Napoleon’s famous strategy that you didn’t see in the movie

Ridley Scott’s film Napoleon has angered many fans of the historical figure. They were upset that the director had not the slightest interest in depicting a historically accurate version of the life of the legendary Emperor of France; deciding to sum up his entire life in just over a couple of hours, focusing on his family life. Epic battles based on Napoleon’s famous strategy faded into the background.

Stanley Kubrick spent several years of his life preparing a biopic of Napoleon, which he never recorded. Many critics expected Ridley Scott to fill the void and were disappointed.. Steven Spielberg truly intended to accomplish this mission. He is preparing to adapt Kubrick’s script for television with the help of Christiane Kubrick, the legendary director’s widow.

I’m on Scott’s side in this conflict because his job as a director is to move and entertain. Historical accuracy is not necessary for him, it will be maintained as long as it does not interfere with the story he wants to tell.. As with all films based on real events.

The film Napoleon served its purpose. as his cinematic excellence aroused historical interest in millions of people.. The fights were widely criticized for favoring sensational action sequences instead of telling the story of what actually happened. But this does not apply to the film, unlike this article.

The main question for me is: how did he manage to subjugate most of Europe? Even when several times the entire continent united to stop him. The main thing is in the strategy.

Napoleon’s Basic Strategy

Basic strategy (there are entire libraries dedicated to his many military strategies) step by step, as described in Bevin Alexander’s book How Great Generals Win.what Napoleon called a “strategic battle”:

• 1) Step one is to send a significant number of troops with the task of attacking the center of the enemy formation. Just as significant as force the enemy commander to devote all or most of his reserves to defense.

• 2) At the height of the battle, the commander suddenly sends another group of troops to the flank of the first, threatening to encircle the enemy. An attack from behind or from the side is always more effective than a frontal one.. The idea is that this movement forces the enemy commander to send troops to counter it. Since the first attack will have already used up most of your reserves and this is an emergency, you should be forced to weaken your defensive line by sending troops from that side to protect the rear.

• 3) Hidden near the enemy’s line of defense, Napoleon will already deploy a unit (a group of infantry, cavalry and artillery), expecting to fall into the trap of the enemy commander, withdrawing troops from the sector to place them in his rear. When this unit detects such a reduction in troops, it fires all of its artillery directly through the sector that has been weakened.. This opens a gap for infantry to enter, which will keep the gap open long enough for the cavalry to penetrate in full force. At this point, the enemy line has disintegrated, and without defensive stability, the enemy army can be completely destroyed.

Why was this so effective?

The essence of his strategy was to manipulate the enemy into behaving exactly the way he wanted. By the time the opposing army realized that they were backed into a corner and facing the French army in all directions, it was already too late.. All they could do was escape, and it was during their escape that most of them died.

Like many brilliant commanders, he had the ability to adapt his strategy to overcome adverse circumstances. Because in war nothing happens exactly according to plan; The best generals love to navigate chaos.

After many military victories, having become emperor, Napoleon left creativity aside. Choosing to simply crush the enemy with your massive army is a tactic that costs many lives and therefore has an expiration date. Meanwhile, his enemies dedicated themselves to learning his strategies and then implementing them against him, ultimately condemning him.. After Napoleon, war was never the same again.