A Historian Reacts - The Napoleonic Wars, Part 1

welcome everyone to a new reaction series probably the most requested reaction that i've had in the time that i've had this channel and there's been a reason that i haven't gotten to it sooner and some of you have heard me talk a little bit about this uh back in december one of the very first reaction videos i ever did was the epic history tv's uh video on the battle of austerlitz uh in four and a half years that i have had youtube channels whether it's my gaming channel or this one i've only ever one time received a copyright strike and it was because of that video i never was given an explanation i've seen other people do reactions to the video so that's why i've been so hesitant to dive back into any of uh their stuff particularly their napoleonic war stuff because if you get three of those copyright strikes they delete your channel and i would have to start over again uh so copyright strike disappears after three months so i i'm back to zero so i'm gonna do one or two episodes of this and wait and see what happens because last time it was three weeks before i got the copyright strike i only had 1200 views on the video uh and so i reached out to them and they never gave me a reason why so i'm hoping by changing the format a little bit making it smaller uh and and making sure that i kind of break up the video a little bit will avoid that issue again but just be prepared i may not finish this series if that becomes an issue again but this was overwhelmingly voted by our patrons to be the series you wanted me to do next so we're going to dive into this so i believe this series picks up in 1803 with what is generally considered to be the beginning of the napoleonic wars the war the third coalition so the first coalition the second coalition are 1790s into the early couple of years of the 1800s uh and those are considered to be kind of during the french revolution into the french republic before napoleon becomes emperor in 1804 so there was a peace treaty signed between uh france and england the end of the war the second coalition there's a time of peace in there before this third war picks up uh so we're that's where we're gonna kind of pick up the story i don't think they give a lot of background on napoleon so just a couple of things about him for those who aren't familiar with napoleon bonaparte he's born in corsica which is if you're looking at the map there's those two big islands that are to the west of uh mainland of italy and it's the top of those two islands corsica the year that napoleon was born i think it was the year napoleon was born goes from becoming uh goes from being italian to being french i think it was genoa that gave up the rights to it and uh and napoleon was actually italian by dissent his family was minor nobility from italy so he grows up speaking uh italian and corsican i think he's only like 10 years old before he even starts learning to speak french and that's when he goes to the french mainland to get a military education he gets like a scholarship to a military school his father is a lawyer who becomes corsica's representative to the court of louis xvi uh so there's kind of uh some connection there uh but yeah napoleon does not grow up french and he does not grow up pro-french his family's very pro-corsican independence and he was a part of that growing up but he ends up becoming french he ends up getting that military education he's kind of this outsider but he rises to power because of his ability he demonstrates his ability time and time again as a brilliant tactician uh while other people are failing while other people are not doing as well he rises to the top by his ability so it's not about um you know being an aristocrat it's not because he's got the right background it's because he's a brilliant military commander that he rises to power and then he seizes the opportunity uh in a coup in 1799 i think it is he comes back from um from kind of a failed campaign in egypt but uh his brother who's a politician uh is part of this and they end up seizing power uh he he kind of does the there's some parallels between him and julius caesar where he kind of becomes first console uh but then seizes power all for himself and that's kind of where we're gonna be picking up the story as we dive into this so make sure you check out the original video i'll put a link in the description to epic history tv's original part of this i'm watching a video that's the entire thing all six parts so i don't know exactly where i'll stop but we'll kind of stop at a good natural stopping point somewhere let's dive in an epic history tv history march collaboration supported by our sponsor osprey publishing [Music] in december 1804 in the cathedral of notre dame in paris napoleon bonaparte crowned himself emperor of the french europe had never seen such a sudden and dramatic rise to power a son of impoverished corsican nobility to military dictator of france in little more than 10 years and so at this point napoleon is i think in his early 30s he's still pretty young remember this whole thing takes place when napoleon's in his 30s and early 40s he's but by the time he's my age he's been overthrown and he's been exiled i mean it's an incredible uh life that he lives and the things that he does that he does at such a young age and you're seeing there's kind of showing some of the flashes of that um him crowning himself the coup in 1799 uh some of the early battles of the uh the second coalition he was a part of revolution and war had cleared napoleon's path to the throne war would dominate his 10-year reign a conflict unprecedented in history that would leave millions dead and a continent in turmoil [Music] eight months after napoleon's coronation the french empire and its spanish ally were at war with britain and napoleon had assembled an army of 180 000 men along the channel coast but as long as the british royal navy ruled the seas invasion was impossible so here's one of multiple times throughout history when britain's navy saves their butts because they would have been overwhelmed by this 180 000 man french army if they could just get across the channel that's a theme throughout history right i mean going all the way back to the spanish armada in 1588 which was a huge navy that vastly outnumbered the english navy at the time thinking of operation sea lion which was the never attempted plan by german forces in world war ii to invade britain it just never happened time and time again britain being an island saves her and this is an another example of that but nor could britain challenge france on land and so british prime minister william pitt tried to build a european coalition against napoleon using diplomacy and gold and i i don't want to interrupt this often but speaking of young people william pitts another one pitt william pitt the younger as he's known is 24 years old when he becomes prime minister i mean think about what you were doing at 24 i know i was in no position to be leading a major world power as prime minister at the age of 24 i don't even think i'm in that position now but it's an incredible accomplishment britain would prove napoleon's most steadfast enemy and its press delighted in relentless mockery of the french emperor britain and france were old rivals in europe and overseas but now pitt feared napoleon's conquests had made france too powerful the french emperor had to be defeated and europe's balance of power restored if there was ever to be lasting peace pit found willing allies in europe among monarchs who despised napoleon as a product of the french revolution and a dangerous threat to the existing order austria harbored the deepest grievances having seen her influence in germany and italy steadily eroded by french victories and not only that but remember the austrian princess marie antoinette who has just been executed about a decade earlier in the french revolution uh there was supposed to be an alliance there between france and austria and of course that is all blown up during the the revolution the final straw came in may 1805 when napoleon had also crowned himself king of italy in milan austria russia sweden and naples joined britain in an alliance known as the third coalition and devised an ambitious plan for a series of joint offensives against france the main attack would be made by a combined austro-russian army advancing across the rain into france but napoleon got word of their plans and reacted with typical speed and decision he was determined to strike first before the allies could join forces and ordered his army now renamed la conte army to march to the river rhine so this is an important aspect of who napoleon was and it uh it's something that is a trait that you will see in a lot of brilliant military commanders decisive action quickly that doesn't mean that acting quickly is always the best course of action but hesitating and making a decision can be fatal especially when you're like napoleon and you're actually outnumbered in a battle like austerlitz making those quick decisions to get the advantage and to put your enemy uh in the position of having to respond to what you do rather than the other way around just one of many things that made napoleon a brilliant commander his target was the austrian army of general mack which had made a premature advance against bavaria a french ally and was now dangerously isolated from the other allied armies napoleon ordered marshall miura his famously flamboyant cavalry commander to make faint attacks through the black forest while the rest of his army advancing at speed enveloped max army from the north that summer napoleon's grand army was at its most formidable well-trained highly motivated its regiments at full strength what's more it had been newly reorganized according to the core system later imitated by virtually every army in the world that's true and uh you know in the united states right about this time is when the united states starts the military academy at west point uh that was during jefferson's administration so that's happening right around the time this is going on uh and one of the things that west point does this whole generation of officers that grow up attending west point that eventually become the men leading armies during the american civil war they're educated in napoleonic warfare this is the example that they're given and of course the american civil war is uh the first time in uh american military history that you see large armies using the core system like this uh and it was developed by napoleon and you can see parallels you know napoleon because he develops his core he can they're like many armies almost and they can move independently of one another and it's easier to supply and it's easier to forage if you need to uh and you see the same thing happening for example in the american civil war the gettysburg campaign where you have core moving independently of each other there's a lot of parallels here and that's because those men were trained on napoleon's tactics each corps commanded by a marshal was a mini army of 15 to 30 000 soldiers with its own infantry cavalry artillery and supporting arms such as reconnaissance engineers and transport this meant each corps could march and fight for a limited time independently brilliant allowing napoleon to break with the old doctrine of keeping his army concentrated and advance with his core widely dispersed this helped to disguise his real objective and increased movement speed because the army could advance along multiple roads and live off the land taking its supplies from scattered villages rather than relying on slow-moving supply wagons when the enemy's main force was located the army could quickly concentrate for battle this is how napoleon's army was able to move at a speed that often surprised and disorientated his enemies mack didn't realize the danger he was in until it was too late napoleon's fast-moving core crossed the danube behind him and surrounded his army mack launched a series of poorly coordinated counter-attacks but despite some desperate fighting the austrians couldn't break out of the trap mack hoped that kutuzov's russian army could arrive in time to save him but the russians were still 160 miles away and this is the story of the napoleonic wars really it's napoleon hitting an army before they can bring the reinforcements up before they can they can bring these because you're fighting against various nations it's a coalition uh with different agendas with different commanders with competing uh desire for authority and glory and power and he uses that to his advantage for the most part but it ends up biting him at waterloo when it doesn't work out the way he'd hoped but napoleon is using his smaller more agile force that can kind of make these quick movements to his advantage and so at um on the 19th of october just six weeks into the war max surrendered his army to napoleon the french took nearly 60 000 austrian prisoners and napoleon had struck his first devastating blow against the coalition russian general mikhail kutuzov was an experienced and wary commander more cautious than mack his army was exhausted after its 900-mile march from russia but hearing of the austrian can we just stop and think about that for a second a 900 mile march i wonder how quickly they had to cover that ground i mean that is just an insane amount of ground to cover in the time that they probably covered it and surrender at home and knowing he wasn't strong enough to face napoleon alone he immediately ordered a retreat napoleon pursued the russians fought several sharp rear guard actions but could not save the austrian capital vienna which the french occupied on the 12th november kutuzov slipped away to olmutz in today's czech republic where he was joined by reinforcements as well as emperor alexander of russia and emperor francis of austria in person napoleon was furious that kutuzov had escaped by now his army was also exhausted and far from home with winter approaching he needed to force a decisive battle quickly and think about this for a second how cool is this when you get to the battle of australis you have three emperors present on the field you've got uh the emperor of russia the emperor of austria and the emperor of the french fortunately for him the overconfident 27 year old russian emperor sought the glory of battle overriding the concerns of his veteran commander general kudusov with the allied army closing in napoleon ordered his corps to rapidly concentrate on a battlefield he had carefully selected near the town of osterlitz napoleon oversaw the dispositions of his army late into the night then grabbed a few hours sleep beside a campfire dawn would mark the first anniversary of his coronation as emperor and promised a battle that would make or break his young empire [Music] the morning of the 2nd of december 1805 was cold and bright with a heavy mist two armies of near equal size faced each other across a seven mile wide battlefield but the allies held the high ground of the pratzen heights while french third corps under marshall davu was still marching to the battlefield seeing napoleon's thinly stretched right flank the allies planned a large-scale attack from the pratzen heights to steamroller the french right before swinging round to envelop napoleon's army now this is something they haven't learned yet but if napoleon's right flank is weak there's a reason napoleon's right flank is weak he does not do this on purpose or he doesn't do this by accident he wants them you know think about that they've got the the high ground they've got the position that commands the battlefield all they've got to do is make napoleon attack them but napoleon knows that and he he wants to draw them out and he actually told his generals he said if they move off the pratts and heights we've got them beat and that's exactly what happens little did they know napoleon was counting on his weak right wing luring the allies into just such a move whereupon he would launch his own attack on the branson heights to cut the allied army in half his bold plan relied on his correct prediction of allied movements the speedy arrival of davu's third core on his right and a perfectly timed counter-attack know your enemy the battle began around seven a.m as austrian troops of general kainemeyer's advance guard clashed with french troops defending the village of telnets in the face of overwhelming odds the french fought stubbornly and bravely but gradually they were forced back which they expected but the allies instead of carrying out their great enveloping attack did nothing the morning mist and the late arrival of orders had led to confusion and delay and it was another hour before the first three allied columns were on the move soon fierce fighting erupted around sokonid's village and castle this is another difference between napoleon and his opposing commander when you're gonna commit to an idea commit to it go in full force they come up with this plan but then they don't even follow their own plan they kind of haphazardly put people in it's not well coordinated so even in the event that napoleon expected this they still might have had a chance if they would have actually followed through on their attack blown through the the french right flank and then come up around and hit hit the uh the main body as they plant but they don't even do that so they basically play right into napoleon's hands this is not only about brilliant leadership by napoleon and understanding his enemy and making plans to draw him into a trap it's also about proper execution marshall davis corps which had just marched 70 miles in two days now arrived to strengthen the french right wing around 9 00 am his lead infantry brigade appeared suddenly through the mist and retook telnets before being driven back in turn by austrian hussars two more of davoo's brigades reinforced french troops at sarcolnits as the mist began to clear napoleon saw that as he'd hoped the allied left was moving off the pratzen heights and he ordered marshall sults fourth corps to begin its attack to the alarm of allied commanders two french infantry divisions until now hidden by the mist were suddenly seen advancing straight towards the allied center general kutuzov was forced to hurriedly organize the defense of the heights using troops of four column two hours of bloody fighting followed musket fire was so rapid and furious that both sides were soon low on ammunition and turned to the bayonet by 11am the french with the advantage in training and discipline had secured the heights and driven a deep wedge into the allied position to the north a giant cavalry battle developed while a russian force from general bagratian's advance guard captured the village of bosonics before it was halted by cannon fire from the santon hill a decisive charge by six regiments of french heavy cavalry finally drove back the allies allowing martial lands five corps to move forward and seize blasovitz and krug this is a huge battlefield i don't know exactly what we're talking about here but i've watched a couple of youtube videos of people visiting the australis battlefield the area in which this battle was fought is an enormous stretch of ground i mean it's almost like there are different battles going on in different areas that are almost independent of each other because it's so spread out and this is again one of those reasons why napoleon having the core that he does having separate core with different marshals in charge it's such a great uh idea because it allows them to operate independently and when he can't be directly uh in charge of what's happening they are in position to kind of hold their own now grand duke constantine commanding the russian imperial guard led forward this last allied reserve in a desperate bid to reclaim the pratzen heights a battalion of the french fourth line regiment was charged down by russian guard cavalry losing its eagle standard in bloody fighting napoleon who'd moved up to the heights sent in his own guard cavalry in this grim melee between the elite horsemen of both armies the french finally prevailed to close the trap on the allied left wing still locked in heavy fighting around so-called nits so the whole the whole plan from the beginning was that this part of the battlefield was going to be where they broke through and then enveloped the french line and it it's just become a stalemate the whole time so now they themselves are going to find themselves surrounded around 2pm napoleon ordered four divisions to swing south and cut off their retreat general buxhauden commanding the allied left only now saw the danger he was in attacked from three sides the only escape was south many of his troops were forced to flee across frozen ponds french artillery opened fire trying to smash the ice with their cannonballs wow about 200 men and dozens of horses drowned in the freezing water and i should mention too that one of the reasons why they chose to attack um on that on the left on the french right is because remember france has just taken vienna and vienna is to the south in that direction uh so they wanted to be able to cut napoleon off from lines of communication to vienna and so there was a strategic reason for going at him on that side but not the many thousands of napoleon's propaganda the french emperor had won a brilliant victory his army had taken more than 10 000 prisoners and captured 45 enemy standards thousands of dead and wounded of all sides littered the battlefield many left untended for days and i've actually seen i don't know how reliable the sources are but i've seen numbers that put the allied prisoner somewhere closer to 20 000. so it just kind of depends on the source that you're reading on that information that might have been napoleon's source that said that but remember he had just previously captured 60 000 other prisoners so it's a brilliant victory it's very one-sided in terms of the casualties no matter how you look at it the battle of the three emperors as it became known was a crushing blow to the third coalition as russian forces retreated back to russia francis the first of austria was forced to accept a humiliating settlement with france agreeing to pay a 40 million frank indemnity and give up more territory in exchange for peace and napoleon ends up divorcing his first wife and marrying a austrian princess to kind of cement that alliance and it's interesting to see then the parallel between him and louis the 16th in that but we're going to wrap it up right there i think that's a really good point to stop our first episode at the end of the battle of australis here let me know your thoughts use the comment section below we will come back with a part two and then i'll probably pause just to wait and see what happens make sure everything's gonna be okay we'll do some other stuff in the meantime and then we'll pick up after that so hit that like button make sure you check out the original content epic history tv and history march have fantastic original content on their channels i highly recommend that you subscribe to both of them thanks for watching we'll see you again soon

Channel: Vlogging Through History

Views: 113,479

Keywords: napoleonic wars, reaction video, military history, epic history reaction, history reaction, historian reacts, the french revolution, european history, french empire, emperor napoleon, epic history tv reaction, napoleonic wars documentary, napoleon reaction

Id: BInet8camOc

Length: 29min 7sec (1747 seconds)

Published: Mon May 03 2021