Memoirs of General Count Rapp, first aide-de-camp to Napoleon

Inactivity soon engendered sedition. Other armies, other corps, which had not the excuse of being misled by a political combination, had trampled under foot military discipline....

The enemy was full of confidence; he fought, he intrigued, he flattered himself with the hopes of taking the place by storm or reducing it to ashes; but through the vigilance an...

We were conducted to Kiow. We were there informed of the prodigies performed by that handful of brave men who had not despaired of the safety of their country. They had triumphe...

The season became every day more severe. The rains were incessant, and produced a fetid fog which the sun, without heat, could scarcely dissipate. But what was still worse, the...

I was at the camp of Boulogne when the third war with Austria broke out. The French were passing the Rhine. The remnants of the enemy's army, which had been beaten and nearly cu...

During our stay at Ulm, the Prussians suddenly conceived the idea that they had an ancient inheritance of glory to defend. They were roused, and they took up arms. Haugwitz came...

While this was going on, we had left Krasnoi. Napoleon marched on foot at the head of his guard, and often talked of Ney; he called to mind his _coup d'œil_, so accurate and tru...

Meanwhile old Kaminski had taken the command of the Russian army, and had fixed his head-quarters at Pultusk. His Generals concentrated their forces, and every thing denoted the...

We were at Saint-Polten. Napoleon was riding on horseback on the Vienna road, when he perceived an open carriage advancing, in which were seated a priest and a lady bathed in te...

The Russians might have been _satisfied_. It was not likely that they would return soon to the charge. However, the transactions of the 5th had convinced me of the necessity of...

The sovereigns had fixed on the conditions of the armistice. Every fortress was to be revictualled once in five days, and to have a league of ground beyond its lines; but the Du...

It was during this retreat that the soldiers heard of the disastrous battle of Waterloo, and the Emperor's abdication, which, to that moment, I had carefully concealed from them...

After parading, the question was how we should subsist; this was much less easy. The enemy had rifled all the villages, and had left neither forage nor cattle; no more resources...

I had left Dantzick, and I traversed Lithuania; the country was dreary, it was made up of woods and steeps—an unlimited picture of poverty and desolation. It was at that season...

The Elector of Hesse, also, wished to treat; but the Emperor was so much offended with that Prince, that he would not receive his envoy. “As to him,” said he, “his reign is ended.”

We were now in possession of the whole course of the Saale, and in a fair way to turn the enemy's army. The calculations of the Duke of Brunswick were completely frustrated. He...

The next day I went early to the Kremlin. Scarcely had I reached the palace, when Napoleon came out of it to leave Moscow for ever; he perceived me. “I hope that you will not fo...

But the Allies did not well second the elements which were fighting for them. Instead of at once coming to the attack, they wasted their time in miserable intrigues: there were...

We had not been able to shut up all the Austrian force in Ulm. Werneck escaped by the way of Heidenheim, and the Archduke hastened after him. They were both in full flight; but...

CHAP. III.—Napoleon's attachment to his family.—Lucien's opposition to the views of Napoleon.—Napoleon's bounty to Rapp.—Rapp's intercession for Requier and Damas.—Is unsuccessf...

Moscow was destroyed: the occupation of its ruins was neither safe nor advantageous: we were too far removed from our wings; we could not procure subsistence, and we had no inte...

Dantzic appears made by nature for a fortress: washed on the north by the Vistula, protected on the south-west by a chain of precipitous heights, it is defended on all other sid...

We set out for Potsdam; and we were overtaken by a storm: it was so violent and the rain fell in such torrents, that we took refuge in a neighbouring house. Napoleon was wrapped...

No man possessed greater sensibility, or evinced more constancy in his affections than Napoleon. He tenderly loved his mother, he adored his wife, and he was fondly attached to...

I went to occupy the lines of the Lauter. Twenty-three years before we had defended them; but then they were in a good condition, the left bank of the river was protected; we ha...

The retreat had been disastrous. Every scourge that Nature has in store we had experienced; but every day brought us nearer to Smolensko: we were to find in that town repose and...

The affair of Smolensko took place. The battle was obstinate, the cannonade violent. The Russians, taken in flank and enfiladed, were defeated. They could not defend those walls...

Prince Hatzfeld had come to Potsdam as a deputy from the city of Berlin, and had been well received. He rendered an account of his mission, as well as I can recollect, to Count...

The army continued its movements, always driving before it the troops it had defeated at Valontina. _Te Deums_ were often sung in Russia; they are sung for every thing in that h...

I do not pretend to be an historical character; but I was long near a man who has been the object of base misrepresentations, and I commanded brave troops whose services have be...

The Imperial divorce was publicly spoken of in Paris, but opinions varied with regard to the choice of the future Empress. The Princesses of Russia and Saxony, and the Archduche...

Meanwhile the negotiations for peace were proceeding very slowly, and Germany was still suffering. A young man, instigated by a blind feeling of patriotism, formed the design of...

Nothing could have been more repugnant to the wishes of the Dantzickers than having among them French custom-house officers, whom for some time there had been an idea of establi...

Napoleon next proceeded to the camp, and reviewed the third corps; and every individual who had particularly distinguished himself was rewarded, either by promotion or by a deco...

All this zeal however did not fill up my ranks; the time was passing away, and the recruits did not come in. The allies formed themselves in corps on the left bank of the river;...

The conflagration, the sight of the ground which had been so often trodden by the Polish legions on their return from their glorious expeditions, excited fresh ardour; the troop...

The wings were composed of Italians and Poles; Napoleon acted on the left of the enemy's masses. Beyond this we had no precise information; women, children, old people, cattle,...

The interview of Erfurt took place. Napoleon set out for Spain; he attacked and dispersed all that were opposed to him; and the English army would have been destroyed had he bee...

The cold, the privations, were extreme; the hour of disasters had come on us! We found our wounded lying dead on the road, and the Russians waiting for us at Viasma. At the sigh...

We had now done with the Austrians, and we advanced to meet the Russians. Kutusoff affected resolution, and we thought him disposed to fight. We congratulated ourselves on this...

I resumed my route: it was through forests, steeps, every thing that is most wild in nature; but I met at every step officers who were going on missions; they gave me news of my...

The grand army was already on the Vistula. Napoleon quitted Paris, repaired to the capital of Saxony, and thence to Dantzic. He had been preceded by the King of Naples, who had...

Napoleon, whatever his detractors may say, was neither overbearing nor obstinate in his opinions. He was eager to obtain information, and he wished to hear the opinions of all w...

The Russian army retreated towards the capital: it made some resistance at Mojaisk, and arrived at Moscow. We took this city without striking a blow. Murat entered it in the tra...

The Prussians fled at full speed; but the more rapidly they retreated, the more eagerly we maintained the pursuit. Being overtaken within sight of Magdeburg, they took refuge be...

Many persons have described Napoleon as a violent, harsh, and passionate man; this is because they have not known him. Absorbed as he was in important business, opposed in his v...

A heavy fall of rain obliged us to return from our walk. I wrote to General Lauer, requesting that he would give us an account of the last moments of St. * * *. He informed me t...

Napoleon quitted Dantzic, and proceeded to Kœnigsberg. Murat accompanied him, and General Belliard was also there. He spoke to them a great deal about Spain, and his brother, wi...

It has been affirmed that Napoleon was not brave. A man who, from the rank of lieutenant of artillery, rose to be the ruler of a nation like France, could not surely be deficien...