(looks at the title 'Heroes of the Republic') I'm loving this story so much. We need more Napoleonic era quests. Navy-Napoleon when.
I love how his life has taken such a different turn in this story, as opposed to how horribly it went in real life.
Dumas is now the Number One most famous military commander in Europe.
The man deserves his own movie in my opinion. Which actor would you pick to portray him?
I consider this to be the most significant thing he has ever done to this date. (looks at Massena plundering Italy, then plundering it some more) ...that might have hurt Dumas' efforts though.
Well.
He is certainly a brilliant commander, I'll give him that.
He had no formal education. Was never a student of a military academy. The man had an astonishing natural talent for military command.
Napoleon referred to him as 'the greatest name of my military empire'. (Of course, he'd later say to him, 'So, Prince of Essling, you're no longer Massena?')
His leadership also aided the careers of many other French officers. Many of the other Marshals used to be subordinates of him.
As much as I despise him, I'm going to try to be fair and to learn more about him. (starts reading Massena's Wikipedia page)
Andre Massena came from humble origins; he was the son of a shopkeeper, who died when Andre was only 6 years old. His mother then remarried, and little Andre was sent away to live with his father's relatives.
...I suddenly dislike Massena's mother very much.
Andre became a cabin boy at the age of 13, sailing across the Mediterranean and even to French Guinea. He spent four years at sea, then returned to France in 1775 as a 17-year-old teenager and joined the French Royal Army as a Private. 14 years later, in 1789, at the age of 31, Massena was a warrant officer; the highest rank a non-nobleman could achieve. He married his wife that same year, and also became a smuggler before rejoining the army in 1791 and becoming a Colonel in 1792.
The War of the First Coalition began in April 1792.
Massena would rise rapidly, becoming a Brigadier-General in August 1793...but this is where I'll stop, as that is where this story is at now, in the beginning of August 1793, with Massena being Second-in-Command of the Armee D'Italie.
I'm honestly curious of how differently this battle went compared to the real-life one.
In my opinion, in real life, Massena's greed and vices consumed him and became his downfall. He stopped caring about anything, be it military command or achieving glory, except for indulging himself. It's like if a Targaryen started off like Aegon the Conqueror only to later become like Aegon the Unworthy.
Veteran of the Seven Years War.
Veteran of the American War of Independence.
When a certain Charles Francois Dumouriez betrayed the French Republic but was forced to flee thanks to his then-subordinate Davout, the Committee of Public Safety (shudders) investigated Custine, but Robespierre fiercely defended him, leading to Custine's acquittal.
Unfortunately, he suffered setback after setback in his next and last military campaign as commander of the Armee du Nord, and after failing to lift the Siege of Conde, he was recalled to Paris, prosecuted in a trial by Antoine Quentin Fouquier-Tinville (the public prosecutor in Paris who demanded the executions of many individuals, from Marie-Antoinette to Danton to Robespierre, and who later had the longest trial of the French Revolution, lasting 41 days and involving 419 witnesses before he was found guilty and guillotined on 7th May 1795) and Jacques Hebert (who publicly accused Marie-Antoinette of sexually abusing her own son Louis XVII, causing Robespierre to call Hebert an imbecile for making what was obviously outrageous lies)
Custine was found guilty of treason and guillotined on 28th August 1793. His son was also guillotined a few months later.
In this story, however, it seems that Custine has managed to salvage his reputation, holding back France's enemies from Paris. We will see where this quest will take him.
Some insignificant Corsican who in real life definitely never amounted to anything nor is remembered by anyone. Not at all.
May this newly-born Republic become part of Napoleon's lasting legacy- (the Sardinian people become very, very French and start protesting and rioting every weekend) ...merde.Paid his troops out of his own pocket.
Committed no looting nor crimes on the Sardinian people, except for a single case of requisitioning food from farmers.
Not only rejected but also arrested an Englishman for offering him an enormous bribe to betray the French Republic.
Sardinia may have been a side-show compared to the rest of the theaters of the War of the First Coalition, but in my opinion it was how Napoleon carried out the campaign that matters, and that is what he should spread the word of in Paris.
Apparently fluent in English.
Veteran of the Seven Years War.
Enthusiastically embraced the cause of the French Revolution.
What he is most remembered for, even to this day, is being the commander of the French army that fought in the extremely important Battle of Valmy in 1792, aka the 'battle that saved the French Revolution', where Kellermann defeated a Prussian army that was led by the Duke of Brunswick.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe stated that this French military victory at Valmy 'opened a new era in the history of the world.'
Even Napoleon was quoted to say, "I think I'm the boldest general that ever lived, but I daren't take post on that ridge with windmill at Valmy (where Kellermann took position) in 1793."
Despite being accused by General Adam Custine of neglecting to support Custine's efforts on the Rhine, Kellermann was acquitted by the National Convention in Paris. Commanding the Army of the Alps and of Italy, he proved to be an excellent administrator.
The oldest of the 26 Marshals, receiving the rank at the age of 68 by which point he had already been retired from active command for about 6 years.
However, in the First French Empire, he was frequently employed to administrate and train French troops, and also took control of the line of communications and the command of reserve troops. His decades of experience in this proved valuable to Napoleon.
In 1814, he turned on Napoleon, voting in favor of the deposition of the Emperor of the French.
He is also one of the five Marshals who voted for Michel Ney to be executed.
In this story, as of now, Kellermann is commanding French forces tasked with putting down the revolt in Vietna-I mean the Vendee.
He has no hope of succeeding. Not even Napoleon could stop the people of the Vendee from revolting.
The War in the Vendee is...horrific. Here's an article on it.
Some historians state that the actions of the French revolutionaries in the Vendee were nothing short of a genocide.
I repeat: multiple historians who have thoroughly studied this war came to the conclusion that it was genocide on the part of the revolutionaries.
I still support the French Revolution. What it stood for, what it achieved and contributed to the world.
But what happened, happened. We should not deny it.
So...currently, Kellermann is in the Vendee.
With his Chief-of-Staff, a certain Louis-Alexandre Berthier.
Tjf, you have said that poaching Berthier from Kellermann will make the latter become an enemy of Napoleon.
So be it.
Here's hoping that if Kellermann seeks revenge, his reputation and standing in France would not be too damaging to Napoleon.
But despite that, there is really no other substitute for Berthier. Not Soult, not Lannes, not even Davout.
Napoleon: (unleashes a propaganda campaign in Spain that works far too well, getting way out of control as everyone in Spain starts fighting everyone else and the British find the entire country foaming at the mouth to tear them limb from limb as Spanish civilians take up arms while waving a new tricolor flag screaming for a Spanish Republic) (Napoleon turns to his fellow French, some of whom are nervously looking out the windows as a frenzied mob of Spanish revolutionaries run past, their weapons and clothes covered in blood and gore) "Lads, I think it's time we took our leave."
