00:00 love him or hate him, Napoleon is a figure
00:03 probably unrivaled in modern history.
00:05 I'm going to take you some snapshot iconic moments
00:08 in some of his battles.
00:10 Toulon, 1793.
00:15 We're down here on the Mediterranean coast of France.
00:19 Here we have the young Napoleon, 24 years old,
00:23 full of energy, full of zeal for the revolution,
00:25 and that revolution is in danger.
00:27 The city of Toulon has been occupied by French royalists.
00:31 The young Napoleon is given the task of leading an assault
00:35 on this important fort, which he does.
00:38 The French fire at the fortress,
00:40 and then they storm it using infantry and ladders,
00:43 and Napoleon himself leads the attack.
00:45 He's stabbed in the thigh by a British soldier
00:47 with a bayonet, but the attack succeeds,
00:50 and the British are pushed out.
00:51 Battle of the Pyramids, 1798.
00:56 We're now a way down south on the map,
00:58 on the southern shores of the Mediterranean in Egypt.
01:01 Here we're going to be looking at Napoleon
01:03 experimenting with a new formation, the Divisional Square,
01:06 and looking at his sense of destiny.
01:09 Actually, the battle took place some nine miles away
01:11 from the pyramids, but what's wrong
01:13 with a bit of artistic license?
01:14 He has captured the city of Alexandria,
01:16 but he's now faced with a vast medieval infantry
01:20 and cavalry of the Mamluks,
01:22 the soldiers of the Ottoman Turks who rule Egypt.
01:25 He brings on what was called the Divisional Square.
01:28 Each division had three brigades,
01:29 and each brigade was formed into a square of infantry,
01:32 guns at each corner, and cavalry in the middle.
01:34 Now, squares were used throughout European warfare,
01:38 but they're used for a very particular purpose,
01:39 just to repel cavalry.
01:41 So he's adapting the square,
01:43 making it a combined arms formation,
01:45 and using it offensively, not defensively.
01:48 He moves south in this formation towards the enemy,
01:52 supported by the gunfire of his ships.
01:54 The Mamluks attack,
01:56 and superior French firepower murders them.
01:59 They retreat.
01:59 Some of them try to cross the Nile and are drowned,
02:02 and the French are left in possession of the field.
02:06 Auschwitz 1805.
02:07 We are here in what's now the Czech Republic.
02:12 Here, we're gonna look at Napoleon,
02:13 prepared to take risks that could be fatal,
02:16 but also as a master of deception,
02:19 luring his enemies into a trap from which they can't escape.
02:23 This is a portrayal of an incident which actually happened.
02:27 It's reported that 150 guns were lost,
02:30 and a lot of men were drowned.
02:32 Two or three days later, Napoleon ordered the ponds
02:34 to be drained, and although 150 horses were found,
02:36 only two human bodies were reported.
02:39 Napoleon's instituted the corps system.
02:42 Each corps is a combination of artillery,
02:44 infantry, cavalry, engineers, and light troops.
02:48 It's all arms.
02:49 It allows him to expand the army
02:52 to something bigger than has been seen in Europe
02:54 since ancient times.
02:55 He makes himself appear weak in the south here
02:59 on his right flank, because what he wants to do
03:01 is make the enemy launch a flanking attack,
03:04 bring them down off the Pratzen Heights
03:07 to attack him and envelop him in the south.
03:09 We'll be able to take these attackers in the flank
03:12 and deal with them.
03:13 Napoleon himself will then be able to unleash
03:15 the decisive act of the battle,
03:17 a central attack on the enemy position
03:19 up here on the Pratzen Heights.
03:21 The Austrians play right into his hands,
03:24 and he turns to Marshal Soult,
03:25 the commander of the 4th Corps,
03:27 who's going to lead the attack,
03:28 and says to Soult, "One sharp jab and the war is over."
03:33 Lützen, spring of 1813.
03:35 We are at Lützen, which is in the southern part of Germany.
03:40 Here we're gonna be looking at Napoleon
03:42 making and implementing decisions far more rapidly
03:45 than his opponents can do,
03:47 and we're going to see him inspiring
03:49 and leading the troops personally
03:51 and bringing that magnetism to bear on the battlefield.
03:55 What Lützen gives us is a glimpse
03:57 of Napoleon's powers of analysis and decision-making.
04:01 Napoleon, after all his years in the field,
04:03 is now a master at this.
04:05 What unfolds at Lützen?
04:06 Well, it's what's called a meeting engagement,
04:08 and a meeting engagement occurs when two bodies of troops
04:11 are moving towards each other,
04:13 but they don't know very much about each other,
04:15 and unexpectedly, they collide,
04:18 and victory will go to the side that most speedily
04:21 and most effectively takes advantage of the chaos.
04:25 Napoleon himself rides to the sound of the guns.
04:28 Morale is pretty shaky, but his appearance works magic.
04:32 The troops see him, and somehow they know
04:34 that everything will be okay,
04:35 and those cries so dreaded by his enemies
04:39 on the battlefield begin to rise.
04:41 Vive l'Empereur!
04:42 Not only does he inspire the troops,
04:45 but he actually takes charge of them,
04:47 leads them to the counterattack,
04:49 exposing himself to enemy fire,
04:50 and it's said that this is the day of his career
04:53 more than any other when he was in most danger
04:56 of being killed.
04:57 Waterloo, 1815.
05:00 We are at Waterloo in what's now Belgium,
05:04 and it's just to the south of Brussels.
05:07 Here's Napoleon at the end of his career.
05:09 He's older, he's tired,
05:11 he's suffering the pains of duodenal cancer.
05:13 He nearly carries the day,
05:15 but in the end, he's caught in his own trap.
05:19 (dramatic music)
05:21 Well, here we've got some great footage
05:23 of the use of squares.
05:25 We talked about squares earlier in Egypt,
05:27 and here's the defensive use of squares
05:29 by the British Army against that massed cavalry.
05:32 Ridley Scott's used enough people in it
05:35 to give you the sense of being there,
05:36 which too many TV programs just don't do.
05:39 The powers of Europe have declared war,
05:42 not on France, but on him,
05:44 and they're closing in.
05:46 Napoleon organises a proper combined arms attack
05:49 which captures the farm of Les Haussants.
05:52 It means that the French can bring their artillery
05:54 right up close, blast a hole in the British centre,
05:57 and then plough through it.
05:59 But at this critical moment,
06:00 the Prussians are appearing on the French right.
06:03 Napoleon has to detach part of the guard corps
06:07 to stop them.
06:08 Once the Haussants is taken,
06:10 the critical moment has arrived.
06:11 The guard, weakened as it is, is committed.
06:14 It's stopped dead.
06:15 The Prussians break through on his right flank,
06:19 and Napoleon is caught in his own trap
06:23 of a flanking attack.
06:24 Napoleon leaves the field of battle,
06:28 tries to rally the army at Philippeville,
06:30 but is not able to do so.
06:32 It's the end for Napoleon.
06:34 He finishes his life as an exile
06:37 on the island of Saint Helena.
06:40 We've been focusing on Napoleon
06:42 and his prowess on the battlefield.
06:45 He did, however, leave a considerable legacy.
06:48 He reshaped armies through his corps system
06:50 and through his staff system
06:52 that have largely endured to the present day.
06:54 To this day, he is still an iconic figure.
06:57 If that were not so, then Ridley Scott
06:59 would not have invested as he has done
07:01 in making this movie.
07:03 (dramatic music)
07:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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