Ultimately Napoleon was not lucky. Disastrous in campaigns, with high losses, he was exiled twice, and in the end poisoned by Arsenic. Finally he was defeated by second rate generals and his own ego.
All similar dreams of conquest by war mavens of times gone by have ended up with their not being able to continue the success, as distances from support get longer and enemies get more resourceful and focused. No conqueror or conquering nation has ever maintained its empire for long. It is a law that has analog in animal groups as well, as observed and noted by Robert Ardrey in Territorial Imperative. The conquered land is given up, and the conqueror recedes. The more populous conquered people, in time, predominate and take on the trappings of the former conqueror's court, imagining themselves the true descendants of the oppressor and inheritors and of his former glory. Spain, Mexico and South America, take note.
I on the other hand, never seeking a fight, have never given my enemies the luxury of defeating me. Jes keep survivin'.
EC<:-} |
