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

I hope you enjoy the final episode of our 'Napoleon's First Campaign' series! Big thanks to PMF Productions for all their hard work on the series. What's your top moment of the campaign? Aiming the guns at Lodi? Chasing the Austrians through the valleys on the way to Bassano? Storming the bridge at Arcole? Let us know in the comments. And don't forget you can get ad-free early access to all our videos at Patreon www.patreon.com/EpicHistoryTV

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.

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.

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

​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

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

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.

Napoleon according to TikTok: “There’s nothing we can do” Napoleon in real life: “They are ours”

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.

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.

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

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 ! 🇵🇱 🇮🇹 🇫🇷

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

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.

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.

“Fourteen will you let them take your guns?!” Was the most epic part of the video.

For this battle, probably in the minds of Masséna, Joubert and other officers of the French Army of Italy: "Remember, nothing is lost while courage remains"

“The clock is ticking! The Austrians MUST relieve Mantua by THAT date…or lose the city. And with it, the War in Italy.” I am more invested in this series than I am in most movies. And I’m a film major btw.

Napoleon was bold, lucky and aggressive. Where many would see defeat he turned into a victory. He really was brilliant for his time.

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