Word: napoleon
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...Reasons Why. There were many reasons why the ditch stopped and eventually ditched Napoleon. Napoleon's military and organizational genius failed him -even hindered him-at sea. Nelson could say cheerfully: "Some things must be left to chance-nothing is certain in a naval battle!" But Napoleon demanded certainty all along the line. To him a fleet was just an army that happened to walk on the water. Ordered to wheel left or right, to advance or retreat, the fleet obeyed: only poltroons protested that there was no wind, or too many rocks, or not enough water. Whether...
...glamorous Grande Armee. On the eve of Trajalgar, Admiral Villeneuve summed up in a few words: "We have bad masts, bad sails, bad rigging, bad officers and bad seamen." Worst of all were the French admirals, who suffered from bad inferiority complexes. "Terrified of being condemned [by Napoleon] for the most trifling actions," the admirals preferred to take no action...
Trajalgar, when it came, was an act of Napoleonic desperation-a sort of exasperated suicide. Napoleon's invasion concentration, the work of years, had reached its peak point: it must be used or broken up. Ready to go, by Historian Maine's account, was "the fantastic total of 2,343 vessels, capable of transporting 167-590 men and 9,149 horses." It was to guard these that Napoleon sent his fatal order to Admiral Villeneuve, then in port in Spain, just above Gibraltar: "Wherever you find the enemy in inferior strength you will attack him without hesitation." Against...
...irrevocable disaster" which not only rendered impossible Napoleon's invasion of England, but made inevitable England's invasion of France. "Trajalgar was the prelude to Waterloo," concludes Maine, and in memory of it, "French and English sailors to this day wear a black cravat round their necks; the latter mourn for their leader who fell in the thick of the fight, and the former mourn for their shattered illusions...
Safety Record. In Beverly Hills, Calif., after police nabbed Napoleon Lafayette Baulch when he jumped a red light, discovered that he had stolen the car, was a two-term loser for burglary and forgery, was sought for passing $12,000 worth of bad checks, he lamented his capture, said he usually traveled by air because airlines "take bum checks...