The saying «Every soldier carries a Marshal’s baton in his knapsack» is usually attributed to Napoleon I. In fact, this is a «consolidated quotation» from the utterances of Napoleon, Germain de Stael and Louis XVIII. In Russian, a proverb of similar content appeared long before the Napoleonic wars.
Keywords
оrigin of familiar phrases; Napoleon's Marshals; School of Saint-Cyr; Napoleon I; Germain de Stael; Louis XVIII.