In Erfurt it was already a
foregone conclusion, but Alexander demanded Constantinople, and this
Napoleon would not concede."
At another conversation Napoleon admitted "I have been too hasty. I should
have remained a whole year at the Niemen and in Prussia, in order to give
my troops the much needed rest, to reorganize the army and also to eat up
Prussia."
All these details, Napoleon's admission included, show that nobody knew and
nobody knows why this gigantic expedition was undertaken. Certain is,
however, that England had a hand in the break between Napoleon and
Alexander.
When Napoleon called on the generals to lead them into this expedition they
all had become settled to some extent, some in Paris, others on their
possessions or as governors and commanders all over Europe, which at that
time meant France; in consequence there existed a certain displeasure among
these officers, especially among the older ones and those of high rank.
The high positions which he had created for them and the rich incomes which
they enjoyed had developed their and their wives' taste for a luxurious and
brilliant mode of living. Besides, most of them, as well as their master,
had attained the age between forty and fifty, their ambition gradually had
relented, they had enough; and the family with which they had been together
for very brief periods only between two campaigns, clung to them now and
held them tightly.
Notwithstanding these conditions, they all came when the Emperor called;
after they had shaken off wife and children and had mounted in the saddle,
while the old veterans and the young impatient soldiers were jubilant
around them, they regained their good humor and went on to new victories,
the brave men they always had been.
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