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10-12-2014, 09:09 PM
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1,030 posts, read 1,328,746 times
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I find it surprising that after he was captured the first time he wasn't immediately be-headed or something. Instead they just exiled twice but managed to escape both times. Why would they give a guy like this, responsible for killing thousands and trying to take over Europe so much as a second chance?
Surely they should have known exiling a guy as popular as him wouldn't work, people would try to rescue him and once out he'd go right back to what he was doing.
After all, this is a time where you could be executed for just petty theft, so why let a war monger responsible for thousands of deaths of your own people (as well as many others) live?
Another thing I was curious about is that I read that when Napoleon was first exiled he managed to keep 600 men. What was the rationale behind letting him have so many men in exile with him? That would just make his escape all the more easier!
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10-12-2014, 09:39 PM
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Location: Parts Unknown, Northern California
48,571 posts, read 20,525,164 times
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You have the facts wrong.
Napoleon escaped from Elba, but not from Saint Helena where he was confined after the loss at Waterloo.
Napoleon was not executed, he died of stomach cancer, according to his doctor, or of arsenic poisoning as some have argued. If it was arsenic, it might still have not been murder, the wallpaper in Napoleon's home had arsenic as an ingredient.
There was certainly never a public execution.
Napoleon was exiled rather than executed because the nations which defeated him were all led by monarchs who never wished to set the precedent of executing heads of state, that would be signing off on the acceptability of their own executions.
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10-13-2014, 02:42 AM
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Location: Peterborough, England
472 posts, read 832,791 times
Reputation: 411
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PeaceAndLove42
I find it surprising that after he was captured the first time he wasn't immediately be-headed or something.
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Because the English got to him (or he to them) before the Prussians.
Marshal Blucher had given orders for his summary execution. |
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10-14-2014, 08:10 AM
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13,991 posts, read 20,208,461 times
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Yeah that's just not how they treated fallen leaders then, and yes Blucher (an amazing figure in history by the way) would have taken the exception and killed him outright if he were captured. There was pretty much no quarter given or expected when Prussians and French met in battle in 1815. After his defeat in Waterloo Napolean was actually trying to work out an arrangement to live quietly in England or the US and was quite shocked to be exiled way out in the South Atlantic.
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10-14-2014, 10:30 AM
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Location: Peterborough, England
472 posts, read 832,791 times
Reputation: 411
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dd714
Yeah that's just not how they treated fallen leaders then, and yes Blucher (an amazing figure in history by the way) would have taken the exception and killed him outright if he were captured. There was pretty much no quarter given or expected when Prussians and French met in battle in 1815. After his defeat in Waterloo Napolean was actually trying to work out an arrangement to live quietly in England or the US and was quite shocked to be exiled way out in the South Atlantic.
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Fortunately, even the British weren't gullible enough for that. |
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