Napoleon's Enfant Terrible: General Dominique Vandamme
2008; United States Army War College; Volume: 38; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0031-1723
Autores Tópico(s)Military, Security, and Education Studies
ResumoNapoleon's Enfant Terrible: General Dominique Vandamme. By John G. Gallaher. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008. 362 pages. $34.95. It is not often that an author truly owes a debt of gratitude to the graphic artist who designed the book cover. This biography is one of those times. Noted Napoleonic scholar John Gallaher owes Tony Roberts, the designer of his book jacket, a bottle of the good stuff. The design is straightforward. Front and center, at the top, is the title. Nothing unusual there. In the middle is a portrait of General Vandamme. Again, nothing strange in that. But beneath the portrait is a stroke of genius, a single quote from Napoleon that will bring the casual bookstore browser to the purchase counter, book in hand: If I had two Vandammes, I would have one shot. But I only have one and I keep him for myself because I need him and am unable to replace him. Indeed, after such a comment what need is there for a review? (Even if, ever the scholar, the author acknowledges that this quotation may be apocryphal.) Inside the book Gallaher draws his own parallel, comparing Vandamme to another fiery commander, George Patton. In this reviewer's opinion that is a poor comparison. Set beside the General Vandamme who comes to life in this biography, Patton looks like the very model of a shy, demure, quiet, self-effacing, and well-liked professional. In fact, there are some strong parallels, though Gallaher is too much of a polished writer to mention them. (Which is to say that he stays on topic and does not mix centuries.) Both men decided at an early age to become soldiers, and both had less than stellar academic careers at the outset. Vandamme spent two unsuccessful years at a military academy, at the end of which he just gave in and enlisted in the French Army of the Ancien Regime in 1788. By 1789 he was a sergeant in Martinique. Despite its connotations of comfortable duty, French Martinique in that era was not the vacation spot it is today. Vandamme then displayed another similarity to Patton. He presented the same strong-headedness, although not the restraint or patience, of that later officer. Failing to persuade the French Army to transfer him, Sergeant Vandamme simply deserted his regiment, caught a ship to France, and reenlisted in another regiment. In a different time this switch might not have been possible, but in Revolutionary France the paperwork of the army was somewhat lacking. In August of 1791, Vandamme began a rise even more meteoric than Patton's in World War I, or decades later, World War II. Commissioned to raise a company from his hometown, Vandamme succeeded admirably. By the next summer he assumed command of five disparate companies, a pocket battalion that he led into combat in August 1793. …
Referência(s)