“An Ordinary Soldier on Campaign with Napoleon (1812)”
Russian Campaign of 1812, German conscript Jakob Walter observed: "[His] outward manner seemed indifferent and unconcerned over his soldier's wretchedness. He may have felt only ambition and lost his honor in his heart. Although the French and Allies shouted oaths and curses about his guilty person, he heard them unmoved." This mutual sense of apathy permeates Jakob Walter's Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier, a memoir written by a German conscript in Napoleon's Grand Army that details the arduous marches undertaken by Napoleon's army in Prussia, Poland and ultimately Russia. While Continue reading...