@this is sparta Please tell me it's a joke, when did Napoleon invade Russia if he didn't invade during summer ? How can people believe that a military leader like Napoleon will invade Russia during winter ?

amateurs talk tactics while the experts speak logistics!

@Abu Troll al cockroachistan not when the burn everything.

@Abu Troll al cockroachistan haha and watch your enemy die of zika. this is why not many cannibalistic war tribe ever thrive. cooked human meat is hundreds more time dangerous than a raw animal dipped in mud, i dont know why the fuck is our biology almost specifically designed so we will have the least advantage when eating each other, it sucks so bad, its like nature is trolling with us, specificly. My guess is a simple plain dosage issue. there are dormant bacteria and mostly harmless extremophile (they can withstand A LOT of environvemental abuse, be it heat,or cold.) microrganism in your body that in lower number are harmless and beneficial for bodily process But lethal in higher numbers

When people speak of how an army should invade and just ignore the logistics required for their insane strategy , I can’t help but to roll my eyes so hard I almost do a backflip.

Excellent points, but I should also point out that 1) the Grande Armée in 1812 (like its predecessors since 1805) had supply lines and convoys, although to a far greater extent in 1812, than in say, 1806. The Emperor didn't expect his troops to only live off the land, and preferred to avoid requisitioning and pillaging in order to avoid causing damage to the local populations (particularly when passing through allied territory, e.g. Bavaria or Poland). He also had supplies sent to his armies, in addition to building supply dépôts behind them. 2) While it is true that the Cossacks, or more precisely, the regular Russian armies, did practice a scorched earth policy (the Grande Armée found plentiful supplies in those areas where the Russian army hadn't passed, disproving the myth that the Russian peasants and serfs burnt their own crops), the hot summer, lack of fodder for the horses and cattle, and the diseases caused by putrefying corpses caused severe losses in the expeditionary part of the army (i.e. the forces that advanced beyond Vilna, Vitebsk and Smolensk). The Grande Armée was around 130,000 at the battle of the Moskowa (206th anniversary tomorrow), not 450,000 or 500,000, owing to the need to leave troops to protect the army's supply lines and dépôts, in addition to convalescents, and losses in captured, sick, dead or wounded soldiers. 3) While it is true that winter is bad for any army dressed for summer/autumn, it's important to note that A) In 1812, winter was particularly cold, and arrived early. B) Around 100,000 Russian soldiers died from the cold. Contrary to a common misconception, the Russian armies were not well prepared for a winter campaign (see 3,A). C) Napoleon's aim was to eliminate the threat posed by the Russian forces that had built up on the border with the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, a Polish State created in 1807 under the protection of Napoleon's French Empire, Kingdom of Italy, and his German* (and other) allies. He wasn't trying to conquer Russia, so the plan was to defeat the Russian armies decisively, in order to force Tsar Alexander to sign a peace treaty that would also bring the Russian Empire back into the Continental System (no trading with the British Empire until London signed a peace treaty with France and her allies). Consequently, he waited too long in Moscow, trying to obtain diplomatic negotiations that never came (his envoy wasn't even allowed through the Russian lines), and left too late to avoid his troops being hit by a winter that was colder than usual and arrived early. NOTES *One of Napoleon's allies, the King of Saxony, was Grand Duke of Warsaw, meaning that the States of the Confederation of the Rhine were directly concerned by any threat to the Grand Duchy.

Xuan Vinh Today

@@NapoleonCalland Brillant

@@NapoleonCalland great info thanks. I learned a lot from your comment and that of the OP

@@NapoleonCalland hey je t'ai vu sur qora toi

Malcolm Hanson hmmm you used the word thread. Fellow redditor

You apologized for something that couldn’t be your fault. Fellow Canadian

Aidan Underrated comment.

Aidan lol, I missed an opportunity with that one

Hire this guy for your idea advisor.

n543576 ooooh I like this haha

n543576 well where do romans come from :)

True, but they also lead back to Rome, where the triumph is celebrated after the campaign, and honours and rewards given to the combattants and freedmen.

Dirty communists hate Republics.

yes, from rome. Just go backwards

Metatron! Nice to find you here, great fan ;)

I found them as a suggestion while watching one you your videos 👍

Knowing about your passion for the history of Rome, I'm really glad you discovered this channel.

Hi cringey boy

Check out the Historia Civilis channel

I'm so happy people find these topics interesting : )

Militaries in general actually

It's ancient China, no army can survive without keeping their supply lines safe.In fact, supply line are so important but vulnerable,without foods, soldiers will be in panic, and lose their morale.

william wang it’s bigger than that , logistic dictates how army moves or which path they take , what kind of offensive they might do , how much they are willing to commit War is a game of cards afterall

military logistics are basically an army's lifelines in every campaign. the numbers of armies' defeat caused by starvation etc cannot be ignored

Underrated comment lmao

basically noone understands this joke cuz they dont know latin hahahahah

Pilum and Pila , no further words needed.

i don't speak any latin but i could understand the joke.

Ensar Demir bro most high school English classes have basic latin units. I would say at least half of everyone knows at least a couple details about latin. This is a pretty commonly understood one.

Just look at 2nd Punic war. Hannibal defeated Rome time after time but ultimately failed to completely take down Rome itself. Fabian strategy would've been useless without a robust logistical system.

David Wisnu those are definitely on my list for future episodes

Invicta a video about how they raise armys back in the day would also be pretty cool, specially how caesar did it

My classics professor answered the second question by explaining that you have a few thousand prime aged men who are bored and need to be kept occupied. When you think about the sheer manpower of an entire army being used to build roads and fortifications it's not all that hard to imagine that if they were each giver specific tasks it wouldn't take all that long.

The answer is fairly simple and easy to find online or in books...

5000 strong men can do a lot in a day

With the Army's 2023 reforms this will increase significantly.

i think its funny how fodder and fuel are kind of equivalents for the respective time periods

sweeeet, glad to hear you enjoyed and thanks for sharing the videos

The Romans had a professional standing Army. The barbarians had largely amateurs that showed up for a gig or two and then went back home.

@@TorianTammas late response but yeah, 1 on 1 the Roman has a like 75% chance of winning due to better equipment and training. 1000 on 1000 though, was like 99.99% to the Romans.

@@TorianTammas Also very much late, but that's a very reductivist and honestly stereotype-approving view of things. Yes, the Germanic and Celtic peoples didn't employ professional soldiers, but they weren't amateurs in combat. For examples, look at the Teutoburg forest (Germanic peoples) and Boudicca's uprising (Brittonic Celts). If these people didn't know how to fight, they would not have had such great results. Can also look at the peoples who lived in what is now Scotland, where an entire Roman legion just vanished. And the fact that Rome never conquered Germania in general, as Rome usually tends to do when its standards are lost. You can also look at the great difficulty that Julius Caesar had fighting Vercingetorix. Even though it was a Roman victory, Caesar fought bloody hard for it. The reason Rome won was because of the powerful logistic system it employed and the discipline of its troops, but to compare the Celts and Germanic tribes as being weak amateurs is both an insult to their combat prowess, and understates the real strengths of Rome's troops.

@@TorianTammas Rome was a semi urbanized civilization which needed to maintain to maintain a professional army, while those 'ameteur' barbarians you are talking about were mostly tribal, and the one thing they definitely know was how to fight. On tactical level, they were more or less equally matched, with Romans having a slight advantage because of better organization. Operational and strategic factors usually played a more decisive role in Roman victories.

@@lexingtonbrython1897 Boudicca is the worst fcking example you could use. She is an incompetent frick. Her army got annihilated.

Napoleon ne parle pas anglais, imposteur !

More likely a larger portion of the army (few hundreds if not thousands) were detached to escort the supplies from the nearest depot, so that they wouldn't lose it in case of an enemy raid.

I was always curious about this topic as well until I finally dug in to it. Would love to cover more logistical systems from other armies and time periods

Great, thanks.

perhaps the topic for another video

These more permanent supplies lines would develop over time, and only where expedient to do so. A single army moving at that marching pace would more than likely not be laying a road behind them. They would however be building fairly substantial marching camps at the end of the route, and collapsing the camp in the morning. The construction of a road would happen in a relatively secure part of a contested region* over time. It could range from a simple flattened path, to a paved road designed to handle heavy traffic and require less maintenance. If the route was viable, it would have been upgraded over time.

You'd be surprised what can be achieved without worker unions and regard for worker wellbeing.

What are you going to pay for those louts to sit on their asses during the winter? They could be doing the community a service before emptying the contents of their guts over the idyllic countryside. In all seriousness, I would imagine any time the Roman army decided to decided to rest their army between campaigning seasons they'd send them back along their line of supply both to guard any build up in the depots and to improve the lines between the depots. So every time the Roman army goes into winter quarters it comes back more capable of aggressive movement over the course of the next campaign season if they didn't choose to fight through the winter. Also the Romans or at least their army built in a standardised way, they built the same camp everytime with the same layout. I imagine it was the same if they built a road. Standardising really simplifies everything and you don't have to worry about the engineer, the architect or the client deciding halfway through that they want a wider road, they want it cheaper and that halfway through that modification they'll want a narrower road... Really from what I've seen in modern construction it's because the architect, engineer or client haven't really decided what they wanted and are still tweaking the design as it's being built. And heaven help you if they have a disagreement over the design. Instead the Romans decided they wanted a road. So they built the same road they did last time.

way things work armies through history marched a 4 to 5 hour day (at 3 mph) that is 12 miles a day. so get up at 5 break camp front of column start marching at 6 end of 30,000 men column start at 10 so you start off marching your 5 hour then you split up and forage rest cook ect. The Romans just had a portion build the camp if the area was bad everyone built. Then forage. Forced Marches you marched 4 to 5 hour rested and did it again. Aleaaxder in 120 day record marched 3 or 4days then rested with 4 forced marches to get through poor areas.

there is a mod for Rome II Total War that does implement supply lines though its not really like what is displayed here

ziljin Try AGEOD's "Alea Jacta Est" game, here: Alea Jacta Est on Steam store.steampowered.com/app/313660/Alea_Jacta_Est/

I wish they would implement this as an option to all total war games

There is a paradox game with a supply system. March of the Eagles, but the game is dead, too bad. You get supply wagons and stuff

Hegemony 3 and their sequels does have logistics system. Takes place in ancient greece, rome, scilia, gaul in different games. I dont play it much but I think it does have best logistics system in strategy games.

Logistics win wars

totally something I have thought of doing as well

Stefan Milo the one I linked is one of their older ones while the newer versions are noticeably more eye catching

Invicta I already signed up for it lol. I'm sure I'm going to be into it.

awesome!

Oh cool, glad you found it relevant. Definitely check the description for research material that may be helpful.

this is consider the primer find it at the library www.amazon.com/Supplying-War-Logistics-Wallenstein-Patton/dp/0521546575/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530224403&sr=1-3 and on ancient war www.amazon.com/Supplying-War-Logistics-Wallenstein-Patton/dp/0521546575/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1530224403&sr=1-3 by the time of the classical Greeks 500bc there where manuals on everything drill supply formations only a few have survived

scorched earth and asymmetrical tactics have always been the best go to strategy when fighting a superior force

also, scorched earth was very effective against napoleon, since revolutionary french armies sacrificed the baggage trains for speed... u can outrun the cossacks, and u can t feed your troops either

Spartans also used scorched earth against the Athenians in the pelopponesian war

Attila Katona-Bugner it wasn’t, napoleons make the corps logistics system last longer than any army , they’re self sufficient like alexander’s army type of structures Napoleons were just too cocky, after he won marengo he should just go back and resupply Russia is his first and last mistake

mkl usually the characters and scenes are made by Robbie McSweeney

Invicta very cool! I just saw some more of his work; does he make them for the channel or do you borrow already made drawings?

the drawings are awesome!

Rolf Harris.

“Amateurs study tactics,” goes an old saying, “armchair generals study strategy, but professionals study logistics."

Seen the current war in eastern europe, youre comment is proven accurate.

Oh great, glad to hear you enjoyed. I think the next quick episode will cover Garum fish sauce as an example of a prized cooking ingredient

glad you enjoyed : )

As fun a thought as that is I've heard it debunked quite a few times by historians.

elfarlaur: debunked but still a funny story 0:-)

thanks for the support, the next episode will also be a bit niche in that we focus exclusively on Roman Garum : )

hooray : )

thanks for this in depth response with a lot of great information

there the best

but you'd have around a thousand or so ancestors that back in time

Rohit Rai a legion's worth you could say.

Watch show "Rome" it depicts very nice politics and army

Rohit Rai about a hundred generations.

Jakub Jakubovic that was a good show. It was cancelled far too early.

I've started to do these quick follow up episodes in response to questions so definitely keep them coming

cheers for that, love your content. one question, what are the chances of a resurrection of your "Evolution of the Roman Legions" series?

Skeletal Pirate gj stealing someone elses joke

Nono, that is Sort Dragon.

Skeletal Pirate patreon.

I mean... You aren't exactly wrong funny enough. The generals in the late Republic and empire periods of Roman history were much like celebreties, and their soldiers would become fanatical loyal to them, putting the generals above even Rome itself. Whichever general had the loyalty of the most soldiers had the power, generals would often run various campaigns to boost their popularity and encourage soldiers to join or to continue service after term in their armies, as well as get donations and funding from various patricians, merchants, or anyone looking to support these generals. So classical era gofundme I guess??

Charles Purssey I've been looking through the comments to see if anyone else heard that lol

Hah, I heard that and I thought I was hearing shit, then I rewinded

that's one of the psychological impacts of the Roman marching camp as well. A bit of the inevitable progress of a machine.

its on my to do list!

Invicta Thanks! Genuinely excited to watch it.

rasul muhamend I think it probably has to do with getting to the bottom of how things actually worked and the mechanisms functioning behind the things we typically hear about in history books

yeah it's really tangible.