Talk about being at the wrong place at the wrong time. The guy he was talking to got taken out by a cannonball too.

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It was the first defeat Napoleon had suffered since the Battle of Acre (and he’d lost then because he had fought Britain on their strongest point battles in countries where they had colonial leverage and could deploy their navy, which was the best in the world) ten years prior.

The French got a wake up call that day.

I can't find much information on this but French sources claim he took a bullet to the head instead.

It wasn’t a good battle for France, they’d been handed the first real defeat they had suffered on land for 10 years. Although it wasn’t the turning point of the Wars (which was the disastrous Russian invasion), it was a sign of things to come.

Under the circumstances they would try to make the death of a general seem as dignified as possible. But bullets were not that accurate back then and cannonballs are capable of tremendous damage.

The ol' standing Marie Antoinette.

"If you can't keep your head when all around you are losing theirs..."

This is a common occurrence in warfare after the 18th century.

General: I say old boy I believe I saw your wife being somewhat indiscreet last night Friend: You don’t say? Where? With whom? General: Well it was <schlawp> Friend: dammit

Battle of Aspern-Essling was one of the bloodiest battles of the Napoleonic era, in part due to the huge amount of Austrian artillery on the battlefield firing an enormous number of rounds.

...so close