The Cossack's Ride

I've decided to make a connectiond raft. In this draft I'll take all of the snippets and notepads of scenes, and put them all together in what could be construed as a novel. What do you think of this idea?

Becky gave me a great idea for The Cossack's Ride.

She said that I should parallel my book to the oddesy, cause it's inadvertantly similar.

neat idea, huh?

I can't wait for Nano to start. I want to get working on this.

I say that now, but a week after I start, I'll be whining about how I can't wait for November to be over.

urgle

I have a real big problem with my research. I've found dozens of articles and such about the French invasion of russia in 1812. The only problem is the almost none of them agree about the size of either army. They range from 550,000-750,000 for the French and 420,000-910,000 for the Russians. Granted, the info isn't that important to the story, but it's irritating, cause I don't know how many cossacks were in the army. You would think that there would be more records of it, because the French army was the largest army ever raised in European history.

And in all of the battles, the Russians had less soldiers then the French, which would beg the question, why would the Russians have a larger overall army, if they couldn't engage a large percent of that army at the battles. If they did have a larger army, why on earth would they try to avoid the french for so long until they were only 70 miles from Moscow. If the Russians had a superior force, you'd think that they would try to wipe out the French force at the earliest oportunity.


Another interesting note...

A mass grave of Napoleon's troops was recently found in Vilnius, Lithuania. Of the three thousand soldiers buried it the grave, roughly a third of them died from lice borne illneses. This is interesting, and easily verified by the fact that more French troops were killed from disease then by actual battles with Russian forces. Pretty interesting, huh?

In fact, the vast majority of French troops died while fleeing Russia, from causes ranging from insects to disease to Russian attacks to the biting cold cause by the early and particularly cold Russian winter.


Strange to think that the weather has been the savior of the Russians, throughout history. Remember that the Germans were defeated in WWII because they couldn't handle the terrible winters.


So, kudos the the Russian winter. And shame on the historians who can't figure out the size of the armies. It's not like the armies were a couple of farmer with hayforks, who could easily be overlooked by history. They composed the largest armies in history and participated in the bloodiest fighting of the 19th century.

I found a problem with my military scene, which was promptly fixed by my dad, who calmed my nerves considerably with his knowledge.

I had originally intended to have Ivan in an attack on the french lines, in which he gets knocked out. Several hours later, he is to wake up and find that both the Russian and the French armies have passed. Then he is to lead an attack against some of the cannons in the rear of the french lines...

The reason this doesn't work: Armies don't move that fast. In a few hours, they would have advance a few hundred feet, and entrenched themselves, so they could bring up the cannons into range again. And plus, he can't attack the rear, cause there are reserve forces back there, who'd chop him up and eat him for breakfast.

So, the way to solve it is that, you must remember, that there is time lag between when the army advances and when the cannons are brought up. So this leaves quite a bit of space between the front lines and the cannons, which are left pretty much defenseless. They'd be between armies, so to speak. And also, Ivan and his groupies would probably have cannon-balls with fuses to use as grenades, so they would have the equipment to take out a cannon.

And by the time the army could react, several of the guns could be neutralized.

So, Ivan and about ten surviving Cossacks wake up and charge the French cannons. They destroy a whole cluster by the time thereserve forces can be mustered.

So, my problem is solved.

Place: Polenin’s house in St. Petersburg

Time: 4:30 P.M- 11:00 P.M.

Characters Involved: Ivan Gregoryavich, Gregory Stepanovich, Matrona Rolana,                                                                                     Ekaterina Petrovna, Nikolai Vassilyevich, other guests

Occasion: Engagement of Ivan and Ekaterina

Setting Description: Five of the rooms on the first floor. Ballroom, dining room, foyer,                                                                             smoking room, parlor.

Foyer: granite colored slate tile, several chairs and benches in red and gold upholstery. Two oak tables opposite each other against wall, with various odds and ends. Lit by lamps                                                          hanging on wall and a chandelier.

Ballroom: Large rectangular, cherry wood wainscoting, and cream walls. Two chandeliers. Several lamps hanging on the walls. Chairs in same style and design as in foyer, including several couches. Wood floors... highly polished pine. Large arched windows.

Parlor: Several cream and gold couches, chairs. Tables with lamps and refreshments. More comfortable subdues light.

Dining Room: Long oak table surrounded by high-backed gold and cream upholstered chairs. White linen table cloth. White porcelain plates with gold trim. Two chandeliers hanging from ceiling. Arched windows                                                                like in ballroom.

Smoking Room: Cherry furniture, Smokey atmosphere, tobacco scent, red upholstery, a large grandfather clock, a smallish table in the center of the room, surrounded by various other pieces of furniture. A hutch of brandy and glasses.

Ivan Gregoryavich Polenin:

Gregory Stepanovich Polenin:

Nikolai Vassilyevich Fillipov:

Ekatarina Petrovna Yakovlev:

Louis De Sauveterre:

Main Character: Ivan Gregoryavich Polenin

Subordinate Character: Gregory Stepanovich Polenin

Subordinate Character: Nikolai Vassilyevich Fillipov

Subordinate Character: Ekaterina Petrovna Yakovlev

Subordinate Character: Jacque Bisset

Subordinate Character: Louis De Sauveterre

Subordinate character: Matrona Rolana Polenin

Hi  Guys!

This story is taking the place of Rach for the time being. I'm putting it on the back burner for a while, and I'm beginning my new project. So here it is, and enjoy.