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Dispatch 28 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-10-18 18:20:27
Imported:
2026-06
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  • Dispatch_28 - audiogram.mp4

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Content

Here is the twenty-eighth patrons-only Dispatch. Topics include: siege warfare, Napoleon’s reputation as a “warmonger,” and the First Serbian Uprising.

Don't forget to leave any questions for the next dispatch below. And once again: thank you for your support!


Files

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Comments

Carla

I don't know if you have already done a dispatch on this subject, but I've always been curious about the rest of the Boneparte family, especially ones who aren't mentioned as much in historical biographies of Napoleon like Pauline or Jerome. This was a really great episode thank you so much ❤️

Bill Humphrey

I'm guessing another factor in the relative decline of the importance of siege warfare by this period is probably the rise of large standing armies with mass conscription because it would probably have been easier to bottle up a garrison without diverting a ton of troops to the effort with no intention of seriously concluding the siege. That prevents any excursions by the defenders into the rear of a highly mobile and rapidly advancing invasion force and then the war can be finished on the battlefield instead. In earlier eras it would be dangerous to leave a garrison behind your front line but also surrounding a city or fort would have probably meant diverting a much larger proportion of the army...

Stuart Mathieson

Wow, powerful stuff at the end. 300 lashes and then recommencing the march. These guys must have been so tough.

Kirk R Johnson

I would like to hear more about piracy in the Napoleonic era. Obviously the Guerre de Course and privateers were commonplace, but I'm curious about the men and women who operated truly outside the law on the high seas. Was there international cooperation between otherwise hostile nations to regulate the "hostis humani generis" like we saw in previous eras?

MB
>>152715642

I can't imagine the lashings would normally be so brutal; these were brothers in arms and excessive punishment would reflect poor leadership. If you watch Master and Commander, I forget exact figures, but let's say a man was given 50 lashes, but gave up after 20 and was carried away. It was a dance of power and defiance to keep order, but the powerful always kept the logbooks and reports to their own satisfaction. The Irish could be considered defiant to a fault... or not. It's really not my place to weigh in, just an egregiously uninformed observation.

Michael

It seems odd to me that Napoleon, and many of his generals, saw countless horrific battles, but never showed overt signs of ptsd afterwards. Did Napoleon or any other famous general of the period show signs of what we would later know as PTSD?

Joe Milsap

I'm curious about Napoleon and his feelings towards the United States? Was he happy to hear about the war of 1812? It's interesting to think about a time when the US was a small power that was acted upon

Joseph Stewart

Not sure if you’ve discussed this before but in the quote at the end you mentioned a soldiers wife being with the army while they retreated. How and why did their families travel with them, especially on a campaign? And is there any sources on what happened to soldiers families during battle and what would then happen to them if their husband died while fighting? Thanks for making these great episodes :)

Tyler

What was the role and scale of research and development in this era? Obviously today there are massive amounts of resources and money devoted to R&D, but how important and urgent was it then? Anytime you mention a specific new weapon or innovation, I always wonder if it was the result of years of development and funding. Thank you!

Kerry Spray

This was a great dispatch, thank you for your work.

Geoffrey Dellar

I would just like to say thank you for answering my question about sieges, Everett, and for doing these patron dispatches

Smooth Shrek

Not to bring up other history pods, but today I was so pleased to find out that Mike Duncan is back and seems to be adopting the Age of Napoleon way of monetizing and I think that’s the best way to do it. I have no proof of your influence but I’m just gonna go ahead and thank you for showing Mike the way

Kathleen Engelmann

Hi Everett. In the last episode you mentioned the Supreme Junta giving citizens permission to take up arms "even those that are prohibited" against the French. Which weapons were prohibited and were laws preventing citizens from using certain kinds of weapons common? Thanks for all your efforts on this!

MB
>>152715642

I should also weigh in that any amount of lashings was abusive. I'm just saying that it may not have been as bad as it appeared on paper (in a few cases), but it was also worse in many ways "off the books".

Jared Fuller

Throughout the show, you've touched several times on how the majority of casualties weren't necessarily killed, but instead were captured or wounded. What would happen to sick or wounded officers and soldiers in the days, weeks, or months after a battle or campaign season? For those who would likely be able to fight in the future, would they simply be sent back to the nearest town under their nation's control, then "catch up" to their unit once they were well enough to return? Or would they instead just be reassigned or garrisoned nearby, especially in situations where a campaigning army had potentially moved hundreds of miles by the time they recovered? As an aside, I've been listening to the show for more than a year now and I'm a huge fan. It's by far the best podcast I've ever listened to, and I think creators like yourself are redefining what popular historical media looks like!

Mitchell Postich

I'm glad to hear you talk about the Serbian Uprising, that event and the political developments in the Balkans in this time are a special love of mine. I don't remember if you mentioned Horace François Bastien Sébastiani de La Porta during the main series, but could you talk a little bit about his career?

Alex Lower

I'm curious about substance abuse and addiction in Napoleonic times. You've talked about alcohol and tobacco use in the military, but I'm curious about important characters who may have had addictions—maybe Junot—and how they were treated by Napoleon and by society. Jose de San Martin (opium addiction) and George Goring (alcoholism) come to mind from similar eras. Keep up the great work!

Mitchell Postich
>>153126027

Thank you for the recommendation! I've read Ivo Andric's other book The Bridge on the Drina and I thought it was just wonderful.

Bertan van Zanten

I am curious about the languages that were spoken when Napoleon was abroad. When he was residing, for example, in his palace in Italy after the first Italian campaign, he and Josephine practiced politics with a lot of Italians. Did they speak (some sort of) Italian? Did all the Italians speak French? Did they use interpreters?

Alexandre T

Hello, I wonder if you are aware of the 2024 remaster of the 7-hours long silent movie “Napoleon” by Abel Gance (1927). I haven’t seen the movie myself but according to my historian uncle, it is “one of the greatest masterpiece on Napoleon”. Here’s the trailer: https://youtu.be/YoQkFQTe9cM?si=PxBEagr9GjY18e8Y — PS: Took me 6 months to catchup on the podcast, I absolutely love it! Thank you so much for your work!

Sicatuli

I’ve been reading about warfare in the early modern period and the counter match was a regular infantry tactic of the era providing continuous fire. However, this doesn’t seem to be used in the Napoleonic era. Do you know why this went out of practice?

Mauve_Avenger

Hi there! The podcast as a whole provides a great illustration of the pitfalls of Napoleon's 'peace through war' strategy, of bringing stability to Europe through the hegemony of one country. Thousands upon thousands die as a result. But, of course, thousands and thousands were dying regularly as a result of the internecine international warfare that was the pre-Napoleonic status quo. In that context, Napoleon's vision at least makes sense. (And for better or worse, didn't it take U.S. hegemony at the end of WWII to finally calm things down in (Western) Europe?) ... But what is Tallyrand thinking? Did he have any hope for France beyond a slightly improved position within the endless transnational bloodbath? Or was his betrayal of Napoleon less rooted in ideological opposition, and more in the calculus of abandoning a sinking political ship?

Or Koren

Hey, I’d like to ask a few questions, I understand if you only pick one to answer cause you probably get too many already so here goes: 1. Could you talk a bit about how the client regimes ruled by napoleon’s family functioned? To what degree did they have any local support? They were nominally independent, but really how independent were they in practice (if at all)? 2. We’ve seen how napoleon’s rivals are attempting to reform their own armies to emulate France’s more effective military. But since many of the French military innovations seem to come from the fact that it’s an army of citizen-soldiers whose creation was made possible only by a social and political revolution in France, how could the ancien regime powers ever hope to emulate without a revolution of their own? 3. In past episodes you’ve talked about Manuel Godoy as an incredibly corrupt, stupid, and incompetent man who’s at fault for many of Spain’s problems. But I’ve recently listened to some podcasts with historian Charles Esdale who challenges that view - he claims that Godoy was actually more intelligent than often thought, a reformer who understood the problems faced by Spain, who just happened to be dealt a very bad hand both domestically, with a deeply conservative aristocracy and public who hated him, and internationally, being caught between Napoleonic France and the British empire. So does the sausage maker possibly deserve a second chance to redeem his reputation?

Harald Hansen

Do we know much about intelligence operations between Erfurt and the outbreak of war in April? Like how realistic were the two side’s appraisals of each other. During the episode you mentioned the reformed quality of the Austrian army was of course an unknown. But how well informed were the combatants? Any notable intelligence failures or successes?

Kennit Lynch

In any episodes you might make that cover The War of 1812, do you plan on covering the major characters? In particular, Sir Issac Brock. His role in the war, albeit short, has been canonized in Canadian history.

Tristan Bavol

Do you have any recommendations for books focusing on Napoleon's first Italian campaign? Do you know if The Road to Rivoli by Martin Boycott-Brown is any good?