What in the world Napoleon and the battle of Waterloo have to do with Jean Valjean and the other characters or story in Les Misérables, I have no clue.
They're French?
Victor Hugo spends 58 pages on Waterloo. 58 pages detailing the French loss to the English and Germans. 58 pages detailing dozens of French military officers from general to lieutenants.
At least I got to learn about French general Chambronne. His regiment the last standing at Waterloo. He apparently refused to surrender. The French somehow see him as a legend. When told by the English to do so, he reportedly said "merde".
That just expanded my French vocabulary by about 50%.
Merde.
In the book, translated as excrement.
Google translate does a much better job:
Shit.
Which is pretty much what I thought of the 58 pages on Waterloo.
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