Pierre Jacques Étienne Cambronne was a general in Napoleon’s army, serving in the Hundred Days of Napoleon’s return from exile, ending in defeat in the battle of Waterloo. It was during the Battle of Waterloo that Cambronne made his mark on history, remaining on the battlefield after Napoleon’s army had made a dramatic retreat. General Colville of the British army yelled a request for Cambronne to surrender. In response Cambronne famously replied ‘Merde!’ (‘shit!’).
This famous retort was immortalised in Victor Hugo’s breathtaking work of literature, Les Misérables. Hugo praised this retort as the greatest word(s) ever spoken by a Frenchman; Waterloo was not won by the English, or Europe, or even Wellington, it was won by Cambronne. It is Cambronne’s pride, courage and passion that we believe is missing in the hollow democratic ideology and existential humanism of the contemporary consumer world.
No Surrender
