American Reacts to Napoleon Bonaparte Crash Course!

Let's check out the life and legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte! We'll explore the military genius, political impact, and enduring influence of one of history's most fascinating figures.

#Napoleon #AmericanReacts #HistoryExploration

[petermercury]

Actually the island of St. Helena is off the coast of Africa by a huge distance. Fun fact: it has the most expensive coffee in the world!

[MrBulky]

Thr Duke of Wellington acquired a huge statue of Napoleon in the nude which he put on display in his town house in London, Apsley House in Piccadilly, now a museum, next to Hyde Park Corner and the Wellington Arch. It's still there in all its glory!

When Napoleon saw the statue for the first time (the artist having used classical Roman nude sculptures as his models), he was so embarrassed that he made efforts to make sure it never saw the light of day!

[grahamgresty]

His exile house in St Helena had green wallpaper (Arsenic) which some say contributed to his death

[mikeeccles]

I would like to recommend that you take, if you get the chance a look at the gripping story of a period of Napoleon's falling fortunes, as told in a fascinating book by David Cordingly called The Billy Ruffian, more properly known as HMS Bellerophon a ship of the line. Billy Ruffian's place in history came six weeks after the Battle of Waterloo, when Napoleon, trapped in La Rochelle, surrendered to the captain of the ship that had dogged his steps for more than twenty years. Over the coming days and weeks he tried to persuade the British government of the day to allow him sanctuary in England, apparently he was possibly in negotiations for a nice house in the country (Surrey I think) where he would almost certainly have had a fascinating retirement, feted by his 'captors' and entertaining on a grand scale. While the Bellerophon was anchored off the English coast awaiting the outcome of the negotiations, tens of thousand of day-trippers paid boat owners to take them out to try catch a glimpse of him and the press were constantly trying to get close too. You could imagine that in the 21st Century he would have enjoyed even greater celebrity and never off talk-shows. Of course political considerations never gave this scenario any hope, and so the rest is of course history.

[pinkpenzu]

You should watch the napolean series by EpicHistory!

[MrBulky]

The Emperor Bokassa of the Central Africa Empire in the late 1970s was a great admirer of Napoleon and bankrupted his already impoverished country to pay for a lavish coronation in imitation of him. Bokassa had been president of the former French colony and seized power in a military coup (as Napoleon himself did, of course). Clearly Napoleon was "in his guts".

[watchreadplayretro]

I had just gotten past "A plebiscite". To me this was funny, as many of us Brits mockingly call someone a 'pleb' but yep I had forgotten that it was an Egyptian word and dates back a long long way! Anyway! I had just gotten past A plebiscite, and soon after came the fascinating fact that Tsar comes from the word Caesar! Wow! And I'm not even half way through this yet!

[fiveninenowNOW]

oversimplified makes a couple of good videos on napoleon if you are interested to learn more

[MrBulky]

Not much about the British involvement in the Napoleonic Wars in this video other than finance: destruction of the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in 1805 and tge thwarting of his plans to invade the UK, defeat/surrender of the fleet of France's ally, Denmark, in the Battles of Copenhagen in 1801 and 1807 and the French defeat in the Peninsular War in Iberia (1807-14) which liberated Spain and Portugal, and, of course, Waterloo. Britain was the only country to oppose Napoleon continuously from his rise to power until his fall and the conflict dominated and shaped it during that period yet you might be forgiven for thinking they weren't in it at all. All the other major participants got some sort of mention.

[robg]

I like the contrast between vanilla chocolate and strawberry.

Neapolitan was a truly great leader and is loved throughout the world.

Prove me wrong.

[LynxLord]

Well true his guards were massive people they had to be it was a criteria in most of Europe's guards at the time, however the more likely reason was the hate propaganda that Britain released in mass both domestic and internationally to pipe up support against France. You will no great person who did not commit some bad stuff, of all the heroes and generals, kings or queens non ruled or won without the blood of people their own people or the enemies thats the only way true change has ever happened

[dakrontu]

He ended his days isolated by the British on a wet cold wind-swept island in the South Atlantic where he was made comfortable but could not leave.

To the British, he was a menace. At that time, France had a far larger population than Britain, so it was a real threat while run by a warring lunatic. Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, is celebrated by the British because he saw an end to Napoleon's marauding all over Europe p*ss*ng people off.

Not only did the Brits work to end slavery (which p*ss*ed off the Americans leading to Independence and the Civil War), they ended Napoleon too.

And you know that tract of land whose purchase doubled the size of the United States at that time, the Louisiana Purchase, it was sold by Napoleon because he needed money for warring. When it was purchased, the US government considered sending in an army to pacify unrest there resulting from the 'change of ownership' but it was reckoned it would take 800, 000 men so they cancelled the plan on the assumption that it wasn't worth the bother.

The ongoing antipathy between Brits and French is partly due to differing opinions about Napoleon.

[JM-ndzf]

That was the most biased and negative Napoleon video I have ever seen. No, Napoleon didn't hate women. The video just excluded anything that would make you think otherwise, He wasn't defeated in Egypt, he left after smashing both the Egyptians and the Ottomans. The French Army in Egypt was defeated after he left. He censored newspapers because France was constantly at war. Speaking of war, he fought almost entirely defensive conflicts. The only offensive wars he fought were efforts to cripple the British economy, so they would stop forming military coalitions against him. He certainly wasn't trying to colonize Europe. The video also failed to mention him ending the Spanish Inquisition, abolishing slavery in Malta, building mosques and hospitals in Egypt, freeing the Jews from their ghettos in Papal Italy, or the fact that his Napoleonic Code forms the basis of law in over 40 countries today. I guess they had to cut that stuff to fit in all their stupid anecdotes and quips.

[Leslie-Risse]

You should be very carefull about anything said about Napoleon, especially postive things. His accomplishement outside of military are heavily romanticised and glorifyed. Keep in mind that among the good stuff that he's credited for, a lot were already in the process of being done before he took power, and a lot has been done under his ruling but not BY him.

[TreeCamper]

I used to like the Green Bros until they let their politics seep into their content.

[timglennon]

Napoleon was crap at wars. Us Brits used to constantly kick his arse.

[MrBulky]

Didn't Napoleon reinstate slavery in the French colonies?

[MundusMeus]

Consul, it's spelled Consul, not consol for the First Consul