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Librarian of Celaeno's avatar

My entire piece was about how brilliant and essential Metternich was; at no point did I shortchange him as a “well-bred pimp.”

I’m not sure what your second paragraph means. Metternich was opposed to the Revolution and Napoleon from the start and Austria was the motive force on the continent behind the various coalitions.

Napoleon was a creature of the Directory, was sponsored by them, and betrayed them. I explained the Escobar analogy.

I point out in the essay how much Metternich respected Napoleon’s talents, drive, and genius. Napoleon’s aristocracy was just his aping of the actual thing, his crew of gangsters being handed titles for their loyalty to his regime. At no point did the French Empire have balanced budgets; it was a predatory enterprise that funded itself through plunder and kept its war machine going through forced levies of troops from conquered populations. The idea that women did not play an important role in the culture, diplomacy, and intrigues of the day is without support in the literature, primary or secondary.

The Bourbons are still the reigning monarchs in Spain. I make the same point about liberalism etc. in my essay.

When the warlord does come, it will be terrible, more so because their is no Metternich to oppose him. Such a figure, a true aristocrat of the spirit and not a bloody gangster, will have to emerge from the same mists of history as a true king, and may God speed the day.

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Yakubian Ape's avatar

What I'm getting out of this is that Metternich deserves to have a bunch of those neon RETVRN memes and maybe a Little Dark Edge edit. For real though, good write up for a criminally underrated figure of the Napoleonic age. Even though the eponymous French chud himself is, obviously, pretty important to the time, I think you only appreciate and understand his story and time period itself if you also understand most of the other players, but they all get overlooked because... they aren't flashy enough, I guess.

All sigma beta incel whatever jokes aside, the movie seems like it's going to just be fodder for pop history TEN THINGS YOU DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT type things to pick apart for the next fifty years. I don't think I've ever seen a movie's hype deflate as quick or as hard as this one. It's so over for Napofags.

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