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Justin Lakin
ENGL-1010-W05
Prof. Jennifer Hensley
September 18th, 2024
Essay 1 “Person I Admire”
I've always found myself fascinated by how armies operated in the past. Great masses of men
and materiel, all transported by wagons, pack animals, or even on the backs of the soldiers themselves.
In an age long before computers, it must have been a great undertaking to have to organize such
movements. It was an interest in this that led my younger self to read about the Napoleonic period, its
culture, logistics, events both military and civilian, and in the process, develop a deep fascination &
respect for the man the period itself was named after.
Napoleon Bonaparte, First Emperor of the French, is a man I have admired for many years now.
One of the greatest military tacticians in history, his battles and logistic reforms are still studied in
officer academies like West Point and RMA Sandhurst to this day. He was also a capable political
mind, reigning in the chaos of the French Revolutionary period after the Reign of Terror while still
acting to spread many of the Revolution's values across Europe. His modified legal code, the
Napoleonic Code, is still the basis of law in places like France and Louisiana in much the same matter
that English Common Law is in the United States and Great Britain.
It is for these reasons and more that I admire him. Faced with adversity from many sides, he
still persevered to lead France to greatness. When the Coalitions launched repeated wars against France
in an effort to restore the Bourbons to the throne, Napoleon personally led campaigns against the
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Prussians and the Austrians. At the Battle of Austerlitz, outnumbered by the enemy, he still defeated the
Austrians and Russians. Later, even when exiled in Elba, he strove to improve the lives of the people
on this little island, and when he felt satisfied with such, he returned to France, usurping control from
the restored Bourbons to the exultation of the French people.
I also admire that he was a man of sound, logical mind. His innovations in military thinking
were not simply in matters relating to tactics and strategy, but also to logistics. Napoleon revolutionized
the logistical corps of the French Army. The earlier centralized system often left the French Army
under-supplied and hungry. By establishing a system in which military ordinators might move ahead of
the army to requisition supplies before its arrival, he avoided the once common problem of having his
army stranded in neutral or hostile territory without provisions. The quote, “An army marches on its
stomach,” is often attributed to him, though its true origins are not fully known. This sense of logic was
not kept solely to military thinking, however. The Napoleonic Code, a series of legal reforms
introduced by Napoleon and his compatriots in 1804, served to codify the previously disjointed laws of
the French Revolutionary Committees. They recognized principles now seen as inalienable rights, such
as an equality before the law and a separation of church & state.
Napoleon, both as a general and as emperor, was a ceaseless worker. It is often said that he slept
as little as three hours a night, though it is sometimes disputed as to whether this was true, or a rumor
started by Napoleon himself. He was often at the forefront of his works, commanding directly in
military maneuvers such as the Italian Campaign of 1796, the 1805 Ulm Campaign, even the disastrous
invasion of Russia in 1812. Even in defeat, he remained undaunted, returning from his exile in Elba in
1815 to once again lead the French Army in the Hundred Days Campaign.
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In my life, I've sought to emulate some of these values and traits. In rough times, I try my best
to keep my chin up, to continue working towards whatever goal I've set for myself. In both my work
and in my hobbies, I try to keep accounts and lists of not only what I have, but also what I need, or
what tasks I may need to take up soon. I strive for fairness with everyone I meet, doing my best not to
make snap judgments or to treat anyone with undue disdain or favoritism. Even my sleep schedule,
though perhaps not healthy, could be compared to Napoleon's, being somewhat short and disjointed.
Though I may likely never make such an impact as to have a whole era named after myself, I still see
Napoleon Bonaparte as someone whose example I would like to emulate.
