I hope you enjoy the latest installment of our Napoleonic Wars series! Big thanks also to Jorge Planas Campos & Antonio Grajal de Blas for sharing their research on Peninsular War casualties ahead of publication - there's a link to one of their articles in the video description which contains details on their methodology. Big thanks also to Nuneaton Museum & Gallery for kind permission to use the superb 'The Battle of Vitoria' painting by James Prinsep Beadle.
Amazing content. I would appreciate if in the future you/the team could possibly include Portuguese flags in the animation, deserved in any video about the Peninsular War after hundreds of thousands dying during the many combats. Cheers :)
@@salazarway at the end, the losses of the combatants are listed: the French over a quarter of a million, the Spanish at least 3 hundred thousand, the English 52 thousand, the Portuguese 15 thousand, i.e. a modest number compared to the size of the carnage
@generaldhautpoul8388 To diminish life lost in combat is not the way. In terms of % of troops/population 15 thousand mans was quite a lot for Portugal. My opinion.
Narrators voice- "In May 2021 Epic History TV was about to be crowned Emperor of history channels. RU-vid history had never seen such a sudden dramatic and rise to power, from an impoverished channel to 1 million subscribers in little more than 6 years!"
The Great War and Alexander had cleared his path to the throne, Napoleon would dominate his 10 year reign, a period unpresedented in drama that would leave millions of Bonapartists and a RU-vid community in turmoil.
@@kevindalton2981 Well the coalitoin would be the armchair historian (as prussia), Timeghost & World war two (as Sweden) Kings and Generals (as Austria), Mark Felton (as Britian), Simon Whistler (as Naples), Timeline World History (as Bavaria), Simple History (as Portugal), and the Great war (as Russia) vs Epic History Tv (The empire) Who will win?
Italian then Austrian then definitely Egyptian. I'm still hoping we leave the series on a high note and the battle of the pyramids would definitely be a conclusive end. Let's get to Italia soon!!
The narration, artwork, music, maps, troop movement and the time period all together culminate into a truly magnificent history channel. In my humble opinion it surpasses any other military history channel on RU-vid. Your coverage of the Napoleonic era is second to none.
The pronunciation of the spanish names is pretty good, it's a simple detail among all the great things in this series, but as a spaniard it's nice to hear it.
I think it's important. It shows respect and also care for what is being talked about. If you show care about the details of pronunciation, it's likely you are dedicating similar care to the details of what you are talking about. I say this as a Brit who has little deep knowledge of other languages...!
Год назад
As a Latiniard that I am, I also have to say that the pronunciation is very good.
As a Spanish, I have to say this video is epic from the beginning to the end. I mean this channel is amazing, but this video is very special for us. Spain is the only country in the world claiming to have won an Independence War, but not having an Independence Day. The king who recovered the throne, the same king who literally gifted the Spanish throne to Napoleon, was by far the worst king of our history. Eternal glory to the Duke of Wellington 🙏
Hermano, Wellington marchaba destruyendo la industria manufacturera española para que después de la guerra no hubiera competencia económica con Inglaterra. Como se ve en este capítulo, las riquezas españolas que dejaron tiradas los franceses fueron a parar a bolsillos ingleses y lo que pudieron recuperar lo usaron para pagar "salarios" de soldados ingleses que ya tenían los bolsillos llenos. Tu ídolo inglés no es más que un pirata de tierra. Fue la guerrilla y la población española la que hizo todo el trabajo de desgaste francés. Fue una guerra del pueblo y un mérito del pueblo español.
If you loved the art I will tell you some of the painters there: The first two ones are Goya's paintings, dark paintings transmitting the suffering of the Spanish nation during the insurrection of Madrid. The third one is from César Álvarez Dumont, called "The Great day of Girona", when with aid of English and Irish troops repelled a push from French troops into the city. It's my natal city and we consider Girona "three times immortal" because of the 3 sieges it resisted against the french, although the last one did conquer the city there was little to use or conquer as everyone fought till the end. You can see from the back an english commander guiding the resistance and local troops against the french troops. I don't know about the other paintings but if you want to look at a good one look up the one Ramón Martí Alsina did. A 5x11 meter painting depicting once again "The great day of Girona".
Wellington was a master at choosing the best ground and tactics and forcing the enemy to fight on his terms. The terrain in the Spanish campaign particularly suited his tactics
Wellington's Victory or the Battle Symphony. Contains hints of the 'British Grenadiers' 'Rule Britannia' and ironically enough 'Marlbrough s'en va-t-en guerre', from which we get the tune for the song For He's a Jolly Good Fellow.
@@leonrothier6638 i think the two faces one was Napoleon, defending revolutionary ideas and crowning himself emperor and elevating all his family and friends to the higher ranks of nobility. Making his son heir of the empire just like a true monarch. If i were a revolutionary, i would also feel betrayed.
More seriously, Prisoners taken by British in Spain were sent to a Desert island with no food. They all die from starvation and or diseases. If you were a prisoner back then, it was far better to be prisoner of the French or the Austrians than Prussians or British. Spanish guérilla is even worst, they committed a long list of atrocities to create panic in French ranks. And in response French did the same …
@@freewal You're talking about the French prisoners taken at Bailen. Their fate was very grim, but it's far from a typical example. It was in fact a Spanish responsibility to supply the prisoners on the island of Cabrera.
Its insane the concentration of competence that existed in this time period. Any one of the great generals of the Napoleonic Wars could have stomped on most of the kings and generals of the middle ages and the renaissance, and gone toe to toe with many of the Roman Emperors and commanders of antiquity.
@@gontrandjojo9747 I disagree. The Middle Ages were the age of nepotism and the divine right of kings, the Napoleonic wars was the age of meritocracy. No one in the previous ages save for the early Roman Empire and republic, could become politically powerful without first having been born into it. Most of the commanders of france were made out of necessity due to the purges of the revolution. And this was so successful many of the other monarchies followed the trend France set. If you look at the top one hundred generals in history by battles won, around 30 percent are napoleonic era generals and french marshals
@WAN AHMAD RAQIB BIN WAN ABDILLAH - never said it was the only age, but it was by far the one with the greatest concentration of competent generals, and I did not say only French marshals. Napoleon alone has the most victories of any commander in history with 56 battles won.
The ‘Iron’ Duke of Wellington was extremely successful. He had Genius in both defence and offence. His career from Assaye to Waterloo, including the Liberation of all Iberia, was a Phenomenal Journey.
Hahahaha 🤡 Good general smart to know when to fight or not choosing terrain wisely. A very good commander but nothing exceptional either helped a lot by Spanish everyone was working against the French. Population, Spanish guerillas and army and Portuguese too + the main army busy elsewhere the French had no chance in Spain whoever it was against them Not like the ones fighting for 2 decades on the continent like archiduke Charles known as Napoleon’s best opponent
@@Marcus75016 I didn’t really say anything worthy of the clown emoji, like sure perhaps I overstated something, which I’ll explain in this comment, but clown emoji? I didn’t say he was superior to Napoleon or anything. I probably overused the term genius when talking about offensive battles. Assaye and Salamanca were his greatest examples of offensive battles though and would be worthy of any general. Although I’m not saying they were on the level of a Cannae, Leuthen or Austerlitz or an Agincourt or Blenheim for a British comparison. French generals often beat Spanish generals. Look up the Battles of Ocana, Tudela and Saguntum. Defensively Wellington was very good, for example, he kept Massena out of Lisbon with the Lines of Torres Vedras. Since writing that comment I would say my opinion on Wellington has changed. I agree with you a very good commander but not an exceptional one. Also whilst the guerrillas were vital let’s not forget that Wellington would have been massively outnumbered without them. On a strategic level he still was massively outnumbered in terms of soldiers, but obviously Iberia, in a time of ongoing war and open revolt, is a place where France can’t concentrated all their forces. How I see it is that the guerrillas made an otherwise impossible job possible, not a possible job easy.
@@benmac5253 What did I say that was incorrect? I already said in this thread that genius in offence could be contentious, but Assaye and Salamanca were both decisive victories.
@@archivesoffantasy5560 Don't entertain a star struck idiot who worships a French coward who fired grapeshot at unarmed civilians. Abandoned several armies, in Egypt, Russia and the German states, sacrificing close to a million soldiers to save himself. The first time he met a real military genius, he lost.
8:20--"Knowing that Clausell couldn't reach Joseph before the twenty-second of June, he decided to attack on the twenty-first." Yet another example of how important intelligence, in this case provided by guerrilleros, is to military success. Outstanding work Epic History!
As a military history nerd, I love all of your videos because of their incredible quality. As a Spaniard, this one has a special meaning for me...yes, I know Vitoria's battle was mainly a British victory, but I would say getting to Vitoria's battle was mainly a Spanish victory in terms of guerrilla, information and logistical support. And, as the video shows, I don't think any other soldier in the Napoleonic Wars was better paid than the British that took parte in this battle :)
To be fair there where only 2 Spanish Divisions at Vitoria but they where both not only heavily engaged by successful as well, The Spanish army had a poor battle record during the Peninsular war, but they just kept bouncing back, many think the British where as bad as the French (many Spaniards I have talked to anyway) and that always makes me sad, have much respect fort he Spanish and I like that Wellington understood the value of the Guerillas really very early.
@@Delogros It makes me sad what you say about the Spaniards, but unfortunately it doesn't surprise me. Most Spanish history nerds tend to mix their national pride with the historical facts, which leads them to wrong perspectives when analyzing our history. The British had a very bad reputation in Spain back then, after all it had been 300 years of conflict between Spain and Great Britain. Wellington's retreat in La Coruña in 1809 didn't help to boost Spanish trust in the British either...don't get me wrong: Wellington did the right thing from a military perspective, but the Spaniards felt abandoned...actually, they covered their retreat and only surrendered when all the British ships were safe.Such state of affairs between the 2 nations led to some stories of British troops misbehaving in Spain's soil during the Peninsula War, but there is little historical evidence of that. The truth is that Spain and Portugal couldn't have defeated France without the British, while the British couldn't have defeated the French without the support of both guerrilla and regular forces from Spain and Portugal. It was a team effort of the 3 nations to defeat the greatest land army of the time. The Spanish should have trusted the British more, the British should have understood Spanish pride better (a declining empire, fighting in our motherland, etc.)...well, nothing is perfect, but we did get the job done. Together. This might hurt some prides in this or the other side of the "Armada Invencible", but history doesn't exist to make us feel prouder or to carry on some political agendas. One has to be extra-careful when judging the history of his own country, people, tribe, clan, whatever...I'm afraid the Spaniards you mention aren`t. But now you know there are some of us that are grateful you came to help....Portugal (just a joke ;)
@@eduardopena7394 La Coruña was Moore not Wellington :) That is probably true about the misbehaving, armies are notorious for it often even in there own territory however Wellingtons punishment for looting and other offenses where huge, he ordered the hanging of 2 looters without trail at least once. "It was a team effort" truer words have never been spoken, hindsight is also 20-20 although I am "annoyed" the Spanish didn't make Wellington the supreme commander earlier I do understand the hesitation, though I do wonder if the Salamanca campaign might have turned out differently had he been commander at that point. Literally 2 of them told me the Spanish won the battle of Trafalgar... I give the Spanish a hard time sometimes for the Peninsular war but as you say the truth is the British would never have been able to field a strong enough army to retake the land without the Spanish, given what was accomplished in a few months of working together it would have been interesting to see that continue after the war.
@@eduardopena7394 The armies of Spain, Portugal and Britain and the people of Spain and Portugal beat France. Take anyone of those away and all would have failed. It's normal for all of us to focus on our own countries contribution but I believe anyone who looks at this period knows the truth.
I love the story I heard about Wellington paying for supplies ahead from Spanish landowners on his advance to Vitoria. One general came back without food supplies as the landowner had told him to bow to him to which he replied “I am an English gentleman, I do not bow “ Wellington said “oh really we’ll see about that” and rode off. Sometime later he returned and supplies began to arrive. When asked how he secured the supplies he said “oh I just bobbed down.” Does whatever is needed for his army discarding pride. Legend.
That's interesting - it bears out the view of some historians that one weakness of the French was that they were much more likely to rob and plunder than the allies, with the unsurprising result that the French had to deal not just with allied regulars but with a hostile local population and some pretty ruthless and highly motivated guerrillas.
The Spanish were so ungrateful considering the British were fighting their war for them. The Spanish landowners should have been especially helpful to the British as they would be liable to lose their titles at any moment under Napoleon, like the French aristocrats often did.
As pointed out by Jac Weller and others, the British were the only nation to count lightly-wounded men, whereas everyone else - French/Prussian/Russian/Austrian/American - only counted the seriously-wounded, As a result you need to increase French casualties by 50-75% in order to compare them to British losses.
I get mesmerized with Wellington's battles. Vitória is such a masterpiece, I dare say even better then Salamanca. Wellington was truly a master of positional warfare, the amount of times he outmaneuvered the french in this battle alone, let alone in the entire campaing, just wow. I can only compare him to Scipius Africanus
@@Bullet-Tooth-Tony- Vitoria. Wellington split his army into three, pulled an aggressive manoeuvre and nearly encircled the French, winning a decisive victory.
Vittoria is one of my favourites. A napoleonic defeat, an anglo-portuguese-spanish experienced and well-organized army and a battle of maneuver and aggression. Amazing.
This series is godlike. I don't know how humans can make such a perfect peace of art like this. Music, effects and voice is like a perfectly composed song.
It is like you were born for this. I love the napoleonic series and have been one of your biggest loyal fans. There are so much more of this era to explore and it will make your channel unique among other history ones
Great Choice on deciding to continue with the Napoleonic Era, your videos are of excellent quality, and extremely well produced. Thank you for this, and good luck in the future!
I can't imagine standing shoulder to shoulder in a procession marching directly into musket and cannon fire during the Napoleonic times. I would have said "screw this" and grabbed some cover. Of course they likely would have been flogged for using their brain. Very brave men indeed. Love this channel, keep up the good work.
You fight with your adrenaline not your brain sir! The most effective way to win was mass fire power, overwhelming force, control of your men and moral. All of this required large formations and linear tactics for the most part. It’s not as crazy as modern warfare, where a guy sat in an office can call in a drone strike and kill on mass in seconds, or where 1 man can kill hundreds from a long distance etc. War seems to be increasingly crazy as technology progresses
@@rhysnichols8608 Oh I completely understand that’s how they won battles back then and was common military tactics, but I think I would have preferred fighting similar to the militias in the American Revolutionary War. Setting up ambushes, using cover, hit and run tactics, sniping officers, etc. Not “civilized” in Napoleon’s time for sure, but I’d definitely have a very difficult time marching straight into a cannon loaded with canister shot pointed straight at me! Insane levels of courage.
One of the reason for linear formations was motivation. Soldiers like standing in line. In the US civil war skirmishing was a hated assignment. Standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow soldiers inspired men to stand an fight. It is easy to turn and flee when alone, but much harder to do it next to others. Not to take away from the resolve of these men marching through canister and musket volleys would never be easy. But the linear formation helped to keep men marching forward.
@@RoomateNSNL Survival instincts aren't equiped to make rational choices when it comes to firearms, hence people feel safer in a big group out in the open rather than alone behind cover. See also lacking the nerve to charge an enemy position and standing around to shoot at them instead; this actually led to many more men dying than if they had charged and driven off the enemy or been pushed back themselves.
mate, the accuracy wasn't that high as you might think. the chance of getting hit was quite small, otherwise how do you think that the casualties were so low? diseases killed 3x more than the fight itself. That was the reason why so many were killed in WWI, they were still fighting with the same tactics of going forward against the guns, but those were more powerful and accurate.
Checked all day for the notification. Brilliant and excellent content,as any other content shared about Napoleonic era on this channel.I would like to express my gratitude and consideration for this superb work. Epic History TV,i salute you! Cheers!
Italian and Egypt are the two highly requested campaigns, which I reckon will grow your channel further and improving diplomatic relations with subscribers of the Epic History Empire.
He still didn't do very important battles in Napoleon's career, everything between Toulon and Auzterlitz. In short, all the Revolutionary Wars. And you want him to redo something he's already done instead ?
@@bertlammens4392 It seems he won't anyway. He said he'll take a break on Napoleon for a while and that in the future he'll make a poll on patreon to decide if he'll do Napoleon's Italian campaign.
@@mikatu not Brazil... Most of the countries rules by Spain. Brazil was completely different... The revolutions began because the king was in captivity and Jose Bonaparte was in power... And when Fernando VII was back it was too late and there where already half a million deaths in Spain...
Absolutely beautiful! Congratulations on another masterpiece! Can't wait for more! Hope there's future content on Wellington and other commanders such as Blucher!
By the way this battle is far more important than just settling the outcome of The Peninsular Campaign. While Vittoria-Pyrenees Campaign (Battles of Vittoria then Battles of Souroren , Bidossa , Nivelle , Nive when Wellington's Anglo-Allied army pushed French Army out of Spain and pursued well into France) was going on , in Germany Battles of Lutzen-Bautzen were concluded and Armistice of Plaswitz (June-August 1813) was declared while Prussian and Russian armies regathered their strength after recent casaulties they suffered in Central Germany especialy in Lutzen and Bautzen. Austria was still undecided and on the fence , vacilating between being a benovelent neutral negotiator and joining Sixth Coalition against French Empire. When news of Anglo-Spanish-Portuguese victory at Vittoria arrived to Plaswitz at the end of June 1813 , it went a long way to convince Austrian Foreign Minister Metternich and Austrian leadership to take a tough line against Napoleon and if he does not accept their conditions , to assure Austria joining Sixth Coalition. Beethoven wrote "Wellington's Victory" Battle Symphony, Op.91 - 2. Symphony of Triumph · that year also in 1813 attributed to Wellington , link below ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LPi8csY9Q34.html
Between Assaye, capturing porto, Salamanca, Vitoria And then separate category of Vimiero bussaco the lines of Torres vedras, reverse slope tactic, Waterloo We have a general who’s very successful and experienced in both offence and defence. Which one does the Pyrenees battle fit into? (By the way I saw a years old comment of yours on a Wire best scenes video, we really have the same interests 😂)
@@fredbarker9201 Pyreenes i'd say is offensive as well since 62,000 troops under Wellington ended up pursuing 100,000 of Soult's. I feel like Waterloo actually sells both Wellington AND Napoleon short, since they have so much more interesting battles, as epic as it was seeing two great commanders clash in a final stand, it still left a lot to be desired in terms of tactics. Haha thats funny, great minds think alike.
@@fredbarker9201 Yep over half a million troops were advancing, they declared war on Napoleon too, not France. They were coming for him. In the Hundred days campaign he was able to raise only about 300,000 men, of which 73,000 would be used at Waterloo.
that soundtrack at the beginning.. my whole skin tight up,.. the epicness is beyond words.. The legends have returned, it's an honor to watch your war videos Epic History TV!
Line infrantries are very vulnerable to flanking. Napoleon likes to do the same, and basically every standard european standand general. If that attempt do not work, Napoleom attack the centre to create two extra flanks.
@@tonyz7216 if you had studied any historical literature you would have known there are no impassable mountains. In the Napoleonic wars PRIOR to Vittoria the Alps where crossed at least half a dozen times in placed that where deemed impassible. Only a stupid general sees a mountain and sees a natural barrier.
I love these videos. For years I obsessed over the Eastern Front (1941-1945) but Napoleon is a topic I’m just getting familiar with. This is great stuff. Love the narrator.
With all this experience, you have now done this well, I can assure you that any other conflict expose by you all will have this spectacular quality or even a better one, there is no limit for history in epic history! Keep save! Thanks you indeed
As good stuff as always. 23 minutes of delight. The Napoleonic wars series is still alive!! I hope you will cover the battle of San Marcial that ended the war in Spain.
A day of shame for Spain. The wise king Jose was leaving a nation he loved and the devil Fernando VII took power. His reign will be a catastrophic for Spain. Napoleon did not understand the Spanish people. If they were furious against the Bourbons, it didn’t mean that they will accept another French dynasty on their trône. The national pride is something powerful and Napoleon failed to understand it. He was badly advised (by Talleyrand but not only), he thought that Spain was a rich country but the real Spanish treasure was the colonies, and Spain had no access to them after Trafalgar. The King Jose tried many times to alert his young bother on the reality of the situation but Napoleon refused to accept it until the final defeat.
As a Spaniard, I have mixed feelings about our War of Independence. Our incompetent king brought this disaster on us, Napoleon took advantage, we were invaded, people suffered, our king and his family were comfortably out of the fight, french enlightenment that was sorely needed in a superstitious, religion-dominated society came at the price of plundering and abuse, there was a spark of hope in the Cortes of Cádiz. Then, when we helped the English to kick the french out, we brought back the most tyrannical and incompetent monarch of all - Ferdinand VII, and all the enlightment we paid for with blood and plundering was ripped away by him with the enthusiastic support of the illiterate masses. Ours is a sad history.
Good comment Most people in the UK agree on one thing, Europe was better without Napoloen that with him. The British people supported the revolution at first...but the revolution in its intentions is very different from the outcome.
@@Swift-mr5zi To blame the kings of Spain for Napoleon's treacherous invasion does not seem fair to me. Precisely the conflict with Talleyrand stemmed from this dirty trick by Napoleon, with which Talleyrand never agreed. The infamy was committed by Napoleon, betraying an ally and kidnapping the Spanish royal family. What European monarch or government could in the future trust someone who would do that to put his brother on a throne? Napoleon descended to the level of a common gangster in 1808.
nope, it was NOT sorely needed. You are a liberal and despise traditionalists. There's another story to this war. And your ideology brought and welcomed the french like a street dog asks to be pet.
@@potato88872 True to that but the problem still for Spain was would they still want an incompetent king Ferdinand VII on the the throne or find someone better
we really need a hbo got style 15-20 season series of napoleon in all the grand details..from toulon til waterloo.. sean bean for wellington :) we also need a hbo got style 15-20 season series of the craziest captain in history...captain thomas cochrane...his naval life was insane..just insane have russel crowe reprise the role of cochrane...(fyi he fictionally played him in master and commander as captain aubrey but he is based on cochrane) these would make the most epic tv series' of all time.. edit: they can do the spin off of cochrane when he becomes a scourge for napoleons french navy and has napoleon personally order his capture..dead or alive...***joaquin phoenix is playing as napoleon in a new ridley scott film...perfect casting!!!***
Inventor of military logistics, and all round humble professional soldier. Hated the cheering, didn't like fame, cried over his dead soldiers, constantly responsible for all decisions or else things went wrong. The verified greatest general ever (USA used an early super computer to decide Wellesley won everytime) A man without equal.
@@finndaniels9139Welly did the next gen logistics For example, replacing the big heavy army pot that needed to be carried by a mule to the lighter easy to carry pan that can be carried by soldiers, easily and quickly. And yes, incase you didn't know, armies back then would wonder around from village to village and plunder EVERYTHING from food to riches. That's why villagers would seek refuge in big cities that's has high walls.
@@rabbiama2940 I'm just not even really going to entertain this. Yes, Wellington was excellent at logistics, and this shone in the much harder environments of Portugal and Spain. No, he didn't invent new 'next-gen' logistics. No, armies in the past didn't solely survive off requisitioned material from local villages. Yes, raiding / scavenging was a big part of army logistics, and was something that was accounted for by armies. Yes, that is a large part of why villagers would move behind city walls. I mean just a minor case study of, for example, a Roman campaign over the Rhine, would arrive you at the conclusion that logistics have been one of the most detailed and extensively worked on areas of campaign.
Fantastic work Epic History TV! Only last night I was watching all your Peninsular War documentaries, what excellent timing to be able to come home today and see the conclusion of the campaign. Bravo!
Napoleon may have been histories greatest General but he had a blind spot where the British were concerned. Wellington was the Eisenhower of his day, able to unite a flakey bunch of allies against the French. But unlike Eisenhower Wellington was also a superb battle field commander, way ahead of his time as Napoleon and his Marshals discovered to their cost.
the British army worked on seniority so for Wellington to command the army the British had to promote over 120 other officers to get him to the rank needed for the job :D
@@Delogros yeah tactically i think hannibal should be up there but in terms of strategy hes pretty low. Napoleon definitely deserves to be up there as one of the greatest and defintely has some battles that are somewhat similar to Cannae
@@whowoulge1256 We shall have to disagree on that one :) Cannae was particularly special Austerlitz had less then 50% total enemy casualties with a 7/8th the men and with armies about on a par in terms of equipment, Cannae on the other hand inflicted over 78% casualties and the Romans had far better organization, equipment and command structure given Hannibals army was made up of a hodgepodge of differn't forces including tribesmen. The only thing I can think of that comes vaguely close is the 6 days campaign against blucher but that's a series of minor battles.
