Units of History - Rise of Napoleon's Old Guard (1789-1803) (Part 1) DOCUMENTARY

Napoleon bonapart Rose to prominence over the course of the French Revolutionary Wars eventually emerging as the emperor of France to make war upon the powers of Europe who dared to defy him Napoleon's long bloody campaigns would see him hiled as one of the greatest military commanders of history and yet even he would admit that these victories were won on the back of his soldiers and in particular the most devoted Veterans of the grand arm referred to by Napoleon as his children and by the rank and file as the Immortals they stood as one of the most feared military units of its age today let us cover the vaulted history of the old [Music] God if you're anything like me then listening to documentaries takes place all times of day no matter where you are so for me that's going to be cooking cleaning walking the dogs snuggling myself into bed whatever it is you're going to want wireless earbuds and on that front our sponsor raycon has you covered when it comes to high quality and 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holiday sales by shopping rayon's early Black Friday sale today so go to buy ron.com Invicta to get anywhere from 20 to 50% off right now enjoy for centuries the cream of an army could be found in those units trusted to guard the person of the Monarch while rulers largely ceased to lead their armies in person by the 18th century their guards continued to form an elite core within the Army and the French Kings with their military households were no exception their guard consisted of three main formations the French guard the G AE or bodyguard and the swis guard these core fought in many campaigns over the 18th century but the revolution that embroiled France from 1789 would spell their end the French guard defected To Join the Revolution with the storming of the bastile in 1789 The Bodyguard was disbanded in 1791 after the women's march on Versa and the Swiss guard was annihilated defending the Palace of the tuler from revolutionaries in 1792 this was not the end of France's troubles war with Austria and Prussia had been underway since April and June respectively and a succession of coups and uprisings would embroil Paris for years to come while the French Revolution abolished the guard formations of the monarchy the need to protect leading Statesmen was only more urgent in this time of upheaval for this purpose the French Republic formed two units that would become the foundations of the Imperial Guard the first was the grenadiers of the legislature later renamed the guards of the legislative body this Corp was the largest of those that would later form the Old Guard at about 1200 men and included many former French guards among their ranks their most notable action was in the Von D the theater of a brutal civil war between the Revolutionary government and the Catholic and Royal Army in Western France this represented an alliance between the peasants who resented the national convention's policy of conscription and the nobility and church who resented the policies of land redistribution once the Revolutionary government crushed the Catholic and Royal Army in battle they laid much of the region to waste in retaliation for the uprising the second major unit in the old guard's ancestry was the guard of the directory the directory was the government of France that emerged out of the thermidorian reaction in in which the National Convention overthrew maximilan robespier and his Committee of Public Safety The Architects of the reign of terror that had gripped France since 1793 The directory's Architects designed it to be a more conservative government than its predecessors the constitution of the year three imposed property requirements on voters and elections were indirect with voters choosing electors who would actually elect legislators these legislators served in two councils the lower house was the Council of 500 and the upper the Council of ancients selected from the oldest legislators the Council of 500 nominated potential directors with the Council of ancients making the selection from the list these directors comprised the French executive the guard of the directory consisted of two companies of foot guard guards and two of horse guards for a total of 120 infantry and 120 Cavalry these men had to be at least 25 years of age and combat veterans of two campaigns of the Revolutionary Wars the directory also required its guard to be literate and at least 5' 10 in tall using English measurements bonapart himself composed a small core dubbed the horse guides to protect his person after he was nearly captured by a party of Austrian Cavalry early in his first Italian campaign these accompanied him on the 1799 expedition to Egypt and a few returned with him to France the guards of the Republic played a crucial role in the 1799 coup that brought bonapart to power seeing the country embroiled in civil Strife scandal corrup coruption and defeat on the battlefield powerful politicians sought a sword with which they could end the ailing directory and form a new government for the moderate Center popular after his victories in Italy and Egypt but without a powerful army they settled on Napoleon this sword would prove to have two edges the buum marians executed the coup in two steps on the ninth and 10th of November respectively the first step had been neutralizing the directory two of the plotters were already members two were imprisoned until they resigned and the last they bribed into departing the executive branch was now vacant next the plotters announced that an uprising was underway and used their support in the Council of ancients to remove the legislative meeting place from Paris ostensibly for their safety this would deprive the radical Jacobins of the Parisian mob their strongest pillar and left them isolated against the troops loyal to Napoleon the vote was held early in the morning at the Tillery and the guard of the directory delivered invitations only to allies of the plotters to ensure its success with 7,000 men Napoleon escorted the legislature to the shadow of St Cloud there the legislative bodies demanded evidence of the supposed Uprising and the identities of its leaders Napoleon's answers failed to satisfy them and recognizing the coup in progress the chamber erupted into brawling chaos many in the Council of 500 shouted for Napoleon to be outlawed and weakly he staggered from their chamber their guard was close at hand putting Napoleon in danger Napoleon's brother Lucien though was the president of this Council and sent word that decisive intervention was needed within 10 minutes Napoleon then told the guard that the president requested to be removed from the chamber once outside Lucien accused some deputies of the Council of being British porns of attempting to assassinate his brother and of holding the other deputies hostage with daggers drawn he then Drew was sword and declared he would kill Napoleon himself if he ever betrayed the Republic the guard was convinced with a column of grenadiers behind him Charles Dulan declared to the chamber in the name of general bone apart this legislature is dissolved good citizens must leave the council dispersed a few allies were recalled to put a legislative rubber stamp on the coup turning power over to provisional government led by three consules and Napoleon bonapart after a 10-year experiment with representative government the French people now stood by as a dictator Consolidated power few mourned the directory's passing and for most French the Republic had brought little but War taxes and conscription the guards of the legislature and the directory became the guard of the consules standing by as Napoleon rested power from the other plotters and promulgated a new constitution in which he ruled France as first Consul and when the Senate largely appointed by Napoleon as first Consul declared him emperor in 1804 the Consular guard became the Imperial Guard they had helped solidify the new regime's victory over the second Coalition and as the Peace of Amon crumbled and the third Coalition loomed on the horizon the new emperor would need his marching Rampart more than ever but before we get to this history let us acquaint ourselves with the men of the Guard itself starting with their equipment which varied by unit at the Inception of the Imperial Guard the vast bulk of its infantry served in either the core of foot grenadiers or the core of foot chasser they will be the main subject of this video but Old Guard also included a battalion of sailors originally intended to man Napoleon ship for the invasion of England they found themselves pressed into infantry and artillery service despite their Cavalry style uniforms a company of veterans also existed as a way to honor distinguished soldiers no longer fit for active service with this understanding in mind let's take a closer look at the individual soldier in terms of their uniforms members of the Guard were issued various states of dress for parade Barracks life march and battle for our purposes we'll be looking at those most typically worn whilst on campaign in the early years of the French Empire as a base layer the guards wore shirts and breaches with boots and black gator over this would be worn vests and on top of this the blue se2 if time permitted they would change into dress uniforms before a major battle donning The Habit in place of the suu other times the guard would wear their great coats distinguished from the Grays and beiges of regular troops by their bold National blue color these great Coats were invaluable pieces of kit as they provided shelter for men who were increasingly expected to sleep under the stars whilst on campaign during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars armies increasingly dispensed with tents soldiers still needed shelter against the cold especially when action was expected and dispersing men into billets was too dangerous improvised huts and bedding of straw combined with great coats made camping Under the Stars tolerable and horses once tied up carrying tents could now haul artillery or Provisions in terms of headgear the Old Guard were known to sport mustaches and to wear powdered white long hair in braids after this custom was abandoned in the line various hats were used on the March the guard wore the Chapo or born which was later replaced with the Bonet de police but the most IC iconic variant reserved for battle was the large bare skin cap those of the grenadiers had a brass front plate displaying the Imperial Eagle and a red rear patch with lace cross meanwhile those of the chasser was decorated with tassels braids and a Scarlet plume another important piece of gear was their napsack here one might carry spare articles of clothing shoe SS nails cleaning utensils lint linen biscuits and flour elsewhere they stored bread in a bag attached to the Belt spare flints for the musket a wood or hoof Flint substitute for dry firing drills a screwdriver a bullet extractor a thin needle to clear the flash hole and a small flask of oil in addition each infantry company also carried four picks four hatchets and four Spades as well as eight cooking pots the duty of carrying these items rotated among the men of the company to spread the extra burden evenly after Napoleon's coronation in 1804 each Battalion of grenadiers and chur was issued a flag surmounted by a bronze Eagle the ultimate symbol of Napoleon and his new Empire the these standards helped regulate the movements of each Battalion and Mark its place on a battlefield choked with smoke conceived in conscious imitation of the Roman legion's Eagle standard soldiers regarded these totems with reverence and devotion they were rallying points per Excellence even in the midst of Calamity in terms of Weaponry they were largely defined by the use of Smooth Bore flint lock muskets and bayonets in this sense they were quite similar to the other European armies who had relied upon this base technology from the early 18th century to the mid 19th while the French revolutionary era saw major shifts in how armies were raised organized moved and Unleashed on the battlefield it did so in the context of a near complete lack of change from the equipment of the previous Century as a prime example French commands saw fit to equip their troops with an old-fashioned musket rather than a more cuttingedge rifle while the latter certainly offered better range and accuracy the former proved more reliable in pitched battles where black powder quickly clogged barrels and smoke limited visibility specifically the French used the year n shville musket originally conceived in 1717 and produced out of the royal Armory of shville mesia it was a 0.69 caliber musket with a smooth B barrel and flint lock firing mechanism the base design had slowly evolved over the years with the old guard primarily coming to use the 1777 pattern which had received minor updates in 1800 or year n according to the French Revolutionary calendar the musket for French line and Grenadier troops measures some 150 2 cm long while that of the chasser musket was shorter and lighter measuring 144 cm long like all contemporary muskets the year9 musket could inflict devastating wounds on its targets out to 2 or 300 M but was slow to reload and inaccurate compared to Modern Firearms one thing that set the French musket apart was its reputation for accuracy which observers credited to a unique feature the stock included an angled cutout on the left side for the Soldier's right cheek which made it easier to line up their dominant eye with the front sight blade some other differences to note is that Napoleon's Elite guard used brass rather than iron fittings which gave them a flashier appearance when it came to ammunition soldiers carried paper cartridges containing both powder and a lead ball these in turn were carried in a decorated cartridge box on the right hip with a cross belt suspending it from the left shoulder additional cartridges could be carried in the solders napsack OR Pockets other ranged weapons included the use of grenades however these were far from standard issue being instead typically manufactured and distributed in the field in the leadup to Siege assaults yet because grenades required significant strength to throw the name Grenadier became identified with the tallest and strongest soldiers in an army who officers across Europe collected into dedicated companies and battalions yet despite all these ranged assets combat could still often be decided at Close Quarters infantry swords had largely been abandoned with the guard retaining them largely as ornamental signs of their Elite status for the grizzly work of close combat infantry instead wielded their muskets as clubs or a fixed bayonet to the muzzle effectively converting them into short Spears thus equipped the men of the Old Guard posed an intimidating sight on the battlefield let us now turn to a record of their service history their baptism by fire took place in 1800 at the Battle of Morango at the time the unit existed as the Consular guard which served under Napoleon as he led French Revolutionary armies in an Italian campaign during the war of the second Coalition while the austrians besieged Genoa Napoleon LED his army over the Alps and across the austrians line of retreats in Northern Italy intent on bringing them to battle the Gambit worked perhaps too well as Austrian troops quickly descended upon isolated French forces at the Village of Morango in a bid to buy time for reinforcements Napoleon committed his guard to shore up his right as an Austrian column closed in from the north there the guards stood like a fortress of granite facing concentrated artillery and musket fire while Austrian Cavalry menaced their flanks the guard endured this Inferno for a half hour before all their ammunition and a third of their men were spent even still they withdrew in good order providing a rallying point for the rest of the French army which had been driven back this allowed Napoleon's men to now regroup with desay newly arrived forces and launch a Counterattack which routed the austrians it was a key Victory which not only won the campaign for the French but paved the way for a conclusion to the Revolutionary Wars for a Time peace returned to Europe yet Napoleon was not Idol as he Consolidated power at home while orchestrating border geopolitical moves to secure France's position this was to be the Calm before the storm in 1803 the tentative peace with Britain would fall apart and in the next year Napoleon crowned himself Emperor now with ultimate control over France and a clear enemy against him a massive Army would be marshaled to the north of bologna for a planned invasion of England the Napoleonic wars were set to begin in Earnest in our next episode we shall see how the Grand arme and its Old Guard was formed from its organization to its training and tactics we will then see how this new Force thundered across Europe in the wars of the third and fourth Coalition where the old guard in particular would Forge an impressive service history for sneak peeks become a member of the channel on YouTube or support us on patreon for exclusive content polls Arts downloads and more a big thanks to our current supporters for funding the channel and to the researchers writers and artists for making this episode possible we couldn't have done it without this team and this community if you enjoyed this episode be sure to like And subscribe and check out these other related videos see you in the next one

Channel: Invicta

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Keywords: invicta, invicta history, napoleon, old guard, french old guard, napoleon movie, napoleon movie battle, old guard scene, napoleon movie review, napoleon history, napoleon army, french army, french revolution, rise of napoleon, battle of marengo, battle of waterloo, battle of austerlitz, napoleon tactics, napoleonic wars, napoleon movie battle scene

Id: DoJZrHWHWhI

Length: 23min 10sec (1390 seconds)

Published: Wed Nov 22 2023