Ebersdorf

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Often appears with: supply, logistics, and encampment · siege and fortification · military engineering · essling · danube crossing

Usually: commentary or gloss (1) · curiosity (1)

Quotable

“The passage of a river like the Danube, in front of an enemy knowing perfectly the localities, and having the inhabitants on its side, is one of the greatest operations of war which it is possible to conceive.” Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 · observation

Napoleon's Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 primary

Napoleon I, Emperor of the French · 1796-1812
LETTER PAGE > Letter No. 3, this Series). Talleyrand had also a grievance. He had been replaced as Foreign Minister by Champagny. He had accepted the surrender of his portfolio gladly, as now, becoming Vice-Grand (10/30)

The narrator explains tactical and logistical issues in Napoleon’s Danube crossing at Ebersdorf after Essling, noting unexpected river rise, bridge damage, and quoting Napoleon’s claim about the operation’s difficulty.

No. 5. *Ebersdorf.*--Written five days after the murderous battle of Essling. Montgaillard, whose temper and judgment, as Alison remarks, are not equal to his talents, cannot resist a covert sneer (writing under the Bourbons) at Napoleon's generalship on this occasion, although he adds a veneer by reminding us that Cæsar was defeated at Dyrrachium, Turenne at Marienthal, Eugène at Denain, Frederick the Great at Koli…