The Ravings of Demented Rabbits

Cult of Personality

Because Toast wanted me to post this. Not as funny as it might've been, and I didn't ACTUALLY call Nappy a loser, but oh well.

Marechal:
What a life Napoleon led. One day he is an underpaid foreign officer without an appointment... then he was a European Emperor ruling from Lisbon to Warsaw, Vienna, Paris, Rome, and all of Europe at his feet and a million soldiers under his banners.... and then he's a lonely, poor old man on a God-forsaken rock in the south Atlantic. Wow.

Me:
And of those, one is a good career goal. :P

Marechal:
Just ... amazing story. Two human stories, above all else, fascinate me. The story of our Lord Jesus Christ and the story of Napoleon Bonaparte. I never tire of those two stories.

Incidentally, I bought this 8 hour triology on Napoleon from A&E ... it's actually.... quite well done .... I'll end it to you sometime. Does a nice job showing the colorfully uniformed troops stomping around in rigid formation. Honor and glory and all that went with battle in the age of Napoleon. =D

Me:
What about the raping, pillaging, looting, and freezing/starving to death parts?

Marechal:
These banners and flags were really quite ornate pieces of work. I don't know if you've ever done a close look at them, but wow. Lots of effort and pride went into those flags. Gold lace and fringes, the list of battles the regiment had fought would go on there. And then there were the imperial eagles. Those golden eagles Napoleon bestowed to all regiments. Men fought and died to save those eagles from the hands of the enemy. Those flags fluttering in the breeze on the day of battle. And those amazing military bands. Drummers in every regiment. Bands playing in the background.

Me:
No, in other words.

Eagles! Way to rip off Marius!

Marechal:
Seeing as how his legions and his empire rivalled the greatness of Ancient Rome, I should think it a fairly appropriate symbol of his majesty and greatness. =)

Me:
Bah. Nappy's empire had nothing on Rome. Absolutely nothing. Non-sustainable empires...bah.

Marechal:
In ten years he built an empire to rival the size and majesty of that of the Roman Empire that had taken generations to build. I say, "Bah".

Longevity wasn't Napoleon's problem. His situation was too far removed from that of Rome's during Iulius' day and the subsequent regimes. Different ballgame.

Me:
And then it fell apart. While Rome lasted for over a thousand years. Two thousand, even. Nappy lasted for, what, 20? 20 is pathetic. Everyone but the Nazis lasts for 20. The godless red Communists in Russia lasted for 40, more if you count pre-WWII. England lasted even longer. Nappy's an amateur.

Marechal:
This conversation has ended.

Marechal:
Napoleon was one man. He built an empire in a decade. Rome could never have matched that. They had a whole succession of emperors and generals of varying talent. They had Hardians and Julius. Napoleon was one man. One. And the empire took generations to build. And in it was in the age of barbarians. Not that they were pushovers... but it was Roman civilization armed against hordes of Germanic heathens. Napoleon fought hundreds of years worth of Western civ and established monarchies. Put the hurt on them, so to speak. One man.

Me:
With modern tech. And it promptly collapsed right after he left, too.

It's sort of like saying that Nazi Germany is one of the best empires of all time simply because they conquered a huge swathe of Europe.

Marechal:
But Nazi Germany was lots of peoples. Rommel. Goering. Goering? Ha. Oops. Umm... damnit... those tank commanders in Russia... what were their names? ... argh ...

Me:
With a lot more guys, we note, needing a lot more people to run things. Way different scales, and such.

Marechal:
Right. Napoleon ran everything, you see. That was part of his greatness. He was the one man empire-builder. Bah. You must read more about the greatness of Napoleon. You must come to accept him as your master.

Me:
You should've been Tonto_Napoleon.

He could afford to run most everything. Scale, and all that. And even then, he didn't run EVERYTHING, now did he? Every little army detachment and such. Noooooooo.

Marechal:
Bah. You need to have your values rearranged.

Napoleon is top dog. Period. Everyone else is playing second fiddle or benched. *gazes into the Nappy statue in front of him on the shelf*

Me:
*Marius statue pushes Nappy statue off shelf*

Marechal:
So yeah... anywho.. you're still wrong about Nappy. He was the closest thing to God-on-Earth we've had since Jesus Christ. Hrm. Careful with my idolatry here... *is smitten*

Posted by Dwip at August 31, 2003 3:49 PM