"Love him or hate him, Napoleon is a figure probably unrivaled in modern history." Today Jonathon Riley, a British General and historian, breaks down French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's most prominent battles and utilized war tactics. From the Battle of the Pyramids to the Battle of Lützen, hear directly from a war expert how Napoleon "weakened" his opponents and led his troops to victory on the battlefield.Director: Anna O'DonohueDirector of Photography: Lloyd WillacyEditor: Louville MooreExpert: Jonathon RileyLine Producer: Joseph BuscemiAssociate Producer: Kameryn HamiltonProduction Manager: D. Eric MartinezProduction Coordinator: Fernando DavilaSound Mixer: Javier CarlesProduction Assistant: Jasmine BrienburgPost Production Supervisor: Alexa DeutschPost Production Coordinator: Ian BryantSupervising Editor: Doug LarsenAssistant Editor: Andy Morell
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00:00 love him or hate him, Napoleon is a figure
00:03 probably unrivaled in modern history.
00:05 I'm going to take you some snapshot iconic moments
00:08 in some of his battles.
00:10 Toulon, 1793.
00:15 We're down here on the Mediterranean coast of France.
00:19 Here we have the young Napoleon, 24 years old,
00:23 full of energy, full of zeal for the revolution,
00:25 and that revolution is in danger.
00:27 The city of Toulon has been occupied by French royalists.
00:31 The young Napoleon is given the task of leading an assault
00:35 on this important fort, which he does.
00:38 The French fire at the fortress,
00:40 and then they storm it using infantry and ladders,
00:43 and Napoleon himself leads the attack.
00:45 He's stabbed in the thigh by a British soldier
00:47 with a bayonet, but the attack succeeds,
00:50 and the British are pushed out.
00:51 Battle of the Pyramids, 1798.
00:56 We're now a way down south on the map,
00:58 on the southern shores of the Mediterranean in Egypt.
01:01 Here we're going to be looking at Napoleon
01:03 experimenting with a new formation, the Divisional Square,
01:06 and looking at his sense of destiny.
01:09 Actually, the battle took place some nine miles away
01:11 from the pyramids, but what's wrong
01:13 with a bit of artistic license?
01:14 He has captured the city of Alexandria,
01:16 but he's now faced with a vast medieval infantry
01:20 and cavalry of the Mamluks,
01:22 the soldiers of the Ottoman Turks who rule Egypt.
01:25 He brings on what was called the Divisional Square.
01:28 Each division had three brigades,
01:29 and each brigade was formed into a square of infantry,
01:32 guns at each corner, and cavalry in the middle.
01:34 Now, squares were used throughout European warfare,
01:38 but they're used for a very particular purpose,
01:39 just to repel cavalry.
01:41 So he's adapting the square,
01:43 making it a combined arms formation,
01:45 and using it offensively, not defensively.
01:48 He moves south in this formation towards the enemy,
01:52 supported by the gunfire of his ships.
01:54 The Mamluks attack,
01:56 and superior French firepower murders them.
01:59 They retreat.
01:59 Some of them try to cross the Nile and are drowned,
02:02 and the French are left in possession of the field.
02:06 Auschwitz 1805.
02:07 We are here in what's now the Czech Republic.
02:12 Here, we're gonna look at Napoleon,
02:13 prepared to take risks that could be fatal,
02:16 but also as a master of deception,
02:19 luring his enemies into a trap from which they can't escape.
02:23 This is a portrayal of an incident which actually happened.
02:27 It's reported that 150 guns were lost,
02:30 and a lot of men were drowned.
02:32 Two or three days later, Napoleon ordered the ponds
02:34 to be drained, and although 150 horses were found,
02:36 only two human bodies were reported.
02:39 Napoleon's instituted the corps system.
02:42 Each corps is a combination of artillery,
02:44 infantry, cavalry, engineers, and light troops.
02:48 It's all arms.
02:49 It allows him to expand the army
02:52 to something bigger than has been seen in Europe
02:54 since ancient times.
02:55 He makes himself appear weak in the south here
02:59 on his right flank, because what he wants to do
03:01 is make the enemy launch a flanking attack,
03:04 bring them down off the Pratzen Heights
03:07 to attack him and envelop him in the south.
03:09 We'll be able to take these attackers in the flank
03:12 and deal with them.
03:13 Napoleon himself will then be able to unleash
03:15 the decisive act of the battle,
03:17 a central attack on the enemy position
03:19 up here on the Pratzen Heights.
03:21 The Austrians play right into his hands,
03:24 and he turns to Marshal Soult,
03:25 the commander of the 4th Corps,
03:27 who's going to lead the attack,
03:28 and says to Soult, "One sharp jab and the war is over."
03:33 Lützen, spring of 1813.
03:35 We are at Lützen, which is in the southern part of Germany.
03:40 Here we're gonna be looking at Napoleon
03:42 making and implementing decisions far more rapidly
03:45 than his opponents can do,
03:47 and we're going to see him inspiring
03:49 and leading the troops personally
03:51 and bringing that magnetism to bear on the battlefield.
03:55 What Lützen gives us is a glimpse
03:57 of Napoleon's powers of analysis and decision-making.
04:01 Napoleon, after all his years in the field,
04:03 is now a master at this.
04:05 What unfolds at Lützen?
04:06 Well, it's what's called a meeting engagement,
04:08 and a meeting engagement occurs when two bodies of troops
04:11 are moving towards each other,
04:13 but they don't know very much about each other,
04:15 and unexpectedly, they collide,
04:18 and victory will go to the side that most speedily
04:21 and most effectively takes advantage of the chaos.
04:25 Napoleon himself rides to the sound of the guns.
04:28 Morale is pretty shaky, but his appearance works magic.
04:32 The troops see him, and somehow they know
04:34 that everything will be okay,
04:35 and those cries so dreaded by his enemies
04:39 on the battlefield begin to rise.
04:41 Vive l'Empereur!
04:42 Not only does he inspire the troops,
04:45 but he actually takes charge of them,
04:47 leads them to the counterattack,
04:49 exposing himself to enemy fire,
04:50 and it's said that this is the day of his career
04:53 more than any other when he was in most danger
04:56 of being killed.
04:57 Waterloo, 1815.
05:00 We are at Waterloo in what's now Belgium,
05:04 and it's just to the south of Brussels.
05:07 Here's Napoleon at the end of his career.
05:09 He's older, he's tired,
05:11 he's suffering the pains of duodenal cancer.
05:13 He nearly carries the day,
05:15 but in the end, he's caught in his own trap.
05:19 (dramatic music)
05:21 Well, here we've got some great footage
05:23 of the use of squares.
05:25 We talked about squares earlier in Egypt,
05:27 and here's the defensive use of squares
05:29 by the British Army against that massed cavalry.
05:32 Ridley Scott's used enough people in it
05:35 to give you the sense of being there,
05:36 which too many TV programs just don't do.
05:39 The powers of Europe have declared war,
05:42 not on France, but on him,
05:44 and they're closing in.
05:46 Napoleon organises a proper combined arms attack
05:49 which captures the farm of Les Haussants.
05:52 It means that the French can bring their artillery
05:54 right up close, blast a hole in the British centre,
05:57 and then plough through it.
05:59 But at this critical moment,
06:00 the Prussians are appearing on the French right.
06:03 Napoleon has to detach part of the guard corps
06:07 to stop them.
06:08 Once the Haussants is taken,
06:10 the critical moment has arrived.
06:11 The guard, weakened as it is, is committed.
06:14 It's stopped dead.
06:15 The Prussians break through on his right flank,
06:19 and Napoleon is caught in his own trap
06:23 of a flanking attack.
06:24 Napoleon leaves the field of battle,
06:28 tries to rally the army at Philippeville,
06:30 but is not able to do so.
06:32 It's the end for Napoleon.
06:34 He finishes his life as an exile
06:37 on the island of Saint Helena.
06:40 We've been focusing on Napoleon
06:42 and his prowess on the battlefield.
06:45 He did, however, leave a considerable legacy.
06:48 He reshaped armies through his corps system
06:50 and through his staff system
06:52 that have largely endured to the present day.
06:54 To this day, he is still an iconic figure.
06:57 If that were not so, then Ridley Scott
06:59 would not have invested as he has done
07:01 in making this movie.
07:03 (dramatic music)
07:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]