Joseph had done this, of course, not because he "admired General Melas's brave performance on the battlefield," but because Melas was incompetent enough.
If he returned to Austria and was still put to important use, then the next time he took the field, he would once again deliver a grand gift to France.
That was far more advantageous than detaining him and letting a more capable officer command the Austrian Army.
At the same time, it demonstrated France's "respect for the spirit of chivalric tradition"—that nobles had the right to buy back their freedom with ransom.
First, it could weaken enemy commanders' will to fight to the death in future wars.
Second, if an important French commander were captured, he could also be ransomed back in this manner.
Of course, if they captured a heavyweight figure like Duke Wellington, Archduke Karl, or Kutuzov, Joseph would not hesitate to toss "chivalry" straight into the rubbish bin.
Alexandria.
Representatives from seven or eight Italian States, including Genoa, Parma, and Sardinia, had been invited here to observe the French Army's surrender ceremony in Fountain Square.
In fact, even Tuscany and the Papal States had received invitations, but neither had responded.
Sardinian civilians packed the roads on both sides of the square, craning their necks as they watched more than a thousand Austrian prisoners pass before them, their faces carrying varying degrees of unease.
After all, two months earlier, they had still been allies of the Austrians. Had His Majesty the King not changed sides in time, quite a few Sardinians would probably have been among those prisoners as well.
The Italian girls, meanwhile, watched the French Hussars escorting the prisoners with their majestic bearing, smiles of shyness or intoxicated fascination blooming on their faces.
Behind the prisoner column came a convoy of more