Though unscientific as a military move and futile as to the ultimate result of the war, the capture of Rheims was, nevertheless, a telling thrust. On receipt of the news from Laon, Schwarzenberg had immediately set his army in motion against Macdonald, and Blucher, after waiting two days to restore order among his worried troops […]
The eagerness of the Prussians and the Austrians to grant an armistice was at first due to the belief that Caulaincourt’s request was a confession of exhaustion; the Czar’s assent to reopening the congress on the 18th was wrung from him by the military operations between the fourteenth and that date. Convinced that Paris was
The year 1814 is the most astonishing of Napoleon’s military life. He first conceived a plan for combining the resources of Italy, Switzerland, Naples, and France. This failed by Augereau’s sloth and Murat’s ingratitude. Nothing daunted, the fertile brain then outlined schemes for meeting the quick advance of the allies through the Netherlands, for defending
What happened in France between the first days of November, 1813, when Napoleon reached St. Cloud, and the close of the year, is so incredible that it scarcely seems to belong in the pages of sober history. Of 575 thousand Frenchmen, strictly excluding Germans and Poles, who had been sent to war during 1812 and
The battle of Leipsic is one of the most important in general history. Apparently it was only the offset to Austerlitz, as the Beresina had been to Friedland. In reality it was far more, because it gave the hegemony of continental Europe to Prussia. French imperialism in its death-throes wiped out the score of royal
But how should the retreat be conducted? Napoleon’s habit of reducing his thoughts to writing for the sake of clearness remained strong upon him to the last, and in the painstaking notes which he made with regard to this important move he outlined two alternatives: to garrison Dresden with two corps, send three to reconnoiter
Throughout the night after the victory at Dresden, Napoleon believed that the enemy would return again to battle on the morrow. This is conclusively shown by the notes which he made for Berthier during the evening. These were based on the stated hypothesis that the enemy was not really in retreat, but would on the
In later years Napoleon confessed that during the interval between the first and second Saxon campaigns he had been outwitted. His antagonists had, in his own language, ‘changed for the better’; at least they secured the war they so earnestly desired under conditions vastly more favourable to themselves than to their opponent. Both parties had
The most famous Frenchman in history was born at Ajaccio, Corsica on 15 August, 1769. Consequently Napoleon Bonaparte was not, in fact French. He was, though, a French subject as a result of the ceding of Corsica to France by the Genoese in 1768. His family was upper-middle class. His father Carlo was a political
Airlines chip inNow Mother’s Homes were coming up every where on the globe proving how the world needed help. Mother had to travel a lot. Train journey was time consuming. Air travel was very costly.The frugal Mother fretted on the expenses incurred on her air travel. It was a big drain.So, she wrote to the
As Mother Teresa became talk of the town, in newspapers and magazines she drew more media attention. BBC London also learnt about the charity work done by a blue bands saree clad nun. The details of Mother’s achievements impressed and amazed BBC bosses. So, Malcolm Magridge was assigned the job of shooting a documentary on
Mother’s Manila Home, was situated in the Tondo slum area. The people there suffered mostly from T.B. The complete cure for the disease was difficult as it required nutritious diet which the poor could not afford. The Charity home could provide medicines only.Later, it was arranged that the patients would be supplied one meal at
The exemptions to Mother from Foreign Exchange Regulations helped her open Homes in other countries as well. The biggest beneficiary was another Asian country Phillipines, a Roman Catholic nation. So, that country had natural expectations from Mother Teresa.The economic and social condition of that country was similar to India. There poverty and diseases were as
Jains had set up a charity organisation at Jaipur named ‘Mahavir Handicapped Help Centre’. One of its noble activity is providing artificial legs to needy free of cost. For that purpose they had set up workshop to produce artificial limbs.Mother Teresa praised the works of the organisation and remarked, “There are large number of handicapped
As Mother’s fame spread people used to come to meet her from far off places. Once, a Swiss Banker came to see her. That person was a big braggart.He could talk about his fortune, banking wizardry, his aided institutions, his stature as a tall money lord, the social respect he commanded and his limitless generosity.Perhaps,