Part II, Book 1, Chapter 10
The Mont-St-Jean Plateau
Despite the death trench and Napoleon being an inconvenience to God, the French forces continued on (down one death trench’s volume of horses and riders) and were more or less undeterred.
Hugo seems intent on upholding the honor of the French army, his personal opinion of Napoleon aside, because we are treated to a number of statements about what superior fighters the French were and how unembarrassed their forces were despite the whole Waterlooney Tunes situation.
Examples:
“Relatively few in number, and reduced by the trench catastrophe, […] they excelled themselves, each man the equal of ten.”
“They were a whirlwind. Their valour was beyond words.”
“There is no doubt that had they not been weakened in their first assault […] the cuirassiers would have overwhelmed the centre and decided the victory.”
Hugo is not at all biased! I kind of love the defensive hypothetical in that last bit. “If this catastrophic avoidable thing hadn’t happened, they totally would have won.”
I can play this game all day, Hugo. If the jury had liked my performance better, I would have won in my division at the Junior Bach Festival. If I hadn’t quit swimming lessons in fifth grade, I could have become an Olympic swimmer. If I had been born to entirely different parents in an entirely different family, I could have been a trust fund kid who never had to worry about money.
Or, to quote Max Verstappen:
Anyway. We are presented with yet another laundry list of things that happened in the battle, in this case the onslaught of English losses which, according to Hugo, had Wellington completely shook. Things were looking so disastrous for him—with some allies full-on fleeing—when suddenly a line of bayonets appeared in the distance.
Omg, it’s Gandalf with the Rohirrim, isn’t it. :3
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