Recent content by Mike

And the War of the Second Coalition? France was losing the war to Austria until Napoleon came along and saved the day. Without Napoleon, a victorious Austria would have restored the Bourbons to the French throne and thereby ended the French Republic. A stable French Republic was almost...

Exactly. He had a supply line going all the way to the British Navy that allowed him to keep his small-sized army well-fed and supplied every day which kept morale high. The French did not have the same advantage due to the guerillas and the hot, arid climate. Wellington himself admitted that he...

Then why weren't the Dutch defeated? The far smaller Dutch held out long enough against the powerful French and English, long enough for an anti-French coalition to form and push back the French. The same situation would have occurred if the French tried to annex the Netherlands in 1745: a...

France was only the European superpower during the days of Louis XIV because of its much larger population relative to Europe. But militarily-speaking, it didn't do much during those days: France and England together couldn't even defeat pipsqueak Netherlands decisively. France barely survived...

The Dutch would have had allies that would have offset their relative weakness in 1745. There is no guarantee that France would be walking all over them because France did not have a great military record until Napoleon. Maurice de Saxe did do well for France in the Low Countries but it was...

He also influenced the Red Cross with his hospitals and ambulances. His surgical practices are still used today. Furthermore, the Crimean War or the FPW did not appear to have influenced the Red Cross. The founder of the Red Cross was on record to have been moved by the bloodbath of the...

Go read up on Jean Larrey, a surgeon in the service of Napoleon. The first modern hospitals, ambulances and proper sanitary procedures come from him. Are you saying that Union army would have done better if they were the ones that invaded Russia just before winter? Please. I disagree. Name...

Why do you think that? Part of the reason why the Russians lost the Crimean War (albeit temporarily since only 20 years later, they got what they wanted anyway) was because their enemies had rifles. The unusually high casualties in the Franco-Piedmontese-Austrian War was due to both sides using...

Yes, it was the Prussian military that excelled in the Franco-Prussian War that influenced WW1 tactics. Military schools noticed that dogged Prussian attacks against strong French defensive positions always succeeded despite the French having the superior firearm, the Chassepot. It lead them to...

Ridiculous. The Partition Plan was a non-starter, similar to the Project Fear that tried to prevent Brexit. How exactly can Montreal stay in Canada whereas it had train links to and depended on the suburbs to go to the island to work; the suburbs who voted OUI? Ridiculous. Furthermore, your link...

It was a conspiracy theory. Check out this chart. http://www.liquisearch.com/quebec_referendum_1995/controversy/rejected_ballots : Vote Year Rejected ballots Party nominating the scrutineers 2003 General Elections 1.25% Parti Québécois 1998 General Elections 1.13% Parti Québécois 1995...

The question is, was Louisiana attractive enough for settlers? No. It was an oppressively hot and humid wasteland. Both France and Spain had trouble populating Louisiana, so why would the British be any different? It would be a lot easier for Americans, who already live in the same landmass, to...

Interesting list of firsts. However, in the case of women suffrage, Germany (1919) and UK (1928) and nearly every other Western country were more advanced than France (1945). Even though it is not the 1890s, the poll is difficult to vote on. It really depends on what kind of liberalism you hold...

If 500 years later today is an acceptable long-term duration, then I would say yes because of geopolitics. The establishment of these colonies has made Spanish an important international language today. This has indirectly benefited Spain because of common origin affinity, trade links and first...

Wellington himself has said that Waterloo was the last stand, that Blucher must come or night. The British army was notoriously slow. A hasty retreat would have been disastrous. It was the heavy rain that helped the army escape the French after Quatre-Bras and Wellington enough time to set up...