18 November 2016

O, what a fall was there, my countrymen! Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us


"I have fought a hundred battles for France"

"Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. I protest against my condemnation. I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her ... Soldiers, fire!"



le Brave des Braves 
Marshal Ney (1769-1815), was a great French military commander during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 'Marshals of the Empire' created by Napoleon. He was known as Le Rougeaud ("red faced") by his men and nicknamed le Brave des Braves by Napoleon himself. When Napoleon was defeated, dethroned, and exiled for the second time, Ney was arrested, tried for treason, condemned, and promptly executed by firing squad in Paris near the Luxembourg Garden. He refused to wear a blindfold and was allowed the right to give the order to fire. He was 46.

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