Napoleonic Wars Trivia

1. Which country has these uniforms? The infantry coats are predominantly white or undyed wool, the cavalry the same or dark green, and the artillery are in brown.

From Quiz The Uniforms of the Napoleonic Era

Answer: Austria

Although the Austrian infantry were long known as 'The Whitecoats', the coats themselves were made from undyed wool and could be anything from dark tan to mid-grey. White was saved for officers, and then only for parades. The heavy cavalry mainly wore white or dark green coats, usually with grey overall trousers on campaign. The light cavalry regiments were much the same except for the Hussar regiments, who were a wide range of colours.

From Quiz Napoleon Crossing the Alps

Answer: Great St. Bernard Pass

The Great St. Bernard Pass connects the Swiss city of Martigny with the Italian city of Aosta, and this is the exact path that Napoleon used. Though developed today, there was very little infrastructure available to aid the French army's passage. The pass was the steepest and most dangerous, but it was the shortest route and would bring his armies closest to the Austrians once they arrived. The dog breed St. Bernard is actually named after the St. Bernard Hospice, which is located on this path. Bernard of Menthon, an 11th-century Italian monk, created the hospice.

From Quiz The Peninsular War

Answer: Brazil

Junot was ordered by Napoleon to occupy Lisbon, which he did on November 30, 1807. Prince John, anticipating his arrival, loaded 35 vessels with nobility and treasure and left in frantic haste for Brazil, a Portuguese colony, where the court remained until April 1821.

From Quiz The Battle of Borodino

Answer: Napoleon Bonaparte

Louis XVIII was not in Russia, but he became King of France in 1814. The other two incorrect answers were commanders at Borodino. But of course, the invasion of Russia was probably Napoleon's worst decision.

From Quiz The Imperial Military Nobility

Answer: 24

Although all of the Marshals died as nobles, not all of them were ennobled by the Emperor. Jean-Baptiste Jourdan was only made a Count under the Restoration, while Prince Jozef Antoni Poniatowski had already enough titles on his own and did not need more from the Emperor of the French; not only that, but he was only a Marshal for three days before he died in battle.

From Quiz Ships and People in Nelson's Trafalgar Fleet

Answer: Billy Ruffian

HMS Bellerophon was named after a hero in Greek mythology. Four ships in the Royal navy have sailed under the name of HMS Bellerophon. Our Trafalgar HMS Bellerophon was launched in 1786. She had fought in two other fleet actions; the Glorious First of June, and the Battle of the Nile. She was commanded at Trafalgar by Captain John Cooke, who was killed. She sustained heavy losses. She was finally broken up in 1836.

From Quiz Horatio Nelson, England's Most Famous Sailor

Answer: You must hate a Frenchman as you hate the devil.

There were lots of sayings current at the time about 'death to the French' and so on. The same probably goes for every conflict throughout history: commanders incite their men to hate the enemy possibly as a way of motivating them to fight, rightly or wrongly, but that is history for you.

From Quiz Horatio Nelson

Answer: 1758, Burnham Thorpe, Norfolk

Nelson was born into a large family in the small village of Burnham Thorpe, close to the North Norfolk coast about 35 miles north-west of Norwich. His father was the village parson. (There are a number of villages called Burnham near Brancaster Bay in North Norfolk, the largest being Burnham Market).

From Quiz The Black Brunswickers

Answer: Duke Friedrich Wilhelm

The Black Corps was raised by the Duke of Brunswick, Friedrich Wilhelm, who in 1809 was in exile in Austria. Austria did supply uniforms and equipment, and a subsudy from the British government financed it, but the idea for the Corps was The Duke of Brunswick's own. Prussia, reeling from the defeat of 1806, took no part in the war of 1809.

From Quiz Life in Nelson's Navy 2

Answer: Larboard

The current term, "Port" was not officially adopted by the Royal Navy until 1844. Starboard was (and still is) the right-hand side of the ship, and using the term "left" would probably have got you thrown overboard!

From Quiz Wellington's Soldiers

Answer: to agree to join the army

Taking the King's Shilling was an agreement to join the army. This was often done with a degree of trickery or coercion. This included going to debtors and alehouses to enlist recruits.

From Quiz The Battles of Horatio Lord Nelson

Answer: Camperdown

At both Cape St Vincent and Copenhagen he ignored orders and got away with it because he saved the day. The Battle of Camperdown was fought in 1797 between Britain and the Batavian Republic (The Netherlands).

From Quiz The Congress of Vienna

Answer: 1814/15

The final peace treaty was signed June 9, 1815 and was in the wake of the Napoleonic Wars. The Versailles Conference was in 1919 and followed World War I. The San Francisco Peace Treaty signed in 1951 was between 49 Allied powers and Japan (the USSR and Czechoslovakia declined to participate). The Peace of Westphalia occurred in 1648, concluding the Thirty Years War that ravaged central Europe.

From Quiz Waterloo

Answer: 73%

153,971 German soldiers took part in the actions against Napoleons forces in 1815, along with 32,418 British soldiers (15%) and 24,501 Dutch/Belgian soldiers(12%).

From Quiz Canine Capers Co-Starring Napoleon

Answer: Fortune attacked and bit him.

As a memento of this wedding night Napoleon would bear both a grudge against dogs and a calf scar for the rest of his life.

From Quiz Napoleon

Answer: Corsica

Of course it was Corsica! Corsica had just been purchased by France from the then bankrupt Genoa the previous year - in 1768.

From Quiz The Old Guard

Answer: Consular Guard

In November 1799, the guards of the Directory and Legislature were reconstituted as the consular guard. In January 1800 its strength was fixed at around 2,089 infantry, cavalry and artillery. Its horsemen were eventually renamed "Horse Grenadiers". They were commanded by Bessières who was to have a long association with the guard. The guard became officially recognised as 'Imperial' on the 10th May 1804. (For purposes of the quiz I will call it the Imperial Guard throughout.)

From Quiz Ligny and Quatre Bras

Answer: The defeat of Blücher at Ligny

The British held their positions well on the field of Quatre Bras. They were extremely upset to know that their fighting had resulted in no decisive victory as Wellington risked exposing his army. Quatre Bras was fought on a section of crossroads moving south-east towards the Prussians along the Nivelles-Namur road at Ligny. Napoleon realised that it was most important to prevent the two armies from meeting, which is why an attack on the British at Quatre Bras was urgently needed.

From Quiz France! The Army! Josephine ...

Answer: 'It's not an attractive place. I would have done better to remain in Egypt'

St Helena was slightly larger than Elba but clearly Napoleon was not impressed. "This is a disgraceful island, it is a prison", Napoleon said upon landing. Despite its size it was chosen well by the British to prevent the escape of Napoleon. It was so remote the nearest land, being 1,140 miles away, was the west coast of Africa. France was a further 5,000 miles.

From Quiz The Battle of Trafalgar

Answer: October 21, 1805

It also ended on October 21, 1805. August 22, 1805 was the day Nelson returned to Portsmouth, England after searching for French Admiral Pierre de Villenueve in the West Indies. Villenueve also commanded the Franco-Spanish combined fleet at Trafalgar. September 27, 1805 was the day Nelson arrived off Cadiz, Spain to wait for the Franco-Spanish fleet to sortie. October 19, 1805 was the day the Franco-Spanish fleet left Cadiz.

From Quiz Waterloo - Hougoumont

Answer: The gardener and his family

Guillaume van Cutsem, his wife Marie-Catherine and their 5-year-old daughter meant to escape before the battle, but left it too late, and by the time they went to leave, the roads had been blocked.

From Quiz 'A Near Run Thing' - Waterloo

Answer: Maj-Gen George Cooke

Cooke's 1st Division was the only British Division present commanded by a Major-General. On the day of the battle, it was the smallest Division, with four battalions plus 12 guns. Greatly reduced from its initial strength of 1,000.

From Quiz Napoleon in Italy 1796-7

Answer: The Little Corporal

The nickname was given to Napoleon as he enjoyed good camaraderie with his troops, and was able to lead them to victory. He also sighted some guns at the battle, which was usually done by an artillery corporal.

From Quiz Napoleon in Egypt

Answer: Toulon

Bonaparte left on with 34,000 troops, but also took 1,000 civilians, who were mainly administrators, but were also to compile the "Descriptions de l'Egypte".

From Quiz The Battle of Austerlitz

Answer: The Third Coalition

The Third Coalition was formed against the French Empire in 1805. It consisted of Great Britain, Russia, Naples, Sweden and Austria. The Second Coaltion was formed against the Revolutionary French Government in 1798. The Fourth Coalition was formed in 1806 by Great Britain, Russia, Prussia, Saxony and Sweden against the French Empire. The Fifth Coalition was formed between Great Britain and Austria against the French Empire.

From Quiz Nelson versus Napoleon (1798)

Answer: Aboukir

The French chose Aboukir Bay since it allowed room for the warships to anchor and manoeuvre. Alexandria's new port would only allow access and egress to two vessels at a time. This was satisfactory for merchant vessels but not so good for a battle fleet.

From Quiz Those Troublesome Bonapartes

Answer: 12

Napoleon's parents Letizia and Carlo had 13 children, however only 8 survived infancy. The survivors were Joseph (nee Guiseppe); Napoleon (nee Napoleone) Lucien (nee Lucciano); Eliza (nee Maria-Anna); Louis (nee Luigi); Pauline (nee Maria-Paola); Caroline (nee Maria-Annunziata); and Jerome (nee Girolamo).

From Quiz Napoleonic Wars Year by Year

Answer: Malta

Malta was occupied by French 1798-1802, but was annexed to Britain 1814.

From Quiz Battle of Waterloo

Answer: June 18, 1815

From Quiz Do You Know Napoleon?

Answer: Ajaccio

His last name was "Buonaparte" until 1796, when he changed it to the less Italian-sounding "Bonaparte."

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