Napoleon Series Archive 2008

Re: nulla poena sine lege
In Response To: Re: nulla poena sine lege ()

I think we need a small sanity check here.
The conduct of the French armies towards the unfortunate civil populations in Spain and Portugal from 1807 to 1814 was - almost universally and by any standards - utterly without any vestige of honour or any apparent civilized restraint.
You have - apparently - chosen to defend that conduct.
You are obviously a very skilled debater, well informed, used to playing devil`s advocate with well-prepared decks of marked cards; probably very good at poker.
Constantly calling for the opposition to provide exact facts and figures of numerous events sows the seeds of confusion and obscures the true nature of the topic under discussion.
The fish rots from the head. N`s avowed policy in Spain and Portugal was to force those countries to pay all the costs of their own subjugation. If he thought that that policy was going to be meekly accepted, he was showing signs of being seriously detached from reality.
The top French commanders in the Peninsula accepted N`s diktat without question and immediately instituted a policy of extortion, repression and reprisal, leading to guerrilla warfare against them and their unfortunate men.
I feel no need whatsoever to prove any further that the British army had regulations that were aimed to stop their officers and men pillaging and abusing, robbing and murdering the locals. This job has been admirably done by other posters in this debate.
Are you in a position to show that ANY French commander there (apart from Suchet occasionally) did anything similar?
The French armies had no effective system of logistical resupply of rations for their men or horses. They embraced the practice of the men `foraging` for food to survive, this policy having been successfully appliied in the very brief campaigns of 1805, 1806, (less so in 1807) and 1809, in the fertile areas of central Europe.
The situation in the Peninsula was very different. Asking hundreds of thousands of men to fend for themselves in a hostile, largely barren environment for years on end, was a recipe for disaster.
I have found not one mention of anything in the French army equating to the regulations applied by the British to limit excesses by their officers and men against the civil population.
I feel that the burden of proof is now firmly with you.

Messages In This Thread

Definitions *LINK*
Re: Definitions *LINK*
Re: Definitions
Would this be democide?
Re: Definitions.
Definitions.
Re: Definitions.
Re: Definitions.
Re: Definitions.
Re: Definitions.
Re: Definitions.
Re: Definitions.
Definition of Algorithm and Application of Same
Re: Definition of Algorithm and Application of Sam
nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
"The rules of war of civilised nations" for laymen
Re: "The rules of war of civilised nations" for la
treatment of civilians
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
No penalty without a law
Re: No penalty without a law
Re: No penalty without a law
Prussian Articles of War
Re: nulla poena sine lege *LINK*
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege *LINK*
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Digby's algorithm of accusation
Amiens
Re: Amiens
Re: Digby's algorithm of accusation
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
For UK: Articles of War / Mutiny Act
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege *LINK*
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege *LINK*
Re: nulla poena sine lege
the benefits of international law
Re: the benefits of international law
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
Re: nulla poena sine lege
understanding the morals of the past
Re: understanding the morals of the past
Oh pleeeease
Re: Oh pleeeease
Re: Oh pleeeease
Re: understanding the morals of the past
Re: understanding the morals of the past