Arthur's heart was surging, and he said excitedly, "Yes, Napoleon is such a person, and he has implemented this spirit throughout his life!"
Xia smiled and didn't comment too much on this. He just carried the kettle to the pool nearby, picked up some water, and then placed it on Calcifer's body.
"Napoleon's life was indeed unparalleled, and even in the long history of mankind, only a few have reached this level.
but"
Char sat on the chair and looked at Arthur.
"I hope you will do one thing in the future, that is, if you encounter something that touches you, you should seriously think about it from all aspects.
We can think like this now. "
After a pause, Xia Ya pondered for a moment and then slowly spoke.
"Let's first review Napoleon's life.
His parents were poor nobles in Corsica and had lived in poverty since childhood.
When he was not much older than you, he stayed away from his parents and entered the non-commissioned officer school in France.
Most of his classmates are wealthy aristocratic children. They have been looked down upon for a long time and are always alone.
After leaving school, he entered the army and became a second lieutenant and then a lieutenant, but he was still poor.
So he stayed away from the luxurious crowd, studied hard, and turned into a young officer with a pale face and a very gloomy look.
However, when he was twenty-four years old, a great revolution occurred in France at that time and space.
This gloomy young officer suddenly became a major. In the battle of the Revolutionary Army to regain the Toulon Fortress, he made a contribution with his outstanding command.
You also know what happened next. With a lack of weapons and insufficient training, Napoleon led his army to suddenly cross the Alps and enter the Italian plains like a tsunami.
He defeated the Austrian army with lightning speed, and then captured Italian cities one after another. No matter where he went, he won one victory after another.
When Napoleon returned to Paris with glory and wealth, he was warmly welcomed by the people of Paris and became a well-deserved triumphant general.
At that time, France had just experienced the Great Revolution, the political struggle was fierce, and the domestic situation was also turbulent.
The French people pray from the bottom of their hearts for peace and order.
Napoleon took this opportunity to reorganize the government by force and centralize power in his own hands. He was initially one of the three consuls and later ruled for life, eventually ending the republic and ascending to the throne.
At that time, Napoleon was only thirty-five years old.
In just ten years, he ascended to the throne from an unknown, gloomy young man and poor military officer.
After becoming emperor, Napoleon remained unstoppable. European countries formed an alliance with Britain as the center and tried to overthrow him several times, but all ended in failure.
In war after war, Napoleon, who was born as a soldier, showed his talent to the fullest. Whether in Austerlitz, Jena or Wagram, Napoleon continued to perform outstanding victories that would go down in history.
The Netherlands bowed to his feet early, the Italian peninsula was at his disposal, Germany succumbed to his power, and Spain also entered his sphere of influence. Except for Russia, the European continent was almost unified by him for a time.
When Napoleon convened a European conference in Erfurt, four German kings and thirty-four princes gathered to pay their respects to him.
Surrounded by them, Napoleon watched the performance of the famous actor Talma specially brought from France. At this time, Napoleon was already a veritable "Augudus".
At this moment, his will alone is enough to determine the fate of tens of millions of people on that continent. He stands at a peak that many people will not be able to reach in their lifetime.
But just a few years after that, he fell from this peak into the abyss. "
Arthur nodded, "Because the expedition failed."
"At that time, basically all European countries surrendered to Napoleon, but one country was difficult for Napoleon to conquer because of its strategic location, and it never surrendered to Napoleon."
"British Island." Isabel whispered. It is not difficult to guess that due to the geographical location of the English Channel, no army can cross it.
Char nodded, "In order to put Britain into trouble, Napoleon banned European countries from trading with Britain, but Russia did not obey his order.
This made him furious, and he planned a large-scale expedition to Russia.
As you know, it ended in a disastrous defeat, but Napoleon's armies were victorious and even captured their capital for a time.
But even the emperor was still unable to resist the harsh winter there, and eventually had to retreat.
The soldiers who retreated in the ice and snow were starved, and hundreds of thousands of them froze to death. Those who did not freeze to death were also killed in the pursuit of the Cossack cavalry.
When they first invaded Russia, there were more than 600,000 troops, but when they left, there were only less than 10,000 people left. It was extremely miserable.
News of Napoleon's defeat soon spread to Europe. Prussia, which had been seeking to get rid of Napoleon's oppression, took the lead in resisting. Other countries then formed an alliance again and attacked France.
Severely wounded, he could no longer defeat the coalition forces. After the defeat, he was exiled to the Island of Elba. He once escaped and gathered his troops again, and then came the Battle of Waterloo.
But unfortunately, his past invincibility still failed to extend to this battle.
He failed.
He was eventually imprisoned on a small island called St. Helena on the west side of Africa.
Napoleon spent five and a half years without freedom on this island with a harsh climate, and finally died there alone.
The fate of this once glorious emperor is lamentable.
In that era of time and space, rounds of turmoil followed one after another, boiling like boiling water, and various class issues emerged one after another.
Events that might have taken fifty or even a hundred years to unfold in other periods appeared one after another during the twenty years of his rise and decline, and all of these events were related to his name.
He must establish a new order for France after the great turmoil and constantly repel foreign aggression.
After dealing with these matters, he had no time to rest at all. He still had to stand at the political center of European countries and deal with various complicated and complicated diplomatic relations.
He handled all this very well, and not only personally adjudicated domestic issues, but also commanded three or four large-scale wars. Each command was enough to be called a tactical model.
Outside of war, he is also full of decisiveness, without any hesitation, and seems to be tireless. No matter what kind of difficulties he is in, he shows his unyielding fighting spirit and the self-confidence of a king.
He is indeed a hero, rising in adversity, brilliant, fast, full of vitality, as magnificent as the sun. The process of his decline is also a tragedy, and he is indeed worthy of people's worship.
But while we lament his life, we also need to think about it.
Is he perfect?
In other words, what did he accomplish using his extraordinary power?
You can use this question to examine any great man and hero. "
Char did not continue to speak, he gave Arthur time to think.
He took out a can of tea and a tea set from the cabinet.
He took out some tea leaves from the tea can and put it into the teapot. Then he walked to Calcifer, picked up the boiling water and poured it into the teapot.
The aroma of tea soon filled the living room.
And Xia Ya's words continued.
"When Napoleon first emerged, the French people were in a special period. They overthrew the decadent feudal system and aspired to build a brand new society.
But European countries at that time still adhered to this system, and those in power were afraid that the French wave would spread to them.
So they jointly sent troops to try to extinguish the flames they ignited.
Internal and external troubles appeared at the same time, and the entire country fell into great suffering.
But the French people did not succumb to difficulties. Almost all men served in the military and bravely faced enemies from all directions.
You know, at that time, most countries in Europe implemented a mercenary system.
The French army is composed of people who have just gained freedom after the new government was established.
They love this emerging government and their country, even at the cost of their lives.
Under the banner of that emerging faith, the spirit of the French people, who had just created a new era, was beyond the imagination of the mercenaries at the time.
Because of this, despite the lack of weapons and ammunition, and even without formal training, the French still defeated their enemies and defended their motherland.
The man who led this army to defeat all European countries one by one was Napoleon.
Therefore, at least before Napoleon became emperor, he did make a contribution in order to defend his motherland and let the social system that was still in its infancy grow robustly.
Later, the French were tired of the long-term civil strife and yearned for domestic order and peace. Napoleon took the opportunity to gather power, establish a new order, and stabilize the situation.
Although it was out of personal ambition, it was precisely because of him that France had a new order. He convened scholars and used laws to determine the new order, and this was how the Napoleonic Code came into being.
You know what, Arthur.
This code was very famous in that time and space. Many countries used it as a model when they made preliminary legislation, and it influenced many countries.
He did make many contributions in the new era after the feudal era, and he complied with the development of society, so he achieved success again and again.
But as he became emperor, everything began to change.
He began to use power for the sake of power, and in order to expand his power, he became the object of fear and disgust to many people.
His greatest failure was the sanctions imposed to bring Britain to its knees, prohibiting trade with the continent.
He believes that power is enough to do it, and he also believes that power must do it.
However, at that time, the British island dominated maritime trade. Compared with Britain, tens of millions of people on the European continent were the victims of this struggle.
Later, there was even a shortage of the sugar that Europeans used every day. No matter how many sugar beets they planted, they could not meet the needs of the people.
No matter how powerful Napoleon was, he could not obliterate the needs of tens of millions of people.
Although Napoleon formulated harsh punitive measures, his orders could not be implemented. In the end, not only did he fail, but he also incurred the resentment of tens of millions of people.
At this time, Napoleon's expedition failed, and almost more than 600,000 people died miserably in the ice and snow.
Most of these soldiers were recruited from all over Europe. They were not fighting for their beliefs, their motherland, and they were not fighting for what they needed to protect.
It was just that he went to Russia due to Napoleon's power, became a victim of ambition, and died in vain.
These more than 600,000 people have family, friends, and loved ones. Behind this is the pain and tears of millions of people. "
Arthur's face looked a little heavy.
Xia Ya stared at him quietly, "Have you any thoughts after hearing what I said?"
"There are some, but I don't know what to say." Arthur said.
"Don't be anxious, think slowly." Xia Ya smiled.
After a moment, Xia Ya slowly spoke.
"The territory of Britannia is larger than the entire Europe combined, but such a huge country has only been founded for more than two hundred years. Counting the history of Britain, going back to the time of King Arthur, it is only more than a thousand years old. Year.
There are too many civilizations in this world that are older than Britain, including the Egyptian civilization of more than 6,000 years and the Chinese civilization of more than 5,000 years.
This is only what has been recorded. Before that, there was still a lot of unrecorded history, at least tens of thousands of years ago, and human history may still exist for tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years.
The entire history of mankind is like an endless river, with billions and even tens of billions of people in the future pushing this river forward.
Even Britannia is an insignificant wave compared to the entire history of mankind.
The same goes for those we consider heroes and great men.
And once they are separated from this river, or even those who hinder the flow of this river, they will eventually be swallowed up by the roaring water.
We stand at the source of the river and you see it when you look at the whole life of Napoleon.
When he used his power to cause so many people to suffer pain, separation and sadness, he had already begun to hinder the progress of society. His decline was inevitable and was only a matter of time.
On the contrary, everything he did in line with the river was the reason for his glory.
So, you should get the idea. "
Char looked at Arthur, "Among all those who are called great people or heroes, there is no value in learning if they are separated from the river or even things that hinder it. Only things that push the river forward, It really makes sense.
From this perspective, you can relearn something worth learning from Napoleon.
His courage, his determination, his iron will and energy flowing like a river.
This is the courage a leader should have.
At the same time, you must also remember the reasons for his decline and always take warning from him. "
(End of chapter)
