Napoleonic Wars: Invasion of Spain 1808

Napoleon was unable to retreat by sea due to his navy being annihilated by Nelson.

"Spaniards! After a long agony, your nation was perishing. I have seen your pain and I am bringing you a remedy." - Napoleon

I love this series. It truly makes history come alive!

the video is excellent , however the background music is a little bit annoying

So technically the "maximum" range of a smoothbore musket is usually even further than the maximum range of a rifle (rifles generally fired smaller caliber bullets (baker rifle fired a 0.615 inch ball while the brown bess fired a 0.69 inch ball)). Any firearm will have several "ranges". The maximum range is just how far the bullet can travel, and has nothing to do with accuracy. But normally we care about the "effective" ranges. While the maximum range is objective, effective ranges are a bit more subjective and depend on what the army using the weapon considers to be the threshold for effectiveness. But in general, most Napoleonic-era armies seemed to consider that a smoothbore musket being fired by a single shooter against a single target (what we would now call the "point target effective range") was effective out to about 75 yards (68.58 meters). They considered the "battle range", the range at which a battalion of shooters was effective against an opposing battalion-sized target formed in close order (what we might now call the "area target effective range"), to be about 200 yards (182.9 meters). By contrast a rifle might have a point-target effective range of 200 yards, and a battle range of 500 yards.

Tom Plunkett's shot is disputed by some people, who suggest the range of his shot may have been exhagerated in repeated retellings. But I think his famous 400 yard shot is completely plausible, even if his weapon was only reliably accurate against point-targets out to 200 yards, simply because the war was so large that it seems almost inevitable that at least one marksman would have managed a lucky shot like that. But I expect it was more likely a fluke than a demonstration of the baker rifle's increble accuracy.

The British retreat at Corunna and Dunkirk are eerily similar. In both instances the British Army lives to fight another day.

Cebuano

Speech output is not available for Cebuano

he had to convince the spanish people first

it was napoleon who save spain and europe from Chatolic inquisition..

When napoleon invaded spain did he annex all of Spain's colony?

Think about it! If Napoleon had not invaded Spain and Portugal, would most of Latin American countries be independent today?

why french loose all the time
again england
just a qi perhaps

I always thought that Spain had this great Empire that was well structured, disciplined and efficient....reading up on Spain's history and seeing the truth, it was a deplorable system. Super corrupt and it crumbled very very quickly where the British and French Empires lasted way longer and had a greater impact on the world we know today. Yes one can say thanks to South America that the Spanish had a huge impact on human evolution, but then again, seeing the border of the US, being invaded by the descendants of the former Spanish Colonies - the values of South Americans or shall I dare say their deplorable extreme third world mentality says everything about Spain's Legacy. I think that Spanish history was over-rated, it was a cesspool of corrupt bankrupt unruly power hungry incompentant monarchs whose governance was based on theivery cruelity and exploitation. Look at the former colonies of the Brits and French and you can see that their systems or empires were far more superior to the Spanish. In fact leading up to WW2 and Post WW2, Spanish influence and importance on the global stage diminished tremendously, in a humiliating manner. Spain was too poor to join the Allies, and it had no say in post WW2, I mean totally shut out. Til this day it is considered a second division state inside the EU, and on the world stage it has no weight. Geat beaches and great food, but it's culture (other than Real Madrid and Messi in Barcelona) is barely known around the world. It's modern day economy is not innovative or creative, it is sadly a economic colonial consumer market for French and German companies.

napoléon dominated nothing
all theses campagn were defeats only 1806 1807
campagne of egyppt defeat 1898
campagn of malte and kingdom of the two scicile défeat1805
campagn of portugal défeat1810
campagn os spain défeat 1812
campagn of indian océan défeat 1810
campagn de russie défeat 1812
campagne d allemagne défeat 1813
campagne de france défeat 1814
campagne de belgique défaite 1815

beaucoup de défaites pour donner la victoire finale a l angleterre

The background music is too much. Makes it hard to concentrate on what is actually being communicated.

"a war on two fronts", not the first time I've heard an angry man trying to take over Europe faced with this predicament

before bailen
french was destroys in egypt by nelson and sidney
ok

french qui were mothing
english qi more 100

The British have never fielded large continental armies. Even though small they usually beat the French.

Why did the French march in a column against a line of constant musket fire .
With the mass of a column a musket didn't need to be accurate , they always hit something with such a mass target.
Plus it restricted their own fire power, the men behind the front couldn't shoot they just marched over their dead until they found themselves at the front .
Sod that!

Narrator has an amazing voice!

Spain will have to live with the fact Napoleon made them his bitch oofff

If men only made peace instead of war ...what a world we could have

Do you recommend any book about Napoleon?

Think about the repercussion. From Mexico, to the Caribbean, to Chile, and Brazil too, this war rocked all of Latin America and led to the independence movements there.

I'm filipino but have spanish blood in me. This and the Peninsular War video are great sources to learn about my heritage. I enjoyed it!

This video is just british propaganda bruh. No wonder napoleon movie is so shit considering who made it 👍

Manuel de Godoy Álvarez de Faria Ríos 👑 (May 12, 1767 – October 4, 1851) Prince of Spain, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbo 👑 saludos a los hermanos RÍOS 👑.-

The only propaganda in the Napoleonic Wars was the French propaganda pretending that Napoleon was a great general. For almost all his career he had at least 3:1 odds in his favour, and when towards the end of 1813 he was outnumbered by 3:2 it was "How can he possibly prevail against such massive odds?". In reality when Wellington arrived in the Peninsula he was outnumbered by 10:1, and even by the time of Vitoria he was still outnumbered by 3:1 - and these were the best French troops. Even Napoleon's so-called 'brilliant' Italian campaign of 1796 was largely a fictional construct of French propaganda and Napoleon certainly didn't 'dictate terms' to Austria; in truth it was Napoleon who was desperate for peace and had to make massive concessions to persuade Vienna to sign a treaty.

"Sharpe!"

I came for an 'ancient history documentary' and stayed for the surprisingly epic soundtrack!

So, Napoleon did an Order 66 to Spain just to force Portugal into the Continental System...

Bold strategy there, Cotton.

Spain is blessed and highly favored. Always the most beloved country in the world. Protector of the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

Napoleon didn't need Spain! The Pyrenees were his southern geographic boundary, all he needed to do was secure their defense and focus on taking out Austria and Prussia. All he needed to do was take out Austria and Prussia, maintain cold but peaceful relations with Spain, Russia, and the Ottomans, and shake his fist at the British across the channel, and he could have been remembered as a winner. His downfall was that he was never content with his victories and always wanted to invade more than his armies could conquer. Would not a French victory over the Holy Roman Empire and its total dissolution have been enough glory for one French emperor's lifetime?

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.

Delrumple at it again

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.

❤

Upon sighting a video about the Peninsula war, I naturally clicked watch, that's my style sir.

Spain in 1808 was a nation in turmoil, as Napoleon's invasion sparked resistance and revolution. This history documentary delves into the gripping events of the Peninsular War and Spain's fight for independence. A captivating look at a defining moment in European history!

If Napoleon could've cloned himself to be in charge of every army and corps, the french would've conquered the world 😂, always his inferiors caused problems 😂

Just so unnecessary. Spain was anything but a threat to France. A rival of both Portugal and Great Britain more likely to be freind than foe even if not very strong or enthusiastic.

Olive trees in Coruña? I bet you've never been there...

The beginning of the end for Napoleon. A tale as old as empires and emperors. They are never content with what they have accomplished and what they have built, and then there's that one war that tips things against them, causes too many casualties and uses too many resources at the wrong time and you can't recover before the next conflict starts and it snowballs out of control, they spread themselves too thin and get picked apart. If Napoleon had been content with his victories against Prussia and had consolidated his power and focused on ruling what he had already conquered he probably would have been unstoppable forever.