26. A Very Weird Marshall
The Napoleonic Wars came to a climactic end at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, in which the Duke of Wellington conducted a tenacious defense against attacks by Napoleon’s forces. As the day wore on, the pressure steadily mounted on Wellington’s army, as the intensity of French onslaughts increased. By that day’s afternoon, despite the stoicism and courage of his men, Wellington knew that his enemy was about to secure a victory. He was saved from possible defeat by the arrival of an allied Prussian army in the nick of time.
The French right flank was shattered by a Prussian attack, which turned the tide of the battle and forced a French retreat. A vigorous Prussian pursuit then turned the French retreat into a rout, and spiked Napoleon’s career for good. The timely Prussian intervention was commanded by Field Marshall Gebhard Leberecht von Blucher. Nicknamed Marshal Vorwarts (German for “Forward”) for his aggressive style, Blucher was a capable battlefield general even though he was an extremely weird character, with plenty of delusions. Among them was the then-72-year-old Blucher’s belief that he had been impregnated by a Frenchman, and that he was about to give birth to a baby elephant.
