Quote:
Originally Posted by Taltarzac725
Berth.
Humid.
Metric.
Poncho.
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Plague and the Syrian Campaign
Quote:
The French army was not the first to invade Jaffa, but it was particularly brutal to its inhabitants. Although the French took control of the city within a few hours after the attack began, the soldiers' aggression became wildly out of control. They bayoneted approximately 2,000 Turkish soldiers who were trying to surrender. The soldiers' ferocity then turned to the inhabitants of the town. Men, women, and children were robbed and murdered with wild abandon. The insanity continued for three days, ending when Napoleon ordered that 3,000 Turkish troops be executed, those who had surrendered believing they would be held as prisoners of war, be executed (Herold 1962).
During the grievous action in Jaffa, the first French soldiers became delirious with severe fevers and headaches. After a few days, hundreds of soldiers had swellings under their arms. Plague had come to Jaffa.
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A painting (linked above) with a
berth in the Louvre portrays Bonaparte touching the sores of a plague sufferer to the terror of the physician. Jaffa was not a
humid city nor probably one yet on the
Metric system. Napoleon would carry the Metric System along with him as he made conquests. Humidity unlike the Metric System is not like a
poncho that can be taken on and off at will .
http://www.photometrictesting.co.uk/...ric_system.php