The War Aims of Each Nation In the Napoleonic Wars 1804-1807

Between 1804-1814, Napoleon Bonaparte dominated the European continent . This video aims to be a short documentary looking at the overall war aims of the French Empire, as well as the more specific aims of the Great Powers that fought against Napoleon in the coalitions.

#NapoleonicWars, #History, #Austria

[OldBritannia]

I hope you enjoy this short video on the Napoleonic Wars. The format of this one is a bit less rigid than usual, with France and in the next part, Britain, getting their own dedicated segments as opposed to being completely tied into the coalition segments. My reasoning for this is that since France and Britain were the only belligerents in a constant state of war, it is easier to discuss their grand strategies specifically, as opposed to the other Great Powers who changed their relationship with France and Britain constantly depending on which coalition one is referring to. I hope that makes some sort of sense. There is more diplomacy in this than previous video, as if I'm honest, the coalitions were often over so quickly the powers rarely had time to formulate comprehensive war aims, at least from what I can decipher.

As a side note, the Prussian borders will be at times slightly wrong, as they changed quite quickly in lead up to the Fourth Coalition (for example, the southern enclave of Ansbach had been lost by the time of the Fourth Coalition). Any feedback and corrections/mistakes that you notice is much appreciated. Thank you for watching.

[RDA]

"We will never lose to the French, we will fight to the last Austrian"-Britain

[mac]

I hope there's a second video which talks about Napoleon's territorial proposals in Iberia. Most know he annexed Catalonia but his first idea was to have the Ebro River be the border between Spain and the French Empire. His plans for Portugal are also fascinating

[strasbourgeois]

I feel when Napoleon famously quoted, “I shall be a new William”, he was referring more to William the Conqueror, a French Duke who conquered England in 1066. Quite sure you’ve covered this.

[jackbharucha]

Austria: Opposes "aggressive French expansionism"

Also Austria: Haha Venice go annex.

[mikeperkins]

Another great video you honestly deserve so many more subs. It’s really cool how you cover topics rarely discussed by other YouTube history channels. The animation (if that’s the right word) for your videos looks clean and is very pleasant on the eye. Great stuff 👍

[KingAtlas]

Love this video, you definitely deserve more subscribers!
If I may ask, in the scenario of a part 2, would it go over the war aims and proposals against the Russian empire when France invaded it in 1812, including the aims in Spain and Portugal, all of these are really fascinating

[scoutdude]

I really do like these types of videos, as no one really does look into the actual goals of each nation in these wars, if possible can you do WW2 and the Seven Years War next?

[ftjqvil]

Short answer:
-France: be big, do revolution.
-Everyone else: don't let France be big and do revolution.
Long answer:

[py]

Reminding me of the Napoleonic strategic board game Empire in Arms that I played many years ago . The victory conditions for different players taking on the role of the major powers are vastly different, as this video has demonstrated.

[geordiejones]

Honestly these conflicts go back to the Sun King. The Grand Alliance formed to contain French expansion and then France defended Spain during the war of succession. Britain was rightfully afraid of Napoleon invading England and wanted to dominate the sea to prevent that, and when they did they forced the French to respond on land. Britain is just as guilty as France for not coming to the table earlier. They could have avoided millions dead but they were both stubborn, which meant escalation after escalation and bigger and bigger invasions. The numbers in total manpower from 1812-1814 were insane for the time but were also a natural result of a continent fighting an on and off anti-French war for 22 years. Its actually insane how consistent the rest of Europe were against France after the Thirty Years War, but the British paid well and had the best navy since Spain had lost its hegemony. France was the only real challenge to Britain's dominance but France lost in India and North America before British troops marched into France. In some ways Napoleon created what he'd been fighting to avoid. He isolated himself mentally, politically and as a military leader and lost himself in the lure of greatest enemy to a great general: more.

[Aszod]

This is extremely well made! What do you use to make your maps?

[Spirit-of-Avalon]

Could you put your sources in the description as well as at the end? The youtube video recommendation gets in the way of half the source list.
Loved the video.

[fullmetaltheorist]

"War had given him the throne. War had kept him there."

Me : And war is what removed him.

[konstantinosnikolakakis]

Minor correction, at 2:03 you say Caroline is Queen of Naples, but she was not Queen regnant, she was Queen consort, married to Marshal Joachim Murat, who was King of Naples.

[sergeantmajor_gross]

2:10 King Louis was actually loved by many citizens in the Netherlands

[dextious]

god I love this channel. You are one of the few people that when I see one of your videos in my feed I click immediately. I love the way you can condense such large and complex periods of history into enjoyable 15 minute segments.

[MyBraves]

Could you make a video about The War of the Triple alliance and the war aims of every nation of the boxer rebellion it would be amazing to see your version

[thoughtfox]

brilliant clausewitzian analysis as ever mate. bravo.

[forthrightgambitia]

The Ottoman Empire being destroyed and divided in the Napoleonic wars instead of being killed by a 1000 cuts over the next 100 years is an interesting counterfactual with lots of important consequences. For example would Mohammed Pasha's de facto independent Egyptian state have come into existence which was a precondition for the Suez canal and British protectorate. If Russia had focused on territory in Anatolia rather than the headaches that Congress Poland and Finland (as prizes from Prussia and Sweden won by Alexander's clever machinations during the chaos unleashed by Napoleon) that they ultimately proved would they have had quite a different trajectory as an imperial entity in the 19th century, more Asiatic focused? Maybe more of a threat to the East India Company/Raj than they ended up being? Would the modern Greek state look as it does? Would Greece or Russia have Constantinople now? Would Serbia become the dominant South Serb Kingdom and would Bulgarian and Romanian national identity even exist? Would the Balkans have been the powder keg they were for 150 years if they had not been under a weak and falling empire ruled by their religious enemies? Would France have expanded into its imperial domination of north west Africa if Algerian and Moroccan territories had been under British and/or Spanish suzerainty rather than an Ottoman one? The course of 1815-1914 would have been transformed.