in today's episode we will talk about
when the legendary general when Emperor
Napoleon Bonaparte met his Waterloo well
not actually Waterloo that has been the
expression to make your war forget it
[Music]
hello and Bienvenue Bienvenue Joe and
Ben Vindu to feature history featuring
the Pin Civil War which I recall once in
the series claiming to be a failure it
seems however that even a man of God
like affection such as myself who's
prone to mistakes enough about myself
though as interesting as I am instead
that indulge is seen in 1808 one man
ruled Europe and that man was Napoleon
Bonaparte Italians Germans Austrians
Russians all humbled before him his
unparalleled power left him unrivaled on
the continent but across the channel
whose true enemy eluded him Great
Britain the two unable to best each
other remained in a perpetual state of
war in the early 19th century allow me
to roll back a tab in the late 18th
century the French Revolution happened
we all know what happened we all know
when it happened and we all bloody well
know what it did so I'll spare you the
details during it however the great
French war began the French
Revolutionary Government would find
itself at war with everyone on the
continent and with this war began the
rise of a young Napoleon he took some
decisive victories in Italy and some
fairly murky ones in Egypt in 1799 he'd
flee the front lines of war for the back
rooms of politics to allow for a coup
d'etat that installs himself as the
first Consul of France it soon after in
1802 signed the Treaty of Army on making
peace with the British Austrians
Russians Portuguese Ottomans Neapolitans
Tuscans it goes on in doing so France
had confirmed itself as a sovereign
Republic and taken many client states
and sister republics and when they went
beating around the bush straight-up
annex places this status quo did not
satisfy a Napoleon and certainly didn't
pleased his rivals hostilities would
resume in 1803 with the War of the third
coalition in it France and their allies
Spain's navies were shat all over in the
Battle of Trafalgar
but on the continent Napoleon reigned
supreme by 1807 Napoleon was emperor of
the French had destroyed the Holy Roman
Empire seized much German
and humiliated Prussia Russia Austria
Sweden and generally confused the whole
map with his many many satellite states
however he would not have a way to
invade Britain the English Channel did
far better than any wall could ever do
and simply France had no Navy to equal
his majesty's Napoleon would instead fly
it with a weapon more powerful than any
army or navy or other thing he'd fight
economically in 1806 Napoleon decreed a
large embargo against the British Empire
and their trade this was to be later
known as the Continental System from
Russia to Spain just about every
possible coast that Britain could land
refused their trade as they had learned
to fear Napoleon and heed his decrees
there was but one exception to the
system and that was Portugal as
Britain's ally for over 400 years the
two countries were besties and Portugal
refused to conform Napoleon would
respond with the Drule French and
Spanish invasion of Portugal in the
autumn of 1807 the Portuguese offered
little resistance and their royal family
simply fled to Brazil leaving the French
and Spanish to carve off the abandoned
kingdom those two nations had been
allies for some time now about a decade
and Spain had found itself trapped in
France's non-stop warring Napoleon saw
the Spanish is unable to pull their
weight whereas the Spanish Prince
Ferdinand the seventh started to see the
French as responsible for the
destruction of Spain's Navy an
alienation from their colonies a
political struggle in the Spanish crown
would break out the King Charles of six
selected his favourite Manuel de Godoy
to lead his prime minister Ferdinand
hated Godoy as the man seemed Pro French
Napoleon also headed the prime minister
seeing him as pro British so with an
abstruse Prime Minister making a power
play the conspiracy for third then to
serve his father and growing French
distrust in Spain Napoleon seemed eager
to cut this crap at its foundation under
the pretext of sending reinforcements to
Portugal a hundred thousand French
soldiers had simply found themselves in
Spain so when in March 1808 the princes
supporters mutiny and deposed Charles
Napoleon would invite both to Bayonne to
allow for the Emperor to mediate for
them it was however a trap Napoleon
arrested the two forcing them to
renounce the throne in favor of his
brother joseph bonaparte becoming king
joseph the first of spain french
soldiers made their way to all major
centers of spain as the indigenous
people were very displeased
I'm a Madrid head rose up in the dost
mio uprising in protest of French
occupation and the abduction of their
royal family the French soldiers would
seek brutal requires against the
population only provoking a mass Iberian
insurrection sporadic fighting erupted
across the peninsula and for the first
time in named guerrilla fighting would
be witnessed French columns scattered
across Spain and attempted pacified
revolt constantly harassed in transit by
militias formed from both soldiers and
civilians
Napoleon could only see this as a
temporary setback and though it was
inevitable this addition would be
suppressed
however the Battle of Berlin in July saw
a Spanish army defeated French won
decisively it seemed the French would
have to commit more and more focus to
the region than first anticipated given
the new theatre opportunist and Britain
saw a chance to open a new land front
against Napoleon in August an
expeditionary force of 30,000 men under
General Arthur Wellesley future Duke of
Wellington would land in Portugal to
drive out the French and connect later
with Spanish resistance
the generals earliest moves saw him deal
an unexpected defeat to the French in
the Battle of the Mara the French
retreat offered an opportunity for
Wellesley could crush that army however
his command would be superseded by
General Dalrymple the man lacking either
confidence or intelligence or both
signed the convention eccentric it
permitted the French to evacuate
Portugal with all their weapons men and
loot the Convention was outrageous so
those in Portugal and Britain Dalrymple
would receive the sack and Wellesley
though eventually cleared of blame was
taken off the season General Sir John
Mohr would take over command for the
remainder of the expedition King Joseph
would be driven from Madrid by the
Spanish people around the same time it
had set a trend as he was forced to
abdicate four times over the duration of
the war in response to this and more
Napoleon realized everyone had lost
their head and so he and his Grand Army
entered Spain personally more and the
British would drive north pulling
Napoleon's focus from the
insurrectionists in the south when the
Grand Army approached Moore's expedition
he was forced into a harrowing retreat
through the winter of 1808 1809 dead end
in the Dunkirk s Battle of Chaeronea in
January 1809 more would be struck down
by a cannonball as the British evacuated
two ships covered by the Rankin Patriots
and Spanish fighters the sacrifice was
not in vain as the survivors would
Swilly return to britain when the public
witnessed the distressing sight of their
battered troops wearing rags and wound
it became apparent the peninsula would
demand for total war with Portugal once
again abandoned its residents would
claim the British er for the sea as the
audacious French marshal John Davis
salt-free invaded Portugal taking a
portal in the north at the same time
Austria would begin the war of the fifth
coalition which drew Napoleon from Spain
to Central Europe general Wellesley
would return to Portugal shortly after
an assumed control of an Anglo
Portuguese force he'd pushed the French
from Oporto and Portugal in May and
begin his approach to Madrid he and his
Spanish allies would come so close in
July but a pre-emptive French strikes or
the Battle of Talavera it would be a
costly victory Wellesley now officially
by account of Wellington losing a
quarter of his men forcing his retreat
back to Portugal he'd start replenishing
his forces and constructing the lines of
torres vedras a set of impenetrable
defences surrounding Lisbon 1809 closed
with Austria's defeat and 1810 carried
on with little action until September
where France once again invaded Portugal
upon approaching Wellington's creation
they could do little but wait and soon
winter came and forced an embarrassing
retreat across 1811 Wellington could
finally return to the offensive in
January 1812 he had proven himself as a
defensive Massimo but his offensive had
remained to show the break-in to Spain
he sees both Ciudad Rodrigo and Badajoz
butter horse or mass atrocity committed
as no one was spared the bloodbath the
offensive had become Wellington would
reign his men back under control and
take victory in Salamanca that then
allowed him to enter in the beret Madrid
in August it seemed as if the tide had
turned and France itself would soon be
open to the British only Buddha Goths
remained Wellington siege would be in
vain as he was repelled in October he
retreated from Buddha ghosts then from
Madrid and then from butter horse across
the winter after much sacrifice that
ended up right back where they started
the same winter however saw Napoleon
driven from Russia and a spectacular
retreat after having earlier invaded in
June of 1812 as he back pedaled across
Europe the Prussians Austrians and
Swedes came out against him in the war
of the sixth coalition
lastly the winter had also seen
increased harassment from unrelentless
Spanish
Gorillaz they had been a costly thorn in
Napoleon's side since of stuff and now
the reignited war and the rest of
Europe's all reinforcements of Spain
suspended Wellington re-entered Spain
with his biggest and best army yet in
May he thrusts forward into the country
avoiding battles the bench armies were
caught off guard as Wellington headed
north
his maneuvers caused them to pull from
Madrid to reorganize they could not let
Wellington simply sidestep them into
France King Joseph and his armies would
finally set up a defensive position in
Vitoria only to be decisively crushed
and routed in the ensuing battle when
Napoleon heard he was outraged at his
own brother stating if there was a man
too many it was the king barring
Joseph's return to Paris Ferdinand the
seventh would see his release the
following year to finally take back his
place as king of Spain the Peninsular
war had turned irreversibly against the
French and the larger war threatened to
do the same
Wellington would struggle with martial
salt across the Pyrenees for months
finally breaking into France itself in
October 1813 he'd however only see off
salt at the Battle of Ortez in February
of 1814 the coalition's resolve was
tested greatly in Napoleon's vigorous
defense of France in the early months of
1814 but Paris would fall in March
Wellington would siege the city of
Toulouse in April only receiving news of
Napoleon's abdication after the city had
fallen after a long struggle on both the
behalf of Spanish guerrillas the
Portuguese Army in the British
expedition they had done the impossible
and defeated Napoleon they had through
thick and thin stood as a steadfast
middle finger to Napoleon
of course Napoleon returned and famously
fought the Battle of Waterloo against no
other than Wellington himself who
admittedly narrowly defeated Napoleon
France carried on as a monarchy after
Bern old habits die hard and they'd
witnessed some more revolutions and
empires across the 19th century
Wellington received much fame for his
achievements and used them to lead a
political career back home and so you
can't help but receive a somewhat
propaganda view of him under occupation
Spain had lost much of its influence and
certainly it's bed at ever becoming a
great power again its foreign
possessions break away and Spain shrunk
Portugal to saw a similar effect you
can't have a Peninsular war without a
peninsula aftermath
the peninsula wall was generally a
sudden and painful transition period for
the Iberian Peninsula its governments
were uprooted and reworked in occupation
and has had sweeping cultural impacts to
a sense of Spanish and Portuguese
nationalism was spurred and broadly the
Napoleonic Wars had done this at large
to every European nation it saw the
degradation of imperialism inside of
Europe and as well as intercontinental
conflict the people also got a taste of
French liberalism which paved the way
for many many 19th century revolutions
and movements that helped carve our
world and whatever the current year is
this is the outro where I thank the
patrons and a tad bit more specifically
David Kendall Thomas Curley Steve Graham
Anil scrubs Amir resin Skyler Hagar you
too you can become a patron it's a
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girl had I discriminate you might
receive a reward sure the reward to your
friends and family and they'll all say
why are you showing me the shoe size
little rodent and then you hurt we'll
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better coping mechanism is there than
giving me more money on patreon if I
sold out enough good I got places to be