Episode 121: The Red Danube
Added 2025-01-01 01:48:32 +0000 UTCOn May 21st, 1809, the Austrians attacked the Grande Armée at the towns of Aspern and Essling. The ensuing two days were the hardest test of Napoleon's career to date.
Comments
This was an amazing, exciting and tragic episode. One of my favourites so far. I loved all the quotes from Massena in this one, it really brings out his character. I also partly dreaded reaching the battle of Aspern-Essling, as I know what's going to happen to one of my favourite marshals. I can't believe we've arrived at this battle! Brilliant Work as always, thank you.
Britt Cleaver
2025-03-18 07:32:14 +0000 UTCWasn’t artillery of this era either solid shot or canister fire? How did the artillery light aspern?
Geoffrey Dellar
2025-02-28 06:19:31 +0000 UTCGet well soon, god bless.
Rwfssqsfc
2025-01-24 02:46:43 +0000 UTCAny day now. I have to record sitting down and I threw out my back, so sitting down is very painful at the moment. It's all ready to go, just waiting on my back to heal up enough that I can sit down for an hour.
The Age of Napoleon
2025-01-24 02:45:30 +0000 UTCWhen can we expect the next dispatch?
Rwfssqsfc
2025-01-23 18:49:26 +0000 UTCHappy new year! I saved this episode for weeks to accompany me on my road trip. I was happy to see the magnanimous gesture toward the Habsburgs at the end!
Pete Fenelon
2025-01-23 00:24:15 +0000 UTCThis was a really good episode and I loved listening to it!
William
2025-01-14 07:45:37 +0000 UTCHave you seen an advanced copy of the script?
Lord-Admiral of the Pyrenees
2025-01-13 08:02:47 +0000 UTCThis is why I'm enjoying the podcast! Napoleon is a terrible, fascinating person who achieved things we would admire today among dreadful barbarities. He is also a model for several others to come in history, a necessary evil perhaps, but cannot let go when his time is done. Very worthy of our study!
John McCormick
2025-01-12 20:13:30 +0000 UTC1812 and Russia is going to disappoint you I think.
John McCormick
2025-01-12 20:10:04 +0000 UTCFuck you
Zane
2025-01-06 22:53:02 +0000 UTCA little outside the narrative but I am curious about the forces of production and industry behind the various powers. Is each state producing the majority of its war material internally? Is British industrial capacity playing a role in Austria's military refurbishment? Wondering how that stuff may tie in to Napoleon's desire to keep British trade out of the continent. Great episode, thank you for all you do with this show!
Microplastic Lizard Brain
2025-01-05 15:33:45 +0000 UTCthere's a book out very recently by jennifer ngaire heuer that might touch on this - it's called "the soldier's reward" and it's about marriage and conscription during the revolutionary & napoleonic periods
God's Eepiest Soldier
2025-01-04 17:52:59 +0000 UTCI’m not sure about the direction of the script for this seasons. I know you’re trying to shake things up but I think a lot of listens like to hear about Napoleon winning big. Not sure about this new “maybe Napoleon doesn’t always win” angle.
Lord-Admiral of the Pyrenees
2025-01-04 09:34:26 +0000 UTCGreat question.
Steele Partridge
2025-01-03 20:39:07 +0000 UTCI started this podcast quite admiring Napoleon and being impressed with his merits and achievements for France. As time has gone on I am becoming more and more sceptical about whether he was a force for good. I fear he has slipped into despotism and self aggrandizement and is pulling Europe into more and more war. The balance is shifting from blame for these wars being on the ideologically driven and positioning coalitions to Napoleon himself. Spain was the most egregious example so far. This must have been how Europe and the French experienced the story too, but without knowing how it ended ultimately
Deane
2025-01-03 08:44:49 +0000 UTCFor a bonus dispatch--could you please talk about how the engineers created temporary bridges? Putting together even a temporary bridge overnight seems like an incredibly daunting task and I'm not sure how they even began.
Rob Herman
2025-01-03 00:47:52 +0000 UTCGreat episode. I am wondering what was the mood among the women who stayed behind in France, as the bloodshed got worse and worse? Is there any information? You often hear today of the grieving "mothers of the soldiers" or the widows who could be a particular moving force behind any opposition against a conflict where a lot of men is lost. Like any complainst to local magistrates over drafts, or even was there any changes to any allowances given to those families left behind a dead soldier as there is now more of them? Do we know anything about this or is the "mood in France" as opposition/support for war always driven by economic circumstances in the debate of the Napoleonic wars?
Josefína Kurfürstová
2025-01-02 21:45:38 +0000 UTCGreat episode. Hearing about a loss for Napoleon had me wondering: what kinds of reviews or retrospectives did commanders engage in after a battle? With so much chaos during the battles themselves, were there processes in the aftermath for "reviewing the tape" to assess what went wrong and what went right?
Ian Nance
2025-01-02 19:09:32 +0000 UTCLovely to hear Haydn at the end.
Brendan Moriarty
2025-01-02 18:17:57 +0000 UTCLoved your inclusion of Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser, one of my favourite songs. Happy New year from Austria!
Chris Beer
2025-01-02 11:12:21 +0000 UTCYou’ve mentioned the rivalry for Napoleon’s attention between his now-deceased best friend, Jean Lannes, and his second-closest friend, Joachim Murat. What was it about Napoleon’s relationship with Lannes that led you to rank him above Murat? Did anyone else vie for the honor of being the Emperor’s best or second-best friend?
Arin Spanner
2025-01-02 06:30:24 +0000 UTCPretty sad to hear about Napoleon's best friend Lannes dying. At least we still have General Antoine-Charles Lasalle, Mr. "any hussar who wasn't dead by age thirty was a blackguard". Surely he'll still have time to get new boots, make his wife pregnant AND cheer up the Emperor next episode!
Plainwrap
2025-01-02 05:00:09 +0000 UTCQuestion: were any resources allocated to counter the barges that were sent from upstream to destroy the bridges in this period (or later periods if not now)? Perhaps strong nets across the river or semi permeable dams before the bridge could act as a countermeasure? Happy New Year to all!
Jack Dermody
2025-01-02 01:53:52 +0000 UTCQuestion about Britain. If Nelson had lost the battle of the Nile, what would have been the consequences for history and how likely is it that France would have invaded the UK this? How serious was Napoleon about invading Britain? And how realistic is it that he could have ever pulled this off? Thanks
Deane
2025-01-01 21:17:35 +0000 UTCIt is chastening to listen to this history. So much blood, violence and life long suffering inflicted, to end up back where they started. A lesson not learned by the human race.
John McCormick
2025-01-01 20:00:38 +0000 UTCGrear stuff. Fascinating, exciting and horrific. Why were the French army scounts unable to locate such a large force before it almost on top of them? Was there any repercussions to personnel or command structure in what appears to be a huge blunder? Did the Austrians employ any specific tactics to create the element of surprise?
Stuart Mathieson
2025-01-01 18:44:34 +0000 UTCGreat wake up to 2025⏰
James Norton
2025-01-01 11:43:33 +0000 UTCGreat episode, glorious, disastrous and a very good start to the new year! While listening to the ordeal of the fighting soldiers I started to think about the citizens of these cities. What was their fate in these kinds of battles? Were they evacuated in time or caught between the battleing armies and bombarded by their own artillery? Perhaps a subject for a dispatch? 😊
Odd Kjellberg
2025-01-01 11:05:52 +0000 UTCHappy happy new year
JC
2025-01-01 09:36:40 +0000 UTCWhat a great start into the new year. Bonne année à tous !
Julian Weber
2025-01-01 06:17:08 +0000 UTCGreat episode! Happy New year 🎊
Henning Petzscke
2025-01-01 05:37:29 +0000 UTCHappy new year to all Napoleon fans!!
Louis Painchaud
2025-01-01 04:16:39 +0000 UTCHappy new year!
Carson Brooks
2025-01-01 02:02:14 +0000 UTCI knew this morning that Aspern-Essling was coming. I dreaded it, but "It is sometimes better to abandon one's self to destiny." Lol. Happy new year everybody.
JLD
2025-01-01 01:55:08 +0000 UTCEnding 2024 with a bang! Happy new year!
Smooth Shrek
2025-01-01 01:50:06 +0000 UTCAmazing episode
Arin Spanner
2025-01-01 01:50:06 +0000 UTC
