Dispatch 34
Added 2025-04-20 23:18:23 +0000 UTCHere is the thirty-fourth patrons-only Dispatch. Topics include: Napoleon's uniforms, Switzerland under the Empire, and the Battle of Raab.
Don't forget to leave any questions for the next dispatch below. And once again: thank you for your support!
Comments
I just listened to the Duc D'Enghien episode, and I noticed that in both his trial and Louis XVI's the smoking gun was letters written in their own hands. My question is: why would they be so stupid to make evidence like that? Why not just have a secretary write it for them so they could have (semi)plausible deniability? Was it a matter of trust? The English/Austrians wanting to know their man is in it for real? It is an unusually personal touch in general, we're senior Ancien Regime aristocrats often personally writing work letters?
Lucas Arenson
2025-05-13 17:50:47 +0000 UTCPerhaps you have already answered this question in a previous dispatch; I am going back and listening to them as we speak. However, I am curious as to if you have any knowledge of native French who had immigrated to the United States or perhaps even sympathetic US citizens who went back and fought for Napoleon in the 1790s or after. I am familiar Citizen Genet during the administration of President Washington and was hoping you may have some information on individuals crossing the Atlantic to fight for the Emperor.
JP Faust
2025-05-10 19:19:28 +0000 UTCGreat episode as usual! In the last narrative episode you mentioned the bridges French engineers constructed had to be swung purely by muscle power. This makes me curious if there were any proposals to use nascent steam power in any sort of military or battlefield capacity during this period.
Will Stephens
2025-04-26 03:15:13 +0000 UTCThank you SO much for this addendum that really does bridge the story so well. This is why I pay for the extra content!! Plus I know it is a challenging time. Thank you.
Jeff Gillooly
2025-04-26 00:14:05 +0000 UTC
