OpenTube

Prince Schwarzenberg: The General who Defeated Napoleon

Biographics

286,666 views

Thanks to Dollar Shave Club for sponsoring. Go to http://DollarShaveClub.com/biographics to get your first starter set for $5. After that, full price products will ship at regular prices.

→ Subscribe for new videos four times per week.
https://www.youtube.com/c/biographics...

This video is #sponsored by Dollar Shave Club.

TopTenz Properties
Our companion website for more: http://biographics.org
Our sister channel TopTenz: @toptenznettop10
Our Newest Channel about Interesting Places: @geographicstravel

Credits:
Host - Simon Whistler
Author - Morris M.
Producer - Jennifer Da Silva
Executive Producer - Shell Harris

Business inquiries to biographics.email@gmail.com

Other Biographics Videos:

Croesus: All the Money in the World
Croesus: All the Money in the World

Robert Hanssen: The FBI Mole who Spied for the KGB
Robert Hanssen: The FBI Mole who Spied for...

Source/Further reading:

Podcast on the endgame of the Napoleonic Wars: https://www.revolutionspodcast.com/20...
Detailed, cached bio via Napoleon.org: https://webcache.googleusercontent.co...
Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/biography/...
History of War: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/...
Short bio, cached: https://webcache.googleusercontent.co...
Battle of Leipzig: http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/...
Invasion of Russia: https://www.history.com/news/napoleon...
Also on the Battle: https://www.history.com/topics/france...
Brief note on the deadly Schwarzenberg ball: https://www.new.ox.ac.uk/node/1293
Napoleonic Wars explained: https://www.britannica.com/event/Napo...
Biographics on Metternich and Austria’s take on the Napoleonic Wars: Metternich: A dandy, womanizer, pompous fo...

20 Comments

@Biographics Creator 6 years ago Pinned

Thanks to Dollar Shave Club for sponsoring. Go to http://DollarShaveClub.com/biographics to get your first starter set for $5. After that, full price products will ship at regular prices.

@strawbeerysbeauty1 6 years ago

After 6 years of living in Vienna and passing through Schwarzenberg square almost daily it took a YouTube video for me to realize that the square was named after a human and not a mountain.
There is even a statue of him there.

@alexanderbemis9065 6 years ago

It saddens me that at my high school we didn’t really talk about Napoleon but rather treated him as a footnote to the end of the French Revolution when we went over that unit

@mrme247 5 years ago

If you want the first time Napoleon lost a battle it was at Aspern-Essling in 1809 at the hands of the Austrian Army commanded by Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen who Napoleon commended for his abilities as a Field marshal, he organised a peace with France which his brother the Emporer hated him for because he didn't speak to him first. The person to go toe to toe with Napoleon and won was unceremoniously relieved of command and never held office again

@HappyOtakoStudios 6 years ago

The "Order of Maria Theresa" is a very special Medal that can only earned in one certain circumstance that can easily backfire.
Circumstance: The soldier or commander has to defy orders and do things on his own.
Back Firing: Should these actions worsen the position of the military, the soldier gets court martialed and executed.
Successful: But should these actions benefit the war effort the soldier not only is not executed but also receives the "Order of Maria Theresa"
It was an effort inside the Austrian Empire that the military doesn't have to execute soldiers who thought for themselves and made the situation for the Empire better.

@Artur_M. 6 years ago

Prince Józef Poniatowski, the nephew of the last king of Poland, commander of the Army of the Duchy of Warsaw (Polish allies of Napoleon) started his career just as Schwarzenberg, fighting in Austrian army against the Ottomans in 1788 and allegedly saving Schwarzenberg himself. He died at Leipzig covering Napoleon's retreat, just days after being made a Marshall of France. I think his life would be a great subject of one of your videos.

@irontusk341 6 years ago

Austria: Declares yet another war on France
France: How many times do we need to teach you this lesson old man?!

@Jan-vv1zk 6 years ago

We nearly had (another) Schwarzenberg president back in 2013 here in the Czech Republic

@MikeDiEva 6 years ago

Last time I was this early, Simon only had 30 channels.

@QuestionEverythingButWHY 6 years ago

"Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
— George Santayana

@pureownageftw 6 years ago

When you defeat the Final boss but then he respawns.

@flukislucas 6 years ago

If anyone is interested in the Napoleonic Wars I recommend Epic History TV

@zipperman1448 6 years ago

My mind tried so hard to read his surname as Schwarzenegger

@Ghost_Of_SAS 6 years ago

"Remember when I said I would defeat you last?"
Napoleon: "Yes! yes you said it!"
"I lied"
Napoleon: "Aiiiieeeeeeee!"

@bgmedia9353 6 years ago

Didn’t Napoleon lose at Aspern to Archduke Charles?

@Taistelukalkkuna 6 years ago

The Wars of Coalitions were stopped at seven, because producers put their foot down. No more sequels, even though plot changed latter ones.

@VersusARCH 6 years ago (edited)

It was Tolly, Kutuzov, Tsar Alexander and Napoleon's own folly who defeated Napoleon. Many others helped but these really broke the back of the French army in the long run. Many others helped, notably Wellington in Spain, Blucher in Prussia, Napoleon's turncoat marshal Bernaddotte in Sweden, and, yes, Schwarzenberg in Austria (very important in 1812), but the turning point was really the disasterous Russian campaign.

Wellington fought Napoleon to a standstill at Waterloo with the Prussians under Blucher turning it into a decisive rout.

The first Austrian general to pull a major victory against Napoleon was Archduke Charles at Aspern-Essling.

Napoleon's first major defeat was the disastrous Egyptian campaign.

@andrewbagshaw3095 6 years ago (edited)

Napoleon had been defeated in the field before Leipzig, e.g. at the battle of Aspern-Essling in 1809. Napoleon did bounce back from that, but following his disastrous invasion of Russia, which cost him 500,000 casualties (though without a defeat in the field), the coalition forces began to gain the upper hand by combining en masse with large armies from Austria, Prussia and Russia. This happened first at Leipzig in 1813 in the so-called "Battle of the Nations", and then during the campaigns of 1814, which culminated in the occupation of Paris. However, even the latter only occurred after several major tactical victories by Napoleon against huge odds. Partly for this reason, Napoleon was still able to raise an army of 130,000 following his return from exile in 1815. There's no doubt that his ability to unite French militarism, and thus the Napoleonic wars, were not over until Waterloo had been won.

@TheGoldennach 6 years ago

I feel you heap too much praise on Schwarzenberg, making him too perfect a soldier. 23:30 you mentioned Schwarzenberg made the gamble of his career to march on Paris when Napoleon went east, it wasn't entirely true, and some information is missed out, for instance the coalition received information from Talleyrand that the Paris defence is weak, and they also captured French dispatches confirming this. In light of this, Schwarzenberg decided to march on Paris, it was a small gamble, and they knew what they were up to.