Napoleon in Italy: Battle of Rivoli (5/5)

In 1796, at the height of the Revolutionary Wars, Napoleon Bonaparte took command of French forces in northern Italy. He was just 26 years old and had never commanded an army before. Within weeks, he had turned his ragged, demoralised troops into a ferocious fighting force, defeating the Austrians and knocking Piedmont out of the war. With success, Napoleon began to believe it was his destiny to shape the fate of nations. In this series, we follow Napoleon's first glorious campaign step by step.

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[RollTide]

For those of you who aren't members of the Patreon page: some great news. They will be finishing off their videos of Napoleon with his campaign in Egypt, followed by the 1799 coup of the Directory, and then finishing up with Napoleon's second Italian campaign and the Battle of Marengo.

[maximequesada]

Joubert is probably one of the biggest what-ifs of the Napoleonic Wars. He was so promising.. his chase of the austrians after Rivoli was perfect and his campaign in the Tyrol, just touched upon here, was magnificient. Just imagine Napoleon with him as Corps commander in his campaigns.

[Talancir]

Goosebumps when Napoleon said "they are ours." The man knew how to flaunt his swag.

[pughcody]

This battle has a very strong case to be considered Napoleon's true military masterpiece. At Austerlitz, he was assisted by some very poor tactical decision-making by the combined Austro-Russian leadership, which played right into his battle plan. At Rivoli however, Napoleon was up against arguably one of his most challenging opponents in Alvinczi, whose battle plan was really about as good as it could have been in this situation. Napoleon simply had a better understanding of the critical factors of combat, including the use of terrain as a force multiplier, the effective deployment and use of artillery and ability to rapidly redeploy forces. All were on display at Rivoli and he utilized these insights to snatch victory from almost certain defeat. Furthermore, this is a great example of how Napoleon saw military advantage where other generals may have only seen disaster. Instead of Lusignan's flanking maneuver being seen as a major strategic threat to his retreat, Napoleon see's it as the Austrians isolating their own forces and depriving themselves of strength for their main attack. Instead of seeing Reuss's advance as being too overwhelming to stop, he see's that the terrain his perfect for defense. Instead of seeing his forces as objectively outnumbered, he knows his artillery and cavalry give him a decisive tactical advantage. It was these observations and calculations that he made on the battlefield, particularly early on in his career, that reveal his true genius. And when compared against his latter campaigns, where he more often than not simply opted for frontal assaults, its very indicative of how that genius was worn down by years of campaigning, the mental fatigue of command and the never-ending adaptability of his enemies

[TwoFistsOneHalleluja]

The popularity of this channel will go through the roof once the Ridley Scott movie hits theatres. And it is well deserved, no other history channel on youtube delivers this level of quality and with this consistency.

[YestamGamingChannel]

​I thought that the Battle of Austerlitz was the most beautiful and complete Napoleon's victory, but the Battle of Rivoli is on a whole other level. Never had so much emotions in a span of few seconds. Vive l' Emperur

[TheModeler]

Generals to Napolean: They are surrounding us
Napolean calm and collected: They are ours 15:13
Such a BOSS MOMENT. Thank you for the Amazing series

[NapoleonBonaparte]

I love that the mention of Captain Lasalle is made in this series. He is quite a famous cavalry general in his last years and it good to see his early years.

[ottovonbearsmark]

Napoleon according to TikTok:
“There’s nothing we can do”

Napoleon in real life:
“They are ours”

[DrachenBlasen]

A few extra fact:
In Rivoli there's a little Napoleonic museum.
At the start of the first Italian independence war, Austria hevely fortified the area, there's around 7 forts in the valley.
Forte di Rivoli is visitable and it's a muesum now, the other forts are visitable but in an abandoned state.

[AemondOneEye]

Seemingly in a situation where the entire army is about to be encircled and destroyed. Then the words "They are ours" appear on the screen... Goosebumps. Thank you once again. Best history channel on YouTube.

[animeyahallo]

18:44 am i the only one loving this scene? I love how Epic History gives the spotlight to the secondary commanders. For all his talents, Napoleon is not a one-man army, his victories are due to his brilliance and his subordinates.

[vattghern]

To add to this epicness. It was this Italian campaign waged by Napoleon that inspired Polish Anthem🇵🇱.
As we all sing the line of chorus of our anthem - "From Italian land to Poland" at least several times.
The brilliance of Napoleon sparked the barrel of gunpowder...
... as the Polish Nationalism arised with it. The force which will ultimately lead, through countless risings and rebellions to the independent Poland

" We'll cross the Vistula, we'll cross the Warta,
We shall be Polish.
𝑩𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆 has given us the example
Of how we should prevail. "

My greatest grettings to Italy and France ! 🇵🇱 🇮🇹 🇫🇷

[MrHnm]

My God, what a piece of episode. I've been excited every minute that passed, what a tension and epicity from start to finish. Without a doubt, Napoleon is not only one of the greatest civil and military leaders in history, but one of the most exceptional and indomitable men with great self-belief in history.

First, I can't help but feel empathy and anger with Napoleon for what the Directory did to him during practically the entire war. Literally abandoning him and his army with very few reinforcements and supplies is one of the reasons that led him to his coup against that corrupt and inept government, only receiving help when the campaign on the Rhine did not advance and if it did so in Italy. And it's one of the reasons they let him go to Egypt.

In this episode we already see Napoleon not only thinking tactically, but strategically as a whole. It is crazy that he was able to analyze the situation so quickly and act in such a decisive way (thanks in large part to a great staff of future French Marshals who will mark the history of France, Europe and the entire world).

Being in such dire straits and looking at your Commander in Chief waiting for an answer is just beautiful. Now I understand the Old Elite Imperial Guard (made up of many veterans from Italy) and the main reason why his men remained so loyal to him even in the worst conditions: they knew he would be with them in the field, risking their lives together, bringing them victories, honor and riches wherever they went. To him they were his children, to them he was his father. They would die for him without hesitation, for their general, for their Little Corporal, for their Emperor.

It is a pity that Joubert did not live long enough to become a Marshal of France. I am convinced that he would have been one of the best, on a par with Suchet, Ney, Soult, Lannes and Davout.

Of Austria, I can only say that the Austrian staff is a herd of incompetents. Planning an offense without analyzing the terrain is worse than being a rookie and even worse that Alvinczi didn't realize it. What I can do is praise for the two great Austrian military commanders: Wurmser, for his tenacity, toughness and strength to carry on despite his increasingly worse situation against Napoleon; and Archduke Charles, who proved to be the best of all the Austrian military and almost changed the situation in Germany, but his performance in Italy cannot be blamed, since he was given a situation and an army practically on the verge of surrender (reminds me to Soult when Napoleon sends him back to Spain to try to save the situation).

Finally, I can only thank EHTV and PMF Productions for this sublime work of art. The work with maps, paintings, the portraits and the recreations are worthy of any praise. I have to subscribe to the Patreon of this channel as soon as possible, otherwise I would be a full-fledged Talleyrand.

Best regards to the EHTV team, PMF Productions, History Marche and Charles Nove for this great and hard work: you are the history staff of our time.

[jgmaster]

More of Napoleon please, all your stuff about Napoleon is next level quality

[AngryCenturion]

Napoleon’s first Italian campaign took a year, and this series took almost as much—eight months. It’s great because it makes it feel like we were with him on this journey. Thanks for all the amazing effort you put into this fantastic series, Epic History!

[strongest]

Imagine watching the dude that has all the responsibility of the battle and the war as you think you and everyone are f*ckd and he says "they are ours". beautiful, simply beautiful.

[historymanZP]

Truly a brilliant video and a brilliant conclusion to a brilliant series. You make some of the best documentaries on YouTube, hands down. It's one thing to tell history but another to make it exciting. This flowed like a drama with highs and lows, despite me knowing what the outcome would be. You don't get nearly enough credit for the work you do.

C'est Magnifique. 😁

[sethsun]

19:27 when the violins kick in is just amazing with that transition, feels like the climax of the whole campaign

[mixererunio]

I just love how Napoleon went: "We're surrounded? Great! We can shoot now in every direction."