Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Wagram 1809

It's no Austerlitz, but its honest work...

"You must not fight too often with one enemy, or you will teach him all your art of war" - Napoleon Bonaparte

After Wagram Napoleon appointed three Marshals; MacDonald, Oudinot, and Marmont.  Having lost Marshal Lannes at Aspern-Essling, the army joked Napoleon was trying to get the equivalent of Lannes in small change. “France Chose MacDonald. The Army Chose Oudinot. Friendship Chose Marmont”

Few could have guessed in 1809, but Napoleon had just fought his last victorious campaign. chills

I would say Arch Duke Charles was Napoleon's most formidable opponent. More so than Wellington, who only fought Napoleon once at Waterloo, when the French were not at their best, when Ney made a number of errors, and Wellington still near close to defeat had it not been for the Prussians. Charles faced Napoleon repeatedly, on many occasions, at times when the French were at the peak, and in the Case of Wagram, Aspern-Essling, was on his own without Allies, yet still managed to give Napoleon a very hard time

08:29 "Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational Grande Batterie" - Emperor Napoleon on 6th July 1809...

I love how Russia literally did nothing against the Austria yet still gained territory

"It was obvious that you were not at Wagram" Napoleon to a minister that mocked the austrians

Its not the quantity of epic history TV, Its the quality. 👏 👏👏👏👏👏👏

"It's a good job you're not any taller!" -2:04 Never thought a documentary would had me laughing off my seat. Great series so far!

In 1808, when Napoleon crowned his brother Joseph king of Spain, Archduke Charles said to his brother, emperor Francis II, "Now we know what Napoleon wants : he wants everything".

Man I always liked this mans voice wish he could be my history teacher!

I always hear "Davout's III corp' he's a re occouring character in every one of Napoleon's campaign for some reason.

Coalition Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back

Fun fact: It was after this battle that Napoleon’s Polish cavalry gained lances. The French-Polish cavalry and the Austrian’s Ulans faced each other, the French-Polish light cav used the Ulans' lances against them, The Ulans were also made of a lot of Polish soldiers so both sides insulted each other in Polish, would’ve been a good show. After the French Polish returned with the lances, Napoleon said « They can keep their lances since they know how to use them so well » Since then, they’ve been known as Polish Lancers

I studied General MacDonald's attack quite intensely. His 'square' formation was highly unusual, and the largest that ever took place in the Napoleonic Wars. Not only had MacDonald's 8000 infantry held off Austrian troops against their left and right flanks, they beat off three cavalry charges by Austrian cuirassiers, probably at the same time they were fighting against the Austrian infantry. The Austrian bombardment caused severe casualties among the French troops. At one point, the Austrians were in disarray, and MacDonald invited General Nansouty's cuirassiers and General Walthier's Guard cavalry to charge and decimate the enemy while the opportunity was there. Nansouty had held his cavalry too far to the rear, and accepted the invitation to charge, but it was too late. The Austrians had withdrawn their guns to safety, which were abandoned during their moment of disarray, formed square and beat off the French cuirassiers. The Guard cavalry on the other hand did not attack, since the Imperial Guard adhered to a strict chain of command in obeying only the Emperor's orders in fighting, and nobody else. MacDonald had berated General Walthier for doing nothing, and even Napoleon, later on, came to agree that his Guard cavalry should have charged, even if orders from him were never issued. Reinforcements, in the form of Wrede's Bavarian Corps, two Imperial Guard cavalry regiments, and four Young Guard battalions came to the rescue, and helped MacDonald take control of Süssenbrunn. MacDonald stayed there during the rest of the day and through the night, unaware the battle was over and the Austrians were retreating. In the following morning, Napoleon himself, satisfied of MacDonald's conduct, gave him the rank of "Marshal of France" One of three men, including Oudinot and Marmont, who were given that rank on the field of Wagram. I recommend reading MacDonald's Recollections. its free on this website. https://www.electricscotland.com/history/france/marshallndx.htm

Like him or not, Leader or Dictator, it does not matter, we must reconize his brillance. The best general ever

One of my ancestor was a soldier in Napoleon's army and was killed in Wagram on July 09 1809, his death certicate mentioned "killed by a musquet bullet " his name was Jean , he was 24 yrs old , RIP !

Fun fact, at the signing the Treaty of Schönbrunn. A German named Friedrich Stapps attempted to stab Napoleon during his inspection of the army. General Rapp successfully caught him.

“The Duke of Wellington was rarely lavish with praise, but responded vigorously when asked if [Archduke] Charles was a great officer.  ‘Why, he knows more about it than all of us put together,’ he exclaimed and added that ‘us’ included even Napoleon.”   Great Generals of the Napoleonic Wars and Their Battles, 1805 – 1815, by Andrew Uffindell (2007).