Was Napoleon a Military Tyrant or a Reformer? - Kings and Generals Reaction
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- čas přidán 26. 11. 2023
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#history #reaction
Thanks for reacting! More opinions are always welcome.
Fantastic work as always!
@@VloggingThroughHistoryis our
woah its KingsandGenerals in the flesh what a surprise
Two of my favourite channels, amazing!
wow what a cameo!
It's incredibly interesting how a man can generate so many different opinions and discussions. Here in Portugal, where I live, the general population thinks of Napoleon as a tyrant that invaded Portugal and helped to instigate major castastrophical events like the loss of Brazil and the civil war, in school we learn about massacres, rapes and looting done by the French troops that would take many decades to recover from. But in countries like Poland and Italy, for example, Napoleon takes a completely different role, that of a liberator. Such a fascinating figure.
“The device every conqueror, yes, every altruistic liberator should be required to wear on his shield is a little girl and her kitten, at ground zero.” - Captain Sir Dominic Flandry
Because even in Portugal you forgot your own stories to ingurgitate the british propaganda one because it suited your leaders, same in Spain when in reality the common people got lied to by the priests and all the clergy, the nobles against France because these people knew they would lose all their privileges even if it meant the people were less poor and the country would do better
Portugal doesn’t deserve Brazil.
@@borginburkes1819 I iever commended colonization or anything, just stated a fact, that the loss of Brazil was a major loss for Portugal.
@@jojox7647 I know. And Portugal never deserved to have the colony in the first place. It’s not a “loss” if it doesn’t belong to you. If I steal someone’s car and the cops repossess it, it’s not a “loss” for me. It’s god doing the right thing.
Bonaparte was also the victim of propaganda. He was not tall, but he was nowhere near being the malign dwarf of Austrian and British cartoonists.
One must wonder how history would’ve changed if Napoleon was 6’5 tall.
@@nhandinh7404Knowing people of the time, he would be labeled as a "brutish savage of a giant, slow in both mind and gait"
wasn't he like 5' 7-8 based on historical record?
that wasn't the only propaganda of the british against napoleon
@@asdf0747 I believe Napoleon was like 5’5 or so, an inch or two shorter than an average French soldier.
Tyrant or reformer? Maybe both, They aren't necessarily mutually exclusive..
Oh, wow!
Really?
No freaking shit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@@francesco245 Yes Really
What non-committal nonsense.
@firmitas68 what a way to miss a point!
You mean your non-point? I am glad Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence and not you. Is George III a Tyrant or good family man? They aren't mutually exclusive.
2:52 Yes Napoleon's remains were brought back under the monarchy, but it was the July Monarchy, born from the 1830 July Revolution which overthrew Charles X (Louis XVI and XVIII's brother). It was a more liberal (politically and economically) and parliamentarian monarchy under the Orléans branch of the Bourbon dynasty. Louis-Philippe, the king, had fought in the revolutionary armies before fleeing during the Terror. He was trying to build a more consensual regime to reconcile the factions born from the Revolution and the Empire (ultra-conservative/reactionary and pro-Bourbon royalists, aka Legitimists, more liberal supporters of his dynasty, Orléanists, Bonapartists and Republicans). This is also around the time many museums dedicated to French history were created in order to forge a national identity.
Excellent point.
@@VloggingThroughHistory Thank you. I like how measured your analysis was. One point on the "tyrannical" aspect of his regime, though: he heavily censored the free press that had developed under the Revolution, and instituted what could be argued to be a police state.
Don't know if there are English-speaking videos on them but you should look up both Joseph Fouché, Napoleon's minister of police, and Eugène-François Vidocq, Napoleon's Paris police chief, who both have lives as interesting as Napoleon. Fouché was a former radical Jacobin who took part in the Terror but revealed himself to be a master opportunist (like Talleyrand) and caused Robespierre's fall before rallying Napoleon, and even helping his own downfall later on. Vidocq is considered one of the fathers of modern policing and helped found modern criminology.
@@samrevlej9331 Well if the fact that he had a state police makes him a Tyrant. France had state police in the 80's Coluche being their most famous victim and we could still say the prefect of police of Paris very much act like so to this day. Most western countries today at least in the Anglophone countries have political police forces that served the state first. Ireland being the most recent exemple.
And todays press is insanely Bias if not coordinated by the state. Covid coverage being the most obvious example and everything disagreeing with the state narrative is automatically flagged as far-right, neo-nazi or white supremacy.
I guess we are also living under tyranny.
I've always found it interesting to think about the first Napoleonic War as a war, not to stop Napoleon, but as a war to reinstate the monarchy in France, rather than a war to stop the "new empire"
When I saw the video this morning, I knew you'd react to it, given your comment last week about Napoleon's virtue. He was far more noble and humane than despots like Hitler and Stalin or even Ganghis Kong. It's not fair to compare him to those men.
Ganghis Kong o_o
I agree but he’s still one of the most ruthless, callous men to have ever lived.
You can say that’s just how it was at the time and I’d say sure in response, but nonetheless, it will always be weird to me to see how some people are actually fanboys of historical figures, and it’s especially severe when it comes to Napoleon
@@dream1430 That's a fair assessment of the hype surrounding the man, though I'm not sure he deserves to be called "one of the most ruthless and callous men to have ever lived". Not one of his fanboys by the way.
@@dream1430but without being ruthless in nature you will get dethroned as a dictator no if ands or buts. Someone will think they can do a better job will amass a following and take kill you. People are jealous and this is an example of our jealousy.
Better than Hitler, or Stalin, or Genghis Khan is quite a low bar, you realize.
Klemens Von Metternich - "Men like M De Talleyrand are like sharp objects with which it's dangerous to play".
If anyone knew it was Metternich!
If learning about Napoleon the last several months had taught me anything is that there’s a difference between a dictator and a tyrant. Yes Napoleon was technically a dictator but I don’t put him on the same level as a Hitler or Stalin both oh whom were most definitely tyrants.
I am a history professor and just saw the movie. I made a review on it as well if people want to know what was historically accurate in it and what was fiction. My essay question I give my students on him is asking them to sort out if he is a "child of the enlightenment, or a dictator" In reality he is very complex person. A bit of enigma is many ways.
Napoleon is an interesting historical person for several reasons. It is disappointing how easy people disregards complexity in todays world.
@mikkelborchsenius1156 it's one of the points I made in my review. Hope you get a chance to watch it.
Absolutely!
Simple and binary minds are incapable of nuance anyway, and feel reassured if they can categorise all things and people into either a "good" or a "bad" camp.
Needless to say, most things and beings are neither or a bit of both...
@@mikkelborchsenius1156
@@HistoryfortheAges I did and enjoyed your review and found informative.
Would you agree that he was beloved by a lot of soldiers because he did care more about them, than it was usual in this time period?
Choosing tactics that limited casualties at The Battle of Austerlitz, protecting the retreat of his forces when they were loosing. This is
a question that still fascinates me. The fact they've forgiven him that they basically didn't had a life - they lived from battle to battle and
were not allowed to leave after their mandatory military service.
Like most reformers in history, Napoleon is a nuanced character who cannot be simply placed in a “good” or “evil” category. While he made many contributions to European society and fixed a lot of France’s problems, he did so in ways that were harsh and tyrannical. The same argument could be made for Caesar, FDR, or even Lincoln (not all of them to the same degree of harshness, but the point stands).
These reforms often face stiff resistance, and these leaders frequently face the temptation to strong arm their way into implementing them.
We probably need to judge these people with the similar mœurs of their time instead of our modern vision of the world.
Good viewpoint.
@@olivierpujol8772 Correct we cannot let our modern values and ideals be forced onto people who lived 100+ years ago. War for example is not viewed the same way.
@@Truewooperthat’s such a bad take. Things that are morally wrong today were also morally wrong back then. Murder for example, is bad regardless of where you are or what time period.
No, your take is a stupid take. The viewpoints on war have always constantly changed. At some points civilization have been barbaric, lawless, and in others more civilized and reformed. You cannot claim something so trivial as “x is viewed really bad now so it must be for all other societies in history.” By our standards Lincoln is a racist and white supremacist, but we are intelligent enough to distinguish our views with those of Lincoln’s era. Despite those things we all recognize his great leadership in the United States most perilous moment. How about we time travel you to a Roman legion fighting in the forests of Gaul surrounded by 80,000 screaming helvetii savages. Then you can try your “murder is always bad.”
As a South American , I have no sympathy for Spain being invaded , in fact it’s thanks to that invasion that we even stood a chance to liberate ourselves from the Spanish. One of the most important battles in the revolutionary wars had a total of 8k ish troops , that was not even 5% of Spains power , and even then we were barely able to succeed
I think its worth mentioning that poles switched sides during Haiti revolution and fought against french. They switched sides bcs it reminded them that these ppl are fighting for their freedom, independence against oppression. Remember that Poles lost their country around that time (1795).
We truly are in a special golden age of amazingly cool historical content. Since following your channel, I've discovered so many incredible channels that it seems like half my feed is now history-related videos. Whatever historical topic you might be interested in, no matter how esoteric, you can find hours and hours of great content.
Been waiting for the Marshalls from EpicHistory for a year now though, lol.
Thanks for all the Napoleonic content. I am a massive Napoleonic Wars nerd so I appreciate it
Thanks for reacting to the video, Chris. It's Jonathan from Warhawk - I wrote the script for this K&G video and I appreciate your reaction to it! :D
My grade 10 history class studied French revolutionary history, and one of our final papers was prompted with ; was Napoleon a Hero or Villain!
This is a cool video to find after that!
as a Frenchman, I can say that today the left loves Robespierre and the right loves Napoleon. Both are major and very complex characters from the 20 years of the Revolutionary/Napoleonic period.
why the hell does anyone love robespierre? He makes any kind of drunk with power complex napoleon mightve had look like a joke. I guess maybe because they are more fans of rousseau than robespierre and are too ignorant and misguided to properly place their admiration on the correct figure
@@austinlittke7688 Elected deputy of the third estate at the Etats général of 1789, he soon became one of the main figures of the “democrats” in the Constituent Assembly, defending the abolition of the death penalty and slavery, the right to vote of people of color, Jews or comedians, as well as universal suffrage and equal rights against census-based suffrage. His intransigence soon earned him the nickname “The Incorruptible.” A member of the Jacobin club from its origins, he gradually became one of its leading figures.
I m not a fan..but the man is not "black or white"....
Napoleon is not right Wing. He’s just Napoleon.
@@antoinedoyen7452 then why did he turn into darth vader
@@austinlittke7688 never...
And Ridley Scott ignored all of that in his character assassination allegeged bio pic.
He wanted to create something he had fought against: A dinasty, a new house of royals.The Habsburg, The Bourbons, The Bonaparts, with more modern ideas, but a dinasty after all.
Napoléon was "an enlighted dictator"(un dictateur éclairé).
A good expression for an unusual man.
Nice video. sad both king & generals and you forgot to mention the secret police. Napoleon seems more popular amongst those who don't have to live with him (both French and foreign). Sort of a historical/temporal NIMBY Phenomenon.
I predict CZcams laying some heavy rules on reaction content pretty soon.
Hey Chris. Just got my shirt the other day! It’s been great to wear and represent the channel! I’m excited for the day someone asks me about the channel and I can send them here to watch several videos! - Michael from Tempe Arizona.
Awesome Michael!
Good video and good commentary.
Regarding the "casualty" thing, I'm under the impression that they actually meant dead people (most historians I saw count the dead (including civilians) in millions between 1789 and 1815).
A fascinating video and reaction. I knew very little about this aspect of Napoleon. And I would say that the problem with capable tyrants is that what comes after them is worse, people who mainly want to hold onto and extend their power.
😆This hit my feed the same time I just started watching this K&G video, decided to watch both at once via your video. Dont worry they got my click and like
really liking all this napoleon stuff lately
great video!!! That was super interesting
We neeeeeeeed epic history’s marshals reaction my guy
Hi Chris, I know it might be a bit out of left field, but I wanted to ask if you could cover the newest Kings and Generals video about the Czechoslovak Legion. It's a very interesting story that a lot of people don't know about. Since the game Last Train Home just came out.
Now that I think about, it Napoleon's attempts at peace and eventually resulting in the wars because of the failure to ensure peace was probably one of the reasons why Clausewitz said in On War after reflecting on the Napoleonic Wars: “We see, therefore, that War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means.”
My favourite Napoleon is Napoleon XIV, who wrote the novelty song 'They're Coming To Take Me Away.'.
He a HERO
Fun fact: It was one of Napoleon's Marshal (Soult) who served as President of the Council of Minister (Prime Minister) during "Retour des cendres".
Let us not forget the wisest of his Marshalls, Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, who became King of Sweden and made Sweden peaceful and prosperous, and his descendants are still on the throne.
Watched that video a few days ago, a decent take on some aspects of Napoleon. He will always be an interesting character to study with so many facets to his life. I have also been appreciating your videos on the subject, you are a great and valuable channel for these discussions!
34:10 Great example for Propaganda not being inherently tyranical are packages for cigarettes (at least in the EU) when you have given there horrific imagery of effects of smoking, all true but in fact propaganda which enhances the view of one side.
I don't want to be that guy, but when are we getting the Napoleon marshalls video?!
In my case I just can't get over him leaving his army in Egypt. As a massive fan of Nelson, that just feels like the ultimate betrayal of his men.
There’s a channel called “Taste of History” that I would recommend. It’s a combination of history and food. He just did a video on Napoleon’s favorite dish that was really interesting.
I'm so annoyed by the ridley scott movie. He basically paints him as a weakling.
We need a ten episode mini-series from HBO. We need justice for his greatest moments. I want to see his moments explored. Watching him be an emo cuck for 3 hours was tough this weekend. I really hope they cast a french or corsican actor and use some of the other languages in future productions.
I’m going to see the Battle of Austerlitz reenactment on Saturday (actually exactly on the anniversary this year),I can make some footage for you, if interested :)
Yes. That's awesome! I'm hoping to get to Austerlitz next year sometime.
@@VloggingThroughHistory Seams we’re gonna “enjoy” the elements, if one can believe the forecast. So probably no “le soleil d'Austerlitz” this year - but whatever, I’m still going to see the parade of the Grande Armée on the spot at 7:30 AM 🙂
King and generals, vth, oversimplified etc make history easy to digest when youre working
Yes
Hey Chris, is there gonna be a VTH Gamung video today, and if so, which game?
For anyone very much into Napoleonic warfare I recommend Schwerpunkt
Ah yes, VTH + Kings and Gens + Napolean, all my favorites in one.
I feel like the movie missed a good opportunity to showcase the more 'reformer' side of Napoleon (Napoleonic codes, Bank of France). Still, you could argue that he conveyed both sides to the argument.
Honestly. Ive always seens napoleon like i see caesar. Yes they had power hungry ideas. But i think it matters more how they used that power. They both saw a broken system and used it to gain power and change the world for the better. But both got stopped before they could make it a reality!
Kings and Generals are amazing 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
" A great, bad man " yep, da complexity of napoleon is why he's one of my favorite persons in history to study, pretty much.
And yah, talleyrand, dat man was opportunistic asfk, the epitome of the conniving politician. And dat political talent of his rlly helped alot in taking care of no.1, which is himself 🤣
Talleyrand deserves credit though for his diplomatic masterpiece: Making France leave the Congress of Vienna as a partner in the new European order, rather than as a subjugated defeated nation subject to punitive peace terms.
@@anderskorsback4104 yah, he did, and Im not saying dat he didn't have any talent or skill, cos he did, he had in spades. Im just saying he's just that type of opportunistic person, he's dat guy, and I just find he's type of carricature of a person very funny 😅
Just like Caesar proved back in his day, sometimes it takes absolute power to bring in needed reforms, as scary as that notion may be nowadays.
Sure, if there only was a way to make sure that the right guy has the absolute power.
When is the napoleons marshals reaction?
I'll admit I only saw Napoleon as only a great general. I'm always glad to learn more.
Napoleon, "someone who added a great deal of positive impetus to the world." J. David Markham
Actually Napoleon send a lot of Polish Soldiers to re-conquer Haiti but since Polish were under rule of other Empires themself when they saw Haitians fighting for Independence they joined them, and overthrown French completely, Polish were the only white people allowed to live in Haiti and weren't slaughtered. "Haiti's first head of state Jean-Jacques Dessalines called Polish people "the White Negroes of Europe", which was then regarded a great honour, as it meant brotherhood between Poles and Haitians."
Is there any “welcome back” merch?
haven't watched the video but just from the title
he's violently overthrew the government and crowned himself an emperor
he smashed decent through military force
he invaded neighbors and former allies (some in defensive wars but not all)
he was a military tyrant by all means
that doesn't mean he can't bring any form of reform
he can be both, he was both, but i think the former is far more telling of who he was as a person than the latter
Late again so I doubt you’ll see this but I really really hope you will react to the marshals series and I hope I don’t sound demanding I just hope you won’t push it back 1-2 years. I know you’ll enjoy it and we would love your reaction to it.
I’m probably sounding very pessimistic and defeatist (I am lol because we have waited so long) but I don’t mean to force you to hurry just hope you don’t forget.
Anyway love your videos have a great day/ night.
Honestly, opinions in France are still pretty split, especially among political differences. Right-leaning people tend to see the military glory and the great reforms (besides the Civil Code, the Council of State still exists as one of our Supreme Courts, not to mention prefects overseeing local territories). Left-leaning people tend to criticize his militarism, his autocratic regime and the reestablishment of slavery which has gotten more attention for the past 20 years.
A lot of historical and political controversies arose around the commemoration of the 200th anniversary of his death in 1821, especially because our president, Macron, who's well-known for some let's say top-down presidential style, not-so-subtly tried to portray himself as a similar kind of "great leader". That leads into complex political discussions about our current Constitution, created by De Gaulle in 1958, which is argued to be very Bonapartist: a strong president heading the executive, relying on popular approval (or at least half-hearted consent) through direct suffrage elections, with a de-clawed Parliament serving as a rubber stamp.
Because your left is a bit pathetic, like "his militarism" and who started those wars? And what revolution they want to made, one by colluding with the nobility? Autocracy was exactly what Robespierre did, what happen with your left is that is no left, it is just a lot of under educated people that believes in the establishment point of view and uses polemicists rather than historical facts to make a critic. And the right leaning in France in some cases hate him because they are monarchists, they saw his glory but not his acts as good. Also a lot of things in France are bizarre, and the parliament should just have little power or you will have a backwards parliament like during the third republic.
I mean this is definitely a controversial topic in school education today in places like the United States. As a historian I thought you would appreciate that more because you can argue there's nothing wrong with celebrating the great things in your countries history but also not at the expense of whitewashing its controversial pasts as well * cough* Native Americans *cough*. If schools allow no variety of views or debates then they risk becoming part of a 1984 lens. I am a proud American but I also think I am a better American by also learning its flaws and what we can take away from it.
28:00 Sometimes I look at the degenerate society around us and think: Maybe it's us that are viewing things wrongly?
Social dissociation, sky-high divorce rates, insane amount of single-parent children, increasing depression and mental illness. Maybe there is something to the wisdom of tends of thousands of years of human history.
For love of god
Please cover Napoleon Marshal
You sound quite a bit like a "Napoleon defender". Im definitely one too 😂
I don't really see him as responsible for any of the Napoleonic wars, with the pretty obvious exclusion of his invasion of Russia and actions in Spain.
Epic history tv's Napoleon's marshals please 🙏🙏🙏
Napoleon’s…
Marshals!!!
Do it! Doooo eeeet!
I'd say we're prepared to beg for it but we've already been begging for like two years now XD
In the words of Total War: *"I am Napoleon. I am Emperor!"*
He was everything he could be associated with
The looting of culturally invaluable works of art, especially from Italy, was despicable.
Napoleon was a tyrant.
Awesome video. I’m taking a history class on 100,000 years of war next semester and the Napoleon movie inspired me to start learning about the Napoleonic Wars. I can see why the French loved their Emperor.
As with the French Panama canal project, Napoleon’s Haiti project foundered on yellow fever and malaria. The French took some 90% casualties in Haiti, which made any further ambitions in the Americas futile.
The Haiti project was to renslave those who had been freed by the Convention.
@@adrianainespena5654 And it was to use Haiti as a base to exploit New Orleans and Haiti as a base against the British.
@@adrianainespena5654
well they had freed themselves in the first place. IIRC, Napoleon was interested in taking back control of the island, and the support for slavery was a way to content the lobby of plantation owner, in the hope they could help him control these places.
It is curious how the propaganda thing seems to be so important and something that can make him a tyrant and then, event to this day, many of the things regarding his figure is propaganda from his enemies. Making him a tyrant (not a grey figure, just a tyrant) is done to justify all the wars that he didn't start as wars against tyranny.
Also, most western countries do teach the history of their country in a positive way and people tend to be very nationalistic. If we agree with the point they do about that, it basically means that most european societies and countries have tyrannic behaviours.
“The device every conqueror, yes, every altruistic liberator should be required to wear on his shield … is a little girl and her kitten, at ground zero.” - Captain Sir Dominic Flandry
So Napoleon’s Maréchals reaction is a no-go? 🫠🫠🫠
It will happen. Probably sooner than later.
Leclerc would have been a Marshal if he hadn't been sent to Haiti (and died)
Likely so, yes.
I agree 100% propaganda is required for tyranny. It is impossible to control a large group of people without controlling the information those people have access to.
It’s fascinating that you react to every Napoleon video that exists yet the marshalls serie(a masterpiece) is still waiting
I just saw the Napoleon movie a couple of days ago, and I honestly enjoyed it (for the most part). Granted, it wasn't as good as say Patton or Oppenheimer, but I thought it was alright. There were some parts of it where I thought that Ridley Scott was taking extreme liberties with history, but I have seen other films that did worse, so I'm a little more forgiving on that than others would be. The performances I think were decent, though I think Phoenix was trying too hard at times to imitate his performance from Gladiator, but I thought he did alright with what was given. There were parts that I felt were glossed over a bit, like the Egypt Campaign, but I assume that it might be explained more in the four hour director's cut that will be on Apple TV. Overall, though, I would rate it about 7/10 for me, and I definitely want to check out other films or series about Napoleon like Waterloo! 👍
Yeah, I mostly agree with you, but I do think the trailers were misleading. From the trailers, I thought I was going to watch a movie about Napoleon's military campaigns, but instead, I watched a movie about his relationship with Josephine. Also, I hear that the director's cut is going to focus even more on him and Josephine, so I wouldn't bet on getting any more context for things like Egypt, Spain, or Italy.
@sorendaniels754 Yeah, I was a little bit disappointed at it, but like I said, there are worse films out there
the problem is the movie failed to depict napoleon as he was in real life. You can't really understand how great he was from the depiction of this movie. It kinda butchered his war campaigns and his character as well. The movie had great cinematics and effects, and the battles were entertaining (although they were completely nonsensical and lacked the tactics that Napoleon used during those wars.) @@AMERICANNERD76
im not an expert or anything, but afterseeing the movie and watching some videos online i think its kinda both
N O T R I D L E Y S C O T T
Go Blue!!!
I can't help but think about Julius Caesar when I try to figure out a person to compare Napoleon to. Both were great generals, both were dictators who relied on military power, and both came to power because things were falling apart and proved themselves expert politicians, and governors. And it's really easy to cast them as either great men who save their countries from darkest hours and revitalized them for a new age, or as power hungry dictators who cared only for their own position based on what narrative fits the propagandist message of the present.
yep so true. They both really were half bad half good so it makes it extremely hard to argue one direction or the other, as well as making it hard to grapple with your own opinion and favor of them. Like even if u want to see them as good, the bad is too great to defend ur view, and even if u want to see them as bad, the good is too great to defend that view, would u agree more or less?
@@austinlittke7688 More or less.
Awesome vid VTH, I was unfairly critical of you at one point and I wanna say sorry for that.
No worries. Glad you're here.
At 21:35, the video talks critically about the interference of the foreign powers (Austria etc.) in French affairs following the Revolution. But when it comes to Napoleon's interference in the internal affairs of other countries (abolition of the Holy Roman Empire etc. etc.) many of the same commentators see that as a good thing. For me, that's inconsistent and hypocritical. Either interference in the internal affairs of other countries is a bad thing or it isn't; you can't pick and choose.
hmm, the abolition of the HRE was decided by austria though, because it lost too much influence in it during the war ?
@@Kamfrenchie That was only after Napoleon established the Confederation of the Rhine, where he took away most of the HRE member states. There wasn't much left after that!
Yeah I read somewhere that Napoleon was indeed a deist.
He didn't care about France. France was only a vessel for his ambition. It just happened to be the nation that ruled his home island, and also happened to be unstable enough for someone like him with ambition to seize power.
Definitely a reformer and a hero
Napoleon always struck me as a realpolitik politician, similar to Nixon/Kissinger.
The similarities between Napoleon and Hitler define your comment that "History doesn't repeat itself but it does rhyme".
*
eg
This video mentioned something that is often never mentioned: the education focus of Napoleon's school system. Specifically, its glorification of Charlemagne and the belief in a "Greater French People". This didn't go as far as the Nazis racial policies, but it did manifest itself in both the policies of French economic and political hegemony over Europe. It may even be a root of the "French are snobs"
Napoleon took the extremism of the Revolution and twisted it into an extremist French Nationalism.
"The French are the most glorious people of earth, Paris is the capitol of all culture, and we will recreate the Carolingian Empire as the rightful borders of Greater France.
France as masters of Europe will last for a thousand years!"
He of course never said that but I doubt he'd have disagreed with it.
That said, Napoleon was one of the better rulers of the past three hundred years and probably the least "bad" conqueror in human history. His "atrocities" are almost universally retributive actions such as the shooting of civilians in Spain. As opposed to pre-organized policies of genocide or whatnot.
i completely disagree with your opinion. Ever heard of French elán? The french already had this view of themselves as superior way before napoleon and he didnt exactly give it steroids or anything.
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡
@@austinlittke7688 I was not referring to Elan, which usually refers to the French military and lasted well into the 1930's, but the social policies promoting the idea that a person of French birth was inherently superior were promoted by a cult of Charlemagne.
History isn't taught; it is learned.
There can be no doubt he was a monster. He carved a path of death and destruction everywhere he went. Hitler loved dogs but he was still a monster. So Napoleon introduced a few reforms here and there, great, but remember if anyone apposed him they were ruthlessly dealt with.
History dose made a documentary about Alexandre dumas video.
It's a bad video, well made by its visuals and narration but biased.
@@Moroes11 Biased in what way? You can argue Kings & Generals or VTH are biased based on what they include and omit in their anlysis. History Dose focuses on the lesser-known figure of General Dumas (Alexandre Dumas' father), which highlights a more unpleasant aspect of Napoleon's personality. It's not the whole story, but the point is to focus on Dumas.
@@samrevlej9331 History Dose purposely omit elements to redirect to a certain narrative. I don't feel like VTH purposely omit things and try to manipulate his audience, the sense I get is that he is being honest and try to be as objective as possible.
I came out of History Dose's video, which is totally fantasizing Dumas, who is absolutely perfect in all circumstances and acknowledging Napoleon as a pillager, reaper of the revolution and a racist.
I couldn't tell if the point was to focus on Dumas or to demonize Napoleon. They tell a very romanticized story of Dumas which does not reflect with what I've heard from the historian Pierre Branda, or Thierry Lentz for example.
It would be amazing if you can talk and interview napoleon living descendants like you interview eisenhower granddaughter
He was both
21:04 Would be a shame if American idk. . Did that to other countries a lot.
"Tyrant or Reformer?" Yes.
Napoleon fatigue is impossible
There are moments when you’re talking that I see Tony Romo. Any one else see that?
People say that all the time.
15:50 "Im the senate" moment
While he exported the ideas of the Revolution and rewrote the codes of the places he conquered, he basically looted them, and forced them to pay great sums that went to support his army - thus wrecking their economies. He then put his brothers as kings of the places he "liberated" and expected them to keep the money flowing in his direction. When his brother Louis tried to rule for the benefit of the kingdom he ruled instead of doing his brother's bidding, he was replaced. Bernadotte had to choose between the good of Sweden and Napoleon, and he chose Sweden, and thus Napoleon's admirers call him a traitor.
well, bernadotte was kinda a traitor, and not just for his sweden stint. Davout (and i forget the other marshal) essentially called him a traitor pointing out how he purposely sabotaged them and disobeyed commands and then lied about it leavin Davout in a dire situation where he was badly outnumbered and lucky to survive. For this and other incompetence im shocked epic history has Bernadotte rated so high as a marshall. Granted he came up with the plan to defeat napoleon but even then he was a snake and didnt follow through with his commitment and basically stood back while everyone else attacked instead of engaging with force like he was suppose to
Sorry but looting wasn’t a French invention : Austria looted Italy, Russians looted Switzerland, Swedish looted Danemark… Napoleon just took advantage of the countries who declared war on him
And Bernadotte was going to keep Sweden as a French ally, but Napoleon annexed Swedish Pomerania and thus made Karl Johan XIV an enemy
@@Lunat1K_Fr Yeah, looting was standard for the course. What Napoleon did was after the countries were "liberated" was make them pay exhorbitant sums to support his army, which did damage to their economies.
@@Lunat1K_Fr He turned out to be a very good king. The Swedes count him as one of the best. And what I like about him was that he understood that military glory was not worth it, and that peace was what was needed. After him Sweden did not get into any more wars.