The Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast #5 - The Army of Italy (part one)
(mp3 - 26Mb - 63mins)
Napoleon is made Commander-In-Chief of the Army of France in Italy by Paul Barras in March 1796 (one week before he married Josephine). A couple of days later, he leaves to join his new command.
In this episode, we talk about:
Building a winning army
• His key team – Berthier, Murat
• The generals he inherited, Massena, Augereau – how he got them onside
• The army he inheried – the condition they were in, their track record to date
• How he inspired the troops
• Who he was fighting and why
• The first victory – Montenotte
• The lesson of Dego
• The victory at Mondovi and the Armistice of Cherasco, his first peace treaty
• And that was all in the first month!
Strategy
• I guess this is a good time to start talking about the major recurrent themes in Napoleon’s strategy.
• Fast movements, the advantage of surprise
• Flexible strategy, changing tact mid-stream if needed versus slow, rigid opponents
• Attack the center, split the opposing force, then attack the wings
Napoleon in Victory
• You can tell a lot about the man from how he acted towards his opponents after a victory
In the next show, we’ll continue the Italian Campaign of 1796 as Napoleon wins the Battle of Lodi and starts to fully comprehend that he has a special destiny!
Please leave us comments on the show and you can now leave us AUDIO comments by clicking on this image:
And don’t forget, if you are new to Napoleonic study, then you really must buy a copy of David’s recent book:
May 11th, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Hello Cameron, I’m following all the episodes you are doing with David, and enjoying every single one of them. Waiting for the next one,hopefully you will record it soon!
Good job!
May 11th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
thanks ub! glad someone is listening!
May 12th, 2006 at 9:42 pm
Gidday guys.
Love your work and good on you both for making the effort. One suggestion. An alternative to the 1812 overture (which celebrates the Russian victory) that you could consider for the intro music is Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat Opus 73 - also known as “The Emperor”. At one time Beethoven was an admirer of Napoleon.
If you don’t have a copy might I suggest that you get the DVD from ABC Classics. It has Gerard Willems from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music playing a Stuart and Sons Piano (made of Huon pine) with Sinfonia Australis conducted by Antony Walker. Apart from getting a DVD of the year award last year I would suggest that its one of the best renditions of this absolutely imperial piece of music.
HTH and Keep up the good work
Regartds
Chris
May 13th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Thanks Chris! We’ve never been happy with the history behind the 1812 Overture either, it just seemed to fit easily.
Next episode I’ll try The Emperor (can’t promise it’ll be the Willems version though) and see how it works!
May 17th, 2006 at 7:44 am
Hi there Cameron. Just wanted to say a huge thanks. Please also pass this on to David.
End of the last podcast David & yourself mentioned slightly apologetically about the time overrun.
From me : Don’t worry, you’re both doing fine.
Yoy guys take as long as you want - nobody’s forcing me to listen after all.
I play my own little inner game, where I imagine you two sat in armchairs by a fire, glasses of wine in hand, friends chatting about Napoleon. I’m also sat silently in a nearby chair, enjoying it & learning along the way - good enough for me.
I’m in no rush to leave this imaginary fireside so you two gentlemen take as long as you want.
May 17th, 2006 at 8:06 am
Thanks Mike! Really appreciate the feedback mate. Tell your friends!
BTW, we’re due to do another episode in the next couple of days.
May 20th, 2006 at 7:08 am
Dear Cameron and David,
I am sorry I didn’t left a reply earlier…It was only today that I saw episode 4 and 5 (I had them already saved a long time ago). Again they are great. I really like your description of incomparable Josephine and the end of the episode when you say that the Emperor has always loved her (the most), it is something which many people do not know, this ‘lovely Emperor’…Episode 5 was also very good, a good description of this brilliant Man and a good start of this fabulous Italian campaign…
Until the next one,
Vive L’Empereur and thanks again!
May 20th, 2006 at 3:17 pm
Lovely stuff, feel free to stretch this out into as many episodes as you like! The more, the better!
May 22nd, 2006 at 8:23 am
Hi Guys
Enjoyin this podcast immensely you guys take as much time as you want for each episode
In the last episode their was some debate between David and his friend to who was the best Marshal.In my own humble opinon it would have to be the ‘iron marshal’ Davout eventhough my own favourite is Lannes, Auerstadt was immense, damn shame he wasn’t given a field command at Waterloo.
Vive L’Empereur and i look foward to the next episode.
September 18th, 2006 at 12:53 pm
Another excellent episode, installment, show, whichever word fits a podcast better. Great story about Bonaparte’s intimidating glare in response to the disrespectful lack of removing hats upon entry. I can just picture the holes he burned into those guys.
With regard to your running over your expected time slot, keep in mind that your avid listeners aren’t minding one bit if your knowledge spills over. All the better. Kudos.
November 1st, 2007 at 3:41 pm
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