Napoleon Bonaparte: Crash Course European History #22

We try not to get into too much great man history here at Crash Course, but we have to admit: Napoleon Bonaparte is a pretty big deal. Join us as we track the rise, further rise, fall, rise, fall, mortal fall, and posthumous rise of Napoleon. This guy changed France, he changed Europe, and in a lot of ways he changed the world.

Sources
-Al-Jabarti, Abd al-Rahman, Napoleon in Egypt: Al-Jabarti’s Chronicle of the French Occupation of 1798, Shmuel Moreh, ed. Princeton: Markus Wiener, 1993.
-Bell, David A. Napoleon: A Concise Biography. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
-Hunt, Lynn et al. Making of the West: Peoples and Cultures. Boston: Bedford St. Martin’s, 2019.
-Sperber, Jonathan. Revolutionary Europe, 1780-1850. 2nd ed. New York: Routledge, 2017.

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[crashcourse]

We had a technical issue with the video today, and had to re-upload it. Sorry for any link confusion.

[XaurielZ]

Love how as a historian, every time you mention Napoleon, you are legally obligated to tell people that he wasn't actually that short.

[jacobasimpson]

Funny how this video went down and came back a second time, fitting for a video on Napoleon

[gatb]

"When your leaders start talking about reviving the glory of the Roman Empire...get nervous!"

[subutaynoyan]

"If you're gonna live in a dictatorship you at least want to be dictated by the dictator, not some brother"

[coby]

Very rarely can you say that one man single handedly changed the world. Napoleon is one of them.

[mikematthews]

To add to the idea about how artists included Napoleon in their work, Beethoven’s 3rd Symphony, Sinfonia Eroica (Heroic Symphony), was originally titled Sinfonia Buonaparte. Beethoven was enamored with Napoleon’s anti-monarchical ideals and believed strongly in the idea of democracy. However, when Napoleon named himself Emperor, Beethoven revoked the dedication, ripping the title page of his score in half, and then he retitled it to Eroica. Another copy of the original title page has two subtitles, “intitolata Bonaparte” (“Titled Bonaparte”), and “Greschriben auf Bonaparte” (“Written for Bonaparte”), scratched out.

[magtovi]

When the French do it is called looting, when the British do it is called safekeeping.

[ksc]

Quote by Napoleon Bonaparte: "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."

[Victordstg]

That moment when you need 7 coalitions to take down one man

[phoenixshadow]

"Something Europeans do like soccer and ensuring all citizens have healthcare"


Ooh, shots fired.

[TacticusPrime]

The Napoleonic invasion of Spain gave English the word "guerrilla" war. It described the Spanish resistance fighters who hide in the rural areas and attacked the invaders in small raids. Guerrilla is Spanish for "Little War".

[Azire]

As a French, I grew up with a mostly positive image of Napoleon, because I don't recall school teaching us all the bad things he did. We learned about the Napoleon Code ("Code Civil" over here, which was also followed by many codes of criminal law, commercial law, etc.), how he was obsessed by the Roman Empire and very war-driven. But honestly, he was at worst framed as an enlightened despot. Didn't help that I had a father who practically worshipped him. My point is mostly that in the last five years I've found out how horrible he was, and also how much of Europe sees him as a tyran. Ask a french and a british about Napoleon, opinions will be really different :').
At the end of the day, he was probably that complex. A complete dictator, who did many good things. To be honest, I think he was exactly what the nation needed at that moment. History is an interesting discipline because, as objective as you try to be, there is always opinion. Anyway, great video as always, I love how you always update us on women and don't invisibilize them as has always been the case in all history classes i've ever taken.

[spqr]

Well actually, Napoleon invaded Russia not because he wanted to conquer her, but make her to join to the continental blockade of England.

[MartinT]

Napoleon did a lot of bad things, and he did a lot of good things. But whether you think he was a tyrant or a hero or a bit of both it can't be denied that he left an enduring mark on the world.

[TetraDax]

4:20 Interestingly, the German word for emperor is also stemming fom Caesar: "Kaiser". Of course that makes sense as well, considering the Holy Roman Empire understood itself as the continuation of the OG Roman Empire.

[JigJagging]

Having lived in several parts of the world, I see a very distinct dichotomy in how Napoleon is perceived. In French-speaking countries, he is still to this day glorified, exalted and idolized as a liberator, a forward-thinker, a military genius and an inspiration. In English-speaking countries, he is reviled, hated, dismissed as a blood-thirsty, conquer-happy demagogue.

[Bejunckt]

I admired Napoleon a lot when I was a kid, I was a Francophile, and because of it I got very interested in studying world history.

[jaybirdjetwings]

Napoleon was an anti villain, one of the most interesting characters in history

[DontMockMySmock]

Luckily, they banished him to an island.


BUT HE CAME BACK!


Luckily, they banished him to another island.