Neal Persons' Journalism Blog

Cannons. Line battles. Cavalry. As my history class wore on, my imagination ran with excitement through battle after battle, as fusiliers marched across fields, through cities, and across Europe. The subject in class was the Napoleonic Wars, and I was hooked. The rich and interesting history grabbed my attention immediately, and hasn't let go since. As I read more about this era of history, I developed a view that seemed to stray from the popular opinion on one of the greatest military leaders in history. I was a fan of Napoleon Bonaparte. I understood his faults, sure, but it was his successes that far outweighed his blemishes, in my eyes. Unfortunately, others weren't so understanding. My peers often disagreed with me on the matter, but I held fast to my opinion, and still do. Over time, the popular opinion of Napoleon has still remained the same: The man who conquered the conquerors was remembered as a villain, and his opponents as heroes. Chances are you think of Nap...

Topic 1: For my column article, I'm thinking of writing an article in defense of Napoleon Bonaparte, the French emperor who had an entire era of warfare named after him. In the article, I plan on going into why he fought the wars, and how his current image was made using the biases of his enemies, who were the victors in the end, how he ruled France, and the state of France under his reign. It may not serve to completely change one's opinion of Napoleon, but to help show that the popular views of him are more subjective than objective. Arguments will include the nature of the wars he fought, being that most of them were defensive wars, and his introduction of the Code Napoleon, which introduced legal policies that benefitted citizens and parts of which are still used today in many modern countries. Topic 2: Article: "English, we hardly know ye" Summary: Basically, she is writing about how the english language is ridiculously complicated and sometimes appears cont...