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Napoleon's First Campaign - The Bridge at Arcole Patreon early access (Patreon)

Published:
2023-05-14 14:00:05
Edited:
2023-05-25 14:34:22
Imported:
2026-06
Tags:

Videos

Content

YouTube link (Premiere begins 18.00 BST 26 May)

Dear Patrons,

I'm very pleased to share the ad-free world premiere of our new video - 'Napoleon's First Campaign Part 4 - The Bridge at Arcole'.

This episode is packed with action - from Napoleon's first defeat in battle at Caldiero, to the iconic (and as we discuss, much mythologised) action at the Arcole bridge on 15th November. I hope you enjoy!

Thanks to PMF Productions for their outstanding animation work on the episode, to HistoryMarche for the brilliant battlefield map, and to Keith Rocco for the fantastic images.

Typos for Merch is in effect - first person to spot one gets any item from the merch store as thanks! (NB Mantua garrison strength at 1.47 is incorrect and will be fixed to 24,000).

Thank you again for your amazing support - without it, we'd never be able to go into such depth and detail in these videos.

Coming up in the next few months - the final episode of Napoleon's First Campaign - Rivoli, plus Part 2 of the Abbasids, The Fall, and then The Battle of Eylau. More updates soon!

Toby

Files

Napoleon's First Campaign Part 4 - The Bridge at Arcole

Patreon ad free early access.

Comments

Sergei

Amazing work I can't wait to see the next episode

Eric Hu

In awe of this episode, the many twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat the entire time. Fantastic work, as always.

Richard Fernandes

Once more: SUPERB as always!!! Looking forward for the next and last episode of this Campaign. Keep it UP!

Rick Reactions

WOW! That was like watching a tight sports game, it was really teetering on the edge there for a while. But like all great military commanders of history they always find a way to combine their own personal skills/heroism with a healthy dose of luck to win. Fantastic stuff as always Toby!

Samuel Pattinasarane

I watched the Arcole battle unraveled while shouting endlessly at my screen: how can he possibly win? For every "but" that Charles Nove said, that's a shot of glass going in haha

Sean Mac

What a rotten place to have a battle.

Walter C

I dont understand how ppl care about sports when you have battles and EPTV team that produce content like this. I am literally sitting on the edge of my seat of these videos sometimes yelling at the screen. EHTV work is truly amazing!

KuhlerKarl

Great Video as always! What an amazing Series! However, on the map, above Rovigo, shouldnt it be Adige River and not Adiger River?

Blaine William Kirkpatrick

Can't wait for a more detailed coverage of the Battle of Eylau. I remember wishing it was covered in more detail in the Napoleonic Wars Series all those years ago. Thank you for everything you do and for this amazing content!

luc

Amazing. An excellent narration, as usual, especially with the use of suspense with the dramatic aspect of the events, with artworks that are always appropriate and beautiful, like the one where Augereau finds himself alone in front of his men who refuse to move forward ... Graphics more beautiful than ever with the map of Arcole, the fields, the effects as usual but also the multiple smoke for the infantry fire (with a recognizable sound effect besides of the rifles of the time , at least as we imagine it). Looking forward to Rivoli and Eylau!

Blake Mcdonald

I love it. Keep pumping them out my guys

Chirag

Fantastic work Toby! Arcole was indeed a slug fest.

Thomas

Thanks Toby! Reading about this battle doesn’t do it justice. It’s so nice to finally observe it with clean visuals and the usual EHTV touch.

David Klein

Beautiful Video, these videos really butter my croissant. It’s fun to watch Napoleon get wild. Also to see the great details, & to judge.

Robin Wong

I am honoured to be mentioned in the credits! Proud to support such entertaining and informative work. The best thing on YouTube!

EpicHistoryTV

Thank you Karl! You are correct, and you win the Typos for Merch prize for this month! Great spot, I'll message you about claiming your prize.

EpicHistoryTV

Thanks Eric, great to hear it kept you gripped!

EpicHistoryTV

Haha, I will share that one with Charles! Thanks Samuel

EpicHistoryTV

Swamps and causeways never a good combination. Reminds me of the Canadians in the Scheldt Estuary in late 1944..

EpicHistoryTV

Yes I'm looking forward to it too, should be a good one, and very poignant.

EpicHistoryTV

I spent so much of my life reading military history books, with my thumb stuck in the map page, trying to keep track. Fair to say, that unsatisfactory experience was the genesis of much of what you now see!

EpicHistoryTV

Well deserved for supporting the work - thank you Robin!

Sean Mac

Also it seems like the experience of the Grenz troops really did count. They had trouble on the march but once they were in line they really did hold quite well all things considering

EpicHistoryTV

There are conflicting evaluations on the Grenz troops. Some Austrians were quite disparaging about their standards of drill, and ability to fight in formation, but French accounts speak of them as determined and brave opponents.

Sean Mac

Yeah, it's my understanding that they did have a lot of experience in like low intensity conflict that was along the Ottoman border. it seems to me like they didn't really do well on the march but it seems like they held very well all things considered.

Pierre Arnaud

I love this. It is great as always. Thank you

Bence Fehér

Hey Toby, Hungarian here. Alvinczi's first name should be either József (Hungarian spelling) or Joseph (German).

Gavin Anand Saint Just Brown

Hi Toby. This campaign is proving to have been a more close run thing than I've been led to believe. What absolutely hellish ground Arcole was to have fought on.

A.G

Nice, I hope one day you will do a series on ceasar

James

Amazing work! Is there a reason that Napoleon didn't cross in force at Legnano earlier? It seems like doing that at the beginning would have saved him a lot of trouble.

David Klein

I just noticed after watching the video like 5 times the last 20 seconds gets splotchy on the music. I don’t know if that’s just me.

EpicHistoryTV

Thank you Bence! You narrowly missed out on Typos for Merch prize, but we'll get this fixed.

EpicHistoryTV

Thanks James! Firstly, I don't think the French knew that Arcole was strongly garrisoned. Second, it's quite a wide detour via Legnago, which leads to all the risks of dividing your force in front of the enemy (of which the Austrians were guilty so often in this campaign).

EpicHistoryTV

I've double checked and can't hear any splotchiness! Sounds good to me.

Stuart Carver

Oh yeah here we go again these videos are always so dramatic. Arcole seems to be a good metaphor for the campaigns ebb and flows. Austria seem to have almost inexhaustible manpower to launch 4 separate attempts to relive Mantua, did this change much about their approach to strategy or reinforcements on The Rhine? I’d always thought that The Second battle of Bassano was Napoleons first defeat. It’s very confusing as almost every source count certain battles as victories or defeats depending where you go.

EpicHistoryTV

Hi Stuart. Yes, I've also seen sources that list Second Bassano as Napoleon's first defeat. We prefer to go with Caldiero - it's an army-level engagement (Bassano was just one division), and is much more clear cut. But it's a point of view, really. Regarding the Rhine, I think it's fair to say that both sides saw Germany as the primary theatre throughout the war, and were feeding the leftovers to the Italian front!

David Klein

27:42 to 27:53 on iPad watching on patreon the music starts to record scratch badly. I don’t know if it’s just me but I checked again this morning still there. I don’t know if that happens for anyone else but for me definitely.

EpicHistoryTV

Thanks for flagging, but I've checked again on the source video and Vimeo page, and can't hear anything. Possibly a streaming issue at your end?

Yatty

Great video. Is it just me, or are the numbers at 2:38 confusing? The number for the Austrians counts Alvinczi, but not the Mantua garrison, while the number for the French seems to count at least some of the troops around Mantua at 3:58. Because of this, it feels unclear why Napoleon is "outnumbered on every front" at 4:00 when he seems to have near-numerical parity (41,500 vs 44,000) from the information at 2:38, unless the viewer pauses the video at 3:58 and manually counts up the troops to spot the difference. I feel like this would be clearer if there was either a separate line at 2:38 for the Mantua garrison, or if the French strength at 2:38 was simply omitted, so that the information at 3:58 isn't preceded by the viewer carrying a potential misunderstanding from 2:38. Minor quibble, however.

Stuart Carver

I think it’s probably ok isn’t it because it’s saying the size of the field army so won’t include a garrison while the French field Army doesn’t include any besieged garrisons. Then later when it says he’s outnumbered on all fronts that would include the Austrian troops in The Mantua garrison? You are able to count the troops to 44000 before Wermser’s 12000 is added on the map so I’d have thought that would be clear enough.

EpicHistoryTV

Glad you liked it Yatty, and thanks for the query. I understand your point, and it can be quite confusing, but we are trying to make quite precise points at each section - about the strength of the Mantua garrison, then total troops available in the field, and then later, about how the actual groupings will match up. It's a lot of info but we've tried to do it as swiftly and clearly as possible.

Yatty

Part of the French field army is also besieging Mantua, however. My point had more to do with the comparison of field army to field army being potentially misleading, in the sense that it may unwittingly give the impression of one field army of 41,500 /versus/ one field army of 44,000. I know people can count the troops manually when the map comes up, as I mentioned it. My point is that if they do not (or even if they only count the Austrian troops) they may assume that /neither/ of the forces around Mantua were counted in the previous figure, and that therefore the French had 41,500 men to hold against 44,000 men. Without other context, that assumption can only be laid to rest by manually counting both the French and Austrian forces when the map comes up, in which case one realizes that the French summed 44,000 men, and that therefore some part of the previous 41,500 figure must be tasked with besieging Mantua, at least when the campaign begins.

Yatty

I guess the way I see it, since 2:38 is the only time the strength of the French and Austrian armies are directly tallied and compared, it grants the comparison a sense of narrative weight which is at odds with the limitations of its scope. I would not fault, for example, someone thinking the comparison at 2:38 to be more important to know than the divided units when the map comes up, and therefore never bothering to manually count the two armies. This is why I suggested either expanding the scope of the comparison (adding a line about the Mantua garrison) or removing the comparison (removing the French figure). After all, it is not as if the two field armies fought without considering Mantua a major factor in their calculations. Given the garrison was so big, the French had to decide how thinly to man the siege lines so that they concentrate against the Austrian field army, and the Austrians planned for the garrison to tie down the French. It would be like if the Marengo campaign was introduced as a 90,000-man Austrian field army against a 50,000-man French field army, Technically true, but even the act of making the comparison is misleading given how much of the Austrian field army was concentrated around the siege of the 17,000 Frenchmen in Genoa.

EpicHistoryTV

Hi Yatty. You're right, 44k v 41.5k is not a full picture, if taken on its own. I'm relying on the audience to take in the context that we provide before and after. However I’ll look at adding an additional text line about the Mantua garrison to make it clearer.

Finn McCabe

Brilliant episode! Can't wait for Rivoli and Eylau. Big Fan. Keep up the great work!

Joseph Cunningham

Great work. Is there a way to download this? Be nice to watch it ad free on the TV without youtube ads. Looks like Patreon doesn't have an app for Samsung TVs.

Gavin Gates

Napoleon’s first campaign is honestly his best imo

EpicHistoryTV

Thanks Joseph. Unfortunately the video can't be downloaded, due to various rights issues. Might it be possible to watch it full screen via an internet browser, on the Samsung TV?

Jerome Kelly

I can’t wait till all the Napoleon stuff is done and I can watch everything from Toulon to Waterloo in order😂

Pranay Polsani

Just a doubt, Does the next video cover Battle of Valvasone and the Battle of Tarvis as well? Cause I thought The Italian campaign ended with the Treaty of Campo Formio.

EpicHistoryTV

Yes, we'll cover those battles but not in any detail - the focus will be on the victory at Rivoli.

Alejandro

i think this was the point where napeolon probably had enough with the directory

Fluid Goofy

Alvinci looks talented, able to direct forces to not give napoleons army its formidable chance, rain, and hail at Caldiero's muddy slopes, confused fighting against marshland and staunch enemy resistance at Arcola, yet still managed to repel the third attempt, even with heavy losses, he was outnumbered-pressed on all fronts yet to see the Napoleonic Art at Rivoli

Issho9999

Hi, I love the content, what is the opening song called?

Issho9999

Thank you so much! I've been looking for it everywhere. I have to say that this channel is the premier when it comes to Napoleonic War content. Keep up the good work!

petr maťátko

Hi, I can't wait for more videos. I have already seen the entire Italian campaign about 60 times. Please, where can I find the song (Napoleon's First Campaign: Battle for Mantua 9:24) it's totally epic and I like to play it while running, I have a better time for a kilometer :DD. I would like to see the list of used songs, I will easily join the higher class of patrons. Great work, I can feel the heart and hard work in your creation.

EpicHistoryTV

Thank you Petr! Vey kind compliments. This track is called Arch Enemy, it's one I had made for the channel by a very talented composer called Ben Hayden. Unfortunately it's not available to listen to at the moment, but I will ponder ways to make some of these tracks available to Patreon members..

Andrew Herbst

Making the music available for Petreon members would be fantastic . I have loved your music and listen to that genre of music often! Thus I support your comment here!

David Klein

If Alvinczi just unites all of the Austrian Army, by connecting with Davidovich, & rescuing Manuta what do you think happens

EpicHistoryTV

Counter-factuals are very tricky, but probably a very big battle, somewhere near Verona! The Austrians might have prevailed due to larger numbers, but only if they could concentrate their forces. A single massive force puts huge pressure on a small number of roads, reducing the speed of the advance. Napoleon had several river lines he could try to hold, and might still have had the opportunity to pounce on an isolated wing or column. It is probably a better option for Alvinczi, but certainly not a guaranteed victory.

R

If Alvinczi unites with Davidovich, it’s over for Napoleon. He would then be outnumbered 2 to 1 and that force would then liberate Mantua. This is why Alvinczi should have immediately marched on Verona rather than get distracted by Napoleon in his rear, which is exactly what Napoleon wanted him to do. Napoleon knew he had lost the initiative, and the only way to get it back was to make Alvinczi panic and distract him from uniting with Davidovich. Even if Napoleon cuts the Austrian supply line, it doesn’t matter because Alvinczi’s army still has enough supplies for at least a few days and would gather more from Verona and Davidovich. Napoleon’s March to Arcole was an extremely risky gamble that paid off, which is why even Napoleon called victory at Arcole luck. Even after this battle, Alvinczi still could have just continued toward Verona and Davidovich, but commanders were so cautious about being cut off that Napoleon’s bluff worked.

Andrew Herbst

I finally started Andrew Roberts' biography on Napoleon! Loving it thus far

Richard Fernandes

Good Afternoon Toby! How are You? When will be out the last video of this episode for Patreon's Supporters?

EpicHistoryTV

Hi Richard, I’m ok thanks, a lot going on at the moment and production update soon, but hoping to have the Rivoli episode out by mid/late July.

Borisz Laczko

Tobi you are the best, keep going!