individual with zero artistic talent in any form, but it turns out doing a whole degree is time-consuming.

Things that should eventually occur over there (subject to life trying to end me again) include:

Duels!

The odd and very small world of the Lasalles and Kellermanns,

Davout, Lasalle, and a few too many missing horses,

Misconceptions that have permeated pop culture but have actually been taken wildly out of context, and alternatives that are equally as cool,

Whatever else I feel like posting.

[a-historical-companion]

Happy 251st birthday to our favourite hussar!

251 years of haunting Metz, riding horses into ballrooms, getting away with literally anything and being annoyed at Davout's staff officers. And then being misinterpreted and mistranslated by history.

Happy birthday, Lasalle!

And happy first exam tomorrow to me...

[loladupre]

Hexacorn after de Hamilton 

[elodieunderglass]

Thank you @bogkeep 😇

[sufficientlylargen]

This is the hexacorn after painter Karl Wilhelm de Hamilton, which began chasing de Hamilton in 1685 and pursued him until de Hamilton's death of natural causes (hexacorn) in 1754.

[elodieunderglass]

It was relentless but strangely tender

[4emehautrhin]

@upbeatmeeting BAHAHAHAHAHHAAA https://loladupre.com/Equine there is MORE

[upbeatmeeting]

WHAT IS HAPPENING

[michelle-garanski]

Does anyone know the movie 《The duellists》? 🥹

[4emehautrhin]

know the movie well. Excellent artwork too - especially the chibis - so stinkin CUTE!

Now, does anyone know the true story or the true antagonists?

@upbeatmeeting - shall we?

Fournier and Dupont. A 30 year grudge that started because of this man right here sending an order via Dupont to Fournier:

Jean-Victor Marie Moreau

[upbeatmeeting]

...This order, being apparently quite disagreeable to Fournier, caused him to take out his anger on Dupont and challenge him to a duel, because whatever happened to "don't shoot the messenger", am I right?

Fournier demanded a rematch of this duel, believing it to have been conducted unfairly. And somehow, this rematch descended into a saga of 19* years (it's 30 duels over 19 years, I believe), because no one is capable of being normal in this army.

Dupont, eventually, managed to force him to promise not to bother him again after a final duel, but here's some interesting things that happened to Fournier in the meantime (followers of @a-historical-companion can expect a more properly written post on this at some point hopefully over the summer, this is only a bullet point list):

Demoted due to financial dishonesty and going AWOL apparently several times,

Taken back on as an aide-de-camp to Augereau,

Oh wait, got caught up in la mystérieuse affaire Donnadieu and was arrested and imprisoned for conspiracy against the First Consul,

Back again! This time leading an expedition under Magon de Médine,

oh wait he never even disembarked and just went back to France never mind,

Taken on by the one, the only, General Lasalle as chief of staff, because Lasalle saw the chaos and went "oh yeah I need more of that in my life",

Publicly snubbed by Napoleon at a review in 1807, who pretended not to know of his existence (probably instead knowing far too much) or service record and instead told him that his misdeeds had to be washed away in a baptism of blood (extra),

Actually did something good for himself and distinguished himself at Eylau, Guttstadt and Friedland,

Had a dragoon orderly turn up to a party with an order that needed his signature, instead had the orderly stand on the other end of the room and shot the order as signature, awarding the orderly 40 francs as reward for not flinching, then a wine bottle for suggesting another shot as "an initial",

Went to Spain and defended a town against 20,000 attackers with only 1,500 men,

You'd think he's basically reformed by now and is doing fine, right?

lol

Cut an aide-de-camp across the face with a sabre and was once again suspended,

But too bad the Emperor needed him too much so he was reinstated and did some more decent stuff in the Peninsula,

Went to Russia, managed an entire campaign without causing excessive trouble,

Was appointed Count of the Empire...

and then demoted again after getting into an argument with Napoleon,

Was sent to prison for defeatism, was attacked by Cossacks on the way, fought them off and demanded the escort continue towards the prison,

Somehow convinced the Restoration government to give him his rank back, no idea how that one happened,

Became inspector-general of cavalry or something.

Never a dull moment with these hussars.

Thanks, Moreau. Technically you started it.

[4emehautrhin]

Moreau starting shit - that's pretty much Moreau - i mean -he, Reynier and Desaix did hide certain.... documentation regarding Pichegru's treason in 1795 and only brought it to light in 1797. CHRIST MOREAU WHY.

don't forget - the end of that series of duels, IIRC, ended up with Dupont bringing a pistol to a sword duel and going "RIGHT, THAT IS IT!!" IIRC also - Fournier got his ass kicked each and every time he went up against Dupont, BUT HE WOULD NOT LET IT REST!

[upbeatmeeting]

Although I don't know the individual outcomes of each duel, considering there are 30 of them, it also wouldn't necessarily make sense for it to go on for that long if Fournier didn't lose. I mean, Dupont is the one who wants it to end, so he's not going to be demanding rematches, and I think if Fournier won he'd probably gloat and take the win and go away and use it as proof that Dupont is a scoundrel. So I find it overwhelmingly likely that Fournier was indeed a very sore loser, repeatedly, for 19 years.

Checks out. Again, hussars.

[michelle-garanski]

Does anyone know the movie 《The duellists》? 🥹

[4emehautrhin]

know the movie well. Excellent artwork too - especially the chibis - so stinkin CUTE!

Now, does anyone know the true story or the true antagonists?

@upbeatmeeting - shall we?

Fournier and Dupont. A 30 year grudge that started because of this man right here sending an order via Dupont to Fournier:

Jean-Victor Marie Moreau

[upbeatmeeting]

...This order, being apparently quite disagreeable to Fournier, caused him to take out his anger on Dupont and challenge him to a duel, because whatever happened to "don't shoot the messenger", am I right?

Fournier demanded a rematch of this duel, believing it to have been conducted unfairly. And somehow, this rematch descended into a saga of 19* years (it's 30 duels over 19 years, I believe), because no one is capable of being normal in this army.

Dupont, eventually, managed to force him to promise not to bother him again after a final duel, but here's some interesting things that happened to Fournier in the meantime (followers of @a-historical-companion can expect a more properly written post on this at some point hopefully over the summer, this is only a bullet point list):

Demoted due to financial dishonesty and going AWOL apparently several times,

Taken back on as an aide-de-camp to Augereau,

Oh wait, got caught up in la mystérieuse affaire Donnadieu and was arrested and imprisoned for conspiracy against the First Consul,

Back again! This time leading an expedition under Magon de Médine,

oh wait he never even disembarked and just went back to France never mind,

Taken on by the one, the only, General Lasalle as chief of staff, because Lasalle saw the chaos and went "oh yeah I need more of that in my life",

Publicly snubbed by Napoleon at a review in 1807, who pretended not to know of his existence (probably instead knowing far too much) or service record and instead told him that his misdeeds had to be washed away in a baptism of blood (extra),

Actually did something good for himself and distinguished himself at Eylau, Guttstadt and Friedland,

Had a dragoon orderly turn up to a party with an order that needed his signature, instead had the orderly stand on the other end of the room and shot the order as signature, awarding the orderly 40 francs as reward for not flinching, then a wine bottle for suggesting another shot as "an initial",

Went to Spain and defended a town against 20,000 attackers with only 1,500 men,

You'd think he's basically reformed by now and is doing fine, right?

lol

Cut an aide-de-camp across the face with a sabre and was once again suspended,

But too bad the Emperor needed him too much so he was reinstated and did some more decent stuff in the Peninsula,

Went to Russia, managed an entire campaign without causing excessive trouble,

Was appointed Count of the Empire...

and then demoted again after getting into an argument with Napoleon,

Was sent to prison for defeatism, was attacked by Cossacks on the way, fought them off and demanded the escort continue towards the prison,

Somehow convinced the Restoration government to give him his rank back, no idea how that one happened,

Became inspector-general of cavalry or something.

Never a dull moment with these hussars.

Thanks, Moreau. Technically you started it.

[sinn0hh]

[napolebonasacc]

Lasalle at Wagram (1809)

by Dan Nance.

[4emehautrhin]

@upbeatmeeting new Lasalle dropped!

[upbeatmeeting]

[decemberdancer04]

Reblog this if you had to learn cursive writing as a child

If you were ever told or were made to learn cursive writing when you were in grade school. I wanna see how many of you suffered like I did.

[4emehautrhin]

[upbeatmeeting]

Do you know who Stanley Yelnats is?

Yes

No

Voting ended onMar 13

For extremely scientific purposes.

[the-reblog-squad-deactivated202]

Reblog if you don't use Generative AI to write fanfics/original fics or to create fanart/original art.

[joachimnapoleon]

Facebook Translation still racking up W’s

[a-historical-companion]

haiiii

Is there likeee any description of what Lasalle looked like with long hair? (I think it was long. Ion remember. I mean like pre-egypt campaign tho)

Having returned from exam season hibernation, I can now answer!

Lasalle, like pretty much all soldiers and especially light cavalrymen, did have long hair during his early career. Egypt, however, had other ideas in the end, and he laments in a letter home that it is falling out due to the climate and the lack of pomade, and he does not appear to have grown it out again after that.

While I don't know of any descriptions, there are three images that come to mind here, though none of them are perfect poses or depictions. Curiously, they are all from the Battle of Rivoli, which I didn't actually notice until writing this post.

1. Napoleon at the Battle of Rivoli

The first and likely the most reliable is the well-known painting "Napoleon at the Battle of Rivoli" by Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux.

Lasalle is the figure on the right sitting on the cannon and pointing at a standard, which is probably one of the 5 he captured that day. The grey horse the man near him is holding is probably his as well, but that's beside the point. This is also the only one that is in colour, so relish that while you can, and further inspection will also reveal a small collection of other famous figures.

2. Chef d'Escadron Lasalle at the Battle of Rivoli

We come next to "Chef d’Escadron Lasalle at the Battle of Rivoli" by Victor Huen. Or at least that's what I'm told it is, as I can't seem to find a reliable source for this image. We'll operate on the assumption it is what it says it is.

I believe that the figure on the right carrying the standard is intended to be Lasalle. Looking quite fearsome in this one, and we do get a better view of his face.

3. Lasalle, le soir de Rivoli

The final image is one I've not come across too often but remembered when this question came in; it is "Lasalle, le soir de Rivoli" by André Marchand.

There is a higher quality but watermarked version here that may prove to be better for detailed viewing, but I wanted to put an unobstructed version in the body of the post.

Obviously, Lasalle is the one sitting with the captured standards. The scene depicted in this image is an extract from the memoirs of General Auguste Colbert, written by his son:

On the evening of the Battle of Rivoli, as trophies of the glorious day were being brought to the commander-in-chief from all sides, Lasalle, pale and weary from the numerous charges he had led, stood near a pile of flags. Bonaparte noticed him: "Lie down on it, Lasalle," he said, "you've earned it."

Traditions et souvenirs, ou Mémoires touchant le temps et la vie du général Auguste Colbert (1793-1809). Tome 1. Par N.-J. Colbert, marquis de Chabanais, son fils

The observant reader might notice the use of the informal "tu" in the original French text. I will have to pay attention to whether Napoleon continues to use informal language with Lasalle after rising to higher power.

I do hope this answers your question and fulfils whatever purpose you required the answer for, and I apologise for the delay, but as always do come back with any further questions. I shall now resume staring aimlessly at walls.

[chaotic-history]

there should be jstor wrapped. annas-archive wrapped. gallica wrapped. i wanna know what my top article is. what books have i cited the most times.

[chaotic-history]

'you spent 87 hours on gallica looking for items that do not exist. you told gallica to kill itself 15 times and threatened to kill yourself 16 times. you watched the website crash 104 times!'

[chaotic-history]

because they hate everyone i think

[cuirassier]

I have seen many questionnaires but none including history. What a shame..

1. Who is your favourite historical person?

2. What is your country most famous for in history?

3. What is your country most infamous for in history?

4. Favourite historical era?

5. Favourite weapon?

6. Military unit?

7. Historical dressing, uniform or costume?

8. What is the last thing you have read/ listened/ spoke with historical reference?

9. Favourite historical film?

10. Pieces of art ( paintings, sculpures, lithographies, ect.) related to history you like most ( post an image of them)

11. Have you participated in reenactment? What it was like?

12. Would you take part in reenactment? In what era and as whom?

13. Something random about some random historical person in a random era.

14. Why you are interested in history ( a silly question, eh?) ?

15. Were the history classes teached in an interesting way in your school/ college/ university? What would you do to improve them if you were the teacher / lecturer?

16. Do you own some historical item? ( coin, clothing, weapons, books, ect) If yes which one is your favourite?

17. What historical item would you like to own?

18. Look at the clock and assume the numbers are forming historical year ( 17;58 would be 1758) What was / is / will be the world that year? Any event happened then or will happen?

19. Favourite historical book?

20. History crush?

21. Historical game?

22. Random historical fact about the place you are at the moment.

23. Favourite historical song / with such reference?

24. Most underrated historical figure?

25. Most overrated historical figure in your opinion?

26. Forgotten hero we should know about and admire?

27. Favourite historical “ What if… ” ?

28. Favourite “dream team” of specific era or the entire history?

29. Great historical mystery you are interested in?

30. Ask me a question of your own.

Send me the numbers of the questions you wish to be answered in my “Ask”.