The Complete History Of The Napoleonic Wars | History Of Warfare | Timeline

foreign [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] history proclaims Napoleon as one of the greatest Generals in the annals of warfare his strategic Vision timing at his consummate grasp of every one of the variables which influenced the behavior of a vast Army have made him a legendary figure to rank alongside Alexander the Great Caesar and Hannibal Napoleon was crowned emperor of France by his own hand in a ceremony of great Pomp and Circumstance on the 2nd of December 1804 [Music] foreign [Music] his moment of supreme Glory came from a rapid series of promotions which had seen him move from a little-known captain of artillery to Undisputed master of France in only six years [Music] Napoleon had an almost meteoric rise to fame I think we can understand this best if we imagine the French Revolution giving young officers in the French army what we would not have a real window of opportunity Napoleon was skilled and talented but beyond that he had great ambition and a sense of his own destiny Napoleon accepted that war would become an integral part of his life and that of his country without interruption for almost 20 years from the rise of Napoleon to his forced abdication the awful Specter of War hovered Somewhere over the continent the French Revolution provided him with his first taste of action and it was to profoundly influence his outlook on life foreign old monarchs and a young Republic a spirit of hostility must always exist in the present State of Affairs every peace treaty means no more than a brief armistice but I believe that my destiny will be to fight almost continuously with the French Revolution which Swept Away the osion regime with its very structured society and very structured military-ranked system Napoleon had immense opportunity which for an ambitious young officer if he was willing to take those opportunities and grab them make the most of them a young officer could rise through the ranks very quickly this was the start of his his rise to fame if you love history then you will love history hit our extensive library of documentary features everything from the ancient origins of our earliest ancestors to the daring mission to sink the bismar history hit has hundreds of exclusive documentaries with unrivaled access to the world's best historians we're committed to Bringing history fans award-winning documentaries and podcasts that you cannot find anywhere else sign up now for a free trial and timeline fans get 50 off their first three months just be sure to use the code timeline at checkout throughout his long career Napoleon's implacable enemy was as always England a nation which Napoleon did tested with a passion the English armies and neighbors had proved a constant thorn in the side of Napoleon and his most spectacular defeats were at the hands of the British a trend which began within Napoleon's ill-fated Egyptian campaign Egypt presented a Napoleon Bonaparte with a romantic opportunity and Napoleon poped that by taking Egypt he would be able to hamper British control of the Mediterranean and possibly deal the British Empire um a death blow as it turned out however although he was able to seize power in Egypt after the battle of the pyramids in July 1798 at the Battle of abuki or bear Bay in August of that year Nelson was able to destroy the French Fleet and effectively imprisoned the French army in Egypt [Music] after an abortive attempt to seize acre during 1799 Napoleon realized that the Egyptian campaign was effectively doomed and he actually left the army of Egypt to its fate returning to France and Paris in October 1798. [Music] memories of the disastrous naval battle of the Nile and Alexandria on land haunted Napoleon his anger was kindled Anew when Britain was instrumental in bringing together an International Coalition against him this new Coalition the third which had been created was formed from Austria Russia and Britain and was pledged to destroy forever the destabilizing influence which a young revolutionary Nation like France was thought to have on the old order the hopes of the third Coalition were further bolstered by the news that Prussia who had been vacillating between actively joining the Coalition and acting as a mediator for peace was now more than likely to join the other nations in arms against Napoleon this would bring a huge influx of men against the emperor and could well have made the situation untenable for him in the early months of 1805 the Strategic situation therefore looked very promising indeed for the nations of the third coalition but what With the Enemy the Allies couldn't have predicted the sheer quality of this new Napoleonic Army since 1800 France had been largely at peace and Napoleon had completely restructured his military machine Napoleon had divided his army down into a whole series of what we might call miniature these Army Corps numbered in times of strength from approximately fifteen thousand men up to as many as 30 or even forty thousand men but the advantage of this gay was that each Army Corps was a balanced force which will now call a proper battle group it had its own Cavalry its own infantry its own artillery and above all it had its own staff and a marshal commanding one of these cores really had its own miniature Army and his command now what this meant of course was that if he ran into unexpected trouble even against an enemy Army of several times his own size he was capable by Napoleon's calculation of fighting for up to 24 hours on his own provided he was reinforced within 24 hours by neighboring course he would not absolutely go under Pitt suffer but he would not go under advantage of the core system was the flexibility and speed it gave to the French staff instead of as with an 18th century Army uh Napoleon's Chief of Staff having to write out a separate set of orders for every regiment within the army Napoleon could simply direct his core commanders on their mission or objective this made the French army far more responsive and flexible than the armies that Napoleon faced in the campaign of 1805 the third Coalition planned a series of four great offensives each in a different part of Europe which were planned to be launched simultaneously in the north a British Force aided by Swedish and Russian elements would attack Napoleon's Ally the Kingdom of Denmark the Austrian General Mac with 85 000 Russian allies would seize ULM and then strike against Strasbourg Archduke Charles with one hundred thousand of the best Austrian troops available to him was to strike into Northern Italy and expel the French from Lombardy before moving on to invade the south of France poised between Max Force pressing onto ULM and Archduke Charles's forces in Italy was the Austrian Archduke John where the further 25 000 austrians they were ready to support the armies in either Germany or Italy depending on how the situation developed the final arm of this great master plan was a combined Russian and British force from Malta who would strike northwards through Italy to join Archduke Charles in the invasion of Southern France if the plan was brilliant in its conception it was to prove disastrous in its execution unbeknown to the Austrian Chiefs of Staff the Russians were actually using the old style Russian calendar a different calendar from their allies in the early 19th century there were still two calendar systems operating in Europe and this was going to lead to a great deal of trouble Russia being a rather old-fashioned country still kept onto the old style dating system of the Julian calendar which was 12 days different though from the new style system adopted by almost all the rest of Europe which was called the Gregorian calendar system it is amazing that the Austrian general staff in Vienna did not realize that there was this difference in the calendar system let's say that Russian allies with whom they were negotiating for their part of the campaign were working on a different calendar so if a letter came from Saint Petersburg promising to be in the Danube Valley by the 20th of October it really meant they would only be appearing on the 1st of November new style that could make a big difference in the actual military events on the ground as you might suppose [Music] despite the odds ranged against him Napoleon was never a man to be over awed or intimidated for him a swift action with a clear strategic purpose could unhinge even the greatest disadvantage in a masterpiece of surprise cunning and deception Napoleon was about to pull off his finest Master stroke [Music] General Mack of Austria had occupied ULM in Bavaria on the 10th of September 1805. due to the inconsistency of the calendars his Russian allies under kutuzov were farther away than Mack imagined leaving the Austrian General isolated around Ulm Napoleon managed to fool the austrians into believing that the bulk of the French forces were still concentrated on the English Channel when in fact they were moving with lightning speed across the Rhine and could then encircle the austrians at ULM on the Danube and attacked them from the rear [Music] after some Fierce fighting around ULM in a variety of minor actions it was becoming increasingly obvious the situation of General Mack was hopeless faced with Superior French forces he held out in vain for the arrival of the Russians undercutusoft was still far beyond reach even before Mack really realized what had happened Napoleon had fixed his attention and maneuvered his course so that Mack was surrounded the only alternative for Mac was then to surrender Napoleon is seen here accepting the surrender of the general who referred to himself as the unfortunate General Mack the odds against the emperor in the campaign overall were now considerably shorter he now turned to deal with the remaining Russian and Austrian armies [Music] the conclusive proof of his military genius was furnished for all time on the slopes of the Frozen Heights of austerlitz on the 2nd of December 1805. [Music] as the famous Blood Red Son of austellits Rose through the Mist on the morning of this his greatest battle Napoleon was confident of victory but even he could not have forecast just how complete his Triumph would be polian not only fooled the enemy as to the strength of numbers of troops he could put onto that Battlefield he also dictated to them the way they were to fight their battle the area of his lines which they were to attack on the battlefield of Australis he actually surrendered the dominating pratts and Heights this again gave the the Allies the impression that Napoleon was weak that his force would not stand against their much larger formations but the austrians thought they were being given the ideal chance to cut the main road running from Bruno to Vienna Napoleon's line of advance and also therefore his line of retreat of communications and then roll him up to the north and have him completely at their Mercy Napoleon had arranged that his one of his best core commanders davu was within a marching distance of the battlefield and in 24 hours before the actual battle on the 1st of December 1805 Napoleon had managed to concentrate far more troops than the Allies believed he had under his command is one of the completest victories that Napoleon ever achieved there is no doubt that this battle left Napoleon the master of Southern Central Europe the emperor had deceived the Allies completely and they had rushed headlong into his carefully laid traps the enormity of the defeat on the field however was as nothing compared to its consequences the following day December the 3rd Austria sued for peace while the beaten battered Russians limped away to the safety of Poland and Hungary a thoroughly demoralized Army polian had indelibly stamped his mark on the Affairs and fortunes of Europe offering an ominous portent of the Bloodshed which would blight the continent for the next 10 years above all it established the reputation of the Grand Army as the most effective fighting force of its age [Music] foreign [Music] represented the Zenith of Napoleon's Fame the seeds of Napoleon's great misadventure of 1812 was sown in the uneasy treaty concluded in the wake of that Victory between Prussia Russia and France in July 1807. he said been reached after two years of struggle between France and the combined armies of Austria Prussia and Russia during which Napoleon had gained some of his most famous victories in a career of famous victories with the signing of the treaty the emperor was finally able to coerce the Russians into joining his Continental System along with the equally reluctant prussians Napoleon as Emperor was not just a soldier he was Emperor and therefore the the main representative of the government of France and just as Napoleon exerted huge energy in his military campaigns he also turned much of his attention as Emperor to the administration and running of France the continental system was designed to stimulate trade within Europe and to carry on war with England by economic means England has Napoleon's implacable foe was to be excluded from all trade within Continental Europe not surprisingly the Russian Tsar Alexander the first was a less than willing partner in a system which soon proved ruiners for many influential merchants and which Drew him into an unlooked for war with Great Britain leading to a series of major devaluations of the ruble tension soon grew between the two countries and finally led to a declaration of war French forces crossed the river Neiman into Russia in June 1812 and the long-expected war was finally begun that year was 1812. the setting for what was to become one of the most spectacular military disasters in the history of warfare the virtual destruction of the largest military machine in the world had yet seen [Music] thank you in order to achieve the rapid subjugation of the Russians Napoleon had assembled more than 650 000 men from every nation then under the sway of the French Empire [Applause] but Napoleon did not anticipate going Beyond 50 miles into Russian Poland because he felt that he would be able to force a decisive battle early in the campaign which was always his objective but he certainly was not prepared for a winter campaign or one which stretched him all the way to Moscow Napoleon's original objectives were very limited in 1812 in fact when he actually made his proclamation to the Army he said that they were about to launch the second polish campaign so what Napoleon was actually trying to do was not invade Russia and certainly not go as far as Moscow what he intended to do was to trap a large number of Russian soldiers if possible wipe out their whole armies in the west and remove Russia's military power so that he could actually lay down the terms at a peace treaty which would once and for all establish himself as the leader of Europe and remove the Tsar Alexander and the Russian army as a as a threat for the foreseeable future in a dispatch to davu Napoleon summed up his strategy with the words the aim of all my moves will be to concentrate four hundred thousand men at a single point the Russian Grand strategy was always to draw the French armies deeper into Russia and further away from their supply bases where hunger cold and disease would gnaw away at the bones of the great Army when Napoleon's armies crossed the Neiman River on the 24th of June 1812. Napoleon believed and hoped that he would be able to trap and capture the main Russian armies very close to the frontier however in a series of battles starting with the the actions around vilna in June then around the Davina River in July and finally around Smolensk in August Napoleon was unable to trap the now retreating Russian armies this meant that Napoleon was drawn further and further into Russia without achieving the decisive battle which he sought the Russian withdrawal continued until finally at a village 60 miles from the gates of Moscow they turned to fight what was to become the bloodiest pitched Battle of the Napoleonic era borodino borodino Compares rather unfavorably with most of Napoleon's other battles it was very much a soldier's battle and it was a slogging match of 12 hours both Napoleon and katusov actually paid very small parts in the battle it was noted that Napoleon was lethargic all day and he really just seems to have launched his armies in a frontal attack against the Russians and to have left them to get on with it he wanted to fight the Russians he wanted to destroy their army and he wasn't interested in any interesting Maneuvers it was just going to be a fight a battle of attrition to destroy the Army once and for all it was left to core commanders divisional commanders Brigade commanders to actually get in there and fight a soldier's battle and it was a terrible killing match oh 75 000 casualties lay on the field and the French had gained a mere half mile or so of ground nonetheless the Superhuman effort of resistance and the appalling casualties which they had suffered caused the Russians to begin to withdraw undercover of Darkness the road to Moscow was finally open to read was the victory at borodino was to prove a pyrrhic success ironically Napoleon now found himself the almost reluctant possessor of his enemy's religious Capital he had never intended to March this far from France his Supply situation was desperate and he both expected and needed the Russians to daily sue for the peace which would allow him to return to France With Honor before the onset of winter [Music] on the morning of September the 14th the French army at last arrived at Moscow to find an eerie deserted City forsaken by its whole population [Music] hundreds of criminals were released their job was to set fire to the whole of the city in the face of a determined enemy a Russian arsonists did their job with great thyrness and soon the city was Ablaze Napoleon's Army then occupied a deserted uh smoldering City and although Napoleon expected the Tsar to come to to make peace terms he waited in Moscow in vain for over a month the real disaster for Napoleon was that in burning the city the Russians had furnished final proof that they would not surrender and that the war would therefore drag on to be fought in a hostile winter 1500 miles from France as this awful realization dawned upon Napoleon it was all too obvious that his position was untenable could not hope to feed or reinforce his depleted ranks and the only solution was to turn for home by the 18th of October when Napoleon decided to leave Moscow and begin his Retreat he had been denied the decisive battle which would have ended the campaign and the Tsar stubbornly refused to make terms it was on the retreat from Moscow that Napoleon's Army disintegrated from a tired but disciplined Force into an exhausted rabble as often happens when Misfortune compounds misfortune when winter arrived it was abnormally cold and early added to the extremes of cold with a never-ending attention to the Russian army and The Irregular Cossacks who hurried The Columns and killed French stragglers in their unremitting attacks on one occasion even the emperor himself was under threat as the Army slowly made its way eastwards the awful conditions of the Russian roads began to take its toll on men and transport already the signs were ominous day after day the March dragged on to a deepening winter with the hard-pressed French constantly under attack by Cossacks in the main Russian army never far away ready to pounce as the French strength in Russia dwindled they were unable to hold onto the bridges across the mighty brzena and the shattered remains of the army now pushing shoving mob of humanity had to attempt a Crossing on hastily constructed pontoon bridges under Fierce fire from an attacking Russian Force however what had initially been a relatively orderly Crossing soon degenerated into a route as the arrival of fresh Russian forces spread panic amongst the massive stragglers and fugitives awaiting to cross the river with the remains of the army as thousands clambered to cross the bridges over the icy Rivers many stragglers were pushed into the river to die instantly in the freezing Waters as Panic spread one of the two Bridges collapsed and a scene of the utmost horror unfolded while the living trampled the dead into the lethal Waters and trapped men screamed for Mercy as they froze to death [Music] with superhuman effort the French were able to pass 40 000 troops and an unknown number of stragglers across the berazina leaving thousands of French soldiers uh camp followers to their fate at Russian homes [Applause] as the struggling MOBA fugitives finally dragged itself away from the banks of the Regina towards France the promise of safety it was now finally obvious but as a fighting force the Grand Army had effectively been annihilated by December there were apparently only 13 000 troops still around the colors the remainder were a mass of dying stragglers spread out in a pathetic Trail stretching for miles behind the army [Music] Napoleon at last decided that there was little point in remaining with the crumbling remnants he ordered the Eagles of the various core to be burned and he took his leave off them on December the 6th traveling under an assumed name he fled to Paris for him the ill-fated Russian Adventure was finally over out of a total force of 600 000 men Napoleon returned from Russia with perhaps only 90 000. the Russian campaign then in many respects sealed at Napoleon's fate it proved uh the limits of his ambition and it proved to the rest of Europe that not only could Napoleon be defeated but that has Grand Army was no longer the formidable force that it once had been following his disastrous foray into Russia in 1812 Napoleon's Fortune to declined rapidly until surrounded by armies from Britain Austria Russia and Prussia the emperor was finally forced into unconditional abdication in 1814 Napoleon's defeat at the hands of the Allies signaled the apparent end of a tyrant and the nations of Europe settled down to enjoy a well-earned interlude of peace and prosperity but it was to prove short-lived Allowed by his enemies to retain the title of emperor he became Prince of the small Mediterranean island of Elba [Music] from a proud Army of 500 000 men Napoleon was allowed to take with him only 600 trusted soldiers from his old guard he personally selected these men at an emotional farewell to choosing the men who were to be his bodyguard and procalled for an eagle of the old God to be brought forward racked with emotion which he could scarcely disguise Napoleon grasped it to his breast and gave it a kiss of farewell with the words with this kiss I embrace you all [Music] many of the grizzled veterans of ilal Moscow and austerlitz unable to Bear the emotion also broke down in tears shortly afterwards the emperor took his leave off them and on April 28 1814 he boarded a British warship which was to take him to Elba and exile he was not to be gone for long however Napoleon as the new ruler of Elba very quickly tired of his new regime and his new Empire on this tiny island in the Mediterranean and planned to recover power in France he was aware of the unpopularity of the newborn regime and on the 1st of March 1815 not even a year after his previous abdication he landed on the soil of France near Khan Napoleon's reappearance in France and his triumphal progress from nice to Paris has become a modern Legend always the opportunist Napoleon had made a legendary career from his ability to react instantly to events and opportunities so on February the 26th 1815. Napoleon set sail from Elba to France for a final throw of the dice and one last chance to restore his fortunes as Napoleon marched in land he met a regiment which had been sent to intercept him led by Marshall nay who was now the commander-in-chief of the Bourbons but the soldiers refused to fire on him this is one of the famous moments when he went forward from his 1000 members of the Old Guard which he had with him on the island of Elder and opened his coat and said fire if you wish it was a tremendous Act of theater the soldiers threw down their muskets and started to cheer Viv lombere the old magic it seemed was too strong and from that moment his bandwagon was beginning to grow and continued to grow as he moved further north towards Paris but if support for Napoleon had gained a new resilience the response of his enemies was equally resolute in an uncharacteristic show of solidarity Britain Russia Prussia and Austria Swifty reached agreement and signed a new treaty against Napoleon no country was to negotiate independently with him Napoleon was not to be trusted and above all he was not to be allowed time to rebuild his military machine he was to be crushed by force as soon as possible but there could be no lasting peace until Napoleon had been decisively beaten up on the field of battle [Music] while Napoleon offered peace to all of the powers of Europe they were not going to be bluffed by these peace feelers and essentially all of the main powers of Europe declared war not on France but on Napoleon himself they believed that it was time to rid Europe of what they tanned the monster faced with this Coalition bent on his immediate destruction Napoleon had no alternative but to fight The Campaign which was to become known as the hundred days culminating in the Battle of Waterloo [Music] Wellington with an Allied Army of British Dutch and Belgian troops 110 000 strong was to attack Paris from the direction of Brussels his Left Flank was to be protected by Marshall blucher with 110 000 prussians advancing on namua from the direction of liege Napoleon's strategy for the campaign of the hundred days as it was always referred to was sound strategically realizing the difficulty in fighting a defensive campaign in France yet again Napoleon decided to launch a lightning strike against the two Allied armies in Belgium Wellington's Coalition of British and Dutch Belgian troops and blucher's Prussian Army Wellington was an enormous disabled General highly popular with his men above all he had not been beaten by the French throughout the long years of war in Spain at 46 he was the same age as Napoleon but suffered from none of the effects of the physical decline which troubled the emperor although he had a reputation for aloofness he had a genuine concern for his men who knew that he would not carelessly squander a single life on occasions he had shared very real tears over casualty reports nonetheless Napoleon felt confident that he would defeat Wellington and blue here and his plans were further shaped by the intelligence which confirmed that due to the political differences each of the Allied armies had a separate line of communication Wellington's army Drew supplies from England via ostend while blush's prussians Drew supplies from Germany [Music] by striking at the hinge where the two armies joined Napoleon hoped that when threatened his opponent would Retreat away from each other towards their supplies making it easier for him to encircle the separate armies and defeat them in detail one after the other on equal terms he would do this by concentrating his single Army against each Army in turn offing him a local superiority of numbers of the point of decision thus surmounting his overall numerical weakness it was this vital need to force the Allies to retreat away from each other which was to form the focal point of all the events of the next few days after a promising start to the campaign Napoleon's intelligence had broken down and he did not re-establish contact with either of his opponents until late on June the 17th attempting the strategy of the central position in an attempt to divide and defeat Wellington and bluffer separately on the 16th of June 1815 Napoleon fought the double battles of catrabra and lini but while blucher's Prussian Army was badly handled at Lenny it was not decisively defeated and while Napoleon believed that the Prussian Army was retreating back to liege and back towards the Rhine blucher kept his promise to Wellington and actually marched on wafra thus maintaining contact with Wellington's formations by then Wellington had taken the Fatal decision to stand and fight at Waterloo on June the 18th he did so in the knowledge that the Prussian forces only eight miles away at wavera would be able to come to his Aid that same day Napoleon unaware that the prussians were so close was confident that they were continuing to retreat pursued by gurushi who had confidently assured the emperor that he would keep the Prussian Army on the move from Wellington accordingly Napoleon took the decision to switch the emphasis of his attack to Wellington's undefeated Army and he personally supervised the disposition of his army on the morning of June the 18th convinced that all he had to do was to defeat Wellington's army and he would have time to destroy the fleeing prussians of his leisure on the night of the 17th of June then Wellington arranged his troops to fight and die on the ridge of morsanjan near the village of Waterloo waiting for Lucas Army to reinforce him only with blucher's army include Wellington hope to Stave off defeat as the early stages of the struggle the humor raged and there long prepared his core for the main French attack upon the British Center daunting news reached the emperor for the first time he learned that the prussians were not in fact retreating towards Germany and that they had managed to elude grushi worse still they were on their way and would come to the aid of the British by attacking the exposed French right flank Napoleon was therefore forced to draw off a large portion of his reserves to guard his flank before the battle had really started he would then have to fight with one eye over his shoulder the Battle of Waterloo is famous for a number of episodes including the famous charge of a Scots graze immortalized by Lady Butler equally famous is the repulse of the masked French Cavalry Charges by the Resolute British squares which was to prove the decisive moment of the battle conditions in these squares have become almost unbearable choked by clouds of smoke piled high with dead and wounded they could not hold out much longer but by four o'clock the leading elements of the Prussian Army had at last reached the battlefield and by five o'clock they had captured the village of place Noir on the French right they were now threatening to outflank the whole French position the Battle of Waterloo could still very easily have been won by Napoleon Marshall nay had at last managed to organize a series of concerted attacks utilizing Cavalry artillery and Infantry and together they were causing huge losses in the British Center which worn down during a day's dogged resistance was at last beginning to show signs of wavering throughout the day Napoleon launched a series of massive infantry and Cavalry attacks in an attempt to wear down and break through Wellington's lines Napoleon on the morning of Waterloo had declared that the battle would be a picnic that Wellington was a bad General and that the English were bad troops in fact he had underestimated both Wellington and the nature and temper of Wellington's Coalition Army at this desperate juncture nay begged Napoleon for fresh troops he knew that one last Supreme effort would carry the day still wary of the volatile situation around plus Noir Napoleon delayed for a crucial half an hour making full use of his merciful respite Wellington was able to shore up his hard-pressed Center it was not until seven o'clock in the evening that Napoleon relented the battalions of the Imperial Guard rolled forward the Old Guard the oldest of the old remained in square as a rallying point while the second and third battalions of the Guard regiments the so-called middle guard assaulted the British positions they were met by a Resolute resistance by the British Brigade of guards who poured forth such a heel of fire that the unthinkable happened the Imperial Guard never before defeated halted and began to give ground foreign that the decisive moment had come Wellington himself urged their commander on now Maitland now is your time he cried at that moment the whole British line sprang forward almost as one man the French will to resist seemed to crumble as the Imperial Guard retreated the news spread rapidly through the French ranks the guard is retreating was the astonished cry which carried through the ranks but it was soon replaced with Suave keeper every man for himself in an instant French morale disintegrated and by one of those sudden strange shifts of mass Consciousness Napoleon's Army was transformed from an aggressive fighting machine to a struggling mob of fugitives as Panic spread throughout the Army and any semblance of military discipline evaporated the Allied Pursuit was merciless and thousands of Frenchmen were cut down adding to the already horrendous toll of dead and wounded foreign the emperor himself retreated to the safety of the rallying Square formed by the old guard then unable to force his Carriage through the mobber fugitives he was forced to take up his horse and flee the field with a small escort just one more panic-stricken figure in the total route Napoleon's last attempt to regain the Throne of France and to re-establish his Empire had failed he left behind and thousand dead and wounded men of both sides [Music] the Victorious allies wanted no mistake a second time and the emperor was collected by a British warship and sent once more into exile this time to the inhospitable Atlantic island of Saint Helena [Music] there he spent his last remaining days reflecting on his former glories and turning over and over in his mind what might have been had knee taken katabra had Guru she arrived had blusher retreated East these were the issues to which the Fallen Emperor returned again and again as his physical health and spirit declined he was no longer the proud emperor but already the myths were beginning to grow around him as his old Soldiers Slipped Away one by one but in his heart he was still the man of great Destiny whose very name lent itself to a whole era the age of Napoleon [Music]

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Length: 48min 30sec (2910 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 04 2023