Are the Game of Risk Generals Based on Real Soldiers?

La Conquête du Monde

• French filmmaker Albert Lamorisse created his game La Conquête du Monde, translated in English as "The Conquest of the World," in the early 1950s. French game developer Miro marketed the game in 1957, selling the rights for the American version two years later.

Risk: Édition Napoléon

• The original editions of the game Risk featured armies, but no generals. A 10,000-copy limited edition version of the game entitled Risk: Édition Napoléon, released only in France in 1999, introduced generals to Risk. The game offers historical scenarios including general cards for Napoléon Bonaparte, Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher.

Napoléon

• The one-time emperor of France, Napoléon Bonaparte disrupted early 19th-century Europe through the wars of conquest that historically bear his name.

Wellington

• Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Britain's "Iron Duke," stopped Napoléon's army for good at the Battle of Waterloo, in Belgium, on June 18, 1915.

Blücher

• Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher battled Napoléon twice, joining Wellington in defeating him at Waterloo.