#Jean-Baptiste Kléber

[credo--ergo-sum]

[aedesluminis]

Les hommes illustres de la Révolution Française (1789-1793), engraving by Wentzel.

Source: C.C. Gillispie, R. Pisano, Lazare and Sadi Carnot: A Scientific and Filial Relationship, p. 431.

[etymology-of-the-emblem]

Desaix / ドゼー and Clive / クレーベ

Desaix (JP: ドゼー; rōmaji: dozē) is the chancellor of Zofia who stages a coup of the kingdom in Fire Emblem: Gaiden and Echoes: Shadows of Valentia. He is named after Louis Desaix (JP: ルイ・ドゼー; rōmaji: rui dozē), one of the most highly regarded generals of the French Revolutionary Wars. Born into a noble house, Desaix began his military training at age eight. By age 15 he was a second lieutenant. After the Revolution began, he served under Victor de Broglie, chief of staff of the Army on the Rhine. Desaix would quickly ascend through the military, serving as a commander under Jean-Baptiste Jourdan and Jean Victor Marie Moreau during the invasion of Bavaria. Soon after meeting General Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy, Desaix was assigned to the campaign in Egypt. There he continued to prove a valuable asset as a commander in the Battle of Alexandria and Battle of the Pyramids. His victories over Murad Bey the Mamluks earned him the title of "Just Sultan" among the peasants of Egypt until authority was given to his fellow commander Jean-Baptiste Kléber. Desaix would join Bonaparte in Italy once more, where he died in the Battle of Marengo.

Clive is the former leader of Zofia's resistance force - the Deliverance - against the Rigelian Empire and Desaix's coup before relinquishing command to Alm. His name may be derivative of Robert Clive, a British baron and colonial, who became the first British to govern the Bengal Presidency largely credited for the East India Company planting roots in that region of India. More likely, it was a close approximation of Clive's Japanese name.

In Japanese, Clive's name is クレーベ (rōmaji: kurēbe), officially romanized as Clerbe. This seems to be a corruption of the surname of a contemporary to Desaix and Bonaparte, Jean-Baptiste Kléber (JP: ジャン＝バティスト・クレベール; rōmaji: jan-batisto kurebēr). Unlike his fellow generals, Kléber was common-born, which withheld his promotion under the French Royal Army. At the outset of the Revolutionary Wars, he reenlisted, where he quickly rose through the ranks, eventually becoming second-in-command. He participated in the campaign in Egypt and Syria. However, when the expedition turned sour for Napoleon, the general withdrew, leaving the remaining French army holding Egypt in the hands of Kléber without a word prior. And it would be in Cairo that he would be assassinated, on the same day that his close friend Louis Desaix would be killed in action. While Kléber was highly regarded by Napoleon for his skill, Emperor-to-be had the commander buried on a remote island, fearing his tomb to be used as a symbol of Republicanism.

While the character of Clive is not of common birth, the reference to Kléber is likely meant to allude to his desire to fight alongside the commonfolk under the banner of the Deliverance. Him being in conflict against the encroaching empire could relate to Napoleon's interpretation of his character as representing Republicanism. Additionally, Clive stepping down from leadership of the Deliverance could be based on Kléber declining supreme command over the French Revolutionary Army.

On the other hand, Louis Desaix's position as "sultan" over Egypt during the bulk of the Egyptian and Syrian expeditions was likely the primary reason for Desaix's name and role in the story, aiding the Rigelian Empire's expansion into Zofia while gaining greater social standing over the region.

[nesiacha]

Mini provocation post regarding the 2002 Napoleon series

I watched the 2002 Napoleon series years ago, so there's a chance I'm saying nonsense because there's no way I'm watching this series twice; I'm not paid for that. This series did not please me, as you might have guessed. First of all, regarding the actors: I mean, in other films, the actors playing Talleyrand and Fouché evoke great fear of these characters. You can sense the horrible things they have done without even explaining it, and you're not surprised by the revelations of the atrocities they committed, notably in Lyon with Fouché (see the series "La Caméra explore le temps"), and you fear for the characters crossing their paths. In this series, nothing at all. I would even go further in provocation: I felt like you could insult them with impunity, and they would start crying without doing anything else (I exaggerate, you can see they are ready to do other devious things, but honestly, I think an average person like me has every chance of beating them in this series, whereas in other series like "La Caméra explore le temps" or in Abel Gance's films, I never think that; I rather pray for the poor person who has the misfortune of crossing their path).

We mainly see the positive sides of Napoleon (barely touching on his flaws), but not what he did in Jaffa or his shameful behavior in Egypt (say what you want about Kléber, he had every right to be angry at Napoleon, in my opinion, for Bonaparte's actions in Egypt). The re-establishment of slavery and the atrocities committed to restore it are barely touched upon (all for nothing because in the end, it weakened France more than anything besides committing a horrible betrayal). The series' authors don't even mention that the Penal Code was never Napoleon's but that of the first constituents of 1791 (I don't know if the series says this or not, as I said, no way I'm watching it twice in a row). The Civil Code was actually devised as early as 1794, with the Convention starting to vote on civil acts. Napoleon was dreadful to women, who ended up in a worse condition than in Spain or Italy (in France, a man who killed an adulterous wife had the right to mitigating circumstances, but not vice versa), workers were even more oppressed, the fake puritanism he instilled, one rule for him and his family, another for others,etc . None of that is covered.

Characters that could overshadow Bonaparte are removed, notably Kléber, Carnot, and other Jacobins like Felix Lepeletier, Jean-Baptiste Antoine Le Franc, the Babeuf family , Simone Evrard, and Albertine Marat (honestly, women are barely represented outside of Josephine, the womens in the family of Bonaparte, as usual). To avoid overshadowing Bonaparte, his adversaries are also belittled, like Louis XVIII, who was actually intelligent in real life. The Spanish are seen as horrible people—as if they had no good reason to revolt, how dare they not let Bonaparte oppress them.

Oh yes, the Jacobins are seen as cruel people because they voted for the execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. No comment. I know Marie Antoinette's execution was more controversial, rightly so, as there was a lack of evidence even though it was known she was at least complicit in high treason, but regarding Louis XVI... I call on the screenwriters to urgently read a history book. And I say this while having more sympathy for Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette than for Bonaparte, as they had no ideals to betray unlike him . By the way, it is not mentioned that Bonaparte was a Jacobin who betrayed them for power, which is the worst in my eyes. The screenwriters call the Terror the Reign of Terror; here is what I think of this stupidity regarding the term:

https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/744763300619878400/i-never-understood-the-term-reign-of-terror-i?source=share

Then, for these same screenwriters, 18 Brumaire is a glorious event. I don't understand how an act of high treason to seize power with two other people, expelling all elected deputies by armed force—albeit elected by censitary suffrage—is something glorious. Someone would have to explain that to me. The only thing the series reproaches him for is the execution of the Duke of Enghien.

In short, I will stop talking about this while there are so many other things to say, like the fact that this series adopts this (stupid in my eyes) idea of a providential man.

But if I follow their logic in wanting to create propaganda, I'll propose a series to the same production on Hébert right away. So, I will make a series focusing almost exclusively on his love with Marie Françoise Goupil, highlighting only his positive aspects while not focusing on any negative side.

Here’s what I will do: first, we will start directly with Louis XVI's flight to Varennes so we can avoid Hébert's royalist side before he became a republican (to be honest, many French went through the same stage, so we won't blame him for that). I will make it seem like his newspaper is the best (while minimizing or not mentioning his vulgar style at all). I will make it seem like all the petitions from the Sans-Culottes are his doing, that all the French applauded his campaign of forced de-Christianization, that he never accused Marie Antoinette nor took advantage of the situation against what we call the enraged. We will also focus more on his life with his wife and daughter. I will emphasize that he was in prison and present the expulsion of the Girondins from the Convention as one of the greatest days of democracy, making it seem like he alone was responsible for that (I’ve already talked about what I think of this here: https://www.tumblr.com/nesiacha/753932369385373696/2-june-1793-and-18-brumaire?source=share). The only fault we will attribute to him in the series is that he did not get along with Marat. I will make it seem like he was sincere when he said he was ready to be the next victim after Marat. I will also omit the fact that he called for more executions and ensure the series does not present any victims of the Terror. In my scenario, his execution is because of the villainous Camille Desmoulins, the Dantonists, and the ungrateful Montagnards who wanted to execute him to gain more power, with Hanriot and Chaumette being traitors to Hébert. I will present him as a misunderstood victim, a great politician, and a providential revolutionary who single-handedly carried out the revolutions.

And there you go. What, this is revisionism? It risks being rejected due to a glaring lack of historical accuracy. Well, indeed XD.

P.S.: I know the Hébert scenario is utter nonsense; he is one of the revolutionaries I appreciate the least (euphemism). I just wanted to show that if we allow such a series with Napoleon (and it's always allowed because of the "providential statesman" message), it's just as nonsensical as the scenario I just proposed. A provocation, yes, but not far from what I think.

[errantepagina69]

Georges Perec (La vita istruzioni per l'uso)

Ci sono tre persone nel piccolo salotto. Una di loro è una donna sulla quarantina; sta scendendo la scala che al ballatoio, indossa una tuta di cuoio nero e tiene porta in mano un pugnale orientale, delicatamente lavorato, che pulisce con una pelle di daino. La tradizione vuole che quello sia il pugnale di cui si sarebbe servito il fanatico Suleyman-el-Halebi per assassinare il generale Jean-Baptiste Kléber, al Cairo, il 14 giugno 1800, quando quel geniale stratega, lasciato sul posto da Bonaparte dopo il mezzo successo della campagna d'Egitto, aveva risposto all'ultimatum dell'ammiraglio Keith con la vittoria di Heliopolis.

Le altre due sono sedute sui pouf. È una coppia sulla sessantina. La donna indossa una gonna patchwork che le arriva alla rotula, e calze di rete nere a maglia molto larga; schiaccia la sigaretta macchiata di rosso in un portacenere di cristallo la cui forma ricorda una stella marina; l'uomo indossa un completo scuro a righine rosse, camicia azzurro chiaro, cravatta e fazzoletto in tinta, azzurri con diagonali rosse; capelli pepe e sale a spazzola; occhiali di tartaruga. Tiene sulle ginocchia un opuscolo con la copertina rossa intitolato Il Codice delle Tasse. La giovane donna in tuta di cuoio è la segretaria di Hutting. L'uomo e la donna sono dei clienti austriaci. Sono venuti apposta da Salisburgo per trattare l'acquisto di una delle più quotate Nebbie di Hutting, quella che ebbe come opera di partenza nientedimeno che Il bagno turco, provvisto, dal trattamento cui Hutting lo ha sottoposto, di una sovrabbondanza di vapore. Da lontano, l'opera somi- glia a un acquerello di Turner, Harbour near Tintagel, che più volte, all'epoca in cui gli dava lezioni, Valène mostrò a Bartlebooth come l'esempio più compiuto di quanto si si possa fare con l'acquerello.

Romanzo del 1978 Traduttore Dianella Selvatico Estense Pubblicato da Rizzoli Pagine 572

[lebrisereve]

FILMS 2023

All the Beauty and the Blood Shed - Laura Poitras

Ashkal - Youssef Chebbi

La Romancière, le film et le heureux hasard - Hong Sang-Soo

Showing Up - Kelly Reichardt

Anatomie d’une Chute - Justine Triet

Le Procès Goldman - Cédric Kahn

Portraits Fantômes - Kléber Mendonça Filho

Rotting in The Sun - Sebastian Silva

Le Ciel Rouge - Christian Petzold

War Pony - Riley Keough and Gina Gammell

Asteroid City - Wes Anderson

Il Sol dell’Avvenire - Nanni Moretti

Yannick - Quentin Dupieux

Hong Sang Soo - De nos jours …

Sur l’Adamant - Nicolas Philibert

Goutte d’or - Clément Cogitore

SIMPLE COMME SYLVAIN - MONIA CHOKRI

The Fabelmans - Steven Spielberg

Aftersun - Charlotte Wells

La Montagne - Thomas Salvador

White Noise - Noah Baumbach

La Femme de Tchaikovsky - Kirill Serebennikov

Eternal Daughter - Joanna Hogg

L’Amour et les Forets - Valerie Donzelli

Passages - Ira Sachs

Les Chiens de la casse - Jean Baptiste Durand

Dirty Difficult Dangerous - Wissam Sharaf

Voyages en Italie - Sophie Letourneur

L’Été Dernier - Catherine Breillat

Le Livre des Solutions - Michel Gondry

[joachimnapoleon]

9 March 1753–Jean-Baptiste Kléber is born in Strasbourg, France. Son of a master builder, he becomes a trained architect and also a Freemason; he will later introduce Freemasonry into Egypt and build the country’s first lodge there in the aftermath of Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign. As a young man he briefly serves in the Austrian army as a commissioned officer before resigning his commission in 1783, disgusted at finding his opportunities for advancement hindered by his lack of noble blood. In 1792 he joins a regiment of French volunteers and fights in the wars of the Revolution; in a short time he becomes first a lieutenant-colonel and then, in August 1793, a brigadier general. He serves with great distinction at both Charleroi and Fleurus, but declines to serve as commander-in-chief. He does, however, accept command of a division for Napoleon Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt. At the Battle of Heliopolis, he defeats an army of 60,000 Turks with only 10,000 men. Napoleon leaves Kléber in charge of French forces in Egypt upon his departure. On 14 June 1800–the same day that Desaix dies at Marengo—Kléber is assassinated in Cairo by a young student named Suleiman al-Halabi. The assassin will be tracked down and publicly executed via impalement.

[deceptigoons-attack]

1. Général Thomas-Alexandre Dumas (a.k.a. Davy de la Pailleterie)

2. Officer, Bonaparte’s Guides (Nicolas Dahlmann)

3. Général Jean-Baptiste Kléber

[jflashandclash]

Attrition of Peace

Thirty-Three: Joey

What a Nice Day to Kill for Love

              Joey was having a lovely dream about punching Apollo in the face when she heard his voice singing in her ear. Most of her dreams involved elaborate dance numbers, but the musical twist was new. She didn’t even know the dead did dream.

           When she willed herself to get up, her legs and arms felt heavy, like someone had dumped a Mrs. O’Leary on each limb.[1] In the distance, behind the lovely voice, she could hear a continuous chatter that made her shiver. If this was a musical, Joey would need to recommend a better chorus than wind-up teeth.

           She tried to think of why Apollo would be here. She remembered tricking her way through the EZ line for deaths and skirted around a three-headed dog. Unless her death had been a nightmare… which was unlikely, since her brain would have thought of a way less lame death.

           Someone’s hand—Apollo’s she presumed—graced her calf. The gesture felt distant. Regardless of the distance, what Charon had said about godly-demigod or mortal relationships still made her want to smack him over the head with a harp, and maybe a piano.

           Joey went to kick him.

           Nothing happened.

           Her throat constricted with fear when her legs wouldn’t respond.

           She tried to sit up.

           Relief flooded her system when she could twist enough to hit Apollo with a good right hook.

           She was never going to tease Euna for struggling to wake up again. That struggle was real.

           The boy kneeling beside her clutched his face where she’d made contact. Something about it seemed… wrong.

           From what she could see, that wasn’t Apollo. And, either this person was made out of marshmallows, or she’d gained ghostly super strength. Over the tips of his fingers, it looked like she’d struck him with a truck, not her fist.

           What mostly stumped Joey was how she was able to touch him.

           Joey fumbled in her pocket for the rosewood box, the only other thing she’d been able to touch and interact with since her death.

           That blond hair, the tan, the Camp Half-Blood T-shirt, the medical fanny pack: only one person she knew could make such a grievous misstep in fashion with such casual confidence.

           This was Will Solace. She remembered him from camp, a heartthrob that all the nymphs pouted over losing a few months ago to a certain grumpy Goth kid.

           Although Will’s face was mutilated, she could see his dismay at getting walloped. A real expression. Not another ghost, creepily floating around, lost and empty, like they’d been the next ones in line for the cafeteria when the entire school kitchen got shut down for health code violations.  

           Joey lunged forward to hug him.

           Will made a muffled sound of confusion when she shoved him away immediately after the hug.

           Tears threatened her eyes. She tried to ignore how alone she’d felt and how scared she’d been and how relieved she was to see another living—er—another sentient ghost. Even if the interaction did start with ghost on ghost violence.

           Instead of expressing any of that, she did the courteous thing: she folded her arms, huffed, and demanded, “Why are you touching my legs, you perve?”

           By now, Will looked baffled. What was left of his pummeled brow furrowed in annoyance. “I’m dating Nico,” he stated and pointed at her feet.

           When Joey glanced down, she had to refrain from reigniting her panic. The edges of her shoes were grey and crusty, completely coated in some kind of stone. When Joey tried to wiggle her toes, she realized they weren’t coated in stone. They were stone.

           Will’s fingers tapped against her rolled up pant leg, where ghostly dust fluttered away. It hadn’t just been her toes before.

“I thought it would only happen to living demigods, but I guess it can happen to ghosts too. You’re not supposed to sleep down here,” he said. There was a slight frown on his lips, as he gazed past her, to the two-story bronze gates around Hades’ black obsidian palace.

Joey wanted to shout at him. If she didn’t nap, she was scared she’d collapse in front of Hades and Persephone in their courtroom. She’d been so tired, and she’d only meant to nap for a few minutes. Getting past the Fields of Asphodel… just remembering who she was and that she had a purpose… it was exhausting. Every step threatened to shake her of what made her… well… her.

“There isn’t exactly a how-to guide on traveling through the Underworld,” Joey snapped. “But—uh, thanks for fixing my legs, I guess.”

Will sighed and fumbled in his fanny pack. He withdrew a trifolded sheet of paper and handed it to her.

Last time someone handed her one of these, it was Thalia Grace suggesting all boys’ coodies were worth giving up for an eternity of hunting. Clearly, Thalia hadn’t been investigating the right boy’s coodies.

“What is this?” Joey asked, suspicious it was another sales pitch at why she should relinquish makeup and hair products forever.

“A how-to guide on traveling through the Underworld and the quickest routes to the McDonald’s pit stops,” Will explained, “Nico does a seminar on it.”

Although she didn’t want extra reading, Joey stuffed it into her pocket, beside her rosewood box. That could come in handy later, for the next time she tried to do an everyday activity that turned deadly. She’d be terrified to see what flushing a toilet would do in this place.

“So, does he give that seminar like, right after your First Aid class? I feel like that could make campers nervous about your faith in their survival chances,” she said.

“We try to have them on separate days,” he said, humming a healing song right after.

Joey could feel her toes start to wiggle. The sensation was surreal and almost painful after the numbness. Weird to think a ghost could feel pain, but she guessed they had to for the whole eternal punishment thing to work.

Everything was so bleak: the trampled black grass leading up to the fortress of a black palace, the black poplar trees, the massive swarms of souls. Pax and she needed to lead the Hermes cabin down here with an arsenal of paintball guns with neon ammo and shoot up the place. Maybe not Hades’ ideal way to redecorate, but it would be quick, effective, and fun. Hades’ direct antithesis.

Something had changed since Joey put her head down on the cold stone. A single shaft of sunlight glistened down from a crack in the stalactites, landing behind the gates of the palace. Joey thought she must have been hallucinating after the dreariness of everything else.

She refocused on Will and the way his skull caved inward around his hairline. Joey almost choked up while asking, “How did you die? Lose a fight to a bowling ball?”

Will paused. He mindlessly tugged up the side of his shirt, revealing a grotesque red rash and claw marks. With his other hand, Will touched the indent in his forehead. His eyes watered, and he shook his head.

“Cerebral edema and hemorrhaging, if I had to guess.”

Joey wanted to feel bad for him, but all she could say was, “Cereal edma?”

“I think… I think one of my half-brothers beat me to death with an electric bass,” he said, like that had anything to do with the previous sentence.

Will swallowed and caught Joey up on what had been happening upstairs while she was down here. On several occasions, Joey had to clarify, and assure him, that her sister and friends were not the bad guys. Though, she was proud to hear that her sister went on a murderous rampage on behalf of Joey’s death. She’d have been furious at her sister if Euna had frozen up and gotten herself killed.

By the time he was done explaining, Will had cracked away all of the stone but her pinky toe and Joey had full mobility of her feet—something necessary for any undead dance competitions she might enter. Those had to exist in Elysium for it to be paradise.

“I can’t get this last part,” he said apologetically as he stumbled to his feet.

Joey took his hand to stand up. They walked towards the two-story bronze gates with ghastly etchings of death scenes. Two undead soldiers flanked either side. One wore a bloodied, old school military jacket, with golden tassels, medals, and a white ascot. The other wore some Middle Eastern headdress and—

Joey made a face. His hand was burned away to the bone.

“So,” Joey summarized Will’s story, unsure if the guards would try to stop them, “One guy in pink pajamas took out all three of you?”

“Four of us,” Will said, taking no heed of her tease. “Pax tried to stop him, I think. I just hope Annabeth and Piper are okay, though I could have easily missed them. They could already be in Elysium by now.”

From what Joey had heard, Annabeth was one of the best. Joey would have loved to have trained under her. The idea of someone being able to take out those three made Joey tense. She hoped Pax and the others were okay, too.

“So, how did you get to the front gates so fast?” Joey asked. Although she hadn’t followed Will’s timeline well, he must have died weeks after her. She wasn’t sure how time passed for the dead.

“Everyone knows who—” Will started to say until the blue uniformed man hailed him.

“Guillaume, it is good to see you,” he greeted with a thick accent that Joey assumed was from some weird region of France. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

“We have been waiting for you,” his companion corrected, sighing and twirling a stiletto in his non-burned hand. He also had a thick accent, but one Joey couldn’t place.

“Hello Kléber. Al-Halabi,” Will nodded politely to each of them. “I thought you two weren’t supposed to be working door duty together anymore?”

The Frenchman turned up his nose and inhaled sharply.

The Middle Eastern man scowled off to the side.

“All the bureaucratic red tape,” Kléber said, waving his hand back and forth in front of his nose like he could beat the smell away. “This is why government directories are worthless. If you had a better system set up, Nico could have overturned Midas’s orders by now, and I wouldn’t be with this murderer—je dis ça, je dis rien.”[2]

Al-Halabi scoffed. “Eid wahda matsa’afsh,” he said.[3] Although Joey didn’t understand his words, she could recognize the sarcasm. “I’m not even in the right afterlife because of your conquest and your influences, damoteel.”

While old feuds were great and all, this was wasting time. Joey cleared her throat.

Kléber glanced at her, and bowed. “I apologize, Mademoiselle. Your sister is waiting for you. If it pleases you, Crevette, escort the young lady this way.”

Joey felt weird taking Will’s arm, but the look he shot her said it would save them a lot of time if she complied. It felt nice having Kléber recognized her presence. Since the Fields of Asphodel, she’d been scared of fading away.

As Kléber and Al-Halabi escorted them through the gates, Al-Halabi asked, “Have you heard anything topside about the angry spirits?”

“Angry spirits?” Joey asked.

Al-Halabi nodded and twirled his stiletto again. “Someone opened a bridge between the Underworld and topside. Hades permits a few ghosts to haunt the Upperworld every night, but nothing like this. Khawaaja Kléber thinks someone is amassing an army and it’s connected to—”  

The ground trembled. Joey clutched Will’s arm and he grabbed her arm back.

“What was that?!” Will demanded.

Kléber glanced back and made a grim face. “Rumor has it: Nyx. Something has upset her. My instinct tells me that’s no coincidence with the ghost army.”

Al-Halabi sighed. “As much as Kléber is a corruptor and tyrant, he is also an exquisite general. He had similar inklings about events leading up to the Second Titan War—wait here.”

Al-Halabi and Kléber motioned for them to stop, then continued forward into a blinding light.

Once her eyes adjusted, Joey could see a lovely garden. Each flower bed was surrounded by dazzling gems: sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds. The flowers themselves gleamed silver. Trees loomed above the gardens, with orange and red fruit and flowers glittering in their branches.

The sole ray of sunshine from the ceiling beamed into the garden like a glaring spotlight. Combined with the sparkling gems, Joey felt like someone had shoved a kaleidoscope in front of a lighthouse beam and told her to stare at it.

Al-Halabi and Kléber had disappeared.

           Will let go of Joey’s arm. “About how I got here so fast. Everyone knows me here. I’m Nico’s boyfriend. Or was.” He sighed and glanced upwards towards the light’s source longingly. Joey had to wonder how much hell a cavern like this was for a child of Apollo. “He’s not going to handle this well. After his mother, and Bianca… I’m so worried about him. No one else is going to know where to buy him Mythomagic Band-Aids or Walnetto’s candy, or force him to have a balanced diet…”[4]

           Joey thought about Euna, and how hopeless her older sister would be on her own. None of the others would be harsh enough on her for training or grades. They’d let her laze to mediocrity.

           “I’ve been down here for a few family dinners,” Will said, aimlessly. His blue gaze looked through the gardens. “They were… you can’t eat or drink anything down here. Do you know how hard it is not to offend someone’s parents when you can’t—”

           Joey grabbed Will’s arm and dragged him towards the garden. “Wha—” he started.

           Hearing him talk about family dinners made Joey remember her father’s homemade soondubu-jjigae that she’d never have again.

           “We’re here to talk to Hades and Persephone, not to talk about your and Nico’s creepy bring-your-son-and-his-boyfriend-to-work-day,” she said, biting back tears, “I’m not waiting for those jerks to escort us. I mean, you only live once, right?”

           “That’s really tasteless to say down here—” Will said, but was cut off when they almost ran into a massive black form.

           Joey skirted to a halt. She almost screamed. There was a dark shade of robes standing behind one of the poplars, just ahead of them. She’d mistaken him for a shadow. Where his hand touched, the tree’s bark screamed in pain. His robes warped and gnarled with faces howling in agony. He was tall and wiry, reminding Joey of a rotting twisted oak. The aura around him vibrated with power and his stature reflected it.

           The way the pale man peered around the tree trunk confused Joey. She’d be horrified to see what this man was hiding from.

           Following his line of sight made her jaw drop.

           There was a young woman toiling in a garden bed. The sunlight glimmered off her billowing blonde hair and warmed her pale skin. Her apron had a flickering floral design—no—it was made out of various flowers that Joey quickly identified as blooming during the wrong time of year: daffodils, tulips, azaleas, magnolias, and hyacinths. All colorful springtime flowers.

           She had the satisfied grin of someone knowing their labor would pay off—a smile Joey’s father also got while doing yard work.  

           “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” the man asked, his oily, powerful voice an ill match for the adoring tone.

           “How are you doing that?” Will asked in awe, staring up at the sunlight.

           “Poseidon wanted to say his last farewell to a lovely surfer that died young. So, in exchange, I asked him for some sunlight. He caused a massive earthquake…” The man raised one hand out of the shadows, into the sun rays.

           Will frowned. “You… you’re probably killing hundreds of people to give her that sunlight.”

           The man quarter turned towards them, a smirk coming to his lips. His eyes blazed black with the fury of a wildfire. “137 in counting,” he answered.

           Will swallowed. Joey dug her nails into his arm, hoping he’d realize getting righteous around this guy was probably as useful as reminding Hitler that Jews were people too.

“Wouldn’t you do the same for Nico? Or did I misjudge you as worthy of my son?” Hades asked, that dark gaze boring directly into them.

Will’s arm shook violently under Joey’s grip—or was that her hand shaking?

“I think it’s romantic,” Joey squeaked. She cleared her throat and said more firmly, “We both do.”

“Thank you,” Hades said, his continence warping back into a grin. Joey relaxed. She did not want to end up in this guy’s robes—either metaphorically or literally.  He continued, “Normally, I would ask a living demigod to do this, but we’re short staffed right now. I hate dealing with the Romans, and most of the Greeks are already among the sleep.”

Joey blinked, glancing over to Will to see if this meant anything. In an uncomfortable moment, she realized she hadn’t asked Will why he wanted an audience with Hades. Requesting resurrection didn’t seem like it would be the Sun Boy’s motive.

Will’s expression remained neutral, though he disentangled their arms to stand taller.

“Among the sleep?” she asked.

Hades ignored her and continued, “Will, you can bring Nico back from the shadows and stop Melinoe. Being a son of Apollo, you’re most likely to succeed with the job, and in exchange, we can talk about giving you back your li—”

“Hades, are you being rude to my sister?”

The woman had come over from the garden. In the sunlight, her face was soft and kind. Her grin was playful. She touched Joey’s arm and Joey could feel the warmth of an April breeze.

Joey found herself smiling back and doing a quick curtsy—something she’d never done before and felt super stupid about afterwards.

“I’m working,” Hades said, his shoulders slumping.

When Persephone glanced past them at the obsidian palace, her face fell and her gaze hardened. “It looks more like you’re showing deference to your bastard child’s boyfriend. What did you put Orpheus through when he tried to lead someone back from shadow?”

“Pers…” Hades said in a voice that sounded too close to begging for a god.

Persephone held her hand up. She gave Joey another smile, though this one was chilled. “Joey, I’m sorry I can’t give you a proper welcoming right now. Let me finish with this, and we can have a pleasant talk.”

Persephone turned back to Will, her eyes fiercer than any warrior’s. Hades frowned and Will took a step back.

“When you try to save Nico, you need to have faith that your love will be enough to bring him back and defeat his despair. You can’t talk to him. You can’t acknowledge him. If you fail at ignoring him, you’ve damned both of you,” she said icily. Her eyes shot to Hades. “That is close to the deal you gave that charming poet.”

Will glanced at Hades.

Hades shrugs helplessly.

“That’s cold,” Joey said.

The ghost of a smile returned to Persephone’s face. She took Joey’s arm and led her towards the garden. “Now, we can talk about your entry to Elysium—”

Joey resisted the movement, wondering if Persephone would still the world into an eternal winter when she was upset.

“That’s not why I’m here—” Joey said, withdrawing the rosewood box from her pocket. She’d almost forgotten. Had that been why she was here? She remembered Will’s comment about Nico, and about how worried she’d been for her sister. Could she just ignore them? The others? Wouldn’t they eventually die anyway? Just thinking it scared her.

Persephone frowned at the box. “Sister, if you stay, I can grant automatic entry to Elysium.”

Hades groaned behind them, like he and Persephone had argued over this before.

“You’ve already died a heroic death,” Persephone said sternly and Joey could tell that comment wasn’t directed at her. “But that box is a mark of struggle. Are you sure you want to keep holding it?”

This box was the only thing reminding Joey of her past life. She dug her nails into its golden filament. If there was anything else she could do for her sister and friends, she was going to do it. Returning this box was one of Psyche’s quests, after all, wasn’t it?

“Yes,” Joey said, lifting her chin. “Hera gave me this box. She wanted me to ask you for the essence of a happy marriage.”

For a moment, Persephone looked stunned. Then she burst into laughter, Hades’ booming laughter echoing after.

The latter sound was horrifying and something Joey assumed was a special punishment for the particularly wicked.

Persephone wiped a tear from her eye, calming herself down. She snapped her fingers. A lovely undead handmaiden rushed over to bring Persephone a rose pen and flowery paper.

After writing a quick note, she took the box from Joey and opened it.

Everything slowed.

The flowers trembled.

Hades’ robe fluttered in Joey’s peripheral vision, towards the open box.

A motionless vacuum sucked the noise from around them, leaving the Underworld—despite its sunlight—even drearier.

Then Persephone placed the folded note into the box and shut the lid. Everything went back to normal.

Joey could hear Will give a sigh of relief behind her.

Persephone returned the box to Joey. Nothing felt different about it, though she supposed nothing would with a single piece of paper.

“Don’t let her open that around you,” Persephone said. “Tell her this is the key to her happiness. Give it to her without saying what is inside.”

“What’s in it?” Joey asked, glancing down at the flowers. Something about them felt ominous.

“A divorce lawyer’s number,” Persephone explained, “Staying with a hopeless cheater like that is anachronism at its worst. She needs to get with the times.”

Her eyes flicked past Joey and that warmth returned. She must have been looking at Hades. Feeling grossed out, Joey could tell Persephone actually liked Hades. Yuck.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Persephone asked again.

Joey nodded her head. She’d never been more certain. She turned back towards Will and Hades, who gazed at her evenly.

Hades narrowed his gaze. “Are you working with the one who called my helmet stupid?”

That absolutely sounded like something Pax would do. Barely containing a laugh, Joey asked, “How could someone say your helmet looks stupid? Doesn’t it turn you like, invisible or something?” She was pretty sure she’d heard Merry talk about that once.

“Exactly!” Hades cried triumphantly.

Joey trembled and was pretty sure the rest of the Underworld did too, though she couldn’t tell if it was because of Poseidon above, Nyx below, or from how terrifying Hades’ victorious attitude was.

Hades snapped his fingers and Al-Halabi and Kléber materialized on either side of Will and Joey. “It is time for you to leave,” Hades said, “Remember that, outside, ghosts aren’t as powerful during the day, so, it will be easier to work at night. I don’t normally let spirits escape, but… these two have been spreading rumors about holes where souls can slip away…”

He made a shooing motion with his hand, quarter turning towards Persephone’s little patch of sunshine.

Persephone waved her hand warmly at Joey before shooting an icy look at Will.

Will was already going to take Joey’s arm, the same way he’d escorted her in, when she paused. “Wait—Lord Hades.”

“Yes?” the intensity of his voice revealed his impatience. Those eyes flashed again.

Joey shouldn’t ask. Not just because of Hades’ impatience but because she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. “In… in the Fields of Asphodel, people forget who they are and mindlessly wander. Everything those spirits have done is so unimportant to them, they forget their own accomplishments. At least the people in the Fields of Punishment know who they are and that their deeds left a mark on the world. Which one do you think is really worse?”

A queer smile curled onto Hades’ lips. “Joey Song, you’re never coming back to my domain again. So I would not worry over such nuances as to whether it is worse to be forgotten and forget or worse to be in pain.”

           Joey paused. Never coming back. She thought that sounded like a sweet deal—the Underworld sucked and Kléber was right about everything taking forever, like waiting in those stupid lines for an EZ pass. Why even make an EZ pass lane when the traffic in it could still get so congested.

           A deeper instinct in her shivered at the thought, wondering what that could mean.

“Now go. You try my patience. Will is running out of time to save my son, and you need to deliver Hera some peace of mind,” Hades said.

           Joey nodded. They gave their farewells to the King and Queen of the Underworld and Will escorted Joey towards the exit with Al-Halabi and Kléber on either side of them.

           As they approached the two-story gates, Joey asked, “Do any of you know what he was talking about? Never coming back?”

           Kléber gave an airy chuckle. “It could mean becoming immortal. That is one way to never need return.”

           Al-Halabi frowned and shook his head. He stared down at his stiletto, and Joey got the impression he knew there were other ways.

           “I’m not getting any Apollo-style prophetic moments about it. Sorry, Joey,” Will said, giving her arm a brief, comforting squeeze.

           Joey should have been ecstatic. They were going topside. Will might be able to save his boyfriend. She’d get to properly complete a quest and maybe see her sister again. But instead of rejoicing, she found herself asking, “Spirits can’t like… die permanently, right?”

           Al-Halabi muttered a curse in Arabic, his glare switching to his burned hand. He changed the subject by saying, “We don’t know the location of all the routes out of here, but let’s pretend the rumors are true about multiple ones. Where would be the best spot that you know of to contact Hera?”

           As they talked about the best reentry points, Joey became more afraid of leaving the Underworld than entering it.

Thanks for reading! Here’s a little break from the chaos in the Upperworld XD

Also, as a call out to you wonderful people--I’ve been getting a lot of really kind support recently from my constant readers. I really appreciate it! You guys are awesome and make this book series happen! :D <3

Footnotes:

[1] Apparently, this is going to be the accepted weight measurement system in my version of the world. Pax weighs a fortieth of an O’Leary.

[2] More or less, “just saying…”

[3] يد واحدة ماتسقفش. Equivalent of saying, “you need cooperation from all parties for something to work.” I’m not sure if this is a common idiom for Syrian Arabic or the timeframe, but eh—we can say he picked up stuff while he has been undead.

[4] Super popular candy from the early 1900’s.

[histoireettralala]

The birth of the Grande Armée.

The army Bonaparte had inherited from the Revolution continued to benefit from the qualities that had brought it victory over the first two coalitions, and it had gained invaluable battle experience over more than a decade of warfare. Nevertheless, what Bonaparte did with that army in 1803-1804 was truly remarkable. On June 14, 1803, Bonaparte ordered the establishment of six military camps along the Atlantic coast of France from Bayonne to Holland, where he embarked on a major transformation of the French military forces. He sought centralization of authority and a streamlined chain of command. At the top, he formed the General Staff (Etat-Major), responsible for elaborating and transmitting orders, preparing maps for Bonaparte, and coordinating movements, intelligence, military finances, logistics, medical services, and son on. This reorganization combined with the strength of his own personality, his leadership, and his understanding of the men he commanded made the French army seemingly invincible.

Bonaparte- or rather, Napoleon, as he should be known after the French Senate elevated him to the rank of emperor in 1804- retained all the authority to make decisions and preferred to supervise everything himself. "The Emperor... needs neither advice nor plans of campaign," wrote Marshal Alexandre Berthier, his chief of staff from 1796 to 1814. "Our duty is to obey." Combining the authority of head of state and supreme commander had clear advantages: Napoleon could set objectives and pursue diplomacy and strategy more effectively than his opponents, whose hands were often tied by military councils or royal sovereigns- not to mention the complication of coalition warfare. The advantages of having a single person firmly in charge of all aspects of the war were magnified by the fact that the one person at the helm was arguably the most capable human being who ever lived. His mastery of the details of political, military, logistical, and numerous other factors, was prodigious. But the extreme concentration of decision-making authority had costs as well as benefits. In an era when communications could usually move no faster than a trotting horse, it sometimes proved impossible for a single man , no matter how competent, to coordinate forces operating over vast distances, often in widely separated theaters of war.

In the Boulogne camp, as the cantonments along the Channel coast are now collectively known, the French army spent almost two years preparing for war. Ineffectual officers were weeded out and talented men promoted. Troops received systematic training not only in new tactics and maneuvers but also in coordination between various service branches and in making amphibious landings. Each camp eventually coalesced into a corps d'armée, composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and capable of fighting independently. This corps system turned the French army into a stronger, faster, and more flexible military force, and contributed greatly to the long streak of French victories after 1804. The concept was not an entirely new one; it was essentially a scaling up of the all-arms divisions created by Lazare Carnot in his reorganization of the French forces in 1794; other French generals, including Jean-Baptiste Kléber and Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, experimented with corps d'armée, though none honed it to the same degree as Napoleon. Each corps contained two to four infantry divisions, a brigade of light cavalry, and several batteries of artillery attached to the corps headquarters (in addition to the light artillery attached to each regiment). Each corps commander also had at his disposal a staff, a medical detachment, and a unit of engineers. Napoleon's achievement, then, was not that he invented the corps system but that he implemented it as the standard structural unit for the French army. Over time, the strength of individual corps varied widely depending on their intended purpose. Napoleon's Grande Armée, as the newly reformed French army became known on August 26, 1805, consisted of seven corps, the army cavalry reserve, the army artillery reserve, and the imperial guard.

The corps system offered Napoleon a more mobile and manageable system of control over military forces by enabling him to issue orders to a relatively small number of subordinate corps commanders. Being smaller than a full army, a corps could travel faster and forage more easily. The ability to march over multiple routes, change front when encountering an enemy, and concentrate against that enemy greatly accelerated the pace of war and made it difficult for the opposing force to avoid combat. This, in turn, allowed Napoleon to gain the decisive battle he always sought and to bring the campaign to a quick conclusion. As Napoleon later explained to his stepson Eugène de Beauharnais in an 1809 letter, "Here is the general principle of war- a corps of 25,000-30,000 men can be left on its own. Well handled, it can fight or avoid action depending on circumstances, and maneuver without any harm coming to it because an opponent cannot force it to accept an engagement but if it chooses to do so it can fight alone for a long time. A division of 9,000-12,000 men can be left for an hour on its own without inconvenience. It will contain a foe, however numerous it might be, and will win time for the arrival for the army. Therefore, it is useful to form an advance guard of no less than 9,000 men and to place it more than one hour away from the army."

However, the key to a "march divided, fight united" approach was the ability of each separately marching element to survive contact with an enemy force long enough for its supports to arrive. While all-arms divisions already existed, Napoleon's organization of the permanent corps system offered further advantages. The bigger the unit, the longer it could hold out against a superior enemy, so the farther away the next element could be. Organization into corps therefore facilitated marching on a broader operational front, making use of more roads and providing access to the food resources of a larger area. Such a system allowed large armies (like the Grande Armée of 1805) to operate with speed and flexibility similar to what could be achieved for smaller armies (like those of the Revolutionary Wars) with the divisional system. The corps system allowed Napoleon to operate with greater adaptability in what Clausewitz famously called the "fog of war", when the exact location of the enemy remained vague. Being a combined-arms unit, a corps could temporarily engage a larger enemy force and hold it in place until reinforcements arrived. This procedure eventually became standard practice, employing a formation military historians call the "battalion square" (bataillon carré), borrowing Napoleon's metaphor for an arrangement of corps that could respond equally well to a threat from any direction, just as a literal battalion square of infantry could on a battlefield.

All of this relied heavily on well-trained soldiery- which is where the high quality of the French command and staff system, as well as individual commanders' improvisation, came into play. The corps system gave the French almost infinite capacity to change direction at once and concentrate anywhere within twenty-four horus, making warfare much more fluid. "Thanks to the superb flexibility of the Napoleonic system of moving corps over vast distances in a loosely drawn but carefully coordinated formation", in the assessment of British historian David Chandler, "it mattered little on what point of the compass the foe was discovered." The new system quickly showed its superiority. Napoleon's Grande Armée scored a series of decisive victories between 1805 and 1807, forcing other European armies to reevaluate their tactics and adopt elements of the French system. Austria began reorganizing after its defeat in 1805, while Prussia and Russia began reforming in the wake of their setbacks in 1806-1807.

Alexander Mikaberidze - The Napoleonic Wars, A Global History

[microcosme11]

Jean-Baptiste Aubry-Lecomte, Collection de têtes d'étude : Les généraux Championnet, Dampierre, Desaix, Dugommier, Kléber et Marceau, 1821. Print after this painting detail of Ossian receiving the ghosts of French heroes, by Girodet-Trioson

[credo--ergo-sum]

Inked version

[ltwilliammowett]

Admiral Sir Sidney Smith

Well, Sidney Smith was one of the most colourful personalities of his time. He was arrogant, wilful, pompous, energetic, extravagant, capable, brave, theatrical and boastful. A flamboyant genius who could not stop talking about himself, and who claimed that he was perhaps the best English-Frenchman that ever lived , he was nonetheless always happy to dispense praise on others, generally after they had been inspired to great deeds by his over-brimming self-confidence, diligence and determination. He had a reputation for being kind-tempered, kind-hearted, and generally agreeable, but in warfare took more risks with the lives of his men than his contemporary, Lord Cochrane.

Admiral Sir Sidney Smith,by  Louis-Marie Autissier 1823 

If you listened to original voices from the time.  Rear Admiral Sir Thomas Troubridge declared that Smith made him sick, while Admiral Lord Exmouth called him gay and thoughtless. And even Nelson is reported to have said he was the gayest man in the Navy who behaved like one. Well he was of a slight build, penetrating dark eyes, a high-arched nose, striking and sharp looks and dark curly hair. Smith, like his father who had been a rake, was a lady s man, with very good manners and a razor-sharp mind, proficient in several languages and artistic talents. All in all, Sir Sidney Smith, whose real name was William Sidney Smith, was an interesting man. 

He was born on 21 June 1764 in Park Lane, London, joined the Royal Navy in 1777 and soon distinguished himself in combat. He first distinguished himself in the American Revolutionary War, as a result of which he was promoted to lieutenant in 1780. This was despite the fact that he was not yet 19 years old. He served on HMS Alcide 74- guns, under Captain Charles Thompson, on which he was present at the Battle of Chesapeake on 5 September 1781, at St Kitts on 25 and 26 January 1782 and at the Saintes on 12 April. These successes led to his promotion to Master and Commander as early as 1782, and only one year later on 7 May to Post Captain. At that time he was only 18 years old. During this time he had built up a reputation as one of the most successful prize bringers, having managed to capture several prizes with his Sloop Fury, 16-guns and earning a sum of around 30,000 pounds. (By today's standards, that would be about 5 million pounds.) After that, his luck ran out, because he was discharged from the service and was then on half- pay, because of peace.

Now unemployed, he moved to Bath to study French, but when he heard in 1787 that there might be a war with Morocco, he secretly went there to study the coast and the language. In short, he tried his hand at being a spy. But when he returned home to present his findings to the admiralty, he was not able to do so. Because there was no more talk of a possible war and he was once again empty-handed. After his efforts to take up an ambassadorial role in China had been unsuccessful, Smith took six months' leave in Sweden in 1789. The following January, he reappeared in London with an embassy from King Gustav III of Sweden and a request to be allowed to serve in the monarch's fleet. The government did not approve of this unofficial emissary and so he returned to Sweden claiming to be in possession of dispatches for the King to serve as a volunteer in the war with the Russians. Assigned as commander of the light squadron, his fleet of a hundred galleys and gunboats dislodged the Russians from the islands protecting Vyborg Bay, where they had blockaded the Swedish fleet in June, thus leading to their relief.

Battle of Vyborg Bay June 25, 1790 , by Ivan Aivazovsky 1846

Although he did not act officially, he was knighted by the King of Sweden in 1790 for his actions, which caused great amusement in England. Yet he returned home briefly, only to try his luck at the Prussian court for the next two years. Initially tolerated and advised against the Russians at court, his political views became more and more disapproved of and in 1892 he tried to enter Turkish service. When he heard in 1793 that there was going to be a war between England and France, he tried to come back home and although he was still under half-pay, he was given a new commission. Although he did not act officially, he was knighted by the King of Sweden in 1790 for his actions, which caused great amusement in England. Yet he returned home briefly, only to try his luck at the Prussian court for the next two years. Initially tolerated and advised against the Russians at court, his political views became more and more disapproved of and in 1892 he tried to enter Turkish service.

When he heard in 1793 that there would be a war between England and France, he tried to return home. He obtained a felucca and, dressed in Arab robes and turban, sailed to Toulon to offer his services to Admiral Lord Hood, who was trying to support the French royalist forces. It was on this occasion that Sydney Smith and Horatio Nelson first met.  The young revolutionary Colonel of Artillery Napoleon Bonaparte was rapidly decimating the royalist forces.  Admiral Hood asked Sidney Smith, who was serving as a volunteer, to destroy as many royalist ships in the harbour as possible to protect them from the revolutionaries.  He succeeded in destroying about half the fleet, despite the lack of supporting forces.  In July 1795, again officially in the service of the Royal Navy, his squadron captured and fortified a small island off the coast of Normandy, which served as a forward base for the British blockade of Le Havre for the next seven years.  On 19 April 1796, he used his ship's boats to take out a French ship anchored in Le Havre. 

Sir Sidney Smith Transferred from thence to the Tower of the Temple on the 3rd July 1796

As he sailed out of the harbour, the wind suddenly died and Captain Sidney Smith and his crew were captured. He himself was taken to Temple Prison in Paris. Despite all offers from the British government to buy him out or exchange him for a French captain, the French refused. Sidney's reputation had preceded him and he was known to be a keen spy. He stayed in prison for two years until he managed to free himself with forged release papers. On his return to London, Smith was received by Earl Spencer, First Lord of the Admiralty, for a private audience with the King, and as a sign of goodwill, His Majesty sent the esteemed Captain Bergeret back to France in exchange. He was sent to the Mediterranean in 1799 and charged with reinforcing the defences in the Levant for protection against Napoleon, who was moving his army east and north from Egypt.  When Napoleon laid siege to Acre in the same year, Sidney Smith used his guns to support the defenders and his fleet to supply them, and did so as an independent commander . This arrogance with which he performed earned him a sharp rebuke from both Admiral the Earl of St Vincent and Rear Admiral Lord Nelson, who as the next flag officer was particularly outraged that Smith had taken the right to hoist a broad pennant as commodore when he should have been under his command. The situation was only resolved when the broad pennant was brought down and Smith submitted to Nelson .

Napoleon eventually abandoned the siege and said of Sidney Smith, "This man made me miss my destiny."  Smith's success in halting the French advance was rewarded a pension of 1,000 guineas, along with many other awards, including a coveted Chelengk and a sable coat from the Turkish Sultan. For their part, the French were so annoyed with him that Buonaparte apparently tried to have him assassinated. From 1799- 1806 he had small operations in the Mediterranean and in 1800 even tried to conclude an agreement with French General Jean-Baptiste Kléber to evacuate French troops on British ships. However, Admiral Lord Keith did not agree, so there were disputes in Keiro until the agreement was reached in 1802. Sidney had been back in London since 1801. Where he was elected to the British House of Commons as MP for Rochester in 1802. He held this mandate until 1806.

Commodore Smith at Acre

Unlike most senior naval officers in home waters, Smith did not attend Vice Admiral Lord Nelson's funeral in London on 9 January 1806. Instead, after a brief stay in Bath, he arrived in Plymouth on 14 January to sail with a small squadron to the Mediterranean to join Vice-Admiral Lord Collingwood. Were he  land forces commanded in southern Italy trying to defeat a superior French force. Despite a great victory, he was replaced by a British Army officer, largely because he once again could not control his famous arrogance. On the one hand, he had exceeded his command, even though he had been rear- admiral since 1805, and on the other, he had antagonised the French generals by sending them newspaper cuttings about his great successes.

In October 1807, he cruised off the mouth of the Tagus and in November escorted Prince Regent John of Portugal, who had been expelled by the French, and the royal family to Rio de Janeiro in the Portuguese colony of Brazil. There, the Prince Regent decorated him as a Grand Knight of the Order of the Tower and the Sword. In February 1808, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the British fleet off South America and, contrary to his orders, subsequently planned an attack on the neighbouring Spanish colonies together with the Portuguese. Before these plans could be implemented, he was ordered back home in July 1809.

Sir William Sidney Smith, by William Say 1802

On 31 July 1810, he was promoted to Vice Admiral of the Blue. Between 1812 and 1814 he operated in the Mediterranean as Admiral Pellew's second-in-command, during which time he was decorated in Sicily by King Ferdinand as a Grand Knight of the Cross of the Order of St Ferdinand and of Merit. After Napoléon Bonaparte was defeated in 1814 and exiled on Elba, he returned to England. On 2 January 1815, in recognition of his services, he was struck Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath by King George III, and thus at last received a British knighthood.

On 15 June 1815, he attended the Duchess of Richmond's ball in Brussels. Three days later, hearing gunfire, he rode out and met the Duke of Wellington, who had just defeated the returning Napoléon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo. Smith then accepted the surrenders of the French garrisons at Arras and Amiens and ensured the Allies entry into Paris without a fight, as well as King Louis XVIII's safe return there.

After the war, he lived mainly in Paris with his wife. He took part in the Congress of Vienna and campaigned for the abolition of slavery and debt bondage, and in particular for the raising of funds to free Christian slaves from the Barbary pirates. He was promoted to the rank of Admiral of the Red on 19 July 1821, and Lieutenant-General of the Royal Marines on 28 June 1830, but did not hold a naval command of his own after 1814. His wife died in 1826 and on 20 July 1838 he was raised by Queen Victoria to the Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. Smith died on 26 May 1840 at his residence of No. 9 Rue d Auguesseau in Paris, he was 75 years old.

[cma-modern-european-art]

General Jean-Baptiste Kléber (Sketch for "The Battle of the Pyramids"), Antoine-Jean Gros , c. 1835, Cleveland Museum of Art: Modern European Painting and Sculpture

In 1810, Gros exhibited a massive painting of Napoleon at the 1798 Battle of the Pyramids, one of the rare French triumphs in the failed campaign to conquer Egypt (1789-1801). After Napoleon first fell from power in 1814, the painting went into storage, until the new king Louis-Philippe chose to resurrect it for a history museum in Paris. However, perhaps to diminish Napoleon's significance, the government asked Gros to amplify the original with an addition at each end. This painting incorporates General Kléber, a famously successful military leader who had been excluded from the original painting. Size: Framed: 377.2 x 126 x 12 cm (148 1/2 x 49 5/8 x 4 3/4 in.); Unframed: 352.1 x 97.8 cm (138 5/8 x 38 1/2 in.); Former: 306 x 98 cm (120 1/2 x 38 9/16 in.) Medium: oil on linen

https://clevelandart.org/art/1972.17.1

[vincentdelaplage]

LES LUMIÈRES DE VERSAILLES #leslumièresdeversailles Dans le Panthéon alsacien figurent de nombreux militaires. Le général Jean-Baptiste Kléber émerge des rangs serrés des soldats de la Révolution et du futur Empire, non seulement par sa grande taille naturelle et sa carrière originale, mais aussi par sa mort tragique sur les rives du Nil. Kléber a profondément marqué l'imaginaire alsacien et, depuis près de deux siècles, il incarne Strasbourg, sa ville natale. "Jean-Baptiste Kléber, le lion indomptable" de Philippe Jéhin 1/ UNE IDÉE DE PEINTURE Jean-Urbain Guérin, né à Strasbourg le 1er avril 1761 et mort à Obernai le 29 octobre 1836, est un dessinateur et peintre de miniature français. Au cours de sa carrière, il réalise le portraits de plusieurs généraux de la République dont celui, maintes fois recopié, de Kléber, son ami d'enfance et de Bonaparte. Il laissera aussi un portrait de Mozart. Revenu en France sous le Consulat (1798), il entre au service de Joséphine de Beauharnais et expose au Salon jusqu'en 1827. Il meurt à Obernai le 29 octobre 1836. 2/ UN PEU D'HISTOIRE Jean-Baptiste Kléber, né le 9 mars 1753 à Strasbourg et assassiné le 14 juin 1800 au Caire en Égypte, est un général français qui s'est illustré lors des guerres de la Révolution française, notamment lors de la guerre de Vendée et la campagne d'Égypte. 3/ UNE MUSIQUE D'UN BONHEUR CONTAGIEUX J. P. Rameau: Les Fêtes d'Hébé - III/24 Ariette vive [Mercure]: L'object qui règne / J.C. Orliac https://youtu.be/28yt-HmTmwU Jean-Philippe Rameau compositeur français et théoricien de la musique (Dijon, 1683 - Paris, 1764) Les Fêtes d'Hébé ou Les Talens lyriques est un opéra-ballet de Jean-Philippe Rameau sur un livret d'Antoine-César Gautier de Montdorge, créé le 21 mai 1739 à Paris. C'est le second opéra-ballet de Rameau, après Les Indes galantes datant de 1735. La première représentation eut lieu à l'Opéra de Paris le 21 mai 1739. La célèbre danseuse Marie Sallé apparut dans la troisième entrée en tant que Terpsichore, Marie Fel y tenait le rôle d'Hébé et Pierre de Jélyotte, ceux de Thélème et de Mercure. https://www.facebook.com/groups/716146568740323/?ref=share_group_link https://www.instagram.com/p/CbXO1rrsLHg/?utm_medium=tumblr

[all-my-secr3ts]

En el nordeste de Francia, es una de las regiones más bellas e interesantes de Europa. Este territorio, pasó de mano en mano a lo largo de la historia por las disputas entre alemanes y franceses. De hecho, los topónimos, las tradiciones, la gastronomía o la arquitectura podrían recordar a cualquier pueblo de la vecina Selva Negra (otra zona preciosa, por cierto). Pero además de ser una región histórica, Alsacia es un imán para el turismo.

Lugares de interés

La Gran Isla: La Grande Île, el centro histórico de Estrasburgo, es una isla en el río Ill. s «un barrio antiguo ejemplo de ciudad medieval». Para marcar el estatus de la Grand Île como Patrimonio de la Humanidad, hay 22 placas de latón colocadas en los puentes que permiten acceder a la isla. Grand Île a veces es llamada «elipse insular», debido a su forma

Aquí se encuentra la catedral de Estrasburgo, por la que la ciudad es conocida principalmente, realizada en piedra arenisca y que ostenta un famoso reloj astronómico. Se trata de la cuarta iglesia del mundo en altura y un ornamentado ejemplo de la arquitectura gótica del siglo XV. Grand Île alberga varias otras iglesias medievales que han sobrevivido a las muchas guerras y destrucciones que han plagado la ciudad:

Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Estrasburgo y Reloj Astronómico

Entre los numerosos edificios medievales seculares destaca la monumental Ancienne Douane (Aduana antigua).

La plaza más grande en el centro de la ciudad de Estrasburgo es la Place Kléber. Ubicada en el corazón de la zona comercial de la ciudad, recibió su nombre del general Jean-Baptiste Kléber, nacido en Estrasburgo en 1753 y asesinado en 1800 en El Cairo. En la plaza hay una estatua de Kléber, debajo de la cual hay una cripta con sus restos. En el lado septentrional de la plaza está el Aubette construido por Jacques François Blondel, arquitecto del rey, en 1765-1772.

El Renacimiento alemán ha legado a la ciudad algunos edificios de interés, especialmente la actual Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie, anterior ayuntamiento, en la Place Gutenberg), y lo mismo hicieron el clasicismo francés con varios hôtels particuliers (palacetes), entre los cuales el Palais Rohan (en la foto; hoy alberga tres museos) es el más espectacular. Otros edificios de este tipo son el Hôtel du Préfet, el Hôtel des Deux-Ponts y el ayuntamiento Hôtel de Ville. El edificio barroco más grande de Estrasburgo es el Hôpital civil, que data de los años 1720. Por lo que se refiere al neoclasicismo francés, está representado de manera destacada por el Teatro de Ópera en la plaza Broglie (abajo).