The Peninsular War - END GAME - the Invasion of France
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- Опубліковано 6 вер 2024
- In this video myself, Marcus Beresford and Nick Lipscombe discuss the British and Allied invasion of France in late 1813 and early 1814.
The Battles covered are:
01:25 The Crossing of the Bidassoa
09:10 The Battle of Nivelle
12:20 The Treaty of Valencay
19:49 The Battle of the Nive
33:15 The Battle of Orthez
40:50 The Battle of Toulouse
Nick's books can be purchased via the links below:
The Peninsular War Atlas - amzn.to/33EFPlM
Wellington's Eastern Front - amzn.to/34YYObs
Marcus's book on Marshal Beresford can be bought here - amzn.to/3A95AH5
HIs new book on General Pack is also available here - www.pen-and-sw...
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My Gt Gt Gt Grandfather Colour Sgt Stephen Palmer of the 48th ( Northamptonshire) Regt . according to his discharge papers was wounded in his right arm and left thigh leading an action at Serres in the Battle of Nivelle . Nivelle may have been Wellingtons finest battle but it wasn't my ancestors . He had previously been wounded in a fall losing a testicle as a result, at the Siege of Badajoz leading an attack on the lunette ditches as part of the 4th Division and as such , took no part in the sacking of that citadel . Stephen continued the campaign with the 1/48 th into the Pyrenees and France and served under Beresford . He had re enlisted for another 9 years in 1805 after service in the Cambridgeshire Light Dragoons with the rank of Sgt . Stephen was a member of the established family of the Palmers of Burwell in Cambridgeshire .
Portugal had been devastated and Stephen had a relationship with Mariah DeSilva a daughter of a wealthy family of nobles and refugees of the Tagus Valley whose male siblings had been killed as part of the allied British Portuguese army . Stephen was honourably discharged in August 1814 by Lt Col Erskine and married Mariah after surviving further action in the invasion of France . Despite his wounds they managed to have a large family which spread across East Anglia .
We may sing praise of great men like Wellington but it's greater men that do the inglorious work of killing that lead a force to victory . I believe its a well known fact that sergeants win battles not generals .
You can imagine how screwed Napoleon must have felt. Two armies closing in on both sides, Britain on one side Prussia, Russia and Austria on the other.
Possibly the best episode of Chris' peninsula series? Excellent guests.
Thanks a lot - really glad that you enjoyed it.
Have not had enough of the Peninsula Campaigns. Bring it on!
Thanks! There will be more on the Peninsular - just no more of the chronological coverage of the battles.
top notch erudition and enthusiastic and learned presentation; a good job chaps. Well done and thank you
I'd love a vid about the Anglo Sicilian armies of the napoleonic wars. They're very rarely talked about despite their importance on the Eastern coast of the Peninsular war.
I read both Napier and Oman in university, and no I wasn't a history student, and on the whole I found Oman far more balanced in talking about the Spanish and Portuguese contributions.
Traditionally you didn't fight in the winter as Nick said.. was that one of Wellington's strengths - do the unexpected? Ciudad Rodrigo was assaulted in a January and Badajoz not much later. Make the enemy think you depend on the navy, then don't etc. If you're outnumbered as Wellington was, make them defend against all possibilities, thin the defences, and tire them out. Then your smaller force can assault them a bit at at time. Very smart.
Napoleon did fight in winter many times… and honestly Napoleon was so busy up north that all the best forces from the south had to be diverted north early on in the peninsula war
Very Educational
Funny that there is so much concern over France by Wellington and yet his colleagues showed not one iota of similar concern over french behaviour in the Convention of Sintra during the first french invasion allowing the french to go back to France courtesy of the royal navy with all the plunder they extorted from Portugal. LUISON a french general was so savage that a popular expression in Portuguese; vai para o maneta. Meaning go to the one armed man; ie, die painfully under torture. Luison was a one armed french general that was worse than the nazis in ww2 to the Portuguese population. So much so that this expression remained even today.
Beresford and Lipscombe (and indeed Mr. Parkinson) are brilliant!!
It’s important to note that at this time, Napoleon is viewed by the British public in almost exactly the same light as Mr. Hitler was from the Second World War onward. (… and that this should give one pause whenever the media dubs anyone in our day and age ‘the new Hitler’.) Napoleon was equally hated. The bland or sometimes revelatory light in which he is viewed today (‘the god of war’) was not mimicked at the time.
Many thanks for the compliment and information.
Super interesting; I learned a lot. Looking forward for more. Thank you! Regards from Canada 🇨🇦
Glad you enjoyed it!
Your channel is simply amazing Chris: hard to imagine 2 more outstanding guests to discuss the Peninsular war. Next to this, your sytle of narrative, the level or research, your commentaries and the infectious and relatable storytelling is unique. I've not seen this done better in any other youtube channel, documentary or even university lecture. Simply in awe..
Thanks a lot - that feedback is lovely to hear
Was Wellington's strategy, knowing the paucity of supplies and money, one of 'bite and hold'? IOW taking small chunks out of the enemy which he knew he could hold, consolidating his position, then taking another small bite. As opposed to Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia when he 'bit off far more than he could chew'.
Brilliant series, I'll be sure to pick up Nicks book, that looks like a great read!
Superb!
An interesting historical story well told by experts. Let me point out that Wellington may have been a great general but he met Napoleon when he was past his prime and Napoleon's Grande Armee was a mere shadow of it glorious past. Wellington would have lost at Waterloo but for the mud and the fortuitous intervention of Blucher.
It was not fortutious intervention. After battle of Ligny and Quatre Bras on 16th , Wellington and Blucher agreed to stay in contact and unite their forces south of Brussels rather than going in their seperate ways in seperate campaigns. Instead they decided to work togerher and two days before the battle Blucher agreed to reinforce Wellington at least one full Prussian corps and Wellington accepted the battle in knowing this factor , aware that time was on his side and it was a jointly planned battle to unite their forces against Napoleon though Blucher's forces arrived thr battle fours late.
Excellent insights. Marcus seemed to repeatedly confuse ‘west’ with ‘east’. Made me appreciate how confusing, forty years later, Lord Raglan’s references to ‘the French’ (aka Russians) must have been!!
Fascinating talk! Extremely interesting and I learnt so much about how this campaign came to an end. Great work filling in the blanks!
if this is the subject you enjoy than you are dam glad to have found this site i know i am love this site well done
Suchets troops were just wasting away in Catalonia and he and Soult should've linked up to fight Wellington
Could you kindly include scale references on your maps, please? Most normally-presented maps contain them.
It is impossible to get an idea of the Peninsular War based only on sources exclusive to one side (wherever it is from). It is necessary to have an idea to read various sources:
Original documents (of course) and books written by historians from different countries:
if one reads only from one source, one will always have a distorted view. Every historian manipulates (whether he likes it or not) and every historian only knows and deals with a part of reality.
Classic sources:
British:
Oman: A History of Peninsular War (7 volumes)
Napier: History of the War in the Peninsula
Spanish:
Arteche: Guerra de la Independencia. Historia militar de España (1808 - 1814). 14 volumes
Maldonado: Historia política y militar de la Guerra de la Independencia de España contra Napoleón Bonaparte, de 1808 a 1814. (several volumes)
Count of Toreno: Historia del levantamiento, guerra y revolución de España, (Several volumes)
French:
Fugier: Napoléon et Espagne
Grasset: La Guerre d´Espagne (3 volumes)
German:
Von Schepeler: Geschichte der Revolution Spaniens und Portugals und besonders des daraus entstandenen Krieges
And between original sources:
Archivo General Militar. Servicio Histórico Militar. Sección Guerra de la Independencia in Madrid.
Books printed with original sources:
Correspondance de Napoléon Ier. (several volumes)
Mémoires et correspondance politique et militaire du roi Joseph. (several volumes)
The Dispatches of Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington by Lt Col. Gurwood. (several volumes)
So one cannot say that Napier, or Arteche, Oman or Grasset are the word of God.... and one can only get an idea if one reads such varied and diverse works and contrasts them with original sources if possible.
Very true - thanks for the list.
Very true of this and probably all major events. You read the different ones, refer to their sources as well, and in the end we hope we have partial knowledge. Congrats on your scholarly endeavor.
Now bring on the 'tards who chime, "the victors write the history."
@@stevek8829 lol, love the turn of phrase “bring on the tards.” In the west we largely did that after WW2. We listened to the German Generals tales of “endless Russian Hordes”. And then communism fell and Soviet archives opened up.
GREAT TALK!!! THANKS!
Great, I'm glad that you enjoyed it
great as usual thank you
Of course if the Spanish army stopped supporting the British so would the guerilleros, freeing thousands of French troops employed in protecting messengers and supply lines.
@33:27 peculiar sound.
Also there was the psychological deficit to the French of fighting at Nivelles knowing they had just lost at Leipzig.
Hey mate really good series, loved the 2 historians and your narrative input. I must say I’ve been getting increasingly triggered as the episodes have gone on because I’m a giant Napoleon fanboy but can’t help but feel proud of our British ancestors too
Thanks mate - appreciate the feedback.
By other side, an excellent and very erudite video.
It is to be hoped *LOL* that Hope's nickname wasn't 'Forlorn' :)
Good soldiers drinking your water 💧
Another good video. Napier was not wrong, sorry, but he was not, that is a bit of modern globohomo coming in.
Nick seems to play down the British at every turn. It is annoying.