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Episode 118: The Hornets' Nest (Patreon)

Published:
2024-10-01 04:43:17
Imported:
2026-06
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Downloads

  • the hornet's nest.mp3
  • The_Hornets_Nest - audiogram.mp4
  • The_Hornets_Nest - audiogram.mp4

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Content

After taking Madrid, Napoleon chased a British army into northwestern Spain. Meanwhile, behind the lines, Spanish guerrillas waged a brutal war against the occupiers.

Files

Previews only

Comments

Max Moseley

Question: In the 20th century, partisans developed theories and doctrines of guerrilla/political war, and used them to great effect draining the resources and manpower of empires and superpowers. Did the guerrillas take notable influence from prior strategies, in the same way that these later groups did? Did the Spanish guerrillas view themselves as waging a political war or concretely understand that their aim was to bleed France of resources and will to fight? Did their tactics influence later thinkers of the modern era? (I’m thinking of anything from a Maoist People’s Revolution to Castro’s guerrillas to even the Mujahideen/Taliban.) Or is conceiving of them in these terms anachronistic?

Nick James

Error in the title format- no episode number!

Christopher Burton

Today is my birthday, and with the caveat that I don't usually ask my friends or family for presents, this is the best one I got this year!

John McCormick

Thank you for your even-handed telling of this story. It’s very easy when reading such a history to pick a side, forgive the brutalities of ‘my’ side while condemning the savagery of the other. This account helped me to see I could just as easily be the scared French private losing control or the peasant exacting a self-appointed vengeance. Both are wrong, both are understandable and neither had much control of why they were there in those circumstances. War makes pitiless children.

Pete Fenelon

Another riveting episode! Your passion for the subject and its disparate perspectives are what turned me into a paying subscriber. I do suspect we stand on opposing ideological grounds, myself protesting the Enlightenment on philosophical merit and lamenting the leveling of the old Catholic order. As the stories reveal, the other inhabitants of Europe were not as quick to regicide or betraying the ancien regime. You consistently champion Napoleon's liberation of the masses from authoritarianism, but now return the favor to the Spanish bandits who fought against the oppression of their "liberation". I am grateful that you leave the space open for different audiences to see their preferred narrative reflected in your grand history arc. Where you celebrate, others lament, but we're all here for the journey.

Pete Fenelon
>>151014007

I'm of the same wavelength. The savage methods outlined in the episode could make the Mexican cartel blush. It seems that the fighting spirit known in Central and South America can be traced back to the homeland of the Conquistadores and the Reconquista. I asked for comment on the Spanish people from an international academic and here's his brief answer: "The Spanish are cholerics - that’s why they have so many villains and saints. The Spanish Civil War was incredibly brutal." I suppose all of war is brutal, but the Spanish flair is both romantic and passionate, in love and violence.

Casey Leffers

Thank you for another amazing episode! I have a question pertaining the the Guerrillas: it’s clear that they were an effective means of bleeding the French war machine. While there were other theaters of the war that saw guerrilla activity, why was it not at the same scale as Spain? Also, is there any more Information on female participants in guerrilla bands? My mind immediately went to woman fighters in the Spanish civil war. Thank you again for all your work on this project!

Shubham

Thanks for another riveting episode, Everett! I had a question about the familiarity of the British forces in Iberia with guerillas. Specifically, I am wondering if the British East India company's learnings from campaigns against guerillas in places like the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century would have traveled as far as Iberia through their officers (the Duke of Wellington, for instance) who had served in the subcontinent. And if this experience with guerillas in India had any bearing on their deals and negotiations with the Spanish guerillas? Did the British, for instance, care at all about the spectacular violence meted out by the Spanish guerillas?

Max Moseley
>>151124966

I love this question, and actually was thinking about asking a similar one. My initial impression would be that Spain’s geography and comparatively rural population made it better suited for guerrilla activity than for instance the German states. It also seems like there was also a bit more genuine native support for Napoleon’s agenda in Italy, the Low Countries, Switzerland, etc., which may have prevented rebellion on such a massive scale. I am quite surprised that, after rapidly occupying Prussia in 1806, the French didn’t encounter more behind-the-lines resistance, beyond a few isolated garrisons of regular soldiers.

Brennan Doherty

Long-time fan, first time poster. I have two somewhat related questions, but no need to answer both if time doesn't permit: 1. How did the pension system work for ordinary soldiers mustered out of the Grande Armee due to illness or injury? Most wounded European soldiers of this period who were unable to work ended up begging in the streets, but I've read the Imperial Guard actually did have pensions - and, of course, they had Les Invalides. What about the average French conscript? 2. Old regime European armies often required soldiers to serve under the colours for decades. If they survived their service, many of those men had great difficulty finding employment outside the military, especially if they hadn't served as apprentices somewhere. The British shortened enlistment terms to as low as 7 years during the Napoleonic wars, but I've heard of cases where soldiers would do a full 7 to 14 years, muster out, then re-enlist a month later with a new regiment because they had no other means of employment. Did that same dynamic play out among the conscripts of the Grande Armee, many of whom may have had experience as craftsmen or farmers, but served for years under the eagle?

Charlie Channer

Hey Everett! Great episode, me and my brother Sid have been absolutely loving your podcast out in Australia listening to it every day. I have a question for your next dispatch episode, do you ever use other podcasts as source material for your episodes? And if so which ones/do you have any recommendations? Thanks, really appreciate all the work you put into the show!

SL

Question: Marshal Suchet was more effective in taming the civilian population than any other French officer in Spain. What were the causes, conditions, and differences in methods that led to this?

Crosley Querin

I sure am glad there are no modern parallels in this day and age! /s

Britt Cleaver

I'm loving the episodes on the Penninsular War so far! Thank you :)