ONCE THERE WERE GIANTS
A human lifetime is very brief and the older we get, the faster the time seems to pass us by. Amidst the blizzard of modern humanity we seem to be little more than an idle snowflake tossed and driven by the winds of Fate. We are vessels of flesh and blood, ghost ships harbouring fantasies and ambitions we are very unlikely to realize. Everyone craves their little moment of fame - an instant when they might stand out from the crowd. But there are no heroes now, nobody to compare with the giants of the past. But once there were real heroes...
Napoleon strode the world like a Grecian colossus and drew towards him a coterie of followers whose names will resound down the centuries. In his day they were the Achilles' and Hector's of the C19th, men whose actions seem unbelievable to us mere mortals today.
Once such was Marshal Ney, a flame-haired fighter with an incandescent temper to match. He showed his true mettle amidst the freezing snows and ice of Russia when all around him had given up and were preparing themselves for a frigid grave far away from their homes in France. Through sheer grit and tenacity, he held his head high when everyone else was wracked with despair, their glazed eyes fastened upon the unforgiving snow. He was a one man rearguard and men like Bourgogne and Coignet stared at him in awe - no mean soldiers themselves. He put heart into those around him and when limbs were frozen and robbed of volition, they somehow stirred in his noble presence - even those near to death forced themselves to stagger a few move metres in the direction of beloved France.
A human lifetime is very brief and the older we get, the faster the time seems to pass us by. Amidst the blizzard of modern humanity we seem to be little more than an idle snowflake tossed and driven by the winds of Fate. We are vessels of flesh and blood, ghost ships harbouring fantasies and ambitions we are very unlikely to realize. Everyone craves their little moment of fame - an instant when they might stand out from the crowd. But there are no heroes now, nobody to compare with the giants of the past. But once there were real heroes...
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| l'Empereur |
Napoleon strode the world like a Grecian colossus and drew towards him a coterie of followers whose names will resound down the centuries. In his day they were the Achilles' and Hector's of the C19th, men whose actions seem unbelievable to us mere mortals today.
Once such was Marshal Ney, a flame-haired fighter with an incandescent temper to match. He showed his true mettle amidst the freezing snows and ice of Russia when all around him had given up and were preparing themselves for a frigid grave far away from their homes in France. Through sheer grit and tenacity, he held his head high when everyone else was wracked with despair, their glazed eyes fastened upon the unforgiving snow. He was a one man rearguard and men like Bourgogne and Coignet stared at him in awe - no mean soldiers themselves. He put heart into those around him and when limbs were frozen and robbed of volition, they somehow stirred in his noble presence - even those near to death forced themselves to stagger a few move metres in the direction of beloved France.
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| Ney in Russia |
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| Crossing of the Berezina |
- In the coldest winter for a hundred years, ten thousands souls sighed and then were heard of no more - followed by another ten thousand, and another...eternal sleep, wrapped in blankets of driven snow.
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