The Guard Cavalry WAS the last resort. Napoleon saw his entire Cavalry Corps, which he'd sent to retrieve a disaster, about to be annihilated. Recall Ney's disastrous folly at Waterloo and you'll recognize what Napoleon was anticipating. The even more surprising aspect is that the Guard broke an infantry square in the process. Doubtless, that was because of the blinding, heavy, snow causing the infantry to leave gaps in the square. Unlike at Waterloo, this time the Guard succeeded in saving the battle for Napoleon.
One thing you have to give credit to that I think gets lost to many is that there’s no serious fault in the Russians’ strategy here. They use their advantage in artillery effectively, they stabilized their lines, they made counterattacks and anticipated their opponent’s moves. It surprisingly stands out from the bungling common in these early years of the Napoleonic wars and even their own disaster at Friedland a few months later.
A lot of Napoleon's victories were near disasters (Arcole, Rivoli, Marengo, Jena, Eylau, Wagram, Borodino, Dresden) and most of his defeats were near victories (Essling, Leipzig, Waterloo). In the beginning, he would have the edge due to his brilliance and energy. Once his enemies started to learn, his edge ran out.
for the napoleon movie I would have made it a TV miniseries, like Band of Brothers but about the life of Napoleon. You can cover much more ground that way.
I would slightly quibble and say Britain is the most steadfast enemy considering they only briefly made peace with France with the Treaty of Amiens 1802 and their instrumental financial/naval support. But in terms of pure military contributions on the battlefields against Napoleon then yes I'd have to say Russia was the most dangerous adversery.
@@ddc2957 Really? Spain?? Spain was a secondary theater at best and the only time Napoleon went there himself he had to compromise with Russia to make sure they will allow him to do that without attacking him
@@miracleyang3048Spain was the main theater from the end of 1809 to june of 1812. But without Wellington's Brits Spain would be crushed. Guerrilla movement is strong but it isn't enough without strong army.
The true fault of Napoleon was insisting on a winter pursuit. Had he allowed the Russians to retreat, they would have sat in a winter blizzard, far from home, with dwindling supply, while he rested his army in a better situation. Augereau would not have lost his way in a blizzard and lost his corps, and nearly the battle. Ney, who mirrored Grouchy's failure at Waterloo, might not have failed the task assigned to him. Napoleon was much like Rommel in that he was driven to maintain his control of the tempo of the war and couldn't accept that there were some circumstances that even his brilliance could not ignore. He later defeated the same Russian army without the many veterans he had lost. I think that is the proof that he was intemperate in forcing the battle in the worst of winter.
@@generalgrenade6463 They also sent their best genera prince l Charles with an army to Italy cause they believed Napoleon will go there just like in second coalition
If you haven’t seen it yet, check out Waterloo (1970). Napoleon (2002) is pretty good as well. It’s around 7-8 hours long I think.
The Guard Cavalry WAS the last resort. Napoleon saw his entire Cavalry Corps, which he'd sent to retrieve a disaster, about to be annihilated. Recall Ney's disastrous folly at Waterloo and you'll recognize what Napoleon was anticipating. The even more surprising aspect is that the Guard broke an infantry square in the process. Doubtless, that was because of the blinding, heavy, snow causing the infantry to leave gaps in the square. Unlike at Waterloo, this time the Guard succeeded in saving the battle for Napoleon.
One thing you have to give credit to that I think gets lost to many is that there’s no serious fault in the Russians’ strategy here. They use their advantage in artillery effectively, they stabilized their lines, they made counterattacks and anticipated their opponent’s moves. It surprisingly stands out from the bungling common in these early years of the Napoleonic wars and even their own disaster at Friedland a few months later.
A lot of Napoleon's victories were near disasters (Arcole, Rivoli, Marengo, Jena, Eylau, Wagram, Borodino, Dresden) and most of his defeats were near victories (Essling, Leipzig, Waterloo). In the beginning, he would have the edge due to his brilliance and energy. Once his enemies started to learn, his edge ran out.
for the napoleon movie I would have made it a TV miniseries, like Band of Brothers but about the life of Napoleon. You can cover much more ground that way.
Congratulations 👏🎉
Happy holidays mate, was very excited to see the upload this morning
Thank you for the react and happy holiday Ethan! 🎉
Happy Holidays!
I would slightly quibble and say Britain is the most steadfast enemy considering they only briefly made peace with France with the Treaty of Amiens 1802 and their instrumental financial/naval support. But in terms of pure military contributions on the battlefields against Napoleon then yes I'd have to say Russia was the most dangerous adversery.
Without a Channel to protect them Austria was pretty obstinate too. Ditto the Portuguese & Spanish.
Yeah, Russia was Napoleon's most steadfast *continental enemy. Overall, Britain takes the number one spot
I think I’d put Spain ahead of Russia but reasonable minds can disagree on it.
@@ddc2957
Really? Spain?? Spain was a secondary theater at best and the only time Napoleon went there himself he had to compromise with Russia to make sure they will allow him to do that without attacking him
@@miracleyang3048Spain was the main theater from the end of 1809 to june of 1812. But without Wellington's Brits Spain would be crushed. Guerrilla movement is strong but it isn't enough without strong army.
Your back!
The true fault of Napoleon was insisting on a winter pursuit. Had he allowed the Russians to retreat, they would have sat in a winter blizzard, far from home, with dwindling supply, while he rested his army in a better situation.
Augereau would not have lost his way in a blizzard and lost his corps, and nearly the battle. Ney, who mirrored Grouchy's failure at Waterloo, might not have failed the task assigned to him. Napoleon was much like Rommel in that he was driven to maintain his control of the tempo of the war and couldn't accept that there were some circumstances that even his brilliance could not ignore.
He later defeated the same Russian army without the many veterans he had lost. I think that is the proof that he was intemperate in forcing the battle in the worst of winter.
I know it's a minor thing that people don't give a thing about but Austerlitz was mainly against Russian troops not Austrians
Yeah, as Austria had like 60k taken prisoner at ulm.
@@generalgrenade6463
They also sent their best genera prince l Charles with an army to Italy cause they believed Napoleon will go there just like in second coalition
Any chance for reactions to The Fat Electrician? His military history videos are some of the most hilarious out there if you ever give him a shot.
BERNADOTTE MENTION! WOHO!
lol
lol, I knew you'd enjoy that
@@historystudentreacts I mostly commented like this to get Roydean’s attention lol
DUDE HELL YESS!!!
11:37 ah yes Russian -0° is normal
14:58 Russian always have more artilery
Please reaction to crissis of the third century in kings and general.
Russians never knew how to fight 😂😂