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Despot or Enlightenment Hero? Napoleon Bonaparte
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- Опубликовано: 18 авг 2024
- May 2021 marks the bicentenary of the death of French Emperor and ethnic Corsican, Napoleon Bonaparte. A military and political genius and champion of the French Revolution, he has been much maligned by history as a dictator, and precursor for Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini and other modern despots by victorious British, Bourbon and other European monarchies. Napoleon's achievements both on and off the battlefield changed the course of world history and ultimately, drove the reforms and changes that were to improve the quality of life and futures of countless nameless peasants and disenfranchised people across Europe and the New World. And yet, he is continuously described as "controversial", racist, misogynist and an evil megalomaniac by biased historians viewing his life from their own narrow perspectives and political agendas.
#napoleon, #vivelafrance, #empereur, #corsica #napoleonbonaparte
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I have been a huge admirer of this incredibly interesting and important man for many! years and have had to vehemently defend him on numerous occasions. This doc is one of the best I’ve ever seen. Succinctly encompassing a huge amount of info in an acutely twenty-first century lingo while adding crucial perspectives. Well done. Thank you to the producers.
I hope I presented a fair assessment, and corrected his maligned image. Thanks for watching!
I realized as this video commenced that very little is ever communicated about Napolean's life. The moral of the story of Napoleon, is history is written by the winners! Thank you for providing this wonderful summary of his life. I hope you will continue to make these programmes. It is wonderful to have fact based history productions. Please continue this vital work.
Napoleon apparently has more biographies than anyone else, so there has never been any shortage of information about his life - far from it. This is essentially a Bonaparte puff piece. For example, he deserted his army in Egypt, yet this is not even mentioned, saying only, "....by 1799 he was back in Paris". We also get whitewashes about his advocacy that those of his troops incapicated in his service should be euthanized as a reward and apparently it was OK to reintroduce slavery for financial reasons. There is no mention of the fact that France was easily the most populous country in Europe at the time (apart from distant Russia). It makes no value judgement about him setting up monarchies under his brothers, son-in-law and generals. A brilliant man, but an autocrat with a massive ego and global ambitions and a disregard for the lives of others who might die in the achievement of his persoinal ambitions.
@@markaxworthy2508 I certainly don't believe I paint Napoleon as a good guy- I addressed his euthanasia of troops in Palestine, as well as the slavery issue quite comprehensively. He was as you say, brilliant, but also significantly flawed, and completely Macchiavellian for which I tried to offer some ideas, as well as context. The truth is he was not a conquering megalomaniac in the sense of Alexander or Caesar. Almost all of his European campaigns were punitive, and the result of relentless assaults by paranoid monarchies- who were no less violent, treacherous or maniacal than he was- breaking every single treaty they made. His Levant campaign was an audacious attempt at cutting off the British, and again, as you say, there is plenty of material on the failures of that misadventure. Even compared to his own republican leadership that instigated the Great Terror, he was hardly an outlier in brutality, but he is usually depicted as an irrational monster, as compared to virtually everyone else in Europe at the time- which is clearly false, but rarely acknowledged. It's within that context that I wanted to present the video. It's certainly not an apologia ad hominem.
@@heroesandlegends Thanks for the reply. I can't speak for non-English-language publications, but I would very much dispute that Napoleon " .....is usually depicted as an irrational monster". Certainly at the time, the British, for propaganda reasons, were happy to depict him as a monster (i.e. see Gillray's cartoons) , but this largely died with him. Today he is usually depicted as the product of the Enlightenment and very much rational. To mix my metaphors, I think you may be tilting at a straw man!
I would suggest that Napoleon has very much won the propaganda war in even English-language history books. At the time the British did not recognize his self-coronation as the emperor "Napoleon" and continued to call him Bonaparte or "Boney". Not any more. The English speaking world now retrospectively accepts him at his own estimation as "Emperor Napoleon". Your article here and my reply are very much couched in these terms.
The Egyptian Campaign was just a failed precursor to what was intended to be a conquest of the East on the scale of Alexander. Even Napoleon's encouragement of his officers to marry Moslem women in Egypt (which you mention) has a direct analogy with Alexander the Great encouraging his men to marry Persian women. Napoleon also resembles Caesar in that he overthrew his own government and set himself up as a virtual dictator. I would suggest that he aspired to be in Alexander's class as a conqueror and exceeded Caesar, who spent much time in civil war.
The fact that Napoleon was no worse than his opponents, even where true, doesn't excuse him. His USP was meant to be that he was better. As for the "paranoid monarchies", as the saying goes, "just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they are not out to get you." The French Republic and Empire posed real existential threats to them until Napoleon returned France to the monarchical straight and narrow and married into one of them.
Like the British building their empire by repeatedly acquiring new territory to protect their previous acquisitions, or Russia covering 13 time zones but still feeling "surrounded" by countries in the 11 other time zones and so threatening its neighbours, states have repeatedly expanded under the guise of "punitive" or pre-emptive campaigns. Napoleon didn't have to annex so many of his neighbours or put his family and generals on the thrones of others. This was a choice and naked aggrandisement.
I have been looking at Europe's population in 1900. France was the most populous country in Europe, containing one sixth of all Europeans. Its nearest competitors were Russia and the Austrian Empire, which were polyglot and far less cohesive than ethnically, culturally and linguistically consolidate France. Napoleon therefore inherited what was already the largest and potentially the most powerful population on the continent. Unlike his predecessors, he was actually able for a while to realise this potential at the expense of his neighbours.
@@markaxworthy2508 thanks very much for your considered and well measured reply. On an academic level I agree with you that much has been written on Napoleon from a number of perspectives, both positive and negative- on some level, considerable credit has been paid to him for progressive agendas (which I do mention throughout the video). Indeed there is a wellspring of quality source material otherwise there would be little to include in this video. But it's been my perception (shared in the introduction) that despite the wealth of material evidence, this hasn't translated down to either the media, or general public (as evidenced by the general tone of news reports I showed during the commemoration, and the flavour of much of the commentary on this video- even by people who seem to be reasonably educated). This dichotomy was the prompt for me to do this film. Why is there such a dichotomy between the academic world and the public one? Who knows? A well ingrained propaganda that has seared itself into the collective psyche of ordinary people? An anti EU agenda? Or just historical anti French post colonial sentiment? Whatever the case, I wanted to put this out into a medium that is not typically academic and so bring it to a wider public.
In so far as your speculation on N's motives, I disagree as I've previously written. My view is that from his late teens he was a zealous Jacobin, and throughout his entire career, went to extraordinary lengths to implement their agenda. Does this precludepower going to his head? Of course not, history is too full of examples, so I do take your contention seriously, and certainly don't discount your argument- to a degree.
In so far as his brutality, and callous treatment of soldiers- no doubt he was a serious student of Macchiavelli, as distasteful as that is for us today. The Jacobin ideology and means are well known, and he should be measured in the context of his times and what he was trying to achieve (against almost complete opposition).
Yes, France was populous, but also fractured by civil war, a fifth column and external political intrigue, not to mention a dearth of quality leadership after the purges, exile and executions of the Terror, so it can be difficult to speculate just how easy it would be to muster and use the army and public service effectively. Certainly his reorganisation was revolutionary.
Anyway, it's great to bounce ideas back and forward- we are poor students of history if we can't entertain other possibilities than the ones we assume to be true. You've given me good reason to think a little deeper, and for that you have my thanks!
@@heroesandlegends Thanks again for taking the time to reply.
You ask, "Why is there such a dichotomy between the academic world and the public one?" I would suggest that Bonaparte is popularly known as a threatening military figure and foreigners and their publishing industries are not much interested in pacific French domestic developments. Nor can I imagine Hollywood making a successful film starring Christopher Plummer and Rod Steiger entitled "Code Napoleon" or "Departmental Administrative Reform"! Nor do I see Canal Plus producing a twelve part television series starring Kenneth Holm on the life and loves of the Duke of Wellington.
I don't see any trace of "ingrained propaganda" at work in the UK in the last 110-120 years. (Though I would say that, according to my late grandfather, my great-grandfather would not allow him and his older brother to volunteer in 1914 on the grounds that we'd always fought the French before and he saw no reason to start something new! They were allowed to go in 1916 to avoid the embarrassment of being conscripted).
On the contrary, there remains a very active French industry puffing the "gloire" of Napoleon. While house sitting in southern France some 20 years ago I used to buy a new glossy French quarterly magazine called "Gloire et Empire". I see it was still going strong two years ago and may still be. The title tells you all you need to know about its historical detachment. Could you imagine a British magazine titled "Glory and Empire" finding any place in the British market in the last two decades?
I see no relationship to popular anti-EU attitudes at all. (Was Napoleon ever mentioned in the Brexit debate? I don't recall. I certainly never saw him on the side of a bus!)
Nor can I see why there would be any "historical anti-French post colonial sentiment" on the part of the British. After all, it was the British Empire that restricted French colonial ambitions and not the other way around. (As a result, in 1914 the population of metropolitan France was no bigger than that of its entire empire combined). I would suggest that if anything, the resentment is the other way around. The énarques of Paris seem to feel that London stole their rightful global destiny.
Personally, I suspect that a good half of the British population don't even know who Napoleon Bonaparte was, let alone have any lingering hostility towards him.
Have you been round the exhibitions and shops at the battlefield of Waterloo? I last went some 30 years ago and it was essentially a French cultural experience.
You post, "My view is that from his late teens he was a zealous Jacobin....." Perhaps, but we all have questionable judgement at that age and there wasn't a lot of evidence of that left by 1800. The child is the father of the man, so they say, and the mature Napoleon shows little evidence of the Jacobin teenager.
There are active Napoleon societies all over the world, there are periodic international conferences on him, there remains an active Bonapartist claimant to the throne and the residue of political Bonapartism still exists on the right in France. Napoleon seems to be unique as a historical figure in that he still has an active lobby pushing his legend and myth. There is no equivalent dedicated to defaming him. I still think that Napoleon doesn't need much help to further boost his image, though you are right that his non-military achievements probably do need better publicity so that the breadth of his talents is better recognized.
Thanks for an entertaining presentation and for the time you have taken to reply.
Whether he was a ruthless tyrant like hitler or stalin. Or an enlightened despot. You have to admit, he was a badass. During the 7th coalition, britain, prussia, austria, and russia declare war to napoleon. Not to france, to napoleon. This 4 nation declare war on a person. How badass is that. It took the whole of europe 4 times to finally defeat him. He was undoubtedly one of (if not the greatest) military general in history.
Very good point! Thanks so much for viewing my work, and sharing your thoughts
No, war was not declared on Napoleon. The 7th Coalition was an alliance with "no other aim but to support France, or any other Country which may be invaded, against the enterprises of Bonaparte and his Adherents". To them the legitimate government of France was that of the Bourbons, who were not an enemy.
France was easily the most populous country in Europe at the time (including Russia), so Napoleon was not handicapped in the amount of human material he had at hand until late in his rule, by which time a million Frenchmen had died in his service. Nor was he "the greatest military general in history". He suffered numerous military defeats. Napoleon's brilliance was less on the field of battle, where he could be, and sometimes was, outfought, than in the fact that his interests stretched far beyond the military.
@@markaxworthy2508 "No, war was not declared on Napoleon. The 7th Coalition was an alliance with "no other aim but to support France, or any other Country which may be invaded, against the enterprises of Bonaparte and his Adherents". To them the legitimate government of France was that of the Bourbons, who were not an enemy."
So in other words, they declared war on Napoleon.
@@themaskedman221 Nope. There was no declaration of war on Bonaparte. He would have had to be recognized as the legitimate head of state for that to be so, and he wasn't. The campaign by the Allies in 1815 was in effect the suppression of a rebellion against the internationally recognized legitimate government of France on behalf of that legitimate government.
@@markaxworthy2508 so they basically declared war on napoleon
Awesome. As a British person I admire Napoleon a million times more than I do my fellow coutyman Wellington who called his own men scum when he was a general and had his own citizen rise up against him when he was Prime Minster because he would not give the poor the vote as he hated them.
Wellington sounds like he was ESPECIALLY 'British'
Incredible video. Honestly this is too clutch for writing an essay on Napoleon. I had no idea that the history of Corsica was so interesting and connected to enlightened thought; his love life and actual life story is extremely important to understanding why he made what decisions he did.
It's comments like yours that make it all worthwhile! Thanks so much for viewing my content!
The British kept transporting convicts to colonial Western Australia until 1868. The debate about what did Napoleon ever do for...yada yada is reminiscent of the film "The Life of Brian" and the "well what have the Roman's done for us" scene. A nice little doco, well done. Usually I get bored and move on after about 20 minutes, however, this little doco held my attention entirely. Thank you.
Thanks so much for your generous comment. No doubt a shared love of Monty Python had something to do with it!
@Billy Bones probably Billy...did u see "Papillion" Steve McQueen & Dustin Hoffman...about Devil's Island....I know it's a novel, I have learnt to avoid incarceration in a French prison. Be well Billy
@Billy Bones yes in deed Billy.....Alfred Dreyfus....did 5 years on Devils Island around the turn of the C19th to C20th. FYI he was exonerated after a re-trial served in WW1 and past away in1935, what might be described as an eventful life
@@TheWesternunionman You can even hear a recording of Dreyfus' voice on youtube.
This is a very informative video. I only recently looked into Napoleon and his campaigns and the initial documentaries I watched were rather negative and short on listing his non-military reforms and achievements. This doc does a good job of balancing my initial impressions.
Thankyou- I felt that his legacy was significantly distorted by contemporary monarchist propaganda, and it's shameful that the French government to this day doesn't take greater pride in his social reforms. Thanks for watching!
Bonaparte was one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived. As a man he had flaws. For the Cancel Culture to turn their guns on him is to be instantly outgunned. Bringing a knife to a nuclear war.
Yes, but it was never going to end well. You can't hold off the entire world forever...Thanks so much for viewing my content. I hope some of my other work resonates with you too!
Cancel Culture. LOL. Historians have been debating this issue since the day Napoleon died.
Bonaparte took down the pope for awhile. That is enough for me to like him.
The sound of your furious fascist thumb sucking transcends time and place.
I've always wondered why they lumped him in with the worst people in history - he's certainly no Pol Pot.
I really don't know much about Napoleon though - maybe he kicked puppies in his spare time.
Good video! I'm glad the Paoli thing was explained because I never understood it. Two things, the painting that is shown representing Josephine and her two children is actually her daughter, Hortense. And Josephine didn't have a long history of humiliating him since after his return from Egypt, she never again played around; she didn't dare.
Paoli was certainly an enigmatic figure- he's still a hero on Corsica, I guess the people overlooked his later machinations. Yes, it was hard to source images of her in her younger days, hence often relying on movie stills. Sometimes we amateurs have to use a little artistic license. And yes, she would be definitely pushing her luck if she played around after Napoleon returned from Egypt. I made a point of saying he was never the same after Cairo, and had now determined to divorce her. Thanks so much for taking the time to view my work, and for leaving your valuable observations!
I was schooled in France in the 70's and none of all the history teachers I had during my studies dared to criticize this little man with a big ego. France is still proud of him you're right.
Just the fact that he is still buried at the Pantheon...
Once again, many thanks for your work. Captivating!
First, he wasn't little. Second, among all the leaders of his era, he was by far the best one. Swallowing straight it Brit propaganda is for the fool only
You should swallow your french chauvinism. Grognard!
@@staric4863 And third, he is not buried in the Panthéon, but in the Invalides.
Being French, having had history teachers in the same years, I have on the contrary always found that Napoleon was analyzed with objectivity (man, career, success, failures, etc.). Rather, he is a man who still amazes today. I don't think we can really speak of "pride". What the teachers emphasized most often was the important heritage of its domestic policy in France and its influence in this field in other countries. I also remember that he was rather average in size than small for his time. I also remember that Napoleon was extremely active, read a lot, and slept very little (2 to 3 hours per night) and that in this sense he was exceptional.In any case, that's what I remember, more that his war career (I was probably little interested when I was young).
Napoleon was average height for his time
I'm flattered. Although, it's hard to fend off the whole of Europe against a single nation. Especially for 7 grand times.
Indeed, your Majesty! I'm flattered you took the time to view my humble content. With your help, my little channel could achieve great things! Vive L'empereur!
Cynical criminal who sacrified people to his glory soldiers, civilians prostitutes ... disgusting guy.
@@MrPedophileMuhammad obviously I disagree with your view, but I thank you for watching my video out of the many others you might have chosen. Hopefully some of my other work will resonate.
I LOVE YOUR VIDEOS!! Exactly what I was looking for
I'm glad my content resonates with you! Thanks for the encouragement and welcome aboard!
A most educational documentary with information that shed's light on him that few if any history books have touched on to my knowledge, albeit you must have read quite a few that helped you piece this together Brilliant.
Thank You!! I have always been interested in Napoleon, but never understood everything, but you made it easy to sit and listen to it in a way I could understand him. Keep up the Great Work!!
Thanks so much for your kind words. Hopefully I keep living up to it!
Excellent work. You make a strong case, and telling a lot of history in a short
time. Very efficient. And i'm very pleased to see any alternative viewpoints on this. Seems to me a *little*
biased in a certain direction, but most of everything else seems hopelessly biased in another.
With some things you show here i thought: "How have i *not* seen, heard or read this mentioned, or illustrated or not just.. brushed over."
I definitely get the sense that there is more to this, and that somehow it is
made difficult for anyone to see it. This perspective helps, is interesting and told in a fairly honest way from what
i can tell, so thank you :) Very well done.
That was my intention - not to make him out as an angel- he was in many ways a flawed individual, as we all are, and subject to the corrupting influence of power. But I felt it was important to highlight a lot of those positive qualities that as you say, have been brushed over. Thanks so much for supporting my channel!
Subscribed mate, you are a legend for presenting these doco's. Excellent work.
About time an Aussie had a crack at it I reckon!
Bravo! You've made a fantastic documentary! And a brave one too, I think. I admire people who go against the tide to show the rest of us truth, and nothing but. It can not be denied, Napoleon was lifelong Liberal. He tried valiantly to do exactly what WWI did accomplish 100 years later. Liberté, égalité, fraternité
Thankyou! I'm glad it resonated with you. Like most of my videos, it did draw quite a bit of flak!
I saw your video on James Cook. Brilliant. This one is also highly interesting as I am used to seeing the French view of Napoleon. Great work.
Hey guys, absolutely loved the documentary, I’ve long debated whether napoleon was a force for good or evil and you argued both parts superbly.
I wanted to give you some feedback. A very important part of getting video views is adding meta data like tags and hashtags, writing in depth video descriptions and various other techniques that you can look up online. I would urge you to do this to get more views as you guys really deserve it.
Best of luck with your channel!
Thanks so much for your kind words, and for your feedback! I'm continuously learning, and appreciate all the support and advice. I'm glad you enjoyed the content!
I really did! It's hard to get a balanced viewpoint on historical figures, most people just stick to what they know or have read.
If you would like to some help at all, I'd be happy to volunteer some time. I haven't worked on RUclips videos for a while but could definitely help with the meta data and descriptions etc...
Have a good day!
@@heroesandlegends
That's very kind of you! I've tried to do my fair diligence and followed youtube's guidelines- they say that the first paragraph of the description is the most relevant, as well as the title, in so far as search terms go. Apparently (according to them) the additional word list is not useful. Additionally, I link these videos onto my website- triariusproject.com, where I also upload personal development videos from my other site devoted to divorced dads. I use tags in that site, though it is a pretty vanilla wordpress site. As a complete amateur, one-man-show, its quite daunting to get across all those details, so I'm always happy to receive the kind assistance of others! Let me know what you need. Thanks again!
Excellent production. Thank You
I like Napoleon, he did a lot of good in Europe, making life better in general
Deserves more views and likes.
Thanks so much for playing a part!
Please ensure your comments comply with community standards otherwise you may be blocked and have your comment disallowed. As these videos are solo efforts, written and recorded over many long hours, mistakes are quite possible. I appreciate any corrections and will post them in an ERRATUM in the Description section. A few viewers have commented that the music soundtrack was distracting, so I've uploaded a version - MUSIC FREE - here: ruclips.net/video/cFROSBkc4pY/видео.html
Thanks for supporting my channel, and enjoy!
☺️🌷🌷💎💎Well Done,,,👍👍🔥🔥🎶🎶🙏🙏
Napoleon. The pristine example of masculine virtue. Heroes like him will Return to this world now. It is written.
Simply brilliant. Thank You.
Glad you enjoyed it!
What a staggeringly looong and impressive list of social achievements and democratic accomplishments at 46:30
Thoroughly enjoyed this documentary thank you so much. I see that Napoleon excites strong passions both positive and negative. He exhibited at times great tactical and strategic finesse as a military commander the Austerlitz campaign, the Italian campaigns in 1814 too despite overwhelming odds against him. He has to be viewed as a flawed character. His nepotism with regards to his family does not do him credit. His failure to develop the Marshalate to be able to effectively and efficiently operate independently resulted in many defeats that could have been avoided and helped form the Allied strategy in 1813 and 1814 of engaging the French wherever he wasn't. Their inability to cooperate in the Peninsula was a major contribution to Frances failure there. The code Napoleon stands as a permanent positive legacy to his monarchy. He was however destined to fail because he represented to the crowned heads of Europe and their established hereditary social elite everything that they despised and feared of the revolutionary aspiration of France. His monarchy was never to be accommodated by them. France was destined to fight its wars wether as an Empire or revolutionary state until such time as the Bourbon monarchy was restored and France was again socially in line with the other European powers. All the European nations were financially crippled after the war with the possible exception of Britain. I only offer this up as my own humble opinion and try not to use the benefits of hindsight which I would suggest is the case with some of the comments posted. Please do keep up the good work.
Thanks so much for your kind words of encouragement! I agree with your assessment, and I hope I presented a side of him that has been intentionally suppressed, to the detriment of all of us.
@Billy Bones Hello. Been a long time since I've been give homework and certainly never by someone in no position to do so. As a flavour and I'm quite sure that you are more than capable of researching this yourself. It confirmed the equality of all males regardless of the social status. It codified the laws and as such it was equally applied across the whole country. Previously there had been many regional or ecclesiastical laws causing Voltaire to comment about a man being under as many changes in the law as times he changes his horses in a journey across Franch. It also confirms the rights to property etc. As a measure of its efficacy it also forms the basis of most european civil codes and other civil codes further afield. I'm sure you knew all this anyway. If not then you may have learned something. Enjoy
"Josephine continued to hone her courtesan skills with a host of amorous punters " 😂😂😂😂. I love the Australian turn of phrase
No worries mate!
Who cares what the Brits think, look what they did to their Irish Cousins!
Don’t be ridiculous, I’m an Irish Catholic living in England, along with countless thousands of my countrymen & women. Millions of people here have Irish blood. There are also Numerous British Napoleonic appreciation society’s. it’s called history. The English, in particular for the most part are Francophiles. An educated, mature person wouldn’t have posted such a silly, childish comment.
Magnificent paintings used in this very good film, would be good to have their titles/sources.
History isn't a subject to be rewritten by modern revisionists based on current sensibilities. Napoleon did a lot of good for France but at the cost of continual war.
I also note the bias against the English which seems to be en vogue . On the one had you berate Britain but make excuses for Napoleon's faults. This can't be taken as a history lesson due to its partisan nature.
I wasn't berating the English so much as all the Monarchical regimes throughout Europe (including the ousted French one) that were desperate to extinguish the republican government (before Napoleon even came onto the scene). This unified, paranoid reaction to republicanism I hold to be responsible not only for the carnage which gave rise to Napoleon and the tragic wars that followed, but also the colonial scramble that followed him (esp Africa) and the domino effect that led to World War 1 and hence World War 2. The consequences of heightened and re-energised Imperialism in Europe directly and indirectly led to the deaths of many more millions of people than Napoleon's (largely punitive) wars did.
Americans of French ancestry were naming their kids Napoleon in to the 1930s for a reason. I have a great uncle named Napoleon who was born in Minnesota..
What an awesome channel. Expertly written and presented content.
Wow, thank you!
Independientemente si tuvo en su persona aspectos negativos, Napoleón siempre estará en una de las cumbres más altas y referencia obligada de la Historia militar.
Saludos y gracias por el vídeo 👍👍👍👍👍
Gracias por mirar!
Love your channel.
From another historical events video maker keep going bro 👍
Thanks so much for your kind remarks! I wish you every success also!
Very, very good. Though not really misogynistic, he had an old fashioned concept of Roman stoic morality, and definitely saw women as subordinate to men, which is enshrined in the Napoleonic Code. Nevertheless, as the documentarian points out, his list of accomplishments across the board is truly impressive.
Agreed. But his Code kicked off many changes that have directly and indirectly driven the many positive advances in social equality our civilisation enjoys- even in countries with constitutional monarchies. Thanks so much for taking the time to choose my video over the many others you might have clicked on! I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts.
@@heroesandlegends
I agree and thanks again for this great contribution.
Well done, keep up the good work.
An awful lot of important stuff that shows Bonaparte in a bad light has been left out !
He was a great reformer. A great general. Would have comfortably defeated Wellington had not Blucher (defeated at Ligney the day before, whom Wellington failed to help that day) had not come to his rescue. Blucher set the tempo for the day.
I think that's a fair assessment. Thanks so much for viewing my work and for adding your thoughts!
Napoleon was a terrible general. He hijacked the most powerful military in the world and ran it straight to the ground in total defeat through reckless campaigns, costly predictable slugfest battles, terrible logistics and straight-up delusion. Yet a certain group of people are trying to claim victory for Napoleon out of Paris being captured, France forced to pay massive war reparations, French loss of territory, the French army in shambles, and never recovering its form. Do you even realize that Napoleon actually lost more wars than he won as Emperor of the French:
Wins: 1)War of Third Coalition 2) War of Fourth Coalition 3) War of Fifth Coalition
Losses: 1) Peninsular War 2)French Invasion of Russia 3)War of Sixth Coalition 4)War of Seventh Coalition......I am not even including his disaster in Egypt where his reckless and pointless invasion led to the destruction of the best of the French Navy, assuring they would never challenge the British Navy. How does a "military genius" have a losing war record? How does a "military genius" commit so many grossly incompetent disastrous mistakes? The answer is simple, he was NOT a military genius, not at all.
@@RidleyScottOwnsFailedDictators I think it's unsurprising that I don't at all agree with you. Virtually every battle he fought was against higher odds, using an exhausted post revolutionary rabble that he almost single handedly reformed into what you describe as the most formidable army in Europe, with generals that, like himself had largely risen through merit, when many of the ancient regime's commanders had ended up on the guillotine. This whole time he held off an incessant external threat from paranoid monarchies who relied on a substantial fifth column and colonial resources, that eventually brought him down. The Russian campaign was a failed punitive action, true enough, but he was defeated by the weather, not superior enemy action, having soundly thrashed the Russians on each occasion (he actually took Moscow). You are correct about Egypt, but his only real military failure was the siege in Palestine. He crushed all other opposition, even when his army had been decimated by the plague. I agree that the campaign itself was ultimately a failure, but he was encouraged to persist in what was essentially a brilliant and audacious plan to cut the British off from their Indian cash cow, by a Parisian elite hoping to sideline him for their own purposes. It wouldn't surprise me if the loss of the Alexandrine fleet was the result of internal betrayal, and he was in any case far more focussed in terrestrial warfare to create a fortress Europe. His Naval commanders should have done their own jobs better. And so far as the peninsular war was concerned, it was only the Russian distraction and transfer of troops that ultimately turned it into a Vietnam scenario, with the haemorrhage of conscripts unable to be replaced at the rate his enemies could. Considering that he basically conquered the entire continent, pitted against every monarchy in Europe besides Norway, your dismissal of his abilities as a commander is at best superficial. There would scarcely be an academic today who would so generally take your position- even in circles that are hostile to his legacy. But history gives us all an opportunity to consider other points of view, and I thank you for sharing yours.
@@heroesandlegends I would also note that England financed the Russian build up of troops. Napoleon invaded Russia as a reaction to this massive build up of Russian forces. How he crossed the river Berezina when all his generals considered their position as impossible - Ney told him to flee. Napoleon stood watch over the Dutch engineers who entered the freezing water to build two wooden bridges. Many of them dying in the process. His army going into to Russia had Swiss, Italian, German, Polish, Spanish, Dutch, Belgian, Portuguese, Irish and many more. He united many under his banner and believed in the new Europe that he sort to forge. Would the possibility of a European Union have been envisaged without him. Love or hate him he should be respected despite his many faults.
@@beavans I still struggle to get my head around how he managed to pull it all off- and install his kin in most every monarchy in Europe. Astonishing. Thanks for your comments, always great to learn fresh details!
I enjoyed this but I think you were a bit too biased. Most historians today think napoleon was perhaps the greatest general and never dispute that. But there were many things he did that we can absolutely say were wrong, and some wrong at the time. There's too many things that you've missed out to list and discuss so I think perhaps like you said at the end, not including that didn't make him come across as complex.
For anyone else interested I recommend Andrew Roberts' Napoleon the Great. You hear from the man himself so much it's unambiguous and you can decide for yourself what you think of the decisions he made.
In the end despite all his beliefs he still declared himself emperor and you glossed over that a bit, his coronation was absolutely insane. Look up paintings of it it's great.
Nevertheless I really did enjoy the video so thank you.
I felt the same; entertaining, not a bad biography, but clearly preoccupied with defending Napoleon from criticisms, not with honestly evaluating his flaws and merits. Thanks for the book suggestion!
Love the music as a compliment to the other elements-thanks for the whole work! The only way the music could be better would be if it were mixed a bit louder and more prominently. Still great!
Thanks- its nice to read you enjoyed the music- many others have complained, and the truth is that as an amateur I lack the skills to add a soundtrack in a compelling and professional way, so I've pretty much abandoned the practice in my newer videos. Its been a steep learning curve, and i appreciate your generous praise!
Excellent and unbiased. Well done!
Thank you kindly!
Thank you… great video!
Glad you liked it!
Dowloading this to watch later at work, I feel like it's a stroke of luck I came across such a small video from a small channel, but I already know I'll be glad it happened
Looking forward to read your thoughts! Thanks so much taking the time to view my material!
Great video.
Thanks so much for your feedback, and for viewing my material!
Excellent documentary 👍👍
Glad you enjoyed it!
Your text and visuals are so very good but I honestly could not handle the background music constantly interrupting your narration.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm still getting the hang of this and all your suggestions are welcome. Is it a question of volume or choice of music? Thanks so much for taking the time to view my work, and to leave your thoughts.
@@heroesandlegends It is the type of music- especially the singing. I do wish you the very best in your documentaries! I love all the Lucy Worsley and the David Starkey ones and you are on the right track.. Keep up the good work!
@@azgal8210 thanks so much for the advice! We'll get there i hope!
sorry,its not gen-oah.. its ge-noah
Taking the piss out of someone's grammar with such impoverished grammar is quite laughable indeed .
TROLL :
A sentence begins with a capital letter .
There is a space after a comma .
There is an apostrophe between the 't' and the 's' in it's .
There is no use of a double full stop .
HOWEVER :
There is the use of a full stop to end a sentence .
THANKS FOR THE LAUGH .
INTRIGUINGLY , YOU WERE CORRECT ON PRONUNCIATION WITH SUCH IMPOVERISHED GRAMMAR , MOST LAUGHABLE INDEED .
HA
HA
HA
Great documentary and narration! This is one of those channels which will suddenly see the number of subscribers snowball!
Thanks so much for your vote of confidence and for taking the time to view my content!
Masterful description of the revolutionary Parisian love scene! 25:00
Underrated channel
Thanks so much! Its nice to see your work appreciated! Thanks so much for viewing my content.
well done bravo
I'm glad you found it worthwhile! Thanks for supporting my channel!
A born revolutionary and generalist - those to whom everything about the current orthodoxy was suspect - the constants being science, logic, reason, mathematics, in the tremulous search of truth; ..."wherethrough// Gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades// For ever and for ever when I move." _Ulysses,_ Tennyson
Karma boy: he had the same fate he subjected Toussaint L’ouverture to
Gotta love it. Papa Toussaint was the man
Enlightenment thought is the downfall of humanity, the slow bleed out of Gods’ creation. Gott segne uns alle mein allmächtigen vater🙏
Really enjoyed this upload 👌
Glad you enjoyed it!
superb account and summary
I would rather pay homage or tribute to Napoleon than Churchill or the British English Empire. [ The bad outweighs the good ].
I'm pretty sure that all the humanitarian organizations would agree with me, indeed.
Napoleon was a genius without doubt…….just find it strange that you didn’t include the Russia campaign of 1812 and the fallout from that disaster
A man before his time. A man that can see beyond his own years for the betterment of his people. Übermensch
Thanks!
Thanks so much for supporting my channel! I appreciate it very much!
I'm halfway through and I'm ready to rip my hair out listening to that ghastly piece of music being played over and over and over again. WHY?!!!!!
Each new video is a huge learning curve, especially when you are essentially a one-man-band, and an amateur video producer. I've left out music entirely in the Brutus video- let me know your thoughts. Thanks for taking the time to offer your feedback.
The battle of bane part was the most smartest strAtegised battle ever
What’s the music around 27:40 during the love letter?
Aux manes de la Gironde and La Grenadiere were the two pieces I used during the documentary. Thanks so much for taking the time to view my content!
Very interesting and would be great without the irritating background noise.
Thanks for your feedback- it's been a very steep learning curve, and hopefully I'm getting better at it! Thanks so much for taking the time to view my work, and for your advice.
Absolutely great audiobook with outstanding music selection, has a paypal??
working on it, will report when done! Thanks for stopping by and viewing my content!
As much as I like classical music I found the singing in the background very distracting to the point where I found myself listening to the music and not concentrating on what the narrator was saying. Perhaps the choice of music was inappropriate. I tried three times to rewind and review but the music was too invasive so I gave up on what seemed to be a very interesting subject.
Thanks for the feedback. I'm just an amateur learning video editing as I go. Have a look at my latest video on Shakespeare and tell me if the soundtrack is less jarring. The previous video on Brutus has no soundtrack at all - and I'd appreciate your thoughts on the comparison. Thanks so much for taking the time to offer your thoughts
I love your documentaries, and the introduction to Corsica and the Buonaparte family was great, but I was also disappointed how you glossed over Trafalgar, the Russian campaign, the Peninsular war, and Waterloo so quickly. Those were monumental events affecting Napoleon's rule.
On a separate note, Napoleon's detractors had other more serious things to protest than the charge of misogyny or racism. For one, some accuse him of directly and indirectly leading to the deaths of millions of people during his military campaigns (including some punitive measures in various places in today's Italy, Spain, etc). Others accused him of having betrayed his enlightenment principles entirely out of lust for pure power achieved by any means necessary (the most famous critic in this regard being Beethoven). It would have been interesting to see these charges addressed.
I hope you take this as "constrictive" criticism from someone who genuinely enjoys your channel and work.
Thank you for your thoughtful criticism. Yes, it could have contained much more material, and on reflection, I agree with all your points. My motivation was based on my irritation at the completely skewed smear campaign that marked the anniversary of his death- that largely focussed on accusations of misogyny and racism. My attempt was to try and refute those assertions, establish what made him the man he was, and to show how circumstances overwhelmingly imposed by both external governments and a fifth column necessitated many of his actions, which by the standards of the day, were completely reasonable. I'm open to the probability that his later campaigns influenced his ongoing attitudes, but in this instance I was more interested in his overall personal psychology - something that i felt was much more a product of his youth. Who knows, maybe a part 2 would be worth looking into! Thanks so much for taking a serious interest in my work. I appreciate it very much!
Nice #1 Aussie, from post Napoleonic Akaraoa, Aotearoa: m8
Yes, its about time Aussies got into this stuff! Thanks for your support
Great video, thank you very much , note to self(nts) watched all of it 1:00:53
Glad you enjoyed it!
If ghosts are real I can't imagine how hard Paoli must be seething that its greatest son was a Bonaparte and how he's usually just a footnote in that Bonaparte's history if he gets a mention at all
I absolutely loved this
Thanks for the encouragement! Cheers!
16:00 if napoleon was of average height why did his own men nickname him 'the little corporal'?
I think that was a British invention. He was never a corporal. He graduated military college as an officer, not an NCO. Of course, being Corsican, there were plenty of mainlanders that despised him as an outsider, so we can't discount that either. Belittling someone is a clear metaphor.
@@heroesandlegends my understanding is that the name began at a battle in italy where the french were charging across a very long, narrow bridge (i forget the name of the battle). napoleon was setting up his cannons, helping to aim them (and nearly getting hit by a cannon ball himself), and doing the work usually done by a corporal. of course the british newspapers mocked him as a little tiny midget as well.
there must have been a thousand foreign diplomats who met napoleon personally. i would expect all their descriptions should have settled the matter long ago.
@@bobbest1611 I've read somewhere that his height was recorded in French inches as 5'2", which apparently equates to 5'6and a half inches- an average male height for the time
You do not need background music. It is very distracting. Thank you
Thanks for the feedback- yes it's been a very steep learning curve, and I appreciate the advice. Thanks so much for taking the time to make suggestions.
I highly recommend the film Waterloo (shown)
1:01:15 I chose the worst moment to take a sip of water. I DIED when you said 'simp' !
As young people say- "keepin' it real". I hope you enjoyed it!
Napoleon would later regret the liberties he gave the Jews and expressed this discontent in letters to his brother, calling them "the most vile race on earth", "the carrion birds of humanity" and "I do not desire anymore of them in my kingdom".
good work
Thanks so much for your kind words! It makes it all worthwhile.
Very interesting biography. Nevertheless the Napoleanic civil code was disastrous for women, leaving them with no say in their future. They passed from father to husband with no possibility of creating their own destiny.
TOP MAN NAPOLEON
Fascinating. I never learned any of this in my waste of time college history. Current woke cancel-culture has warped all study of history.
Thanks, I'm glad you found it worthwhile viewing!
A few incorrect dates here: Napoleon did not graduate military school in 1795, but rather in 1785. And the French Revolution did not begin in 1799, but in 1789.
This is a good biography, but doesn't seem especially focused on the title question
Nice video.
Decent video, but I wish it took a more neutral approach; there were a few moments in there were the attempts to defend Napoleon against criticisms were kind of strained, like bringing up a more narrow definition of dictatorship to frame Napoleon's own dictatorship as better, or deflecting from accusations of anti-Black racism in regards to Napoleon's re-imposition of slavery by pointing out that he wasn't racist against Middle Easterners and was cool with Islam (a person can be racist against one race and not another, and Islam isn't a race). That's not to mention how the video casually dismisses the notion that Napoleon was a misogynist by pointing to his loving relations with individual women and respect for motherhood (neither of which actually refute accusations of misogyny; anti-suffragists never shut up about how much they respected motherhood), without ever mentioning the basis for accusations of misogyny, namely his reversal of advancements in women's rights introduced during the Revolution. The video tries to frame itself as threading the needle between condemnations or Napoleon and adulation of him, but very clearly leans further to the latter side.
You make some good points, i will concede. My aim was to counter the extreme propaganda which has even less evidence though is widely accepted without question. His policies were for the most part straight out Jacobin programs, while on the subject of race relations, compared to his enemies as well as many of his own French he had gone on the record numerous times to emphasise his policy of integration. No other significant leader in Europe at the time even came close to publicly voicing their support of emancipation of either the jews or blacks, and English speakers vilify him for his temporary reversal of slavery, while the British were simultaneously reinforcing their own plantations with troops to prevent a slave revolt of their own, and allowing their subjects in the Irish dominions to die in the hundreds of thousands (and many more later on) following the United Irishmen and Young Irelanders revolts. I think poor old Napoleon deserves at least a slightly generous reappraisal in the context of what was going on around him and the invasion from all sides of royalist allies. Unfortunately the mud has definitely stuck on this, so any attempt to challenge the narrative will seem extreme rather than balanced. It is good to bounce this subject around and I'm glad you brought up the very valid points you did. Food for thought. Thanks so much for viewing, and engaging in dialogue!
Enjoyed an Oz bais to this topic. Way to much pommy bull dust about Nap. If only he hasn't done a disaster in Russia why we would all be talk'n fren
Thanks for your support! I hope to give you more!
Interesting that he was only 51 when he died
Napoleon was too progresist for the XVIII and XIX century and even the XX and part of the XXI century, the only problem is who by knowing this the people want to uphold a person of the XVIII century as one of an utopian XXI century, (And yet many attacks fail short) However for the people, Napoleon was a great military, and probably loved and admired by the hughe majority of the world. Of course he is disliked by the old regime people, and Spanish nationalists, as well as from the heavy UKIP style British "Culture", but overall it is much more rightly regarded than ever attacked, (the exception is France, where while he maybe popular, he had since the Chirac era, become ignored, as it relitigate controversial topics, both on the right, and also some controversies from leftists who ignore the political of the time in a banal attempt to redeem what they percived as bad) Napoleon certainly is liked by the internationalists, and is the source of the leftist way of thinking, even if in the current status quo the ignorance sweept the political forces in France. The truth is who Napoleon did not belong to France, neither to his enemies but to the world itself, he is to much for a country to be.
I think you make a strong point. I hope my documentary highlights much of what you say, and yet, i felt it was important to also show the all-too- human side of him also. The contrast between his ability to lead and read men, but his totally childish infatuation with Josephine. Indeed we all have our weaknesses. Thanks so much for viewing my material and for sharing your thoughts!
Pretty interesting documentary but not one mention of his compatriot Pedro!
Pedro who?
Dissapointing how you casually skipped over Waterloo, you just said " it was a close run afair". No discussion of it whatsoever. Why not? Likewise the crushing of the French and Spanish fleet in 1805 at Trafalgar by Nelson, no discussion? These defeats by the British were significant historical milestones in his life.
You did a wonderful job on the video. I learned things I didn't know (and I'm an historian myself). However, I still do not like this little man.
Thanks so much! I dare say, most historically significant leaders were not particularly likeable. He was certainly Macchiavellian, that's for sure.
Ahh, so Napoleon is as Italian as spaghetti.
Not sure what today's Corsican would make of that, but there is certainly a long history! Thanks so much for viewing my work, and taking the time to leave a comment!
Indeed.
Now I see why Napoleon is ignored by educators and elitists, because of his ability, his humanity, and especially his non-military achievements. It makes perfect sense that the collectivists currently infecting academia, government, and culture have memory-holed Napoleon. The EU is elitism masquerading as a republic, it’s citizens suffering ever greater intrusions upon their rights and property. Also, may I suggest using the Eroica symphony in your background rotation. Although Beethoven misunderstood the expediency and theatre of declaring himself emperor.
Thanks so much for your feedback and thoughts. Indeed the controversy lays not in the man, but in the manipulation of his legacy. Ironically, Napoleon was himself a master PR spinner, but in the end the deck was stacked against him, including the fifth column. I'm glad my work has stimulated some discussion!
Doesn't the illustration at 19.20 show the United Irishmen?
Both
Napoleon was not promoted on merit. There were many commanders of a divisions with long successful records m wghen Naopieon was appointed by political influence to command the army of italy despite never commanding a division in combat let alone successfully.
in this instance maybe, but he didn't lack merit one way or another
Man, Josephine was lucky.
The music is very distracting and annoying. Sorry 🙏
See the link in the description section or pinned comment for a "non-music" version. I'm learning as I go- sorry!