The Island Where Napoleon Was Sent to Die
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 มิ.ย. 2024
- They needed a prison for the most dangerous man in the World. Napoleon had seized supreme power in France. He’d marched his armies from Portugal to Moscow. But now he was a prisoner. His captors needed a prison from which escape was unthinkable.
Their answer lay in the South Atlantic. A scrap of land a thousand miles from the African coast. St Helena. Dan Snow visits this remote island to learn more about its history. From accommodating some of the British Empire's greatest enemies to its role during - and in the aftermath of - the transatlantic slave trade.
Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsely, Mary Beard and more. Watch, listen and read history wherever you are, whenever you want it. Available on all devices: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Roku, Xbox, Chromecast, and iOs & Android.
We're offering a special discount to History Hit for our subscribers, get 50% off your first 3 months with code TH-cam: www.access.historyhit.com/
#historyhit #napoleon #exile #sthelena
While the new Napoleon movie may not have been the greatest, the storm of new content on him here on TH-cam makes up for it 😂
I’m so surprised at how the consensus is that the movie is bad or at least not good, when I myself thought it was at least decent if not erring on the side of good. When Oppenheimer, which I thought was oppositely erring on bad, is so widely talked about as a masterpiece. Not a jab just a thought. But I do agree love the history content!
If you're Napoleon, raise your two hands!!! And say MEEEE!!😅😊
@@SilkyJohnston24that’s the beauty of opinions.
Bring his ceazy story back to life!!
@@mariamjehn7071 With more love and makeup after fight scenes!!!
Thanks for that. I lived there as a boy between 1970 and 1975. It was a truly special place. Saw Longwood, the empty tomb and the Boer cemetery. My father worked at the Castle. We lived at Luffkins Towers. I went to Country Junior School. I don't think I ran up Jacobs Ladder but I may have walked once, can't remember - it was far from where we lived. I remember the gun battery at the top and have a St Helena Rifles cap badge I found there. I never dared to slide down it - shoulders on one banister knees on the other, that was the thing real kids did. Union Castle line was the only way there - 12 passengers on 12 off every month. Everyone at school wanted to be a merchant seaman. Big heap of coal on the wharf and coal lighters from the old coaling station days. We burned coal fires in our house high up in the interior. Truly magical place, especially when you are 5-10 years old. Flax and donkeys. We had two. Squealing when the pig was killed. School friends so poor they had no shoes and no teeth. Glad I lived there. Taught me a lot about life. We were lucky to be ex pat and "rich" but it opened my eyes even so young to poverty and "otherness".
My Pop knew Gilbert Martineau, who was the French man there at the time, must be the father of yer man. He wrote some seminal works about Napoleon (we have signed copies) and his exile.
Fantastic stories, thanks for sharing
I love History and Geography I'm ashamed that I've never heard about this place thanks alot for giving more depth information,wasn't even born those years 😂😂 🎉Greetings from London
Fantastic!
This is what makes social media worth all the nonsense. Thanks for your memories and bringing history current. Living on that island as a kid must have been amazing! ✌🏻
@@donny_doyle hope will meet again 2064 AFRICA been waiting but so many subordinate but making a mark to be remembered
Visited St. HELENA in the seventies with the Royal Navy. One place never forgotten, even had a walk through Napoleans house.
Historian and Napoleon biographer Andrew Roberts lay down in his bed. He wasn't a short man
Thanks Dan, I always wondered about St Helena because I live in Mount Martha just out of Melbourne (Australia) and am surrounded by landmarks such as Balcombe Creek, Helena Street and The Briars homestead. The Briars Mt Martha grazing property was established in the mid-1800s by Alexander Balcombe, son of William Balcombe of St Helena. Alexander was a small boy when Napoleon was on St Helena. The Briars was the original homestead in this area - the rest was bush. Today it’s open to the public and it housed a collection of Napoleon memorabilia that the family had brought from St Helena, at least it did until a lot of it was nicked about 10 years ago and the rest was moved to a proper museum with better security. The thieves “came in through the bathroom window” and stole, among other things, a lock of Napoleon’s hair! Anyhow, it’s been great to see what the real St Helena and the original Briars is actually like.
I spent some time on Ascension Island but didn't have the opportunity to visit St. Helena although I did spend a lot of time with the St. Helenians that lived on Ascension. The Saints, as they are called, were an interesting bunch and pretty likeable on the whole.
Nicking Napoleon's hair..lol, it must've been stolen on order do you reckon, unless they wanted for themselves?
@@themerchantofenglandyeah, police believe it was stolen to order
I would never let a Frenchman, or any man wrestle my "little" daughter... bro... no
I climbed Jacob's Ladder years ago during a cruise ship excursion. My legs were sore for days after the climb. Unfortunately, my visit was a brief stopover without seeing Napoleon's house and much of the scenery covered in this video. The video makes up for most of the parts that I missed, especially the information about the liberated African slaves and the Boer cemetery. The island's history is fascinating. I wish that I could have spent more time exploring St. Helena. I randomly came across this historical video and it fills in the gaps of what I missed. It immediately took me back to my all but too-brief St. Helena adventure.
Im from st Helena 🇸🇭 my grandmother house is next to napoleon house in longwood
RÉSZVÉTEM...RÉMES HELY
thats cool, I hope to go there one day
I thought Napoleon’s life in exile was much harsher than this. Great video. Thank you.
The British didn't take the slave back to Africa because the African King's would have rounded them up and sold them again. The British had to put them somewhere and that was the best place at the time.
You meant to write "slaves" & "kings"
Most the slave ships were coming from Portuguese Angola heading to Brazil. Most the slaves would have been captured by African's in Africa but then sold onto the Portuguese in Angola. You are right that the British couldn't have exactly sailed into Angola after ceasing their slave ships to drop off ex slaves. I don't think the Portuguese would have liked that. I also agree that there was no good place to drop the ex slaves off. However it has to be seen as a major major failing that the British didn't provision the Island better for the ex slaves, especially that this went on for decades.
That’s actually a very good point
*kings
@@davedavids57 Why would we have done that? We were already spending a lot of money freeing them around the world at great cost to ourselves with no tangible benefits.
Thank you for sharing this incredible history. I love that you pull people in with Napoleon but then share a complicated and often disturbing past. Please keep telling undertold stories like this!
Enjoyed learning something new about St Helena's history. I had no idea there was so much going on there in the 19th century!
Fantastic production, Dan Snow's style of reporting keeps you rivetted.
Three generations of my maternal family (Sherrard) lived on St. Helena and I am actively trying to piece together their lives. They were Irish and left Dublin in the late 18th century, emigrating to Jamestown, St Helena. I wonder why they undertook such a long, arduous journey into the unknown. My great grandmother aged 7, left with her family for good, emigrating to Durban, South Africa. I would love to visit and do archival work on this island.
I've always found it fascinating that Napoleonic tactics weren't conquered by man's thoughts but by man's innovation in weaponry. The fifled musket and new ammunition made man change tactics. Napoleon was a genius in militarism, and he knew military victory could unite a country more than any political reforms. Much hasn't changed....
the rifled musket was not used by the French. Napoleon hated them
@jacktattis That's why I said the Rifiled Musket and new ammunition changed tactics. AKA...The American Civil War. Both sides, at first, were using Napoleonic tactics, but had to change and by late 1862 field works became popular.
I don’t know why but I have an insatiable appetite for learning about men like this.
And if building that High Null Fort was a challenge, building the island's airport was just as much of a tough challenge! The airport opened in 2016, but the concept goes further back than that. The first consideration of an airport on St Helena was made in 1943 by the South African Air Force, which undertook a survey on Prosperous Bay Plain, but concluded that, while technically feasible, an airport was not a practical proposition. When the last ocean liner to dock there stopped in 1977, St. Helena was cut off, and the UK stepped in by supplying a hybrid cargo/passenger ship called the RMS St. Helena. But when it became evident the RMS St. Helena needed to be replaced in the 2000s, they knew that it was better to build an airport, so they announced plans for one in 2005.
There were two big concerns regarding the airport during its construction, that it was built on the ecologically diverse Prosperous Bay Plain which is an important site for endemic wildlife like the St. Helena plover, and wind shear. Comair was given the contract to fly to St. Helena, and they first tested in April 2016 with a Boeing 737-800, but it had a problematic landing as it landed on the third approach. When coming in to land from the north, it was now apparent that wind shear was going to be a significant issue. To combat this, they decided to have planes approach the airport from the south only to find that this too was problematic. Planes landing there need to land with a tailwind, which makes it quite challenging, on top of the short runway. The first scheduled commercial flight wouldn't take place until October 2017.
I read this not too long ago but after his defeat at Waterloo Napoleon considered making a run for the United States and even had a French frigate standing by for the attempt. However the Royal Navy had the French harbors blockaded making a run impossible.
It's interesting to speculate just what the reaction to Napoleon's arrival here in the US might have been. His brother Joseph Bonaparte had come here earlier and had an estate near Bordentown NJ. He was well-liked in the area as well, a fine neighbor by all accounts.
I’m glad he never made it.
A Canadian.
Sure he did.
Pas
Without armies following him he was probably an amiable person. Adolf Hitler and Pol Pot and Josef Stalin might have been fine neighbors if they hadn't had nations following them. How fine a neighbor someone is seems like a flawed metric for a person imprisoned after causing the deaths of many thousands or millions of people.
well he could'nt have been the Emperor of San Francisio, as it already had one
Could you imagine if Napoleon escaped and played a role on the American Side of The War of 1812 😳
Another information filled video! Thanks HH and Dan.
Best part of video is you climbing the stairs. Looked really tough. God bless you! Feat well done.
That was a lovely opening drone shot, well done at the smooth panning!
Thank you channel for sharing interesting and interesting historical information
fascinating docu Dan, your empathy shines thru
One of the very Best of TH-cam. Congrats to all involved!
Thank You So Much for Sharing Valuable Unknown History.
I really enjoyed this one! Thanks for sharing.
God, imagine the initial relief of being liberated from slavery, only to realise that you were just going to be left to starve and rot in squalor on St Helena.
Better than being on a slaveship.
Yes indeed a very tough place to be left with little chance of survival.. but had they been returned home to Africa..would the black slave traders had them captured again to sell on as slaves again..I do remember a female black slave trader quoted as saying the British can take anything but not our slave trade...it took many years for the British to stop the transatlantic slave trade.
Always such great videos, well done Dan and the history Hit team!
I have been very fortunate to visit the Island 4 times sailing and cruising
Dang whoever recorded the sound when he’s talking outside did such a good job
I was a passenger on the Cape Town Castle which anchored at St Helen in 1967. I wish that I would have known this information before my visit. The grave of Napoleon was much better tended in this video than it was when I saw it.
Michel Dancoisne Martineau did and always do a great job to restore and preserve the French Domains of Saint-Helena.
Thank you for sharing. The video was very interesting indeed.
A good book regarding Napoleons time on St Helena is ‘The Emperor’s Last Island’ by Julia Blackburn. Non fiction. May be out of print as read it years ago but probably available in out of print books like Abe, etc. Very good book.
My Grandfather Frank Wilson lived in Longwood house after the war when he was the manager for the Cable and Wireless company his last career posting before retirement .
Beautiful place..we sailed there on our way from CapeTown..great video!
The Balcombe family moved to the Monrnington Peninsula near the Melbourne suburb of Balcombe. There is a big house called The Briars which is a museum of Napoleon artifacts. Many were gifts given to the 14 yo girl, I remember a triangular guitar, a balika? The rumour was the senior Balcombe was seen by the senior civil service as being too close to Napoleon and was probably “shafted” and sent to Australia, probably as a demotion of sorts.
very interesting, thank you for the insight
That would be the property where the Australian Army Apprentice School was situated for many years And I doubt he thought Australia was a demotion . Melbourne was the jewel of the Colonies
Class documentary. History hit has incredible content
That was fascinating! Thanks Dan
Fascinating! Thank you for putting this up.
My Great Grandfather was harbour master there around the time Napoleons time.
Cool
This is best documentary I have ever seen on historical subject … The way narrative goes ….. I subscribed …. Immediately
It’s good but not the best .. The documentary presented by Michael wood - in the footsteps of Alexander the Great is probably the best documentary ever ..
Me too!
It was an informative historical coverage (video) about finals six years in his life through British captivity in Sant Helena Island. Thank you ( 🙏 History Hit) channel for sharing.
Beautiful photo, Mohammed.
My Grandfather spent a couple years on Ascencion Island building barracks and myriad other constructions.......he showed us as kids his collection of slides that he took with his Argus C4 camera. Those slides showed a beautiful place.....but very isolated.
I've worked on Ascension island off and on since 2020! Love it and love going back!
What a Terrific and Disturbing Documentary...I am so impressed with Annina Van Neel, she is really something...I just cannot have enough respect for her...Thank you for doing this insightful Doc...
Thank you for this. I totally enjoyed it.
This has been my favorite place I have never been for several years. I’ve been to over 60 countries, but from all I’ve read and watched on St Helena, it would be in my top 5 if I ever went. It’s intense remoteness is the draw for me. Thanks for putting this up!
Wow! What an extraordinary story and so well told.
pretty cool history video, thank you.
Excellent documentary. Thoroughly enjoyed watching this well presented piece of amazing history.
This certainly adds to our general knowledge of a little-known, but fascinating place. It ended rather abruptly. I thought maybe I'd hit the wrong button.
There's always some kind of flaw that in HH presentations. However, it does leave the viewer wanting more.
Thanks for this really informative
Always been interested in the island…I inherited a carved wooden box that is surrounded by a vague story of a boer ancestor who was held on the island…E.E.L. K.EV 1902.
Thank you for the video and well researched content.
Honestly have never heard of that place now that I have stumbled here will have to learn more about the place the Waterloo Battle well every time I goes Waterloo I try to Imangine how it was🎉🎉
I have never seen St. Helena filmed in such detail as this, nor did I know anything at all about Napoleon's confinement and death, although I did learn yesterday, from excellent food channel 'Tasting History', something of his food habits, incl the recipe for 'Chicken Marengo' and how when on his deathbed he asked for a glass of his favourite wine.
Of course, Boney is v much du jour, what with the fillum and all, so it would be hard not to learn SOMETHING.. Nice one, Dan The Man With The Tan. ⭐👍
i loved this video cause ive seen a bunch of videos on life in st. helena and none went this on-depth
This is the best on St. Helena I've seen ever.
Excellent video thank you!
Thank you for sharing with us an educational video.
Snow on the road took me totally off guard. Nice job.
Napoleon loved a Grand Cru Red Burgundy called "Chambertin" made from Pinot Noir that is still to this day one of the most revered red Burgundies.
Thank you for a relaxing and enjoyable film
Hey HH. Love your work 👍
Such an excellent presentation. Learned a lot and I thank you.
Great video. I have visited the island and was impressed by the people. However, it is not remote any more as it now has an international airport with regular passenger flights from South Africa.
Fascinating program 👍 very watchable ...love to visit island 🏝
Excellent video! Thank you History Hit.
While Jacob's Ladder was formerly a funicular built to connect to the fort, today the staircase connects Jamestown to its suburb of Half Tree Hollow at the top! Half Tree Hollow actually has a bigger population than Jamestown, and that's why it exists. As James Valley of course lacks room for expansion, Half Tree Hollow at the top of Ladder Hill where there was more space, grew in the 1960s. Besides the slave trade and Napoleon, St. Helena also had a minor role in WWII. A U-Boat targeted the oil tanker RFA Darkdale in James Bay in October 1941 with only nine of the 50-man crew surviving. Darkdale had been sent to St Helena a few months earlier to refuel ships operating in the South Atlantic. The wreck leaked small amounts of oil until its gradual deterioration caused the Ministry of Defence to send a team of divers to pump out all the remaining oil in June 2015
Napoleon's stay on Elba was famously temporary (which of course led the UK to send him even further from Europe), but it's interesting too. He was made sovereign of the non-hereditary Principality of Elba, as in he would be its only ruler and under the Treaty of Fontainebleau, once he died, the principality would pass to Tuscany. He was also granted a stipend of two million francs per year to be paid by France. As well as creating a small navy and army, Napoleon developed the island's iron mines, oversaw the construction of new roads, issued decrees on modern agricultural methods, and overhauled the island's legal and educational system. But of course after being on Elba for ten months, he escaped to France in February 1815.
17:00 props to the film crew for getting up there with all their equipment
They drove to the top via Ladder Hill road.
@@Dreaming5 props to the civil engineers for designing a road to get up there
Props to the white tshirt guy who was enjoying his evening and moved so that he doesn’t disturb the shoot.
Super good piece! History Hit just does is differently.
History Hit: 🍺
Me:
I’ve climbed Jacobs ladder. It is the one at Cheddar Gorge. That one is quite imposing also. 🙂
Fantastic documentary
Hearing the genuine history, good & bad, is not always pleasant, but that just means we understand what needs to be improved. 😉
21:18 "We have a way of telling history in a way that makes us look good ...
21:44 "...what is the best way to remember these people ?"
21:46 "the best way is to lean on the Descendant community ..."
I would love to visit the island. ❤
Thanks, Dan!
Made me cry 😢
Excellent video
This was very well done. Started off as a Neapolitan documentary but ended up being a great insight into the history of St. Helena ! Very smooth transition and most importantly , I learned a lot about a place I may or may not ever go. Very valuable content. You even had the courage to speak on the islands role in slavery, the Bore war and even the Zulu’s . Very well done.
I really want to see the guy who climbed those stairs in 5 minutes. That guy must be a beast who is in excellent condition.
The bit about the freed African slaves is obligatory whether it is true or not or an accurate representation or not and Snow managed to get it in in under one minute😅
@@calummackenzie1050 That bit happens to be true in this case.
@alansjf33 All a lot of nonsense, Napoleon most probably never existed, history - his-story, not ours, is a set of lies agreed upon, we are given an official narrative yet when you dive a little deeper never truly makes any sense, those who know - know, if what I’m saying doesn’t yet resonate with you, start thinking a little more critically about things, good luck with your journey of awakening 🙂
@@lukethebodyyou wrote a great comment that made me think some. What are some reasons you think he didn’t exist?
Yeah the Bore War which was then replaced by the Rifled War.
Thanks History Hits 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼
🎁🕯🌟🕯🎁
Imagine if you were an officer or soldier in the British Army and maybe playing strategic war games against each other either on a table or on the grounds. It would be a learning experience for a young officer would be taking an advanced class in tactics and such from a master.
My Stepfather had a collection of items from his ancestor Ibbetson.who had drawn him on the journey to Saint Helena. They became friends.my mum sold everything at auction.including a lock of hair from Napoleon after his death.a momento mori.
Master????? up to1812 after that only glimpses .
Now I've seen this I want to go there!
I visited St Helena in July. A wonderful place, with so much Napoleonic history.
I was there in 2005. There was a massive turtle that was born a few years after Napoleon died.
Jonathon is still there.
@@robertthomson1587 good to know😃
Is there regular airline service there or you need to go by ship?
There's one flight a week on Saturday from Johannesburg to St Helena, then back to Johannesburg.
The Other Exile is a brilliant book about the first exile on St Helena .... a portugese man who lived entirely alone
A very interesting story. One of the histories, of Napoleon's incarceration I read many years ago, stated that the British were slowly poisoning Napoleon, by putting arsenic in his food. During the autopsy, was his body tested for heavy metal poisoning?
That was not possible in those days.But it has been tested,from hair samples, in the 20th century,by atomic neutron activation in atomic reactors.They found a high arsenic content.
@@irenehartlmayr8369 It's possible that Napoleon's food was being spiked with arsenic to quietly get rid of him, however the surviving examples of wallpaper in Longwood House at the time were found to have a high arsenic content to begin with. Being in a toxic environment certainly wouldn't have done Napoleon any good.
Anyway, assuming Boney WAS poisoned what are we going to do about it now? Find the guy who did it, dig him up and send him to prison for life? 😉
The Wallpaper had arsenic in the colours
@@irenehartlmayr8369 My understanding was that the information was derived from samples of his hair. I was just looking for a confirmation of that.
@@1pixman Yes, I remember that.
My Great Grandfather, a British prisoiner of war during the Boer war, was the only man in history to ever escape from St. Helena Island.
Thank you for great AFTERSHOCK of this Formidable General and Leader.
Great doco thanks
Interesting documentary. Thanks for posting. I love TH-cam
That was very interesting.
Check out the movie "Monsieur N" if you wanna get a feel for this final phase of Napoleon's life.
It's a bit of a drama (as in not super accurate), but it does a wonderful job of giving you the "flavor" of his time on St Helena, and the actor portraying him (Phillipe Torreton) is wonderful.
Nice one!
Very interesting place. Have you guys done an Elba episode for your Napoleon hype train series yet?
I have subscribed to the full HH channel now 🎉
I watched another video about the ferry that goes to the island. Very interesting.
Amazing era. 18th and 19th centuries. It just seems so close to us, and somewhat remains vivid in history ❤
Nice.......great history
I have never learned so much about napoleon.
The island is beautiful
Love history
Not sure if I want to be in between those 2 rocky hills
Boy how many steps ?
699 steps on Jacobs ladder
I very much enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
Great stuff.
Thank you .
A very good documentary
Great video! but needs subtitles
Thanks for telling the Rupert Valley story, we need to understand the whole story, "good" liberation, but bad that liberation was not really freedom. Did not know that Boers had been imprisoned on the island either.