1. Suchet - Capable & Principled Bernadotte - Capable & Principled, but Ungrateful Victor - Capable, but horrible human being. Murat - Useful at first, but an utter moron.
@JoseTorres-rn1fh13 сағат бұрын
Suchet❤
@neilcarey68913 сағат бұрын
Suchet. The only Marshal to actually pacify a Spanish Province (Aragon), at least until Napoleon overstretched him and drained him of troops. Dealt massive blows in capturing Valencia (18,000 prisoners) and Tarragona (another 10,000). On St Helena Napoleon said Suchet was his most skilful General, along with Clauzel and Gerard. Also reported to have said that with two Marshals like Suchet in Spain he could have retained it. Selected by Napoleon to defend the Eastern Border during the Hundred Days. Didn't cooperate well with other commanders in Spain but then again none of them did! Generally considered honourable, (and a devoted husband).
@jean-charlesblanc845414 сағат бұрын
Bernadotte - Murat - Suchet - Victor - however all 4 very fascinating characters.
@markstott668915 сағат бұрын
Bernadotte.
@moses244215 сағат бұрын
When murat showed himself on the field, the earth shaked! 😮
@moses244215 сағат бұрын
Murat ❤
@skipsmoyer457415 сағат бұрын
Again, I have no dog in this fight being a Royalist at the game board. Murat
@generalsandnapoleon3 күн бұрын
Murat for the WIN!
@markstott668916 сағат бұрын
Murat is the dashing cavalryman. Occasionally turning the tide. He was never the solid foundation that others were.
@Panda-gs5lt4 күн бұрын
Great information, unfortunately your background music overpowers your narration to excess at times.
@UserZafari7 күн бұрын
Thanks for the video! My ranking would be as follows: 1/ Ney - he has the main quality to be a maréchal: he is a leader. Not the best tactician, but he is the one who can achieve the impossible like with the Russian retreat thanks to his own charisma. 2/ Berthier - useful tool for Napoleon. But was he unique during this period: could Lazare Carnot do the job also (he successfully handled the logistics of French army when revolutionary France was alone against the other european powers)? 3/ Soult - despite Austerlitz and because he was not successful in Spanish war.
@RobCoughlan110 күн бұрын
1. Lannes...my perverse reasoning is that 1804 saw the beginning of the Marshalate so everyone starts with a clean slate.
@neilcarey68911 күн бұрын
Agree that MacDonald was "middling". His highest profile battlefield contribution - which led to his Baton - was the lumbering advance in square at Wagram into the teeth of massed artillery, losing 6500 of his 8,000 men. Napoleon rewarded his bravery - but later described him as slow and best fitted to command small forces under direct supervision. For the other two, the difficulty is "Which Massena?" The man of Rivoli who also defeated Charles, Korsakov and Suvorov at Zurich? Or the old goat who sent his army to attack up a mountain at Bussaco, and let his army starve to inferiority outside the Lines of Torres Vedras? Lannes is a romantic figure with enviable drive and thoroughly splattered the Spanish at Tudela and Saragossa, and held on well at Friedland until the French Corps were concentrated. But is it really the role of commanders to lead assaults up ladders? Conclusion: Massena's Swiss victories around Zurich in 1799 were massive affairs of 60,000-70,000 a side - overlooked because we fixate on Bonaparte in Egypt. Its a close call, but Massena gets it.
@grantbrown982213 күн бұрын
Ney! Ney! Ney! A soldiers soldier, a hundred battles for France, never one against her. And not a looter. Who got the Grande Armee out of Russia?
@paddygreen81014 күн бұрын
Sam called this right. Lannes was the best of these three with Massena a close second.
@whya2ndaccount14 күн бұрын
I’ve never seen a quasi academic swoon on KZfaq before.
@UserZafari14 күн бұрын
Thank you for the video always entertaining and thoughtful. After watching the video, my ranking would be as follows: 1/ Massena (despite the Peninsula war), 2/ Lannes (passed aways too early and did not lead armies like Massena and accomplished comparable victories and campaigns), and 3/ Macdonald.
@TheKnightIrish14 күн бұрын
Outspoken Celt and legendary swimmer: MacDonald. Lannes was dead (convenient that) and Massena basically retired, while MacDonald fought the Allies at their height. 🏴 🇫🇷
@generalsandnapoleon14 күн бұрын
Let's go! Nice work, team. :)
@skipsmoyer457414 күн бұрын
Having no dog in this fight, a bit of a Francophobe, Lannes is the best of these
@RockSteadyGT14 күн бұрын
1. Lannes, 2. Massena, 3. MCDONALD
@duncanroche6022Ай бұрын
Excellent 1st episode, thank you. I've lived most of my life in Waterloo and have roamed the length and breadth of the 18 June battlefield. Excellent that you are attending to the events further south first and delighted to see/hear of the Dutch/Belgian involvement. It is all too often overlooked or, worse, denigrated. I look forward to your handling of the
@duncanroche6022Ай бұрын
I accidentally posted too soon.... ...handling of the immediate aftermath of the battle on 18 June too. The period between Napoleon's departure from the battlefield to his ultimate capture by HMS Bellerophon .
@theojudd1319Ай бұрын
Any news on episode 2?
@verdun16Ай бұрын
I remember first watching Waterloo a good while ago. And then I remember watching Napoleon. I become sad.
@laneoswego6989Ай бұрын
Nice work
@generalsandnapoleonАй бұрын
Nice work on this, Zack. Tony Pollard is a great guest.
@BoerChrisАй бұрын
When will we see Episode 2?
@landoremick7422Ай бұрын
Interestingly moden views of Napoleon slapping and being beastly to Josaphine. It was the early 19th century. This was a done thing by some people in those times. Women were not regarded highly except for their family making capabilites and housekeeping. They could mot be men and fight like them. And perhaps you are attaching modern mores to a film which portrays probable behaviour. And slapping of people on films was also seen in many films s in the 40s to 70s and later. Slapping someone who has lost the plot, can, actually break them out of their panic.
@thenapoleonicwarsАй бұрын
So your suggestion would be what? That we just ignore it? I’m sure you’re not implying that we shrug it off as ‘oh yes, a casual bit of domestic violence is fine’. Film has always been reflected the values of the age in which it is produced, and at many points has been used to make points about societal values. Why should this movie be held to a different standard?
@geertdecoster5301Ай бұрын
To what's been provided there's not so much wrong with the script. Keep the cavalry close enough so that the artillery won't start up again. Once in square it's indeed all about doing what keeps oneself alive from the enemy's power. Spielberg will want to make it his own movie, and that there is the indication that there's not going to be one made
@grandadsartspace5805Ай бұрын
Hello just found your channel really enjoyed your discussion with tony. I was told not to go and see this film as I am really interested in this period of history , yes all I can say is I needed a sick bowl and a memory reversal, I am totally disgusted that this heap of camel ..... Was aloud to even go to cinema. I think if Napoleon was around now then Ridley would be fighting the old guard.
@XingularityАй бұрын
I just recently watch it and it was amazing, powerful, well acted, well written.... MY only nit pick is that Micheal Douglas' Ben Franklin was not bald enough. Franklin had an infamous receding hair line. This trailer does a great job at showing ALOT and giving away little. Looking forward to a follow up video discussing the series after you guys have watched it.
@doncooper68012 ай бұрын
Nothing new here. Move along, move along.
@thenapoleonicwars2 ай бұрын
By all means do
@whya2ndaccount2 ай бұрын
Is this a "Bake off" episode on location? Glad it wasn't released here in Australia.
@ducomaritiem71602 ай бұрын
I'm a lifelong Napoleonic fan, have been a cuirasier reenactor (14th dutch) for many years, but I will not watch this movie. It will ..... stop my will to live. 😢
@Kdssow2 ай бұрын
I find it hard to believe that for more than 200 years, the Dutch-Belgian troops were regarded as "The Cowards of Waterloo". This video sheds a different light, and hopefully will erase that horrible accusation. Thank you!
@dc-gb2zx2 ай бұрын
Wait what! The British didn't beat Napoleon alone, who knew!!!! 😂
@d.s.archer59032 ай бұрын
For a more balanced view of Bessieres - both as a marshal and as a man - I recommend “Napoleon’s Marshals” (1987), edited by David Chandler. Bessieres is covered by Dr. Charles Esdaile, Chapter Four: “The Misnamed Bayard”. Here is an excerpt, pages 69 to 70: “Bessieres’s many good qualities led to him being known as ‘the Bayard of the Grand Army,’ an image that has been exploited to the full by his later hagiographers. Yet, in reality, he was very far from being a saint [….] His wife also suffered cruelly at his hands. Unbeknown to her, Bessieres had a mistress named Virginie, a young opera singer in Paris. When the grief-stricken Madame la Marechale Bessieres received his effects after his death, her distress was greatly augmented by the discovery of his adultery [….] [When] presented with even the slightest room for personal initiative, he [Bessieres] began to waver and hesitate: Lannes’s allegations concerning his “fiddling about” at Marengo and Aspern were certainly not without a grain of truth [….] But for the chariness he [Bessieres] exhibited at Borodino and Maloyaroslavets, the horrors of the retreat from Moscow might have been avoided. Thus, in spite of his undeniable talents and good qualities, Bessieres was no paragon of military virtue. As fallible as most of his fellows, his reputation as a latter-day Bayard is therefore sadly undeserved.”
@whya2ndaccount2 ай бұрын
Great discussion. I hope you have subsequently conquered your demons, and I very much respect the courage displayed in publicly discussing such an issue. "Are you OK?" is an ongoing process.
@JoeOvercoat2 ай бұрын
I suggest that this video fails to establish its premise that most people who know of Waterloo don’t know a lot of this, if not most of it.
@PaYnMzZ2 ай бұрын
Very well done mate
@Ap-cm7mx2 ай бұрын
In the Netherlands there is a similar structure called "The Pyramid of Austerlitz". It was built by the army of Marmont.
@whya2ndaccount2 ай бұрын
37:05: Was this a "stealthy" advance (what my Infantry friends would call a silent attack)? I suspect drums beating to keep the step could be heard some way off?
@marvinc99942 ай бұрын
Frankly, anyone who's even remotely interested in Waterloo is WELL aware of the decisive role played by Blucher - and Bondarchuk's excellent movie demonstrated its importance.
@thenapoleonicwars2 ай бұрын
Thank you for your feedback. Of course a documentary is aimed at the full spectrum of understanding of the battle, from experts to complete novices. Whilst you are to be congratulated on your understanding, do try not to be condescending to those who are not aware of the nuances. The Anglo-centric narrative is widely recognised as a problem amongst experts of the period.
@marvinc99942 ай бұрын
@@thenapoleonicwars "do try not to be condescending to those who are not aware of the nuances." I wasn't 'trying' to be anything. Over the course of several decades, I've never met anyone _seriously_ interested in this battle who was unaware of the vital importance of Wellington's tactical genius (combined with the steadfastness of the British troops in particular), and the vital Prussian contribution at the eleventh hour: scarcely a _nuance_ IMHO. That's all I'm saying! As far as 'condescension' goes, you should have read some of the remarks by up-their-own-fundament film critics at the time that _Waterloo_ was released. For MY sins, I thought that Bondarchuk was a genius, especially after watching _War and Peace_ : an opinion I suspect you'll sympathise with!
@thehardwoodflooringshopltd97712 ай бұрын
this was fabulous well done
@kingrubbatiti12852 ай бұрын
I kind of wish they had never built the Lions Mound,as I would of loved today to have seen that intact Allied Ridge. But with most Historical Battles,I'm sure the participants and people of the time weren't expecting us to be fascinated by them hundreds of years later so I guess it was no big deal to change the landscape to build the mound.
@ssrmy17822 ай бұрын
This is honestly pathetic. I don't know anyone that doesn't know about the Prussian element at Waterloo, or the Germanic component under Wellington's command. Build up and strawman and knock it down.
@thenapoleonicwars2 ай бұрын
Thank you
@whya2ndaccount2 ай бұрын
Ah so now I can revisit this battle with the benefit of the recent episode with Garry Will's analysis. Good Ground and Situation Briefs to set the scene as well.
@whya2ndaccount2 ай бұрын
Recent subscriber going through the "back issues". A great discussion and Garry seems to know his stuff!
@whya2ndaccount2 ай бұрын
No need for the "spoiler" warning, as I have no intention of watching it.
@MrGrobi19662 ай бұрын
Quite annoying to repeat every few seconds that no one mentioned this and that while it has been covered and mentioned for 2 centuries. Nevertheless, thanks for the video and the work gone into it.