Russian peasants meet the French. A satirical postcard from the time of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia.

6 comments
  1. >or a different title “Russian slave meets a free French man”.

    It is all fun and games until you read about serfs in the Russian empire, and the horrors of their life. You could buy, sell, barter, maim and even kill your serfs, and I am talking about male serfs.

  2. > Let us imagine two men who have come out to fight a duel with rapiers according to all the rules of the art of fencing. The fencing has gone on for some time; suddenly one of the combatants, feeling himself wounded and understanding that the matter is no joke but concerns his life, throws down his rapier, and seizing the first cudgel that comes to hand begins to brandish it. Then let us imagine that the combatant who so sensibly employed the best and simplest means to attain his end was at the same time influenced by traditions of chivalry and, desiring to conceal the facts of the case, insisted that he had gained his victory with the rapier according to all the rules of art. One can imagine what confusion and obscurity would result from such an account of the duel.

    > The fencer who demanded a contest according to the rules of fencing was the French army; his opponent who threw away the rapier and snatched up the cudgel was the Russian people; those who try to explain the matter according to the rules of fencing are the historians who have described the event.

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