I hope you enjoy this, the first of three videos covering the war in Spain and Portugal. You can find the others, which cover the further French invasions of Portugal, the guerrilla war and the eventual fight back by British, Spanish and Portuguese forces, in our Napoleonic Wars playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLUOc2qodFHp-mOphKW9RzQLsFTt-IV9RY.html Support the channel, get exclusive updates, early access and a vote on future topics here: www.patreon.com/epichistorytv
Just noticed a possible mistake: The most western town of Europe is called Sintra in portuguese and not Cintra(idk how it is in english). Outstanding video anyways , I wish history lessons in school were this good.
Please do a video about napoleons campaign in Northern Italy during the war of the first coalition, that's when napoleon first showed his military genius to the world
Napoleón era hijo de Carlo Buonaparte cobrador de impuestos en Córcega para Francia al que tenían por traidor y Napoleone traicionó a su aliado España .. Por la alianza con Francia las tropas españolas estaban en Holanda y el traidor entró Hacia Portugal como aliado para ir contra los ingleses instalados allí ..pero no lo hizo , y se dedicó a saquear todo a su paso ,,,a su aliado Fusilaban civiles que se les enfrentaban pues no teníamos ejercito ..como se ve en "El 2 de mayo" y "La carga de los Mamelucos" de Goya .En la retirada de Rusia ,una absurda matanza que según Napoleón "recuperaba París en una noche "..al cruzar el rio Berezina despistó a los rusos haciendo pasar sus civiles y heridos como cebo para ser atacados por los rusos.. mientras él y su guardia iban por otro lado.Napoleón era "republicano" pero puso a todos sus hermanos de reyes y él de emperador..España tardó mucho en reponerse del saqueo y la destrucción francesa pues de paso los ingleses aprovecharon como siempre para sacar provecho en las guerras continentales y destruir de forma ruin y traidora industrias y comunicaciones..como la fábrica de porcelanas La China del Retiro en Madrid , 31 octu 1812 ,envidia de los ingleses ,volada por orden de Wellington ..volaron puentes, viaductos etc...Los franceses saben venderse ..gran monumento para Napo un dictador y genocida..está enterrado en Los Inválidos ,en el centro de París como héroe ..Francia nunca nos compensó del saqueo,como le compensó a ella Alemania dos veces ,casi nos cobran por invadirnos.El mariscal Soult fué "la rapiña de Sevilla" se llevó todos los cuadros de Murillo ..Franco recuperó la Inmaculada..Hoy Francia cobra casi 500 mil millones de euros a paises africanos del franco colonial CFA por colonizarlos ,controla toda inversión de ellos y el 80 % de las divisas de esos paises están en bancos de París.. la vie en rose
@@TheJuansoria excelente, solo un matiz (bueno, solo para ser justo con el Marqués de la Romana)" La División del Norte" , no estaban en Holanda, sino en Dinamarca... otra pérfida traición del Napo, aún los daneses hoy en día recuerdan la nobleza y amabilidad de aquellos soldados españoles ;H. C. ANDERSEN, el famoso escritor le marcó cuando era pequeño (conocer aquellos hombres del lejano Sur de Europa ) y viajó a España ya de adulto y siempre fué un enamorado de España y de su gente, saludos amigo
@@somerandomfatguy.3384 Not sure if it's even comparable, but a Japanese pilot in WW2 got shot in the head by a .30 caliber bullet. "Shattered glass from the canopy temporarily blinded him in his right eye and reduced vision in his left eye severely. Although in agony from his injuries Sakai managed to fly his damaged Zero in a four-hour, 47-minute flight over 560 nmi (1,040 km; 640 mi) back to his base on Rabaul, using familiar volcanic peaks as guides"
"I am firmly convinced that Spain is the strongest country of the world. Century after century trying to destroy herself and still no success." Best quote ive seen about my country so far. Pretty sad tough.
There's one supposedly said about Portugal by Julius Caesar "There lives a people in the West of Hispania that can't rule themselves nor can be ruled by us".
@@lourencoalmada1305 Yes also there is a said of trogo : The Hispanics (of Hispania) have prepared the body for the abstinence and the fatigue, and the spirit for the death: hard and austere sobriety in everything, In so many centuries of wars with Rome they have not had any captain but Viriato, man of such virtue and continence that, after defeating the consular armies for 10 years, never wanted in its kind of life to distinguish itself from any private soldier. Tito Livio a roman historier: Agile, bellicose, restless. Hispania is different from Italica, more ready for war because of the rough terrain and the genius of men. Lucio Anneo Floro: The Hispanic nation or Hispania Universa did not know how to unite against Rome. Defended by the Pyrenees and the sea would have been inaccessible. His people were always valuable but poorly hierarchical. This means that the iberian countries were genious in the war but horrible in politics, and you can see in the Modern corruption of Spain And Portugal, this come from the ancient times until today
@@juansehernandez4504 True to this day, and more so in Latin America with the guerrillas. To be poorly hierarchical is both good and bad. It is good because there are no silly captains thinking they are above the rest, it is bad because it foments indiscipline and confusion.
Napoleon Himself once said during his Exile in St. Helena that the 'Spanish ulcer' was the fatal knot. And indeed, there was nothing to gain in invading Spain nor securing a friendly Portugal. It drained Napoleon of his troops and slowly bled his resources. This consequently haunted him during His Russian Expedition when he was lacking in troops. But more importantly, it diminished his reputation or his myth of invincibility.
I don't think more troops would have changed the outcome of the Russian Expedition. The impossible logistics were the issue, they already couldn't feed the numbers they started with. More troops might have even made the Russian scorched-earth retreat even more effective
I do not think there was a way to achieve something like a friendly Portugal considering its long-time alliance with England, but there must had been better ways to neutralize the threat or the disruption that country may have caused that did not include betraying your own ally and engaging in a mutually destructive confrontation with a party that could have helped to keep that front secure, what an inmense blunder indeed.
The French suffered a quarter of a million casualties in Spain for no good reason and it ended with a British army in southern France that had been tactically dominating them very consistantly. It was a huge deal. Insanely overlooked theatre.
I'm Spanish, 38 years old, and never fully understood how this war developed, in spite of having studied it at highschool. I always got lost with the high number of characters involved, and always ended up mixing which side was controlling the different territories. Thanks so much for making it so accesible and comprehensible.
La guerra de independencia fue un caso único en el que una sucesión de derrotas llevó a la victoria. Fue la voluntad de vencer la que terminó derrotando a las tropas napoleónicas. Los distintos ejércitos española impidieron que los franceses pudieran concentrar sus fuerzas y así poder derrotar al Duque de Wellington. Europa quedó sorprendida al ver que los españoles no aceptaban sus continuas derrotas y después de cada una de ellas, se volvían a reagrupar para presentar batallas. Los franceses llegaron a pensar que luchaban contra fantasmas ya que un día derrotaban a un ejército de 20.000 hombres y a los pocos días los volvían a atacar otros 20.000. El límite lo ponía las armas de las que disponían. Cuando eran derrotados se retiraban en todas las direcciones para que los franceses no pudieran cargar contra ellos. A eso se le conoció como disciplina en la retirada. Todos sin embargo, conocían dónde sería el punto de encuentro días más tarde. Allí siempre había voluntarios dispuestos a compensar las bajas que habían tenido. No todos se podían unir ya que como dije antes, no había armas para todos. Así que al resto se les informaba del nuevo punto de encuentro tras la batalla y volvían a sus casas. Ataque tras ataque, los ejércitos franceses quedaron fijados en distintos puntos de la Península. Jamás se pudieron concentrar y sus efectivos eran cada vez menores hasta que llegaba el momento en que no les quedaba más remedio de abandonar sus posiciones y emprender las penosas retiradas en las que a parte de un ejército que les iba pisando los pies, también se tenían que enfrentar a los guerrilleros. Justamente, casi al final de la guerra, los guerrilleros del Norte se agruparon en el Séptimo Ejército que fue conocido como el Ejercito Fantasma. Entre sus líderes estuvo el Cura Merino, el Empecinado o el mismísimo Morillo. Los británicos se llevaron el mérito de la victoria en la Batalla de los Arapiles, pero esta victoria habría sido imposible si los seis ejércitos españoles no hubieran contenido a los franceses en diversas ciudades. Los británicos no llegaron a tener más de 30.000 soldados en España mientras los franceses contaron con más de 300.000. Injustamente, la historia no ha hecho justicia al ejército regular español en la Guerra de la Independencia y ha sobrevalorado el papel de la guerrilla que, aunque fue importante, no puede solapar al del ejército. Que sí existió, que dependió de las Juntas Locales y Regionales, que se negó a rendirse en 6 años de guerra y que contra todo pronóstico, terminó derrotando a Napoleón, si bien, en este vídeo parece que fueron los británicos. Napoleón en sus memorias dijo: "Los españoles todos, se comportaron como un sólo hombre de honor. Enfoqué mal el asunto ese; la inmortalidad debió resultar demasiado patente; la injusticia demasiado cínica y todo ello harto malo, puesto que ha sucumbido." Uno de sus generales: "La Naturaleza fija un límite más allá del cual las empresas locas no pueden ser conducidas con prudencia. Ese límite, el Emperador lo alcanzó en España." General Maximilien Sébastian Foy. Napoleón en su lecho de muerte: "Todas las circunstancias de mis desastres vienen a vincularse con este nudo fatal: la Guerra de España destruyó mi reputación en Europa, enmarañó mis dificultades y fue una escuela para los soldados ingleses. Fui yo quien formó al ejército británico en la Península." El Zar Alejandro I de Rusia: " Que a los españoles no se les trate como a prisioneros , pues han abandonado a los franceses y han deseado luchar contra ellos ".
@picatostes Bjd Gracias a que el pueblo español tuvo la valentía de luchar contra Francia y derrotarla, porque la derrotaron, hoy en Hispanoamérica se habla español.
Here in Galicia, in some small villages, the dogs are still named by the french generals Ney and Soult, locals still remeber the fierce fights, they even made cannons from oaks, and cannonballs melting their iron possesions to fight the frenchs
I remember when I was a kid in Figueira da Foz they recreated a possible scene when the English arrived at Saint Catherine Fort (Forte de Santa Catarina in portuguese) overwatching the mondego river and the atlantic to repell Junot's army out of Portugal at that same town in the 200th anniversary
@@franciscobautistaambite2092 Quiero que el mensaje llegue a la mayor gente posible, y ademas este un canal angloparlante. Y como hablo varias lenguas, uso la que me apetece para compartir información. La soberbia aquí no la demuestran los sajones, que han votado positivamente e incluso resaltado mi comentario ya que lo aprecian.
@@RodolfoGaming I will assume you are portuguese. If you like recreations, every year in the city of Vigo they recreate the take back of the occupied city by popular militias from napoleonic troops on the 28 of march. Also, very close to this city, there's another reenactment of the battle of pontesampaio, local militia against the napoleonic army, which was commanded by Ney himself. After a fierce and bloody battle endend in a spanish victory aswell.
@@usernotfound9760 yes and i speak the three languages(might be lacking some specifics but can deffo understand and speak spanish). Very nice in portugal there werent that many major engagements compared to spain and everyone sees Joao VI as a coward for leaving the country but probably what he did best tbh
Lol Pferd Schild, they were desperately trying to cut off and force the surrender at Dunkirk in WWII, what are you smoking? That just flat out denies most conventional historian's perspectives there. And Napoleon absolutely could have, but bad luck forced him to split and run with most of the troops; very much like other bad luck stopped the Germans from completing the humiliation in WWII. So yeah, it is a very apt comparison.
@@freeriding666 He was on top of the World, he didn't think it through enough, overconfident. Austria started the 1809 war as a result and Russia stopped enforcing Napoleon's Continental Blockade, the rest is history. One bad move, like in our own personal lives too, it can quickly lead to total destruction. That's life!
And then returning. In this case to help liberate my mother countries Spain and Portugal from the clutches of the Emperor Napoleon and Imperial France. A vast conquering army living off the people, content to commit atrocities on those people and led by enthusiastic looters intent on personal enrichment and an Emperor who wished to add northern Spain to France. An Emperor who lost an army in a disastrous invasion of Russia. Parallels much.
Humberto Flores the way champagne is pronounced in French is completely different than in English. Yes, French has the ñ sound but not the actual symbol, they spell it gn. The closest sound to ñ in English would be the n in onions for instance.
My stance is that you're only "abandoning your allies" if your force is able to overcome the invader. The 1808 British Army was in absolutely no shape to fight the Grand Armee. There's nothing valorous about throwing your soldiers' lives away. Moore's evacuation saved the lives of many men who would go on to fight with better odds in future battles.
@@kyomademon453 Spain was Britain's major colonial rival for centuries. In fact, Spain helped France invaded Portugal, which was (still is) Britain's ally. In short, Britain was under *no obligation* to protect Spain. It's more like "enemy of my enemy is my friend" type of situation. Even if Spain was an actual ally, there's no reason why Britain should sacrifice its army. The destruction of Moore's army would not bring any strategic benefit to Spain's cause. It would take many months to rebuild the army, or worse, it may sway British public opinion and force the govt to sue for peace. Either way, it will give France free hand in Iberia.
@@kyomademon453 thats like saying they should not have done the dunkirk evacuation and just let the men die and get captured. Yeah lets just waste our land forces that we spend months and years to build instead of evacuating them because "hurrr durrr evacuating from an undesirable position are for pussies" i mean we could have used our men in a possible land invasion in france or fighting in africa but who cares amiright
@Cogniarius Britain's population in 1812 was ~10 million people, compared to France's ~47 million, Russia's ~38 million, and Austria's ~23 million. Britain have to maintain various armies and fleets all across the globe to guard its vast empire. Not to mention Britain, unlike other European powers, did not use "levee en masse" (conscription system). The loss of Moore's army would be a significant blow to Britain's war effort. That being said, if the King / Prime Minister of UK (i.e. the ruler of the British Empire) was someone with Napoleon's genius, Britain would be a truly *terrifying* powerhouse. If Britain managed to deploy its full military and economic potential, Britain could probably field an army *twice* the size of that of France, supported by an economy larger than that of France and Russia combined. Note: Total population of the British empire, including part of India under its rule in 1812, was ~115 million, larger than any other European powers (actually it's equal to, or slightly larger than all of European powers *combined).* Too bad British rulers of that period were people of *less caliber* (compared to genius like Napoleon).
Really good video about the first years of the Penninsular War. Thank you Epic History TV. As Spaniard, keeping aside some exageratedly outraged comments by some of my folks, I would like to point out the excess of ethnocentrism that I see in focusing the narration on the Battle of Corunna when, on the other hand, the Battle of Bailén and the Battle of Somosierra Pass are treated as just another battle. Trying to be objetive (as much as possible), the Battle of Bailén was the 1st turning point of the Pennninsular War. Its consequence was the complete liberation of the entire Penninsula for some time. A 2nd turning point came at the Battle of Somosierra Pass that almost reversed the strategic situation in the Penninsula. In comparison to those 2 battles, the Battle of Corunna seems a sideshow. Just another action in the British back and forth. One missed point in this narration is the fact that, in 1808, the best corps of the Spanish army was still deployed in Denmark under requirement by Napoleon, when France and Spain were still allies and nobody in Spain could imagine the incoming French betrayal.
All your works are excellent and highly historically accurate. However, would you please consider making a video about the Persian Empire as well? Thanks.
This thorough examination of Napoleon's folly on the Iberian Peninsula is produced in such a high-quality manner it is unsurpassed entertaining education as reflected here and in other historical entities like Kings & Generals.
@@СтефановићКараџић i doubt that, sire would use those that arent french or allies as the first to attack or vanguard to flush out the enemy, meaning their bait for napoleon
@@EpichistoryTv I think you've bested yourself on this one EH... Despite having some (all be it little) knowledge of the Spanish campaign, and the subsequent Peninsula Wars, I still found this episode enthralling and thrilling! It's inspired me to dig out my 'Sharpe' DVD Boxset 🤣 Great work Bud, already looking forward to the next chapter 👍
@@EpichistoryTv yes thank you that is what i meant. Great job to both of you. I just love the battle mechanics of history marche that is why i highlighted it
I am in love with these videos. Truly. Other history channels need to take serious note of at least this one key feature: the incredible detail of each singular battle throughout the wars/events being discussed and explained and picked apart... objectively. We need so much more of this. Thank you for setting the bar and making such a great example of what a history lesson should really look like. You are the most epic. Never stop ❤️
This is what the BBC and ITV in Britain used to do, but do no more. Now they focus on the presenters and their feelings: giving them the authority and marginalising the events they are talking about.
This is fantastic. Of what I know of the Napoleonic era, I never knew a single thing about Napoleon's experience in Spain other than it was a headache. I learned so much from this and am excited to watch the next two about Iberia, and as many as I can in time... The books look awesome too.
Well, in one case you've got french troops pushing to annihilate the British, while in the other you've got french troops dying to let them escape. Quite a significant difference I'd say.
Except it was well within Hitlers power to utterly crush the forces at Dunkirk, but he didnt because he was still trying to get a peace treaty with the stubborn Churchill.... So much more reminiscent of Gallipoli.
Napoleons a bit of a hobby with me, I’m nearly sixty now & I’ve loved reading about him & that period in European history for decadesI devour any reading material that comes my way about this fascinating chap & also that period in history, but know all that I think I am, I love these mini documentaries, they are brilliantly informative, it’s amazing how so much information & so many facts (accurate too) can be packed into so short a time & be so well presented. Marvellous stuff & it helps me to mentally visualise the people & events
@@jackp343 The new Andrew Roberts one is good, very readable, although he's not critical enough in my opinion - he's rather fall under the Emperor's spell. Link in the video description.
*No Way! The Spaniards ruled the world once! they are the only true brave mediterranean people and immediately would organize guerrillas in our rear. 'We can not enter Spain without the permission of the Spaniards'* -Adolf HItler - (well at least he learned something from Napoleon lol)
The narration is SUPERB!!! Had me on the edge of my seat, and the music fit exceptionally well - not too loud: it never obscured or competed with the voice. Tight script writing... i'm impressed. Keep up the good work!!!
Amazing how much detail is put into these videos. Voices of the Peninsular War is very helpful for understanding the perspectives of the soldiers on a personal level.
Long live Spain & the Spanish! Long may Epic History TV continue to produce mini historical documentary’s like this one ( my favourite) this is the 4th time I’ve watched this particular mini documentary & the second time I’ve left a comment... I can’t help myself, it’s totally brilliant & so amazingly well edited & put together & as far I’m concerned historically accurate & I’ve been studying this period in history for decades... for fun but taking it seriously & after all these years of looking at the subject from every point of view I couldn’t hope to put a script like this together. So much information, so well laid out & easy to follow. It’s a students dream. Keep them coming & thank you 🙏
What a great channel. My 9th-generation grandfather was the sergeant of the 42nd Highlanders who carried Sir John Moore off of the battlefield at Corunna. I bought books to learn of the Peninsular Wars but this 20-minute lesson made everything crystal clear to me. Awesome presentation. I just hit the subscribe button. Thank you.
Hitler cometió los mismos 2 errores que Napoleón: No invadir gran Bretaña y invadir Rusia . Pero no se atrevió a invadir España para no repetir el error de Napoleón.
@Skylocker Lo dudo los ejércitos españoles eran veteranos de guerra y sabrían como hacer una guerra de guerrillas. Si has estado en españa, es como una gran montaña con muchas zonas donde esconder solados y supplyments
@@ernestoA.1999 Franco se mantuvo neutral, nunca sabremos por que hitler no invadió, pudo obligarnos a unirnos a la guerra de su parte, y eso habría sido bastante significativo, seguro que tuvo algún flashback de napoleón y pensó que ya tenía bastante lío con los rusos y los ingleses como para meterse en una guerra de guerrillas.
Polish song about Somosierra 1808 The blade flashed through the volley of canister shots A charge directly into the abyss at the behest of the emperor They fell to the ramparts in an avalanche of fire They raised the banner above the captured guns The drums stopped and the dust settled in the ravine The strange and rough earth will accept us today, Play me a trumpet, play me about Poland It is so close to me, though so distant Eagle, my Eagle, a sign of eternal glory Once you come to my home town Bow down to the wheat fields and the morning daybreak Immerse yourself in the sacred waters of Vistula Where I am leaving you are no longer there, my Poland You dreamed to army under the Spanish skies You were a restless dream, and your strength was On the way to a longed-for goal
It is a massive pleasure for a native seen such a reconstruction of the battle of elviña. I haven't seen such a deep analysis since I've visited the army museum of A Coruña. Very nice work you guys
Your videos are incredibly well done. Thank you so much for this material :) Regards from Girona, Spain (A city that was besieged by the French troops 3 times between 1808 and 1809. During the last siege the city was bombed with 60.000 cannonballs).
Dear God I couldn't take my eyes out of this; the entire sequence, maps, images, proclamations, and the sound track... Amazingly well done, congrats! As a Portuguese, this is a critical historical period for my country, and it is always with emotion that I watch these events being narrated. The suffering of our forefathers of that time must have been tremendous. From 1801 till 1850, Portugal went through the theft of Olivença (still not returned from Spain despite its recognition in the Viena Congress of 1815 as Portuguese once more), three French Invasions, the loss of Brasil, a Civil War, and countless revolts and coups. Not exactly our finest hours...
Olivenza will not be returned because it was agreed that Portugal would have to return the territories that the Portuguese Brazil took from the viceroyalties of Spain and in return they would return Olivenza, but since Brazil became independent and therefore those territories were not returned to Spain. , will never be Portuguesa Olivenza again.
@@condedooku9750 I'm sorry my friend, but you're not right, by many legal reasons. 1 - The Treaty of Badajoz, in which Olivença was given to Spain, was uterly nullified by no less than: a) The Treaty of Fontainebleau, in which Spain and France agreed to invade Portugal and annex its continental and overseas territories; b) The 1807 Invasion of Portugal by France, aided by Spain, who authorized the passage of the French forces through its territory; c) The Treaty of Paris of 1814, which considers that Treaty void; d) Finally, the Treaty of Vienna, which states, clear as water, that Olivença must be returned to Portugal. No buts, no exchanges of territories in the Americas: simply must be returned, full stop. 2 - Portugal ceased to rule the territory of Cisplatina since the independence of Brasil in 1822; any issues with that, go knock on Brasília's door, not Lisbon's; 3 - No other treaty or agreement of any kind since 1815 until now, between Spain and Portugal, ever stated that Olivença belongs to Spain. On the contrary, there are no frontier landmarks on Olivença's municipality, the Ajuda Bridge over the Guadiana is Portuguese National Monument, the new Ajuda Bridge was paid in full by Portugal, et cetera; 4 - You know, in the end, why Olivença will return _de facto_ (because it is _de jure_ since 1815 at the very least) to Portugal? Because the very people of Olivença so wishes: 200+ years later, they still speak Portuguese, street names are once again writen in Portuguese, even the mass is once again in Portuguese, and Portuguese culture is everywhere. Moreover, there's now one thousand Olivença citizens who asked the Portuguese authorities their Portuguese citizen card. _Crer e querer para vencer!_ ; cheers.
@@danielconde13 So are you going to ignore that when the war of oranges ended, Spain and Portugal agreed to make the exchange that I mentioned? What does the fact that France and Spain invaded Portugal a few years later have to do with nothing? What legitimacy does a treaty made after which obviously seeks to weaken Spain and strengthen Portugal? In fact you will not see anyone in Spain claiming that territory that the Portuguese Brazil took from Spain although legally you would have to return it to us, finally I will say that Spain Olivenza will gladly return you, when your old ally returns Gibraltar.
En España murieron aproximadamente 250.000 soldados franceses, de ellos, unos 70.000 en batallas "ordinarias". El resto murió a manos de los "desarmados, desenfrenados e indisciplinados" españoles.
Para que se allanara el camino a las ordenadas tropas inglesas. Vergüenza da ver estas "glorias" brits. Aún se creen sus vergonzosas mentiras. Oportunistas!!
@@iber4356 Los Ingleses han estado acostumbrados a hozar en la historia a su gusto, inventando, mintiendo, difamando y - en el mejor de los casos- exagerando. Pero en el supuesto que les rebatas sus invenciones no dudan en indignarse. El ridículo afán de protagonismo que se muestra en el presente episodio podría resultar incluso cómico si no fuera porque se está faltando al respeto y arrebatando los méritos a los verdaderos héroes. Estos señores quieren ser el niño en el bautizo, la novia en la boda y el muerto en el entierro (eso sí, levantándose después para huir por mar y vender que era una estudiada estrategia militar). En su particular imaginario deben estar convencidos que gracias a ellos sale el sol.
pilar galicia si, parece que los españoles teníamos que dar las gracias a los ingleses de librarnos de los franceses. Los ingleses participaron para ayudar a su amigo de toda la vida, Portugal, de la invasión francesa. En la preciosa isla de Cabrera acabaron muchos franceses (por aquel entonces peor que la actual Guantánamo) tras la independencia.
This is not correct - most French soldiers died of disease, as was the case in almost every war in this period. But it is correct that more French soldiers were killed by guerrillas than by British and Portuguese armies - a point made in the second video about this war: th-cam.com/video/8ow6pq1Pp_M/w-d-xo.html
Wow this was superb to watch and excellently portrayed. I joined the modern day Battalion of the 95th Rifles - The Royal Green Jackets and we pride ourselves on being called Riflemen when the rest of the army had muskets and indeed we were the first to wear Jackets of Green. Tom Plunkett is a hero of ours and Sir John Moore is highly revered by our regiment. Indeed the purpose built training barracks at Winchester was named after him. The painting of Black Bob Crauford at The Rear Guard is a huge favourite for our regiment. Thank you for the hard work in putting this marvelous video together, brilliant job. The Battalion is always evolving and transitioned through from The 95th Rifles (nicknamed The Fighting 95th) to The Rifles (all due to the unit being armed with the Baker rifle) and is now known as The Ranger Regiment, which is a special operations capable unit. The first of its kind in the UK.
Such a fantastic video! Yep, Napoleon later recognized he made a mistake messing with his ally, Spain. The French invasion provoked the disintegration of the Spanish Empire, but Spain was also essential in destroying his empire. In terms of internal politics, the French Revolution but specially Napoleon generated a strong reactionary movement against liberal and englightened ideas for decades and Spain was a mess throughout the 19th century because of the devastation of the Spanish War of Independence (aka Peninsular War).
Well this happened thanks to the invasion of Portugal (in which Spain wanted a piece of the pie, so serves Spain right that by irony the French would occupy them) that didnt want to break trade with the old ally (and also needed it badly).
The History of Spain Podcast Great post. I would only add that what you describe as happening in Spain, seems, to my knowledge have happened through all of Europe. For the rest of the century the crowned heads of Europe made sure the hold tighter to the reigns of power...However, the seed was planted, and the most noble of the ideas of the enlightenment were given a chance to take root in most countries. Notwithstanding Napoleon's betrayal of the republican ideal, I'm not sure if with out him, those ideals would survive past the french revolutionary wars which France would surely lose, eventually. The monarchies of Europe would not let go, they could not afford it. Napoleon "the emperor" allowed to survive and not be buried under the rubble of a failed "peasant" revolution. One way or the other Napoleon shaped the world we live in today no doubt about it.
The Spanish independence war described in 20 minutes: half of them, describing how the english heroically flew away from napoleon till Coruña And that, my friends, is the history according to the englishmen I am really looking forward to watching how you describe the battle between Blas de Lezo and Vernon, my friend I guess it will be really heroic too
@@javiersanz1330 les creen los analfabetos que se creen las mil versiones de sus mismas películas. Todo inventado. Catalina de Aragón, representada por Irene Papas, que no se parecía en nada. Aburren.
English loose, spanish win. LOs españoles los primeros en vencer a los franceses, los británicos, acojnados escapando. Viva Castaños, Vivan Cacahmuiña y Blas de Lezo
Se supone que habla de la resistencia en España con hechos gloriosos cómo Bailen y Zaragoza que menciona a toda velocidad y se pasa más de la mitad del tiempo en detallar una semi-batalla anglo-francesa. En cualquier caso, el gran error de Napoleón parece más su invasión de Rusia. De hecho, hay bastante consenso en ese sentido.
No puedes esperar mas de los anglos. Todos estos canales historicos de habla inglesa solo mantienen su neutralidad en la historia antigua, cuando llegan mas allá de la conquista hacen todo lo posible por subestimar a España e Hispanoamerica dejando como heroes, libertadores y todopoderosos a sus congéneres Británicos o USianos.
La verdad que sí... pero bueno no puedes esperar más de los ingleses. Y si la guerra de Rusia fue la derrota definitiva, la de la península fue su primer error estratégico, si hubiese podido tener la península bajo control tan rápido como Austria o Alemania le habría sido muchísimo más fácil la campaña rusa. No perdió tanto aquí porque se jugaba menos, pero fue una campaña que consumió muchísimos más recursos y hombres de los que podía haber previsto en un principio, esa es la importancia que tiene para mí.
Can't imagine being hit in the shoulder by Cannonball and surviving for goodness knows how long what a terrible way to go. Sounds like a Gallipoli retreat
The curious detail of Somosierra and Polish Light Horse of the Guard is that they were ordered to only disrupt the first line of artillery enplacements in the valley. They did that, but then chose to take all the other ones all the way through the valley. Kozietulski's order to move out will always stay in my mind "Onward you dogspawn (of dog blood), the Emperor watches us."
The charge was so difficult, that its commanders had to change 3 times. The last commander endured 9 bayonet wounds and 2 shots in the head (!). One of the most legendary charges in the history of the cavalry, deserves its own video.
The French debacle in Spain really highlights what a terrible thing it is to fight an entire population determined to fight to the bitter end. The Spanish nobility did not stop the French, the Spanish army failed to stop them, *it was the Spanish people themselves supported by the church that stopped them* A similar situation occurred in Russia.
The church defended its interests. They did not care of the people. Napoleon had deleted the Inquisition and established a civilian justice in Spain. Yeah the Spanish people stop Napoleon and his brother for a Fool King Fernando VII ... Spain needed urgent reforms, Napoleon was right on his analyse of the situation. Where he was wrong, is in politics like in medicine, you can’t force a sick man to take the right treatment. José was a wise man, tolerant and moderate. He would have been a far better king.
I LOVE HOW THESE ANIMATED VIDEOS SHOW THE LIVE MOVEMENT OF BATTLE AND THUS GIVES ME BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW EXACTLY THESE EVENTS TRANSPIRED! GREAT WORK LADS! - JOHNNY!
Damn, just found this channel. Now I find myself binging these Napoleonic War videos. It’s always a historical conflict I find myself wondering more about, but never dedicate the time to study it. This is good motivation.
Existen maneras numerosas de pronunciar la "LL", siendo correctas todas. 1. Ge-ril-ya: Lleísmo, la manera más tradicional y más rara, solo se oye en las zonas norteñas de España, en Bolivia, en Paraguay y en algunas zonas montañosas del Perú donde se habla Quechua como lengua nativa. 2. Ge-ri-zha/ge-ri-sha: Español rioplatense, el dialecto de Argentina y Uruguay. 3. Ge-ri-ya: Yeísmo. La forma más común hoy en día. 4. Ge-ri-dja: Una variación del yeísmo, en que la pronunciación de la Y/LL se convierte en algo más semejante a la J inglés.
More proof that Napoleon was his own worst enemy, withdrawing before he could deliver the killing blow. This also helped prove that Soult was, at best, an average general.
From Coruña myself. A curious fact is many dogs in these parts are still named Soult and Ney to this day. Sir John Moore is considered a hero of this city too, and there are reenactment battles every few years. The Independence war is one of the darkest hours in Spain, open war against an invading force, a guerrilla war, and also a civil war. Fernando VII was a terrible ruler, cruel and reactionary. Terrible how post-war retaliation crushed any sign of culture, progress or enlightment as it was "afrancesado". We also don't forget what the church did, or the French army, or the mob, for that matter. The best picture of this war you can glimpse from Goya, the Desastres de la Guerra, and the Caprichos, getting darker and darker as the war unfolds. Or from his later years, in the Pinturas Negras.
Napoleon had a political and economical project for the whole continent, for EUrope. He wanted to create an unified continent, with free trade, revolutionaries principles, abolish the old lords and stop corruption. His mistake was to not understand Spain. Spain was not ready for that, and just centuries behind his philosophy. He thought that he will be welcome has a hero in Madrid after decades and decades of Corruption, Bad management, done by the Bourbon and the Church in SPain. He didn't understand that people, even when they suffer, has still a pride, and don't want to see foreigners taking their country even if their leaders were atrocious. Napoleon hated the Bourbon and all royal families in Europe. He didn't understand Spain, he spend too many men, and ressources in Spain... And it was an underdeveloped country, they were not even able too eat enough ... I don't know what he wanted there...
Sir John Moore had taken part in the crushing of the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland where the Irish rebels were like the Spanish guerilla's simply fighting a war of liberation. General Cornwallis who was defeated in Yorktown in 1781 at the end of the American War of Independence had his military reputation restored in his party on crushing the 1798 Rebellion on Ireland.
@@freewal Napoleon murdered hundreds of thousands of Spanish civilians, torched libraries and factories and pillaged the whole country. Napoleon was as bad as Hitler.
Napoleon is quoted as saying:" never stop your enemy when he makes a mistake" apparently he did not pay attention to himself!!!his mistake: fighting two enemies in two fronts!!!
@@Shreendg he was double cracked, when approaching and when leaving moscow!!! His Freemasonic alma matter sent him to Elba afterwards, he has done their will!!!
During the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814), two historical and irreconcilable enemies, Spain and Great Britain, were forced to fight together against Napoleon. It was a difficult alliance, tense and full of risks, especially for the Spanish, due to the excesses committed by the British troops on Spanish soil.- The end result of that war, with the victory over Napoleon and the French, has ended up muting the story of the terrible acts carried out by Wellington's soldiers: the sacking of Badajoz, the looting of Ciudad Rodrigo, the burning and destruction of San Sebastian, the unjustified bombardments of Béjar... Wellington also adulterated the loyalty and trust that the Spaniards placed in him by criticizing the work of the Cortes of Cádiz and the Constitution. His contempt for the army and Spanish institutions were constant. But let's go back a few years in history... During the Modern Age, relations between the kingdoms of Spain and Great Britain were openly hostile, translated into a multitude of wars and armed confrontations. In the years preceding the Peninsular War, the English historiography's name for our War of Independence, the English and Spanish had measured weapons in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797), Cabo San Vicente (1797), Algeciras (1801)..., until lead to the crucial battle: Trafalgar (1805). Months before the general uprising against the French, on May 2, 1808, the English and Spanish were technically enemies and the former wasted no time. The British had prepared military expeditions aimed at stirring up the American colonial possessions against the Spanish crown. Arthur Wellesley himself had been chosen to command an expedition against the territory of present-day Venezuela and awaited the last orders in Cork, Ireland, with 9,500 men, until events in Spain cut short his expedition. The origin of the British military intervention in Spain was in the birth of the Supreme Governing Board of Asturias. This sent two representatives to Great Britain requesting British help to fight the French. It would be necessary to wait until September 1808, once the Central Board was constituted, to send emissaries to London to sign an alliance treaty with all the formalities. The Spanish government requested monetary and material aid rather than military. The fresh memory of the past battles and the Gibraltar wound were still open. The first British military compasses in the Peninsula were not very glorious, since Napoleon's energetic offensive in the Peninsula brought him to the gates of Madrid before Christmas 1808. The little corporal disrupted the Spanish armies and put the Spanish soldiers in trouble. British, unable to engage the French directly. General John Moore (Wellington was in England to respond to an investigation) took over command and decided to withdraw to La Coruña, where he could be assisted by Royal Navy coverage. The withdrawal was bleak, and was marked by winter conditions, which cost the lives of 6,000 British soldiers. The exhausting marches, the freezing weather and the frequent skirmishes with the vanguard of the French troops caused the fall into alcoholism of numerous troops, and their consequent abandonment before the French advance. This British withdrawal, very similar to that of Dunkirk in 1940, was a military disaster that they knew how to turn into a moral triumph. British soldiers re-embarked and Moore was killed in action, wounded by a cannonball and revered as a hero. However, while he lived in Spain, neither he nor his troops behaved as such... They were bad allies, they left the Spanish troops alone against the French and committed all kinds of outrages in their desperate flight to La Coruña. In this war, no foreign army behaved decently with the Spanish civilian population. After the withdrawal at the beginning of 1809, English propaganda went to work and part of the blame for the disaster was placed on the Spanish. "Romantic dreams of Spanish courage and patriotism vanished overnight," Arthur Bryant wrote.
England was fighting two enemies at once, with a subterfuge hand stabbing Spain on the back, while pretending fighting together against the dwarf napoleon
It was the Army of Galicia which actually held all the mountain passes, in frozen conditions while the British narrowly escaped covered by the volunteers & militiamen. Luckily the British were saved by Napoleon getting sidetracked and having to go back to France to deal with a new emerging threat from the Austrians. Knowing Napoleons' previous very aggressive attacking style, things could have been far worse.
Tactics they learned the hard way from Daniel Morgan and the rest of the Continental (pre-US American) rifle troops in the Revolutionary War three decades earlier.
The British Army isn't called the Royal Army. Individual units are granted Royal titles such as the Royal Engineers or the Royal Fusiliers but as the Army is a composite identity instead of a single unit it isn't granted a Royal title
I read that, besides all of the above, Napoleon's brother, Joseph, coveted a crown also, and since there was none available, Napoleon decided to take the king of Spain's. He thought that conquering Spain would cost him only 40,000 men. A country with so many friars was easy to conquer. But, it was not. The conquest cost him about 600,000 men.
great information on one of my favorite campaigns...I always thought of Corunna as an earlier Dunkirk and Wellesley would return...it would be the beginning of the end for Napoleon
But after you were fighting together with Russia, with former French general Bernadotte (Charles XIV) against Napoleon in the battle of Leipzig. I can't wait to see this battle.
@@matejeber91 Leipzig is really the climax of the Napoleonic wars. The last battle in which everything was still possible for Europe, and the biggest battle in European history prior WW1.
@@matthewdoliveira9421 Lol nope. If we are talking about riflemen taking out high priority targets, that honor goes to American rifleman Tim Murphy, who famously killed British General Simon Fraser on Oct. 7, 1777 during the Battle of Saratoga at 300-500 yards during the American War of Independence.
Harry L 88 is a Cowardly Cyber Rat In the 1500’s and 1600’s there was no doctrine or precedent for men specifically tasked with individually talking out key targets, as firearms hadn’t advanced to that point yet. If you can identify a sniper from that time period, then by all means, but if not, then stop talking out of your ass. That’s like saying longsword combat had existed since before the Romans just because swords had existed that long.
this was my favorite subject in shcool. I loved it I would wake up happy to go to class on days I had social studies. I had to leave shcool after grade 9 to sell drugs to pay rent dad left it was just my sister & me.
"The British army should be a projectile to be fired by the British fleet." The British army was not the senior service like it was in Germany or France, the Royal Navy always got top priority and the army was rarely numerous enough to go toe to toe with continental powers. If things get a little bit too hot, retreat to sea and try again somewhere else...its worked time and time again through British history.
@Charmingly Cynical More ships? What? Anyway, you should admit Britain was always advantaged by the Channel, which enabled to focus on other fields than land armies. It's totally obvious, and you probably know deep down it's true. As you also know that Britain would have never won the Napoleonic wars, WW1 or WW2 alone.
He was right on his analysis, but the thing he didn't understand is that Spanish loved this mess. They wanted to live like this, beliving their priests, robbing money.
@@skeeprbrit1673 ignorante interesado en mentir. Los conquistadores ingleses llegaron al norte. En zonas muy pequeñas, y fueron conquistando terrenos a los nativos, asesinando con métodos crueles. Contagiando y asesinando con mantas infectadas con viruela a las tribus para quedarse con sus territorios. Un ejemplo.Vuestras películas no son creíbles, sois piratas y cobardes.
After the Battle of Bailén in 1808, thousands of French soldiers were imprisoned on the desolate island of Cabrera. With little food, no shelter, and scarce resources, the conditions were unbearable. Many died from starvation and disease, and in extreme desperation, some resorted to cannibalism. This tragic episode remains a haunting reminder of the brutal consequences of war.
Hi There! Greetings from Dominican Republic. I love your content! Is 100% Quality. Which Napoleonic Video are You working next and when they might be published here? Thank You and Keep UP the Good Work ;)
Great! Thank You so much for answering. I like your Work on these videos and style of Narrate it. I'll stay TUNED for the next Video this Thursday to give You my Feedback. Have a nice day.
He didn't really have a good reason to remain in power in the countries he attacked and conquered. And the leadership he was forced to leave in charge was woefully incompetent and utterly cruel to the civilian population when it should have been inviting and allying with local warlords.
Great video, but at 4:44 there is a mistake. The army of Galicia routed at Medina was the one led by Blake. The one led by Cuesta was the army of Castile.
I would reccomend to those interested in a more intimate account of this whole campaign, to read The Recollections of Rifleman Harris. It is a fascinating book, written from the perspective a lowly rifleman, no grand strategy, no great moral implications, just the memories of an otherwise insignificant foot soldier and cobbler, one of the faceless thousands who served in the armies of the Duke of Wellington. It even gives some good insights into civilian and post war life for the average Georgian era commoner.
And it didnt really happen. You know, the english werent there collaborating with the spanish, they were doing their own thing.. You know you wont hear about this in this channel, because it is british and they are like "that".. But the english used their time in spain just to help themselves. They used to loot all over and destroy industries that were in direct competence with the british ones.. specially the ones related to textiles.. Some parts of spain were number 1 of the world in textile industry... not after the british came around, they sistematically destroyed and "captured" (packing up the machines used and then sending them to england) spanish industries "to help their own"... So no, not so much collaboration.. sorry to break your myth but things should be told as they are and not as we wish they were...
This really is a fantastic educational series - I would love to see one on the ill-fated 1809 Walcheren Expedition & siege of Flushing. Although a disaster for the British, my 4 x Great Grandfather Lt Otto Ernst von Heldreich of the 1st Regiment de Prusse was captured and became a PoW in Ashbourne Derbyshire. He stayed & married an inn keepers daughter. And that’s why I’m British! ☺️👍 Ps: the date tag on the Battle of Vimeiro says 1805 - but should be 1808.
I hope you enjoy this, the first of three videos covering the war in Spain and Portugal. You can find the others, which cover the further French invasions of Portugal, the guerrilla war and the eventual fight back by British, Spanish and Portuguese forces, in our Napoleonic Wars playlist: th-cam.com/play/PLUOc2qodFHp-mOphKW9RzQLsFTt-IV9RY.html
Support the channel, get exclusive updates, early access and a vote on future topics here: www.patreon.com/epichistorytv
Just noticed a possible mistake: The most western town of Europe is called Sintra in portuguese and not Cintra(idk how it is in english). Outstanding video anyways , I wish history lessons in school were this good.
Epic History TV 📺
Please do a video about napoleons campaign in Northern Italy during the war of the first coalition, that's when napoleon first showed his military genius to the world
Napoleón era hijo de Carlo Buonaparte cobrador de impuestos en Córcega para Francia al que tenían por traidor y Napoleone traicionó a su aliado España
.. Por la alianza con Francia las tropas españolas estaban en Holanda y el traidor entró Hacia Portugal como aliado para ir contra los ingleses instalados allí ..pero no lo hizo , y se dedicó a saquear todo a su paso
,,,a su aliado
Fusilaban civiles que se les enfrentaban pues no teníamos ejercito ..como se ve en "El 2 de mayo" y "La carga de los Mamelucos" de Goya .En la retirada de Rusia ,una absurda matanza que según Napoleón "recuperaba París en una noche "..al cruzar el rio Berezina despistó a los rusos haciendo pasar sus civiles y heridos como cebo para ser atacados por los rusos.. mientras él y su guardia iban por otro lado.Napoleón era "republicano" pero puso a todos sus hermanos de reyes y él de emperador..España tardó mucho en reponerse del saqueo y la destrucción francesa pues de paso los ingleses aprovecharon como siempre para sacar provecho en las guerras continentales y destruir de forma ruin y traidora industrias y comunicaciones..como la fábrica de porcelanas La China del Retiro en Madrid , 31 octu 1812 ,envidia de los ingleses ,volada por orden de Wellington ..volaron puentes, viaductos etc...Los franceses saben venderse ..gran monumento para Napo un dictador y genocida..está enterrado en Los Inválidos ,en el centro de París como héroe ..Francia nunca nos compensó del saqueo,como le compensó a ella Alemania dos veces ,casi nos cobran por invadirnos.El mariscal Soult fué "la rapiña de Sevilla" se llevó todos los cuadros de Murillo ..Franco recuperó la Inmaculada..Hoy Francia cobra casi 500 mil millones de euros a paises africanos del franco colonial CFA por colonizarlos ,controla toda inversión de ellos y el 80 % de las divisas de esos paises están en bancos de París.. la vie en rose
@@TheJuansoria excelente, solo un matiz (bueno, solo para ser justo con el Marqués de la Romana)" La División del Norte" , no estaban en Holanda, sino en Dinamarca... otra pérfida traición del Napo, aún los daneses hoy en día recuerdan la nobleza y amabilidad de aquellos soldados españoles ;H. C. ANDERSEN, el famoso escritor le marcó cuando era pequeño (conocer aquellos hombres del lejano Sur de Europa ) y viajó a España ya de adulto y siempre fué un enamorado de España y de su gente, saludos amigo
"During the battle he was hit in the shoulder..."
Ya ok come on, could be worse
"... by a cannon ball"
oh nevermind
🤣
Dude hit by cannon ball and still servive for 2 hours... Good lord.
And it was his right shoulder
@@somerandomfatguy.3384
Not sure if it's even comparable, but a Japanese pilot in WW2 got shot in the head by a .30 caliber bullet. "Shattered glass from the canopy temporarily blinded him in his right eye and reduced vision in his left eye severely. Although in agony from his injuries Sakai managed to fly his damaged Zero in a four-hour, 47-minute flight over 560 nmi (1,040 km; 640 mi) back to his base on Rabaul, using familiar volcanic peaks as guides"
@@artificialintelligence8328 What a legend
"I am firmly convinced that Spain is the strongest country of the world. Century after century trying to destroy herself and still no success."
Best quote ive seen about my country so far. Pretty sad tough.
There's one supposedly said about Portugal by Julius Caesar "There lives a people in the West of Hispania that can't rule themselves nor can be ruled by us".
@@lourencoalmada1305 Yes also there is a said of trogo :
The Hispanics (of Hispania) have prepared the body for the abstinence and the fatigue, and the spirit for the death: hard and austere sobriety in everything, In so many centuries of wars with Rome they have not had any captain but Viriato, man of such virtue and continence that, after defeating the consular armies for 10 years, never wanted in its kind of life to distinguish itself from any private soldier.
Tito Livio a roman historier:
Agile, bellicose, restless. Hispania is different from Italica, more ready for war because of the rough terrain and the genius of men.
Lucio Anneo Floro:
The Hispanic nation or Hispania Universa did not know how to unite against Rome. Defended by the Pyrenees and the sea would have been inaccessible. His people were always valuable but poorly hierarchical.
This means that the iberian countries were genious in the war but horrible in politics, and you can see in the Modern corruption of Spain And Portugal, this come from the ancient times until today
@@juansehernandez4504 True to this day, and more so in Latin America with the guerrillas. To be poorly hierarchical is both good and bad. It is good because there are no silly captains thinking they are above the rest, it is bad because it foments indiscipline and confusion.
HalBDeU lol Spain is a trash country
Spain who invented bloody colonialism
Napoleon Himself once said during his Exile in St. Helena that the 'Spanish ulcer' was the fatal knot. And indeed, there was nothing to gain in invading Spain nor securing a friendly Portugal. It drained Napoleon of his troops and slowly bled his resources. This consequently haunted him during His Russian Expedition when he was lacking in troops. But more importantly, it diminished his reputation or his myth of invincibility.
I don't think more troops would have changed the outcome of the Russian Expedition. The impossible logistics were the issue, they already couldn't feed the numbers they started with. More troops might have even made the Russian scorched-earth retreat even more effective
Not to mention pushing one of the few allies he had into the hands of his hated enemy, the British.
I do not think there was a way to achieve something like a friendly Portugal considering its long-time alliance with England, but there must had been better ways to neutralize the threat or the disruption that country may have caused that did not include betraying your own ally and engaging in a mutually destructive confrontation with a party that could have helped to keep that front secure, what an inmense blunder indeed.
Should have taken his time and started a generation of Napoleon Youths....
The French suffered a quarter of a million casualties in Spain for no good reason and it ended with a British army in southern France that had been tactically dominating them very consistantly. It was a huge deal. Insanely overlooked theatre.
I'm Spanish, 38 years old, and never fully understood how this war developed, in spite of having studied it at highschool. I always got lost with the high number of characters involved, and always ended up mixing which side was controlling the different territories.
Thanks so much for making it so accesible and comprehensible.
Freemasonry was involved and always pulling the strings from behind!!!
@V A L E N C I A N British freemasonry since 1717
La guerra de independencia fue un caso único en el que una sucesión de derrotas llevó a la victoria. Fue la voluntad de vencer la que terminó derrotando a las tropas napoleónicas. Los distintos ejércitos española impidieron que los franceses pudieran concentrar sus fuerzas y así poder derrotar al Duque de Wellington. Europa quedó sorprendida al ver que los españoles no aceptaban sus continuas derrotas y después de cada una de ellas, se volvían a reagrupar para presentar batallas. Los franceses llegaron a pensar que luchaban contra fantasmas ya que un día derrotaban a un ejército de 20.000 hombres y a los pocos días los volvían a atacar otros 20.000. El límite lo ponía las armas de las que disponían. Cuando eran derrotados se retiraban en todas las direcciones para que los franceses no pudieran cargar contra ellos. A eso se le conoció como disciplina en la retirada. Todos sin embargo, conocían dónde sería el punto de encuentro días más tarde.
Allí siempre había voluntarios dispuestos a compensar las bajas que habían tenido. No todos se podían unir ya que como dije antes, no había armas para todos. Así que al resto se les informaba del nuevo punto de encuentro tras la batalla y volvían a sus casas.
Ataque tras ataque, los ejércitos franceses quedaron fijados en distintos puntos de la Península. Jamás se pudieron concentrar y sus efectivos eran cada vez menores hasta que llegaba el momento en que no les quedaba más remedio de abandonar sus posiciones y emprender las penosas retiradas en las que a parte de un ejército que les iba pisando los pies, también se tenían que enfrentar a los guerrilleros.
Justamente, casi al final de la guerra, los guerrilleros del Norte se agruparon en el Séptimo Ejército que fue conocido como el Ejercito Fantasma. Entre sus líderes estuvo el Cura Merino, el Empecinado o el mismísimo Morillo.
Los británicos se llevaron el mérito de la victoria en la Batalla de los Arapiles, pero esta victoria habría sido imposible si los seis ejércitos españoles no hubieran contenido a los franceses en diversas ciudades. Los británicos no llegaron a tener más de 30.000 soldados en España mientras los franceses contaron con más de 300.000. Injustamente, la historia no ha hecho justicia al ejército regular español en la Guerra de la Independencia y ha sobrevalorado el papel de la guerrilla que, aunque fue importante, no puede solapar al del ejército. Que sí existió, que dependió de las Juntas Locales y Regionales, que se negó a rendirse en 6 años de guerra y que contra todo pronóstico, terminó derrotando a Napoleón, si bien, en este vídeo parece que fueron los británicos.
Napoleón en sus memorias dijo: "Los españoles todos, se comportaron como un sólo hombre de honor. Enfoqué mal el asunto ese; la inmortalidad debió resultar demasiado patente; la injusticia demasiado cínica y todo ello harto malo, puesto que ha sucumbido."
Uno de sus generales:
"La Naturaleza fija un límite más allá del cual las empresas locas no pueden ser conducidas con prudencia. Ese límite, el Emperador lo alcanzó en España." General Maximilien Sébastian Foy.
Napoleón en su lecho de muerte:
"Todas las circunstancias de mis desastres vienen a vincularse con este nudo fatal: la Guerra de España destruyó mi reputación en Europa, enmarañó mis dificultades y fue una escuela para los soldados ingleses. Fui yo quien formó al ejército británico en la Península."
El Zar Alejandro I de Rusia: " Que a los españoles no se les trate como a prisioneros , pues han abandonado a los franceses y han deseado luchar contra ellos ".
@picatostes Bjd Gracias a que el pueblo español tuvo la valentía de luchar contra Francia y derrotarla, porque la derrotaron, hoy en Hispanoamérica se habla español.
La culpa fue por la dinastia de los Borbones que nos trajo la sublimación con Francia
Here in Galicia, in some small villages, the dogs are still named by the french generals Ney and Soult, locals still remeber the fierce fights, they even made cannons from oaks, and cannonballs melting their iron possesions to fight the frenchs
I remember when I was a kid in Figueira da Foz they recreated a possible scene when the English arrived at Saint Catherine Fort (Forte de Santa Catarina in portuguese) overwatching the mondego river and the atlantic to repell Junot's army out of Portugal at that same town in the 200th anniversary
¿ Porqué comentas en inglés ? que epic conteste en español joder siempre la soberbia sajona
@@franciscobautistaambite2092 Quiero que el mensaje llegue a la mayor gente posible, y ademas este un canal angloparlante. Y como hablo varias lenguas, uso la que me apetece para compartir información. La soberbia aquí no la demuestran los sajones, que han votado positivamente e incluso resaltado mi comentario ya que lo aprecian.
@@RodolfoGaming I will assume you are portuguese. If you like recreations, every year in the city of Vigo they recreate the take back of the occupied city by popular militias from napoleonic troops on the 28 of march. Also, very close to this city, there's another reenactment of the battle of pontesampaio, local militia against the napoleonic army, which was commanded by Ney himself. After a fierce and bloody battle endend in a spanish victory aswell.
@@usernotfound9760 yes and i speak the three languages(might be lacking some specifics but can deffo understand and speak spanish). Very nice in portugal there werent that many major engagements compared to spain and everyone sees Joao VI as a coward for leaving the country but probably what he did best tbh
The level of quality you put in your videos is incredible!!!
Can you please make a Three Kingdoms video?
Agree.
Para analfabetos, sí.
La Coruna, the Dunkirk of the Napoleonic Wars.
Arriba España!!!!
Lol Pferd Schild, they were desperately trying to cut off and force the surrender at Dunkirk in WWII, what are you smoking? That just flat out denies most conventional historian's perspectives there.
And Napoleon absolutely could have, but bad luck forced him to split and run with most of the troops; very much like other bad luck stopped the Germans from completing the humiliation in WWII.
So yeah, it is a very apt comparison.
@Pferd Schild You are very ignorant, although your name suggests you are far from unbiased.
@A Person
Stop repeating (((( Intellectually handicapped ))) talking points...
((( Stupid )))
^
Is stupid.
@@adrianbundy3249 Only one group can use ))) and that's Sunn O)))
How to destroy yourself
>Invade Spain then Russia
Napoleon did not suffer a single defeat in Russia.
@@ИванБорисов-т7с yet weather and attrition spanked him really damn hard
There wouldn't have been an invasion of Russia without this mistake.
Always thought of the Russian campaign as Napoleon's stupidest military move, but then I learned about his even stupider move in Spain...
@@freeriding666 He was on top of the World, he didn't think it through enough, overconfident. Austria started the 1809 war as a result and Russia stopped enforcing Napoleon's Continental Blockade, the rest is history. One bad move, like in our own personal lives too, it can quickly lead to total destruction. That's life!
The British Army is good at retreating and evacuating by sea.
Yep! Many times in fact
And then returning. In this case to help liberate my mother countries Spain and Portugal from the clutches of the Emperor Napoleon and Imperial France.
A vast conquering army living off the people, content to commit atrocities on those people and led by enthusiastic looters intent on personal enrichment and an Emperor who wished to add northern Spain to France.
An Emperor who lost an army in a disastrous invasion of Russia. Parallels much.
@@chrisgibson5267 U full of propoganda textbooks, get real .
@Imper 5 Not true and the Spanish would make Wellington there Commander in Chief
Still French is The Best
It's refreshing to hear an Englishman pronounce the Spanish Ñ so perfectly. Kudos!
And the Spanish z as well.
Carl Tomacruz My thoughts exactly.
The Ñ in english can be pronounced because the French word "champagne"
@@humbertoflores2545 mmaaayybeeee? I've never heard an Englishman trying to pronounce "champagne".
Humberto Flores the way champagne is pronounced in French is completely different than in English. Yes, French has the ñ sound but not the actual symbol, they spell it gn. The closest sound to ñ in English would be the n in onions for instance.
My stance is that you're only "abandoning your allies" if your force is able to overcome the invader. The 1808 British Army was in absolutely no shape to fight the Grand Armee. There's nothing valorous about throwing your soldiers' lives away. Moore's evacuation saved the lives of many men who would go on to fight with better odds in future battles.
That's was what the Spanish themselves thought. That's why the Spanish garrison remained covering the British evacuation.
@@joaquinandreu8530 the men stayed to fight while the pussies ran away as usual, never trust a brit
@@kyomademon453 Spain was Britain's major colonial rival for centuries. In fact, Spain helped France invaded Portugal, which was (still is) Britain's ally. In short, Britain was under *no obligation* to protect Spain. It's more like "enemy of my enemy is my friend" type of situation.
Even if Spain was an actual ally, there's no reason why Britain should sacrifice its army. The destruction of Moore's army would not bring any strategic benefit to Spain's cause. It would take many months to rebuild the army, or worse, it may sway British public opinion and force the govt to sue for peace. Either way, it will give France free hand in Iberia.
@@kyomademon453 thats like saying they should not have done the dunkirk evacuation and just let the men die and get captured. Yeah lets just waste our land forces that we spend months and years to build instead of evacuating them because "hurrr durrr evacuating from an undesirable position are for pussies" i mean we could have used our men in a possible land invasion in france or fighting in africa but who cares amiright
@Cogniarius Britain's population in 1812 was ~10 million people, compared to France's ~47 million, Russia's ~38 million, and Austria's ~23 million. Britain have to maintain various armies and fleets all across the globe to guard its vast empire. Not to mention Britain, unlike other European powers, did not use "levee en masse" (conscription system). The loss of Moore's army would be a significant blow to Britain's war effort.
That being said, if the King / Prime Minister of UK (i.e. the ruler of the British Empire) was someone with Napoleon's genius, Britain would be a truly *terrifying* powerhouse.
If Britain managed to deploy its full military and economic potential, Britain could probably field an army *twice* the size of that of France, supported by an economy larger than that of France and Russia combined.
Note: Total population of the British empire, including part of India under its rule in 1812, was ~115 million, larger than any other European powers (actually it's equal to, or slightly larger than all of European powers *combined).*
Too bad British rulers of that period were people of *less caliber* (compared to genius like Napoleon).
Really good video about the first years of the Penninsular War. Thank you Epic History TV.
As Spaniard, keeping aside some exageratedly outraged comments by some of my folks, I would like to point out the excess of ethnocentrism that I see in focusing the narration on the Battle of Corunna when, on the other hand, the Battle of Bailén and the Battle of Somosierra Pass are treated as just another battle.
Trying to be objetive (as much as possible), the Battle of Bailén was the 1st turning point of the Pennninsular War. Its consequence was the complete liberation of the entire Penninsula for some time.
A 2nd turning point came at the Battle of Somosierra Pass that almost reversed the strategic situation in the Penninsula.
In comparison to those 2 battles, the Battle of Corunna seems a sideshow. Just another action in the British back and forth.
One missed point in this narration is the fact that, in 1808, the best corps of the Spanish army was still deployed in Denmark under requirement by Napoleon, when France and Spain were still allies and nobody in Spain could imagine the incoming French betrayal.
Very very well said, thank you for this comment.
We always wait, for Epic History TV content, and now we see high quality content again :)
Thanks to EH TV team, really appreciate the content 🤓
All your works are excellent and highly historically accurate. However, would you please consider making a video about the Persian Empire as well? Thanks.
Comma much?
Mantap
This thorough examination of Napoleon's folly on the Iberian Peninsula is produced in such a high-quality manner it is unsurpassed entertaining education as reflected here and in other historical entities like Kings & Generals.
Extremely well narrated , you're keeping up the spirit of the "old" history TV. ALIVE
NAPOLEON: "'Send a few thousand Muslim Mamelukes from my Guard to pacify and subdue the natives in Catholic Spain-What could possibly go wrong"?(lol)
Did that happen? No wonder the paintings shows that guy with hijab
Ha, the Iberian religious wars.
Did he do it on purpose cause he knew it would piss them off?
@@joellaz9836 Maybe, but i think that made it worse
@@СтефановићКараџић
i doubt that, sire would use those that arent french or allies as the first to attack or vanguard to flush out the enemy, meaning their bait for napoleon
my respect to the narrator his Spanish pronunciation is right on point.👌
Epic History TV has the best narration and animation of all history channels on TH-cam. Keep the videos coming, you guys are awesome.
Animation is done by History Marche not by Epic History Tv
@@alexwallachian7720 We divide the animation between us - HistoryMarche does the battle sequences and I do the rest.
@@EpichistoryTv
I think you've bested yourself on this one EH...
Despite having some (all be it little) knowledge of the Spanish campaign, and the subsequent Peninsula Wars, I still found this episode enthralling and thrilling!
It's inspired me to dig out my 'Sharpe' DVD Boxset 🤣
Great work Bud, already looking forward to the next chapter 👍
@@EpichistoryTv yes thank you that is what i meant. Great job to both of you. I just love the battle mechanics of history marche that is why i highlighted it
What about kings and generals
Splendid work once again, and incredible timing on top of that! Well done, mate!
I am in love with these videos. Truly. Other history channels need to take serious note of at least this one key feature: the incredible detail of each singular battle throughout the wars/events being discussed and explained and picked apart... objectively. We need so much more of this. Thank you for setting the bar and making such a great example of what a history lesson should really look like. You are the most epic. Never stop ❤️
This is what the BBC and ITV in Britain used to do, but do no more. Now they focus on the presenters and their feelings: giving them the authority and marginalising the events they are talking about.
This is fantastic. Of what I know of the Napoleonic era, I never knew a single thing about Napoleon's experience in Spain other than it was a headache. I learned so much from this and am excited to watch the next two about Iberia, and as many as I can in time...
The books look awesome too.
Very good, Quasimodo!!!
This close escape at La Coruña reminded me of the evacuation at Dunkirk in the 2WW :)
And the term "race for the sea" reminded me of WW1 too.
Excellent comparison angel_14061
And both times it is the Royal Navy who has come to the rescue and allowed the British Army to fight another day.
Well, in one case you've got french troops pushing to annihilate the British, while in the other you've got french troops dying to let them escape. Quite a significant difference I'd say.
i was rather reminded of the retreat from Gallipolli
Except it was well within Hitlers power to utterly crush the forces at Dunkirk, but he didnt because he was still trying to get a peace treaty with the stubborn Churchill....
So much more reminiscent of Gallipoli.
Thank you for more Napoleon content this channel is seriously the best history content on TH-cam
Napoleons a bit of a hobby with me, I’m nearly sixty now & I’ve loved reading about him & that period in European history for decadesI devour any reading material that comes my way about this fascinating chap & also that period in history, but know all that I think I am, I love these mini documentaries, they are brilliantly informative, it’s amazing how so much information & so many facts (accurate too) can be packed into so short a time & be so well presented. Marvellous stuff & it helps me to mentally visualise the people & events
Thank you, it comes from decades of reading about the subject, like you!
Flem can you recommend a biography on Napoleon.
@@EpichistoryTv Now you reminded me of something. I believe that nobody here never asked you how old are you?
@@justinian-the-great Old. My Illustrated History of Napoleon by David Chandler was my 14th birthday present. And that was in 1991.
@@jackp343 The new Andrew Roberts one is good, very readable, although he's not critical enough in my opinion - he's rather fall under the Emperor's spell. Link in the video description.
Your Spanish and French pronunciation is great! Well done!
*No Way! The Spaniards ruled the world once! they are the only true brave mediterranean people and immediately would organize guerrillas in our rear. 'We can not enter Spain without the permission of the Spaniards'*
-Adolf HItler - (well at least he learned something from Napoleon lol)
Dev Latin America, continental US, Philippines, Africa. Good chunk of the world.
He was right about Spain but wrong about Russia. Didn't he know what happened to Napoleon in Russia?
@@shagwellington he tried to work around napoleon's mistakes, but almost to a religious fanaticism that hampered adaptability on his own part.
Shows what a fool he was. Partisans (or gorillas) battled his occupational forces in Yugoslavia and Greece through the war.
Yes, they did rule. On the backs of my people, Judah Rises!
When a British know how to pronounce Spanish names!😌👏😝🤩
The Rational Rifleman stfu
Impossible
When a Spaniard doesn't know that it's "Englishman" or British person, not "a British".
wtf is a British ?
Really shows the quality of epic history TV!! Not like other history channels or video games with cringy pronunciation
The narration is SUPERB!!! Had me on the edge of my seat, and the music fit exceptionally well - not too loud: it never obscured or competed with the voice. Tight script writing... i'm impressed. Keep up the good work!!!
Glad you enjoyed it, thank you! Another video on Spain out next week..
Amazing how much detail is put into these videos.
Voices of the Peninsular War is very helpful for understanding the perspectives of the soldiers on a personal level.
Long live Spain & the Spanish! Long may Epic History TV continue to produce mini historical documentary’s like this one ( my favourite) this is the 4th time I’ve watched this particular mini documentary & the second time I’ve left a comment... I can’t help myself, it’s totally brilliant & so amazingly well edited & put together & as far I’m concerned historically accurate & I’ve been studying this period in history for decades... for fun but taking it seriously & after all these years of looking at the subject from every point of view I couldn’t hope to put a script like this together. So much information, so well laid out & easy to follow. It’s a students dream. Keep them coming & thank you 🙏
Lunch break than this! Can my day get BETTER! well done
I just loved this. I've been studying this era and find it fascinating what happened in Spain and Portugal at this time. Especially the Peninsula War.
What a great channel. My 9th-generation grandfather was the sergeant of the 42nd Highlanders who carried Sir John Moore off of the battlefield at Corunna. I bought books to learn of the Peninsular Wars but this 20-minute lesson made everything crystal clear to me. Awesome presentation. I just hit the subscribe button. Thank you.
@@mikedi7850 Clearly you're a loser troll with nothing better to do in life than to make stupid comments. Have at it, nitwit.
Coruña
A Coruña/ A Corunha
dijo Napoleon en sus memorias:esa guerra de España fue mi ruina.
Hitler cometió los mismos 2 errores que Napoleón: No invadir gran Bretaña y invadir Rusia . Pero no se atrevió a invadir España para no repetir el error de Napoleón.
@WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE pero que gilipolleces es capaz de decir la gente.
6koko3 cual error no jodas 😂😂, Franco era un aliado otro facistas mas
@Skylocker Lo dudo los ejércitos españoles eran veteranos de guerra y sabrían como hacer una guerra de guerrillas.
Si has estado en españa, es como una gran montaña con muchas zonas donde esconder solados y supplyments
@@ernestoA.1999 Franco se mantuvo neutral, nunca sabremos por que hitler no invadió, pudo obligarnos a unirnos a la guerra de su parte, y eso habría sido bastante significativo, seguro que tuvo algún flashback de napoleón y pensó que ya tenía bastante lío con los rusos y los ingleses como para meterse en una guerra de guerrillas.
These series are simply extraordinary. It is so well narrated and with such fervor that you end up forgetting that no videos are shown throughout.
Polish song about Somosierra 1808
The blade flashed through the volley of canister shots
A charge directly into the abyss at the behest of the emperor
They fell to the ramparts in an avalanche of fire
They raised the banner above the captured guns
The drums stopped and the dust settled in the ravine
The strange and rough earth will accept us today,
Play me a trumpet, play me about Poland
It is so close to me, though so distant
Eagle, my Eagle, a sign of eternal glory
Once you come to my home town
Bow down to the wheat fields and the morning daybreak
Immerse yourself in the sacred waters of Vistula
Where I am leaving you are no longer there, my Poland
You dreamed to army under the Spanish skies
You were a restless dream, and your strength was
On the way to a longed-for goal
It is a massive pleasure for a native seen such a reconstruction of the battle of elviña. I haven't seen such a deep analysis since I've visited the army museum of A Coruña. Very nice work you guys
Your videos are incredibly well done. Thank you so much for this material :) Regards from Girona, Spain (A city that was besieged by the French troops 3 times between 1808 and 1809. During the last siege the city was bombed with 60.000 cannonballs).
How is it that Spaniards joined napoleon armee to march to Russia
@@dvdortiz9031 If I remember well, those were mercenaries
10:21
The Start of Sharpe's Rifles
Sharpe is even pictured at 11:07 (front and to the right). Not the first time he's been portrayed in these vids.
Dear God I couldn't take my eyes out of this; the entire sequence, maps, images, proclamations, and the sound track... Amazingly well done, congrats!
As a Portuguese, this is a critical historical period for my country, and it is always with emotion that I watch these events being narrated. The suffering of our forefathers of that time must have been tremendous. From 1801 till 1850, Portugal went through the theft of Olivença (still not returned from Spain despite its recognition in the Viena Congress of 1815 as Portuguese once more), three French Invasions, the loss of Brasil, a Civil War, and countless revolts and coups.
Not exactly our finest hours...
Portugal is truly a great Nation.
Olivenza will not be returned because it was agreed that Portugal would have to return the territories that the Portuguese Brazil took from the viceroyalties of Spain and in return they would return Olivenza, but since Brazil became independent and therefore those territories were not returned to Spain. , will never be Portuguesa Olivenza again.
@@condedooku9750 I'm sorry my friend, but you're not right, by many legal reasons.
1 - The Treaty of Badajoz, in which Olivença was given to Spain, was uterly nullified by no less than:
a) The Treaty of Fontainebleau, in which Spain and France agreed to invade Portugal and annex its continental and overseas territories;
b) The 1807 Invasion of Portugal by France, aided by Spain, who authorized the passage of the French forces through its territory;
c) The Treaty of Paris of 1814, which considers that Treaty void;
d) Finally, the Treaty of Vienna, which states, clear as water, that Olivença must be returned to Portugal. No buts, no exchanges of territories in the Americas: simply must be returned, full stop.
2 - Portugal ceased to rule the territory of Cisplatina since the independence of Brasil in 1822; any issues with that, go knock on Brasília's door, not Lisbon's;
3 - No other treaty or agreement of any kind since 1815 until now, between Spain and Portugal, ever stated that Olivença belongs to Spain. On the contrary, there are no frontier landmarks on Olivença's municipality, the Ajuda Bridge over the Guadiana is Portuguese National Monument, the new Ajuda Bridge was paid in full by Portugal, et cetera;
4 - You know, in the end, why Olivença will return _de facto_ (because it is _de jure_ since 1815 at the very least) to Portugal? Because the very people of Olivença so wishes: 200+ years later, they still speak Portuguese, street names are once again writen in Portuguese, even the mass is once again in Portuguese, and Portuguese culture is everywhere. Moreover, there's now one thousand Olivença citizens who asked the Portuguese authorities their Portuguese citizen card.
_Crer e querer para vencer!_ ; cheers.
@@danielconde13 So are you going to ignore that when the war of oranges ended, Spain and Portugal agreed to make the exchange that I mentioned? What does the fact that France and Spain invaded Portugal a few years later have to do with nothing? What legitimacy does a treaty made after which obviously seeks to weaken Spain and strengthen Portugal? In fact you will not see anyone in Spain claiming that territory that the Portuguese Brazil took from Spain although legally you would have to return it to us, finally I will say that Spain Olivenza will gladly return you, when your old ally returns Gibraltar.
@@danielconde13 Imagina se Portugal tivesse aceitado o tratado de Napoleão.
Awesome quality as always. Thanks very much!
En España murieron aproximadamente 250.000 soldados franceses, de ellos, unos 70.000 en batallas "ordinarias". El resto murió a manos de los "desarmados, desenfrenados e indisciplinados" españoles.
400.000 almas dejó Napo en este pais, segun otras fuentes.
Para que se allanara el camino a las ordenadas tropas inglesas. Vergüenza da ver estas "glorias" brits. Aún se creen sus vergonzosas mentiras. Oportunistas!!
@@iber4356 Los Ingleses han estado acostumbrados a hozar en la historia a su gusto, inventando, mintiendo, difamando y - en el mejor de los casos- exagerando.
Pero en el supuesto que les rebatas sus invenciones no dudan en indignarse.
El ridículo afán de protagonismo que se muestra en el presente episodio podría resultar incluso cómico si no fuera porque se está faltando al respeto y arrebatando los méritos a los verdaderos héroes.
Estos señores quieren ser el niño en el bautizo, la novia en la boda y el muerto en el entierro (eso sí, levantándose después para huir por mar y vender que era una estudiada estrategia militar).
En su particular imaginario deben estar convencidos que gracias a ellos sale el sol.
pilar galicia si, parece que los españoles teníamos que dar las gracias a los ingleses de librarnos de los franceses. Los ingleses participaron para ayudar a su amigo de toda la vida, Portugal, de la invasión francesa. En la preciosa isla de Cabrera acabaron muchos franceses (por aquel entonces peor que la actual Guantánamo) tras la independencia.
This is not correct - most French soldiers died of disease, as was the case in almost every war in this period. But it is correct that more French soldiers were killed by guerrillas than by British and Portuguese armies - a point made in the second video about this war: th-cam.com/video/8ow6pq1Pp_M/w-d-xo.html
Wow this was superb to watch and excellently portrayed. I joined the modern day Battalion of the 95th Rifles - The Royal Green Jackets and we pride ourselves on being called Riflemen when the rest of the army had muskets and indeed we were the first to wear Jackets of Green. Tom Plunkett is a hero of ours and Sir John Moore is highly revered by our regiment. Indeed the purpose built training barracks at Winchester was named after him. The painting of Black Bob Crauford at The Rear Guard is a huge favourite for our regiment. Thank you for the hard work in putting this marvelous video together, brilliant job. The Battalion is always evolving and transitioned through from The 95th Rifles (nicknamed The Fighting 95th) to The Rifles (all due to the unit being armed with the Baker rifle) and is now known as The Ranger Regiment, which is a special operations capable unit. The first of its kind in the UK.
Good comment, thank you!
7:29 loved this part, the way the French corps moved is damn fast and Marshall lannes if only you lived longer
Yes!!!!! I have been waiting so long lol!!!
Dam these videos are high quality!
Nice video but I must point out the 95th Rifle are a rifle regiment NOT light infantry.
I'm stunned! this video was beyond great!
The definition of epic is nothing compared to the epicness of your channel: Epic History Tv
Such a fantastic video! Yep, Napoleon later recognized he made a mistake messing with his ally, Spain. The French invasion provoked the disintegration of the Spanish Empire, but Spain was also essential in destroying his empire. In terms of internal politics, the French Revolution but specially Napoleon generated a strong reactionary movement against liberal and englightened ideas for decades and Spain was a mess throughout the 19th century because of the devastation of the Spanish War of Independence (aka Peninsular War).
Well this happened thanks to the invasion of Portugal (in which Spain wanted a piece of the pie, so serves Spain right that by irony the French would occupy them) that didnt want to break trade with the old ally (and also needed it badly).
'enlightened' ideas. Invading allies, chopping off heads, killing clergy.
The History of Spain Podcast
Great post. I would only add that what you describe as happening in Spain, seems, to my knowledge have happened through all of Europe. For the rest of the century the crowned heads of Europe made sure the hold tighter to the reigns of power...However, the seed was planted, and the most noble of the ideas of the enlightenment were given a chance to take root in most countries. Notwithstanding Napoleon's betrayal of the republican ideal, I'm not sure if with out him, those ideals would survive past the french revolutionary wars which France would surely lose, eventually. The monarchies of Europe would not let go, they could not afford it. Napoleon "the emperor" allowed to survive and not be buried under the rubble of a failed "peasant" revolution. One way or the other Napoleon shaped the world we live in today no doubt about it.
@@archieames1968 That's what it's about. Enlightment, equality, democracy, nationalism - all progressive filth
@@gordusmaximus4990 Spain didn't want a piece of the pie, Godoy want a piece of the pie
Im so glad this was in my reccommended, what a brilliantly put together, animated and narrated video!
Absolutely subscribed!
Extraordinary content, narration, animation and accuracy ! I am amazed with each new video. More Napoleonic battles, please !!
These are some of the best docs I've seen full stop. Never mind on TH-cam. Informative and very entertaining
The Spanish independence war described in 20 minutes: half of them, describing how the english heroically flew away from napoleon till Coruña
And that, my friends, is the history according to the englishmen
I am really looking forward to watching how you describe the battle between Blas de Lezo and Vernon, my friend
I guess it will be really heroic too
No, there are two more videos covering this war. The next one covers the guerrilla war and explains how it was central to the eventual French defeat.
Sólo piensan en Hollywood!! 😂😂
La capacidad de estos ingleses para inventar no tiene límites.
@@javiersanz1330 les creen los analfabetos que se creen las mil versiones de sus mismas películas. Todo inventado. Catalina de Aragón, representada por Irene Papas, que no se parecía en nada. Aburren.
English loose, spanish win. LOs españoles los primeros en vencer a los franceses, los británicos, acojnados escapando. Viva Castaños, Vivan Cacahmuiña y Blas de Lezo
Se supone que habla de la resistencia en España con hechos gloriosos cómo Bailen y Zaragoza que menciona a toda velocidad y se pasa más de la mitad del tiempo en detallar una semi-batalla anglo-francesa.
En cualquier caso, el gran error de Napoleón parece más su invasión de Rusia. De hecho, hay bastante consenso en ese sentido.
No puedes esperar mas de los anglos. Todos estos canales historicos de habla inglesa solo mantienen su neutralidad en la historia antigua, cuando llegan mas allá de la conquista hacen todo lo posible por subestimar a España e Hispanoamerica dejando como heroes, libertadores y todopoderosos a sus congéneres Británicos o USianos.
Por supuesto, no cita todo lo que destruyeron (infraestructuras, molinos, talleres, etc) sin motivos tácticos. Solo para dañar a España.
La verdad que sí... pero bueno no puedes esperar más de los ingleses. Y si la guerra de Rusia fue la derrota definitiva, la de la península fue su primer error estratégico, si hubiese podido tener la península bajo control tan rápido como Austria o Alemania le habría sido muchísimo más fácil la campaña rusa. No perdió tanto aquí porque se jugaba menos, pero fue una campaña que consumió muchísimos más recursos y hombres de los que podía haber previsto en un principio, esa es la importancia que tiene para mí.
Tampoco mencionan lo que los ingleses hicieron en San Sebastian.
A los anglos les encanta sacar historias épicas de sus peleitas mamarrachas.
That was really good and incredibly well done.
This channel is so amazing. The narration and animation gives me chills
I freaking loved this, see you in a few years now.
Where are you going ?
It’s a joke on how long it takes to make these
Oh ..I thought you're dying or something like that...I mean really.LOL!!!!!!
actually ''not dying but something really bad''
i'm drunk don't mind me
Can't imagine being hit in the shoulder by Cannonball and surviving for goodness knows how long what a terrible way to go.
Sounds like a Gallipoli retreat
Thank you for the great quality of your videos, can't wait for more napoleonic wars content !
Thank you! New Napoleon video out in about 10 days.
The curious detail of Somosierra and Polish Light Horse of the Guard is that they were ordered to only disrupt the first line of artillery enplacements in the valley. They did that, but then chose to take all the other ones all the way through the valley. Kozietulski's order to move out will always stay in my mind "Onward you dogspawn (of dog blood), the Emperor watches us."
The charge was so difficult, that its commanders had to change 3 times. The last commander endured 9 bayonet wounds and 2 shots in the head (!).
One of the most legendary charges in the history of the cavalry, deserves its own video.
The French debacle in Spain really highlights what a terrible thing it is to fight an entire population determined to fight to the bitter end.
The Spanish nobility did not stop the French, the Spanish army failed to stop them, *it was the Spanish people themselves supported by the church that stopped them*
A similar situation occurred in Russia.
The church defended its interests. They did not care of the people. Napoleon had deleted the Inquisition and established a civilian justice in Spain.
Yeah the Spanish people stop Napoleon and his brother for a Fool King Fernando VII ... Spain needed urgent reforms, Napoleon was right on his analyse of the situation. Where he was wrong, is in politics like in medicine, you can’t force a sick man to take the right treatment. José was a wise man, tolerant and moderate. He would have been a far better king.
@@freewal .
@@freewal and yet the frenchies got their asses handed to them.
@@freewal Napoleon was as bad as Hitler.
Well, the Spanish Army defeated the French at the Battle of Bailén
I LOVE HOW THESE ANIMATED VIDEOS SHOW THE LIVE MOVEMENT OF BATTLE AND THUS GIVES ME BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW EXACTLY THESE EVENTS TRANSPIRED!
GREAT WORK LADS!
- JOHNNY!
Damn, just found this channel. Now I find myself binging these Napoleonic War videos. It’s always a historical conflict I find myself wondering more about, but never dedicate the time to study it. This is good motivation.
Guerrilla is a Spanish word and its means little war. pronunciation in english: Geriiya!
Existen maneras numerosas de pronunciar la "LL", siendo correctas todas.
1. Ge-ril-ya: Lleísmo, la manera más tradicional y más rara, solo se oye en las zonas norteñas de España, en Bolivia, en Paraguay y en algunas zonas montañosas del Perú donde se habla Quechua como lengua nativa.
2. Ge-ri-zha/ge-ri-sha: Español rioplatense, el dialecto de Argentina y Uruguay.
3. Ge-ri-ya: Yeísmo. La forma más común hoy en día.
4. Ge-ri-dja: Una variación del yeísmo, en que la pronunciación de la Y/LL se convierte en algo más semejante a la J inglés.
Gorilla
2:11 Godoy survived the riot because he hid inside a rolled up rug inside the palace lol
I thought only Wellington fought the French in Spain. The things one learns everyday. Great job on this video whoever made it possible.
Same happened with the big Humiliation of British in HISTORY in the battle of Cartagena de Indias against BLAS DE LEZO
The English King George Forbidden British Historians with Death penaly write about this..
@@alexguamisalegre4097----I might have seen a documentary on that battle.
The quality of this production is absolutely first class.
More proof that Napoleon was his own worst enemy, withdrawing before he could deliver the killing blow. This also helped prove that Soult was, at best, an average general.
The Austrians preparing to invade France with a massive army was a more urgent threat than the little escaping British army.
average? i couldn’t move forward becaus of shtty terrain
From Coruña myself. A curious fact is many dogs in these parts are still named Soult and Ney to this day. Sir John Moore is considered a hero of this city too, and there are reenactment battles every few years.
The Independence war is one of the darkest hours in Spain, open war against an invading force, a guerrilla war, and also a civil war. Fernando VII was a terrible ruler, cruel and reactionary. Terrible how post-war retaliation crushed any sign of culture, progress or enlightment as it was "afrancesado". We also don't forget what the church did, or the French army, or the mob, for that matter. The best picture of this war you can glimpse from Goya, the Desastres de la Guerra, and the Caprichos, getting darker and darker as the war unfolds. Or from his later years, in the Pinturas Negras.
Napoleon had a political and economical project for the whole continent, for EUrope. He wanted to create an unified continent, with free trade, revolutionaries principles, abolish the old lords and stop corruption. His mistake was to not understand Spain. Spain was not ready for that, and just centuries behind his philosophy.
He thought that he will be welcome has a hero in Madrid after decades and decades of Corruption, Bad management, done by the Bourbon and the Church in SPain. He didn't understand that people, even when they suffer, has still a pride, and don't want to see foreigners taking their country even if their leaders were atrocious. Napoleon hated the Bourbon and all royal families in Europe. He didn't understand Spain, he spend too many men, and ressources in Spain... And it was an underdeveloped country, they were not even able too eat enough ... I don't know what he wanted there...
Sir John Moore had taken part in the crushing of the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland where the Irish rebels were like the Spanish guerilla's simply fighting a war of liberation. General Cornwallis who was defeated in Yorktown in 1781 at the end of the American War of Independence had his military reputation restored in his party on crushing the 1798 Rebellion on Ireland.
@@freewal Napoleon murdered hundreds of thousands of Spanish civilians, torched libraries and factories and pillaged the whole country. Napoleon was as bad as Hitler.
When you say dogs do you mean dogs you own or street dogs ?
@@blade5896 to own dogs.
Napoleon is quoted as saying:" never stop your enemy when he makes a mistake" apparently he did not pay attention to himself!!!his mistake: fighting two enemies in two fronts!!!
He had smoked his own crack by then.
@@Shreendg he was double cracked, when approaching and when leaving moscow!!! His Freemasonic alma matter sent him to Elba afterwards, he has done their will!!!
was something' like watching tv series and learning at the same time...cant explain how good you people are....
With all the crap on YT (just look at the trending page), there are still amazing channels like this. European history is so interesting.
same tactics what US is following "I am bringing you a remedy" -> "I am bringing you the Freedom/Democracy"
Almost. It would be, if Bush43 put his brother Jeb as the new dictator of Iraq. Imagine how Iraqis would respond to that. Lol.
@@ihl0700677525 i ike how yuou added the 43 so the NSA wont start trying to fidn you.
@Joshua Phillips the delusion
During the Spanish War of Independence (1808-1814), two historical and irreconcilable enemies, Spain and Great Britain, were forced to fight together against Napoleon. It was a difficult alliance, tense and full of risks, especially for the Spanish, due to the excesses committed by the British troops on Spanish soil.-
The end result of that war, with the victory over Napoleon and the French, has ended up muting the story of the terrible acts carried out by Wellington's soldiers: the sacking of Badajoz, the looting of Ciudad Rodrigo, the burning and destruction of San Sebastian, the unjustified bombardments of Béjar... Wellington also adulterated the loyalty and trust that the Spaniards placed in him by criticizing the work of the Cortes of Cádiz and the Constitution. His contempt for the army and Spanish institutions were constant. But let's go back a few years in history...
During the Modern Age, relations between the kingdoms of Spain and Great Britain were openly hostile, translated into a multitude of wars and armed confrontations. In the years preceding the Peninsular War, the English historiography's name for our War of Independence, the English and Spanish had measured weapons in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1797), Cabo San Vicente (1797), Algeciras (1801)..., until lead to the crucial battle: Trafalgar (1805). Months before the general uprising against the French, on May 2, 1808, the English and Spanish were technically enemies and the former wasted no time. The British had prepared military expeditions aimed at stirring up the American colonial possessions against the Spanish crown. Arthur Wellesley himself had been chosen to command an expedition against the territory of present-day Venezuela and awaited the last orders in Cork, Ireland, with 9,500 men, until events in Spain cut short his expedition.
The origin of the British military intervention in Spain was in the birth of the Supreme Governing Board of Asturias. This sent two representatives to Great Britain requesting British help to fight the French. It would be necessary to wait until September 1808, once the Central Board was constituted, to send emissaries to London to sign an alliance treaty with all the formalities. The Spanish government requested monetary and material aid rather than military. The fresh memory of the past battles and the Gibraltar wound were still open. The first British military compasses in the Peninsula were not very glorious, since Napoleon's energetic offensive in the Peninsula brought him to the gates of Madrid before Christmas 1808. The little corporal disrupted the Spanish armies and put the Spanish soldiers in trouble. British, unable to engage the French directly. General John Moore (Wellington was in England to respond to an investigation) took over command and decided to withdraw to La Coruña, where he could be assisted by Royal Navy coverage.
The withdrawal was bleak, and was marked by winter conditions, which cost the lives of 6,000 British soldiers. The exhausting marches, the freezing weather and the frequent skirmishes with the vanguard of the French troops caused the fall into alcoholism of numerous troops, and their consequent abandonment before the French advance. This British withdrawal, very similar to that of Dunkirk in 1940, was a military disaster that they knew how to turn into a moral triumph. British soldiers re-embarked and Moore was killed in action, wounded by a cannonball and revered as a hero. However, while he lived in Spain, neither he nor his troops behaved as such... They were bad allies, they left the Spanish troops alone against the French and committed all kinds of outrages in their desperate flight to La Coruña. In this war, no foreign army behaved decently with the Spanish civilian population. After the withdrawal at the beginning of 1809, English propaganda went to work and part of the blame for the disaster was placed on the Spanish. "Romantic dreams of Spanish courage and patriotism vanished overnight," Arthur Bryant wrote.
English freemasonry since 1717 is your answer!!!
England was fighting two enemies at once, with a subterfuge hand stabbing Spain on the back, while pretending fighting together against the dwarf napoleon
They formed an alliance with the worst demons with a shitty army.
@@Ernesto1317 The fault was for the Bourbon dynasty that brought us sublimation with France
@@ismaelmad1 huaman tenias que ser!
Thanks for the translation into Korean, I was able to see it comfortably.I will continue to watch videos often👍👍👍👍
This IS history. Thanks EH TV.
Exactly, all the other TH-cam channels before this are just history but this one is EPIC HISTORY !!!
Bravo to your Spanish and French pronunciation like a British pro!
95th Rifles...Maj. Richard Sharpe in his Majesty's service saved the Royal Army for another day! Good show Epic History TV!
It was the Army of Galicia which actually held all the mountain passes,
in frozen conditions while the British narrowly escaped covered by the
volunteers & militiamen. Luckily the British were saved by Napoleon
getting sidetracked and having to go back to France to deal with a new
emerging threat from the Austrians. Knowing Napoleons' previous very
aggressive attacking style, things could have been far worse.
I don't disagree with you for a second. Have you ever heard of the fictional character Sharpe?
Tactics they learned the hard way from Daniel Morgan and the rest of the Continental (pre-US American) rifle troops in the Revolutionary War three decades earlier.
Sharpe and Harper will march again.
The British Army isn't called the Royal Army. Individual units are granted Royal titles such as the Royal Engineers or the Royal Fusiliers but as the Army is a composite identity instead of a single unit it isn't granted a Royal title
Thumbs up for saving the ad until the end.
I read that, besides all of the above, Napoleon's brother, Joseph, coveted a crown also, and since there was none available, Napoleon decided to take the king of Spain's. He thought that conquering Spain would cost him only 40,000 men. A country with so many friars was easy to conquer. But, it was not.
The conquest cost him about 600,000 men.
Man John Moore's evacuation campaign was epic. It makes Dunkirk look like a house party. Someone really should make a movie about it.
I mean, Dunkirk involved a lot more men.
It did but tbf the Germans held back Hitler could of anniahlated us but chose to hold the panzer divisions back , the french however didnt hold back.
Osprey books rock! You'll never keep up with all of them, so pick your period.(periods)
great information on one of my favorite campaigns...I always thought of Corunna as an earlier Dunkirk and Wellesley would return...it would be the beginning of the end for Napoleon
I hope you will show us Sweden during Napoleonic War: Finnish War between Sweden and Russia. That would be so great!
But after you were fighting together with Russia, with former French general Bernadotte (Charles XIV) against Napoleon in the battle of Leipzig. I can't wait to see this battle.
@@matejeber91 Leipzig is really the climax of the Napoleonic wars. The last battle in which everything was still possible for Europe, and the biggest battle in European history prior WW1.
Leipzig is such a huge battle they might need three shows to do it justice!
Tom Plunket = Legend
the first ever sniper
@@matthewdoliveira9421 Lol nope. If we are talking about riflemen taking out high priority targets, that honor goes to American rifleman Tim Murphy, who famously killed British General Simon Fraser on Oct. 7, 1777 during the Battle of Saratoga at 300-500 yards during the American War of Independence.
@@Zarastro54 guess the Brits learned a thing or two from fighting the Americans
Harry L 88 is a Cowardly Cyber Rat In the 1500’s and 1600’s there was no doctrine or precedent for men specifically tasked with individually talking out key targets, as firearms hadn’t advanced to that point yet. If you can identify a sniper from that time period, then by all means, but if not, then stop talking out of your ass. That’s like saying longsword combat had existed since before the Romans just because swords had existed that long.
@Harry L 88 is a Cowardly Cyber Rat Ouch.
this was my favorite subject in shcool. I loved it I would wake up happy to go to class on days I had social studies. I had to leave shcool after grade 9 to sell drugs to pay rent dad left it was just my sister & me.
Great video , both the quality and the content .
Here's forty shillings on the drum
,
For those who volunteer to come,
To enlist and fight the foe today
,
Over the Hills and far away.
(Subscribed)
The British Main Strategy: Pull Out by sea.
French Emperor, German Furor, they will be seen as boy-scouts cause my Nation is rather War like.
It works. So why not.
"The British army should be a projectile to be fired by the British fleet." The British army was not the senior service like it was in Germany or France, the Royal Navy always got top priority and the army was rarely numerous enough to go toe to toe with continental powers. If things get a little bit too hot, retreat to sea and try again somewhere else...its worked time and time again through British history.
Just thought it's probably a British strategy because we were really the only island power.
@Charmingly Cynical More ships? What?
Anyway, you should admit Britain was always advantaged by the Channel, which enabled to focus on other fields than land armies. It's totally obvious, and you probably know deep down it's true. As you also know that Britain would have never won the Napoleonic wars, WW1 or WW2 alone.
“Spain, Napoleon concluded, was backwards. Militarily weak and incompetently governed.”
Not much has changed for most of the country.
No. That is not true.
He was right on his analysis, but the thing he didn't understand is that Spanish loved this mess. They wanted to live like this, beliving their priests, robbing money.
@ILC Summit Brazil speaks portugese, America and Canada speak English and French. The only parts that speak Spanish, suck ;)
@@skeeprbrit1673 ignorante interesado en mentir. Los conquistadores ingleses llegaron al norte. En zonas muy pequeñas, y fueron conquistando terrenos a los nativos, asesinando con métodos crueles. Contagiando y asesinando con mantas infectadas con viruela a las tribus para quedarse con sus territorios. Un ejemplo.Vuestras películas no son creíbles, sois piratas y cobardes.
@@skeeprbrit1673 they suck because they declared independence in the first place, same with Brazil
After the Battle of Bailén in 1808, thousands of French soldiers were imprisoned on the desolate island of Cabrera. With little food, no shelter, and scarce resources, the conditions were unbearable. Many died from starvation and disease, and in extreme desperation, some resorted to cannibalism. This tragic episode remains a haunting reminder of the brutal consequences of war.
Hi There! Greetings from Dominican Republic. I love your content! Is 100% Quality.
Which Napoleonic Video are You working next and when they might be published here? Thank You and Keep UP the Good Work ;)
Thank you! Next video is about Aspern, out on Thursday. Find Epic History TV on twitter/fb/insta for regular updates.
Great! Thank You so much for answering. I like your Work on these videos and style of Narrate it.
I'll stay TUNED for the next Video this Thursday to give You my Feedback. Have a nice day.
Napoleon did an oopsie
That is true XD
*Pew News intro intensifies*
Don't you mean an OOF?!
He didn't really have a good reason to remain in power in the countries he attacked and conquered.
And the leadership he was forced to leave in charge was woefully incompetent and utterly cruel to the civilian population when it should have been inviting and allying with local warlords.
Great video, but at 4:44 there is a mistake. The army of Galicia routed at Medina was the one led by Blake. The one led by Cuesta was the army of Castile.
expertly made , really finally get to understand this part of history ,well done
In my hometown, A Coruña, we have a statue in honor the General Moore, near the place the british took their ships
I would reccomend to those interested in a more intimate account of this whole campaign, to read The Recollections of Rifleman Harris. It is a fascinating book, written from the perspective a lowly rifleman, no grand strategy, no great moral implications, just the memories of an otherwise insignificant foot soldier and cobbler, one of the faceless thousands who served in the armies of the Duke of Wellington. It even gives some good insights into civilian and post war life for the average Georgian era commoner.
Charles Oman is also a good choice for the overall and with lots os insight through the eyes of the memorialists.
Amazing job!! Thank you!! it is very interesting to see the Spanish and English working together! It did not happen very often haha
And it didnt really happen. You know, the english werent there collaborating with the spanish, they were doing their own thing.. You know you wont hear about this in this channel, because it is british and they are like "that".. But the english used their time in spain just to help themselves. They used to loot all over and destroy industries that were in direct competence with the british ones.. specially the ones related to textiles.. Some parts of spain were number 1 of the world in textile industry... not after the british came around, they sistematically destroyed and "captured" (packing up the machines used and then sending them to england) spanish industries "to help their own"... So no, not so much collaboration.. sorry to break your myth but things should be told as they are and not as we wish they were...
@@Trikipum Interesting indeed, cheers for the input. you could see that even in between Spanish and English armies there was anything but cooperation.
@@alskjlskaj Portugal wasnt an ally in that time, lol
These are such great videos. So we’ll done. Love that they even have the division commanders’ names during the animation sequences. Wonderful work!
This really is a fantastic educational series - I would love to see one on the ill-fated 1809 Walcheren Expedition & siege of Flushing. Although a disaster for the British, my 4 x Great Grandfather Lt Otto Ernst von Heldreich of the 1st Regiment de Prusse was captured and became a PoW in Ashbourne Derbyshire. He stayed & married an inn keepers daughter. And that’s why I’m British! ☺️👍
Ps: the date tag on the Battle of Vimeiro says 1805 - but should be 1808.
Is british an ethnicity or nationality????