Brutal Firsthand Account of the French Foreign Legion's Assault On An Algerian City (1837)

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  • Опубликовано: 5 июн 2021
  • / history_uncovered
    In 1837 the French Army assaulted the city of Constantine in Algeria. A captain leading elements of the French Foreign Legion named Achille Leroy de Saint-Arnaud led a charge into the city and later wrote of his intense account of the battle in a letter to his brother.
    Music: [The Wandering King] by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com)
    Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License
    creativecommons.org/licenses/...
    Source:
    Voices of the Foreign Legion : The History of the World's Most Famous Fighting Corps
    By: Adrian D Gilbert

Комментарии • 188

  • @BHuang92
    @BHuang92 3 года назад +116

    The Mexicans once quoted about the French Foreign Legion at the Battle of Camarón; "These were not men, they're demons!"

    • @appleslover
      @appleslover 3 года назад +9

      Still are

    • @sergpie
      @sergpie 3 года назад +14

      @@appleslover
      And always will be; someone’s gotta have enough balls to protect the sovereignty of their nation, irrespective of what specters from the past certain ideologues would rather perpetuate than keep in the past.

    • @appleslover
      @appleslover 3 года назад +5

      @@sergpie advanced weaponry≠ balls
      Today, my 10 year old brother could easily kill the best gladiator Rome had 2000 years ago with a single shot

    • @aruhe6650
      @aruhe6650 3 года назад +15

      @@appleslover there wasn't that much big of a gap technologically speaking between the french and the mexicans.
      The mexican army simply sucked.

    • @edgarpalomo3205
      @edgarpalomo3205 3 года назад +1

      That's why the legion uniform is the same as the mexican flag

  • @dpeasehead
    @dpeasehead 3 года назад +53

    "What was left of the town surrendered unconditionally."

    • @christobalcolon6601
      @christobalcolon6601 3 года назад +1

      Constantine: First Roman Christian emperor
      Constantinople: the city that you keep calling Constantine

    • @earthenjadis8199
      @earthenjadis8199 3 года назад +10

      @@christobalcolon6601 Constantine is a city in eastern Algeria built by the Phoenicians and later Numidians. It was renamed in honor of Constantine the Great when part of the Roman Empire.

  • @the.pandamonium
    @the.pandamonium 3 года назад +61

    Charging at an armed barricade with a sword and being the first over the barricade. Takes cojones!

    • @cesaru3619
      @cesaru3619 3 года назад

      don´t use man words when refering to pvssies.

    • @kratosthegodofwar2593
      @kratosthegodofwar2593 3 года назад +4

      And face planted right in front of the enemy.

    • @dpeasehead
      @dpeasehead 3 года назад +3

      @@kratosthegodofwar2593 They were laughing so hard at his antics that their shots missed.

    • @mcsmash4905
      @mcsmash4905 3 года назад +1

      well someone has to do it lol

    • @Briselance
      @Briselance 2 года назад +1

      Regards
      Well, it was a viable tactic. At the time, rifles used by militaries were all muzzle-loaded. It takes a well-trained soldier to fire off just three barely-aimed shots in a minute with these.
      So you would have had far better chances to storm a barricade some 50 feet away at maximum, while most if not all of the defenders were reloading.

  • @Numba003
    @Numba003 3 года назад +52

    Dude, the French foreign legion sounds like an insanely brave band of front line soldiers. I wouldn’t want to face the guys charging a barricade with little more than bayonets while being shot at. They’re clearly some bold fellows.
    Stay well out there everybody, and God bless you friends. :)

  • @Castillo525
    @Castillo525 3 года назад +52

    He was probably a charismatic leader, probably close to his men in everyday activities during the campaigns. Soldiers dont follow any man into hell like that.

    • @SwitchTF2
      @SwitchTF2 3 года назад

      What an asinine comment, why? What the hell makes you think this?

    • @MrJohansen
      @MrJohansen Год назад +3

      @@SwitchTF2 what a boomer comment. Why? What the hell makes you comment this?

    • @SwitchTF2
      @SwitchTF2 Год назад

      @@MrJohansen go back to your dead end job, this is a year old thread nobody cares

  • @cadowyn735
    @cadowyn735 3 года назад +12

    Great job man. The true History Channel.

  • @jefftheriault5522
    @jefftheriault5522 3 года назад +11

    You can see where the philosophy of elan, with which the French army entered the first battles of WW 1 came from.

  • @yapbrain
    @yapbrain 3 года назад +19

    Respected, feared and brave.
    I would not want to mess with them

  • @deteon1418
    @deteon1418 3 года назад +3

    Great video as usual!
    Didn’t know much about these guys.

  • @chillback00
    @chillback00 3 года назад +2

    Love your channel, keep em coming. We gotta get you to a million subs, great work!

  • @GodBless423
    @GodBless423 3 года назад +1

    Excellent Work!!

  • @subhamomm5930
    @subhamomm5930 3 года назад +5

    I liked your videos so much your channel is my favourite in RUclips your videos are so much knowledgeful and educative your channel is a inspiration for other history RUclips channels I get various
    Knowledge from your videos I am your old supporter and subscriber from 5k so I have a humble request for you can you make a video on Skanderbeg please please

  • @danol.8595
    @danol.8595 3 года назад +1

    Great video did you have to add the ringing of the tinnitus, head hurt just hearing it

  • @aldosigmann419
    @aldosigmann419 3 года назад +12

    And to consider they were just foreign street riff raff that the French wanted to be rid of - two birds with one stone....

  • @markuslundberg7457
    @markuslundberg7457 3 года назад +5

    In war, a international service soldier goes to intense care to recieve aid. A national soldier to rest, and a legionnaire to die.

  • @napoleonibonaparte7198
    @napoleonibonaparte7198 3 года назад +52

    I do hope their Spanish counterparts will also be covered, the Spanish Legion.

    • @theuglyfriend
      @theuglyfriend 3 года назад +14

      Didn’t do that much. Stopped accepting foreigners in 1972.

    • @wordherb1128
      @wordherb1128 3 года назад +14

      I’ve spoken to men who served in both the Spanish and French foreign legions and even back when they served in the Spanish legions wasn’t anything to write home about mostly just sat around drinking sangria lmao

    • @theuglyfriend
      @theuglyfriend 3 года назад +1

      @@wordherb1128 unfortunately I don’t think they were even created till the 1920’s when colonialism was already in decline.

    • @wordherb1128
      @wordherb1128 3 года назад

      @@theuglyfriend when I said back then I was talking about the 1970s sorry should have made that clear

    • @montycasper4300
      @montycasper4300 3 года назад +3

      However, they do have the gayest uniforms and ceremonial drill on earth. That's not nothing.

  • @aa-uq1qj
    @aa-uq1qj 3 года назад +5

    That's some crazy shit! Great job too, you deserve more views.

  • @magnacarta9364
    @magnacarta9364 3 года назад +3

    As an ex Cpl of the 2eme REI, joined when I was 18 in Marseille back in 1981. Served in Beirut during the Israel invasion 82 employed by the Lebanese government in part as peace keeping and to fight against PLO. But there ws just too many different factions involved then with islamists and private war loads, Syrian troops. A real eye opener for a skinny English lad, but it was a brilliant experience as travelled to French Guyana and other parts of Africa. Viva la Legion Etrangere. Thanks for the vid enjoyed, theres also a Spanish Legion sold by the French to Spain.

    • @viking670
      @viking670 2 года назад

      I'm sure you must know Thomas Gast.

    • @magnacarta9364
      @magnacarta9364 2 года назад

      @@viking670 I knew many Germans but never met him.

  • @baphomet418
    @baphomet418 3 года назад +32

    Carving Turks out with his sword, Brutal.

  • @brokenbridge6316
    @brokenbridge6316 3 года назад

    Nice video n story.

  • @alessiodecarolis
    @alessiodecarolis 3 года назад +3

    Think what kind of nightmare could be fighting in close combat in such tight spaces.... with muzzle loaders and only a bayonet!

  • @calummcneil6006
    @calummcneil6006 Год назад +2

    Very interested in this piece of history. I am ived in The Constantine area also Biskra in the south. I worked there for 2 years building army camps and barracks. We got to know hear a lot about the French occupation, and the rebel tactics. Saw demolished churches, and they still had old French out posts, and found names and dates carved on stone at the El Kantara pass. From the late 1800s. A long and bloody history.

  • @STRZB001
    @STRZB001 3 года назад

    Never hear anyone end more lines with question marks more than Chills. You got it? Historically? Yeah? I love your channel?

  • @sonsofthesilentage994
    @sonsofthesilentage994 3 года назад

    Awesome account from history

  • @willienolegs8928
    @willienolegs8928 3 года назад +1

    Great history, le Legion!

  • @oquendo0021
    @oquendo0021 3 года назад +2

    That was a hell of a letter

  • @pantagruel1066
    @pantagruel1066 3 года назад +10

    Yes. I was just talking about them. True mad lads.

  • @HeadhuntexGamer
    @HeadhuntexGamer 3 года назад

    How amazing that I got this video recommended when I'm getting in shape to join the Legion... thanks for the video btw

  • @paulbasaur
    @paulbasaur 3 года назад

    very cool

  • @wordherb1128
    @wordherb1128 3 года назад +4

    This account is also in a great book about the legion called Voices of the foreign legion by Adrien D Gilbert

    • @HistoryUncovered
      @HistoryUncovered  3 года назад +1

      That was my source. Great book.

    • @bloodangelphil
      @bloodangelphil 3 года назад +1

      This battle was also in The Damned Die Hard, but not this particular account.

  • @evanextreme6157
    @evanextreme6157 3 года назад

    I found this video by recommendations, and this video is now SEVEN HOURS AGO
    WTH, a video made only hours ago and I was recommended it!
    *W H A T*

  • @kratosthegodofwar2593
    @kratosthegodofwar2593 3 года назад +1

    What a fucking mad man the captain was.

  • @carloreytansiongco8741
    @carloreytansiongco8741 3 года назад +5

    I wonder if during his time, the legion's legendary espirit de corps was already formed, or was it still in its infancy?

  • @oldschool9592
    @oldschool9592 3 года назад

    My cousin was in french legion. He got some crazy stories from middle east.

  • @jodygoar7238
    @jodygoar7238 3 года назад

    I think we need a few instant replays.

  • @Revitalization4241
    @Revitalization4241 3 года назад +1

    You should have said Berber Kabyle tribes, now many think the Kabyle people are Arabs

  • @TheScruph
    @TheScruph 3 года назад +6

    Got their arses kicked in 1954 at Dien Bien Phu, Vietnam.

    • @duanepigden1337
      @duanepigden1337 3 года назад

      Just like the Americans did in Vietnam.

    • @anthonylafayette4385
      @anthonylafayette4385 Год назад

      The British ran at Dunkirk and surrendered at Singapore to a much lesser Japanese force and surrendered at Hong Kong.

  • @fortunatusnine2012
    @fortunatusnine2012 3 года назад +1

    👍👍

  • @TheMattGilbert
    @TheMattGilbert 3 года назад

    Here because FPSRussia mentioned the channel 😎

  • @trisgilmour
    @trisgilmour 3 года назад +13

    The legion are legends

    • @appleslover
      @appleslover 3 года назад +5

      There is no honour or "legendariness" in invading a pillaging other countries and people

    • @sergpie
      @sergpie 3 года назад +7

      @@appleslover
      Yeah, you’re wrong; Julius Caesar attainted legendary status precisely because of that. History cares little of the warm and fuzzies things like “Imagine” by Lennon tend to elicit.

    • @appleslover
      @appleslover 3 года назад +1

      @@sergpie which is a sign of our barbarity, nothing to be proud of.
      Others doing it≠ right
      Plurality≠morality

    • @vicentgalvan70
      @vicentgalvan70 3 года назад +2

      Only weaklings say that.

    • @someorclad9738
      @someorclad9738 3 года назад +2

      @@sergpie Damn straight.

  • @bobbyb.6644
    @bobbyb.6644 3 года назад

    Watch “ Beau Guest “ for look at the Legion ?

  • @Alan-io2ew
    @Alan-io2ew 3 года назад +1

    They should have taken heed when the Legion got out of Vietnam....

  • @Uberdude6666
    @Uberdude6666 3 года назад +3

    So how did the Foreign Legion treat the town after the surrender, and what became of the enemy who surrendered?

    • @_--Reaper--_
      @_--Reaper--_ 3 года назад +3

      raped and killed

    • @NoOneInParticular88
      @NoOneInParticular88 11 месяцев назад

      dont worry, im sure the battle-scarred & mourning Legionaries treated the jihadis like good serfs after they submitted

  • @laaylagi6503
    @laaylagi6503 2 года назад

    Do steppe nomads they have such vast culture.

  • @socialenigma4476
    @socialenigma4476 3 года назад

    They certainly don't make em like they used to thats for damn sure!

  • @robertfletcher4065
    @robertfletcher4065 3 месяца назад

    I believe it was Marshels Soult's idea. The then Minster of war to Louis Philipe. Yes that marshel Soult who served Napoleon.

  • @panthermartin7784
    @panthermartin7784 3 года назад

    Ya, musket to the face would be a pain in the ass.

  • @wheresfekkesh7375
    @wheresfekkesh7375 3 года назад

    They Don’t like it up em !

  • @elyas714
    @elyas714 Год назад

    How reliable is one source and at that a French European, imperialist, colonialist, mercenary. Pretty skeptical. Look at it like this in the court of law of this day and age he has a very weak case if a case at all. DA reject all day everyday.

  • @alandesouzacruz5124
    @alandesouzacruz5124 2 года назад

    Viva la légion fréres

  • @jaycal1920
    @jaycal1920 Год назад

    If there was a blender big enough to throw piles of people into it, this would be it.

  • @Wolfen443
    @Wolfen443 3 года назад +2

    Ah, the French Legion if Napoleon had them at Waterloo could they have made a difference?.

    • @jefftheriault5522
      @jefftheriault5522 3 года назад +2

      No, the human resources were far too eroded to carry past even a success at Waterloo.

    • @simonrobson2293
      @simonrobson2293 3 года назад +1

      Napoleon had many foreigners serving in the ranks he had poles germans as we had he had italians spanish dutch flemish etc

    • @theuglyfriend
      @theuglyfriend 3 года назад +1

      That’s where the Legion originally came from was left over foreigners from Napoleons Grand Armee.

    • @theuglyfriend
      @theuglyfriend 3 года назад

      @Peter Mercado I go by where Louis Philippe lived in exile here in Boston pretty frequently.

    • @theuglyfriend
      @theuglyfriend 3 года назад

      @Peter Mercado lol, he was king of France and signed the declaration to create the Legion. Google it get back to me 😉

  • @alexvanderlinden6027
    @alexvanderlinden6027 3 года назад

    Treu devils from day 1to the end

  • @Psychol-Snooper
    @Psychol-Snooper 3 года назад +8

    The Legion is the best way to earn French citizenship, assuming they would want you. It's no small feat to join the Legion today!
    They will also teach you French from scratch, boot camp style! 😣

    • @theuglyfriend
      @theuglyfriend 3 года назад +3

      Getting in is very hard I tried 4 times I my lifetime. I think it’s 1-25 that are accepted now.

    • @Psychol-Snooper
      @Psychol-Snooper 3 года назад +1

      @@theuglyfriend I feel for you! ❤️
      I had a plan years ago, which was to master French, and use ROTC to serve in the US Army and use that as leverage... but then I started working as a game dev... and one-hundred 'percenting' French is HARD!

    • @theuglyfriend
      @theuglyfriend 3 года назад

      @@Psychol-Snooper the absolute truth is you never know who they’re going to accept. The last time I went the SGT. at the gate just didn’t like the way I looked and turned me away. It happens a lot.

    • @Psychol-Snooper
      @Psychol-Snooper 3 года назад

      @@theuglyfriend How far have you gotten? Did you get past the psych and IQ testing?

    • @theuglyfriend
      @theuglyfriend 3 года назад

      @@Psychol-Snooper it’s not as straight forward as you think. You could pass everything and still get rejected. I could fail this or that and still get in. You could be Russian Petznas with certificates and phones numbers with you and yes still get rejected. They also don’t do though ought background-checks like they say they do. Google “ US Army deserter/ French foreign legion. The day of a few days after graduation West Point he joined the Legion. This was recently.

  • @littleandre4957
    @littleandre4957 3 года назад +2

    A muslim city in AFRICA named after emperor Constantine ??

    • @itsMe_TheHerpes
      @itsMe_TheHerpes 3 года назад +1

      it was part of the roman empire back then.

    • @littleandre4957
      @littleandre4957 3 года назад

      @@itsMe_TheHerpes interesting..

    • @miracleyang3048
      @miracleyang3048 6 месяцев назад

      Constantinople itself is Muslim nowadays

    • @miracleyang3048
      @miracleyang3048 6 месяцев назад

      Anyway Constantine was named by it people after the emperor defeated his rival who sacked the city and was hated by them

  • @prunabluepepper
    @prunabluepepper 3 года назад +1

    One year later. Your emphasis still doesn't fit the flow of the sentence. The way you speak makes it difficult to follow you. Semicolons matter.

  • @fuggoff5277
    @fuggoff5277 3 года назад

    Thurgau

  • @zed_deniro6514
    @zed_deniro6514 3 года назад +8

    Foreign legion were slaughtered later till the last man during the Algerian war 1954-1962

    • @sarrumac
      @sarrumac 3 года назад +9

      Never happened hadji, only in your wet dreams.

    • @zed_deniro6514
      @zed_deniro6514 3 года назад +8

      @@sarrumac all they got was blood and dust and graves without names in Algeria lol Vietnam and Algeria were graveyard for french soldiers

    • @theuglyfriend
      @theuglyfriend 3 года назад +1

      They just retreated. They didn’t go quietly google “Algiers putsch of 1961”

    • @Holybatman3603
      @Holybatman3603 Год назад

      @@sarrumac Keep coping François, more than 30,000 French soldiers were slaughtered in Algeria and up to 20,500 in Vietnam, all they got was blood and shame.

    • @anthonylafayette4385
      @anthonylafayette4385 Год назад

      The Battle of the city of Algiers was won by the French. The Algerian War was lost by DeGaulle.

  • @DD-cg1tm
    @DD-cg1tm Год назад

    Robotic voice. Gave up after 2 mins

  • @Katmando376
    @Katmando376 3 года назад

    Damn Yanks just leave the Legion alone! BORING

  • @simplepixel5617
    @simplepixel5617 3 года назад +3

    Advice: Don't do that explosion effects thing again. Its unnecessary and anoying.

    • @aa-uq1qj
      @aa-uq1qj 3 года назад +4

      It scared & surprised me, but I liked it.

    • @HistoryUncovered
      @HistoryUncovered  3 года назад +3

      Yea lol I wanted it to be a shock to the viewer...kind of like you experienced the explosion.

    • @Socks-and-Dave
      @Socks-and-Dave 3 года назад +3

      @@HistoryUncovered I liked the sound of the explosion and gunshots, and other sound effects. Added to the video.

    • @sharkwolf7788
      @sharkwolf7788 3 года назад +1

      I thought it was a good touch

    • @Sturminfantrist
      @Sturminfantrist 3 года назад

      you right Simple Pixel, i have left side Hearing loss from time to time and extrem Tinitus and such a high tone effect activate this shit again.
      I found it not funny.

  • @oscarvi3232
    @oscarvi3232 3 года назад

    Interesting subject, but a very annoying accent.