Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher in 1818

Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (16 December 1742 – 12 September 1819), Graf (count), later elevated to Fürst (prince) von Wahlstatt, was a Prussian Generalfeldmarschall (field marshal). He earned his greatest recognition after leading his army against Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in 1813 and the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Attributed

• May the pens of the diplomats not undo what we have won with the sword!
  • Toast at Wellington's banquet in honour of the surrender of Paris, a few days afterward (July 1815). Reported in Edwin Emerson, A History of the Nineteenth Century Year by Year, vol. 1 (New York: P. F. Collier and Son, 1902), p. 589. Slightly different version in Bartlett's Familiar Quotations, 14th ed. (1968), p. 469: "May the pens of the diplomats not ruin again what the people have attained with such exertions."

• What a great city to plunder!
  • F. Bartosek, "Odell in the Character of Bluecher", The New York Times (29 March 1903), p. 27, col. 5: "It is said about the Prussian General, Blücher, that, while visiting the City of London after the battle of Waterloo, he ascended the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral to get a more extended view of the city. While gazing upon the immense and magnificent city spreading at his feet he was supposed to have exclaimed: 'What a great city to plunder!' or something to that effect."

External links

• Encyclopedic article on Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher on Wikipedia