Borodino fought today, the 7th September, in 1812.

@kaleu great that you posted this . He was, indeed, a remarkable man. Not loved much by the English back then!

On the 27th October 312 AD the battle of Milvian Bridge was fought near Rome. The two men contending for control of Rome and the Empire were Constantine, who controlled Gaul, England and parts of Germany and Maxentius, who controlled Italy, Spain and Africa.
It happens the two were brothers in law.
The day before the monumental and pivotal battle, Constantine saw a flaming cross in the sky, taking I as an omen, he had his men put a cross on their shields and banners.
Full of strength at what their commander had seen, Constantine’s men won the battle. Maxentius drowned crossing a bridge over the Tiber.
Rome would soon be unified under one ruler (only Licentius remained in Constantine’s way.)
Constantine would spend the ret of his reign Christianising his subjects.
He converted on his deathbed, becoming the first Christian Emperor, in 337 AD.

Amazing story.

Underway on board USS Providence SSN 719.  We had just LEFT the gulf to make our way home….we were already in need of repairs after 5 months of being deployed and had just made critical repairs to our electric plant.  It was about 2100 when every officer got called to the wardroom (we were at PD).  About an hour later while I was on watch finishing up some samples, we got told over the 1MC about the reports and the little info that was given to us.  Immediately this ship was on blackout comms back and forth, so the wife didn’t hear from me for two months.  We immedieatly turned around, flanked back, put two fish in the tubes, loaded up two tomahawks in the tubes, and found a welcoming committee waiting for us not knowing if they were friend or foe yet…it took about a week for them to denounce the attacks, but we didn’t know going in to that…Like to say after almost of a month of waiting, the ship launched every tomahawk we could at those fraking a-holes…we wanted to reload at Diego Garcia, but they said home is where we belonged…didn’t help that our Seawater systems were becoming fouled like a mofo after sitting off the coast for a month.

Providence would then be called to do the same its next deployment against Iraq.  This time she did reload.  :evil:

I am not sure Napoleon was ever really himself after the Russian campaign. What he expected after his victory at Borodino and what really turned out was very different. Expecting the Russians to surrender only having them chase him all the way back to France may have put some doubt in his mind. Maybe that doubt is what affected his decisions at a place like Waterloo. I know in sports that if you loose your confidence it can be hard to get back. I imagine the same could be said about war generals. Just a thought. Enjoyed the post.

One up Wittmann and CWO Marc very nice reading!

Thank you Marc: he did live in France for a long time, but spent the last 5 years in Italy, dying in Rome.
Thank you for correcting me.

Thanks Wittman, I’ll definitely try and spearhead that endeavor. If anyone does have suggestions for readings they have done, I would be grateful if you could tell me about them here.

When I went to Fort McHenry, I was told by the ranger there, “‘The Dawn’s Early Light’ is the definitive volume on the campaign, specifically leading up to the Battle of Baltimore.” Great text, reads like Cornelius Ryan’s classic, “A Bridge Too Far.”

GG