Before Napoleon crossed the Alps, Hannibal and Charlemagne had both done so.
Unlike the French army that had originally intended to go support the War of the Spanish Succession, Napoleon had guides leading them at the time. The French promised never to reveal the guides' identities.
On September 23, 1801, former Senate of the Directory member Clément de Ris was murdered at his villa on the Cher River. Then, on November 19, Audrein, the bishop of Finistère, was assassinated. Both men had once served as judges on special tribunals.
They were not called special tribunals at the time. They used the ordinary judicial system's courts of first instance. Later, they realized that plaintiffs and witnesses could easily suffer retaliation from bandits, so "security judges" replaced the government commissioners in the courts of first instance. Their task was to draft indictments, while juries could only reach decisions based on written evidence.
The countryside had not yet completely and swiftly returned to order, but at least it was no longer like certain chaotic places where people even dared to rob convoys transporting state tax money.
Some veterans, like Bruce Bernard, chose to become law officers, while others chose to become "Cartouche." It might have been bittersweet for former comrades to meet again that way, but that was fate.
What mattered most to peasants? Staying alive came first, and eating came first. Many people could not bear that life and left their hometowns, but not every one of them made something of themselves.
Not every adventure brought rewards. There was no shortage in this world of talented failures. If Napoleon Bonaparte had not won Little Robespierre's favor, he might still have been an artillery captain, wandering the streets of Paris in heartbreak over a lost love.
Georgiana did not know much about horses.