Napoleon Bonaparte a Logistical Genius ?

[mongers]

Was Napoleon really a logistical genius and how did his talents in that area compare to his other military and political abilities  ?

[Viking]

Logistical Genius, yeah right. If anything his genius was undestanding the hearts of men and the effect that cannonballs and grapeshot and surprise had on the modes of thinking of those men.

[Scipio]

He was logistically about the equal of Julius Caesar, although I think Caesar is the superior engineer.  Bonaparte may have been the superior strategist, although Caesar is so poorly critiqued, and his tactical prowess so over-stated, that it's nearly impossible to compare.  Bonaparte was a perfectly competent tactician, but his logistical abilities were largely based, like Caesar's, on superb scrounging and acquisitiveness.  Their non-coms were the greatest of dog-robbers.  Bonaparte's invasion of Russia counted on his people's ability to scrounge, which had been legendary throughout his earlier campaigns.

[Viking]

I'll agree that Caesar and Napoleon share most of the same virtues. Kutuzov and Vercingetorix tried to use the same scorched earth trick on each of them; Caesar pulled it off while Napoleon failed.

Edit: I think that the Grognards ability to steal stuff spoiled Napoleon allowing him to ignore logistics for most of his quick and early campaigns in germany and italy.

[CountDeMoney]

I dunno;  Napoleon learned from and surrounded himself with some of the best mathematicians and chemists in French history.  And he applied those principles to warfare and artillery.

Maybe not a engineer in the grandest sense as Caesar, but definitely from an operational perspective.

[crazy canuck]

I dunno;  Napoleon learned from and surrounded himself with some of the best mathematicians and chemists in French history.  And he applied those principles to warfare and artillery.

Maybe not a engineer in the grandest sense as Caesar, but definitely from an operational perspective.

Wasnt the concept of canning invented by a scientist working for Nappy - iirc they used champagn bottles to keep food from spoiling - real champagn obviously .

[Ed Anger]

I dunno;  Napoleon learned from and surrounded himself with some of the best mathematicians and chemists in French history.  And he applied those principles to warfare and artillery.

Maybe not a engineer in the grandest sense as Caesar, but definitely from an operational perspective.

Wasnt the concept of canning invented by a scientist working for Nappy - iirc they used champagn bottles to keep food from spoiling - real champagn obviously .

If I remember correctly from those old Connections episodes, yes.

[mongers]

I dunno;  Napoleon learned from and surrounded himself with some of the best mathematicians and chemists in French history.  And he applied those principles to warfare and artillery.

Maybe not a engineer in the grandest sense as Caesar, but definitely from an operational perspective.

Wasnt the concept of canning invented by a scientist working for Nappy - iirc they used champagn bottles to keep food from spoiling - real champagn obviously .

If I remember correctly from those old Connections episodes, yes.

So is there an modern day equivalent for young people of those programmes, or is it just youtube nowadays ? 

[crazy canuck]

I dunno;  Napoleon learned from and surrounded himself with some of the best mathematicians and chemists in French history.  And he applied those principles to warfare and artillery.

Maybe not a engineer in the grandest sense as Caesar, but definitely from an operational perspective.

Wasnt the concept of canning invented by a scientist working for Nappy - iirc they used champagn bottles to keep food from spoiling - real champagn obviously .

If I remember correctly from those old Connections episodes, yes.

Yeah, I think that is where I picked up that bit of trivia.  I loved that show.

[mongers]

I dunno;  Napoleon learned from and surrounded himself with some of the best mathematicians and chemists in French history.  And he applied those principles to warfare and artillery.

Maybe not a engineer in the grandest sense as Caesar, but definitely from an operational perspective.

Wasnt the concept of canning invented by a scientist working for Nappy - iirc they used champagn bottles to keep food from spoiling - real champagn obviously .

If I remember correctly from those old Connections episodes, yes.

Yeah, I think that is where I picked up that bit of trivia.  I loved that show.

Ironically given my comment, I think James put them all up on Youtube a while back.

[Ed Anger]

I dunno;  Napoleon learned from and surrounded himself with some of the best mathematicians and chemists in French history.  And he applied those principles to warfare and artillery.

Maybe not a engineer in the grandest sense as Caesar, but definitely from an operational perspective.

Wasnt the concept of canning invented by a scientist working for Nappy - iirc they used champagn bottles to keep food from spoiling - real champagn obviously .

If I remember correctly from those old Connections episodes, yes.

So is there an modern day equivalent for young people of those programmes, or is it just youtube nowadays ?

There are some good space educational programming, but nothing that really matches Connections.

Discovery and TLC have turned into shitholes.

[Razgovory]

I dunno;  Napoleon learned from and surrounded himself with some of the best mathematicians and chemists in French history.  And he applied those principles to warfare and artillery.

Maybe not a engineer in the grandest sense as Caesar, but definitely from an operational perspective.

Wasnt the concept of canning invented by a scientist working for Nappy - iirc they used champagn bottles to keep food from spoiling - real champagn obviously .

I think it was a candy maker.  Though the government gave him a prize.

[Ed Anger]

As for medical services in the Army, in Georges Blond's La Grand Armee, the book really picks on Nappy's lack of concern of the wounded and the lack of ambulances and medical personnel.

[grumbler]

Bonaparte's invasion of Russia counted on his people's ability to scrounge, which had been legendary throughout his earlier campaigns.

Absolutely untrue.  Napoleons logistics efforts for 1812 were widespread, in-depth, and took into account that his troops would get little more than forage from the countryside.

They failed, but part of that was due to horrendous weather (torrential downpours at the start of the campaign, and then a heat wave in July that killed off thousands of horses), and partly due to his decision not to stop at Smolensk to end the 1812 campaign, as he had planned.

In Italy, Napoleon's troops were forced to forage.  In his other campaigned, they foraged to get supplementary food.  napoleon was very conscious of the need for an effective and complete logistics train, and he generally had one until 1812 ruined it.  His greatest mistake in 1813, IMO, was moving troops into Germany that he knew couldn't be supported by his logistics train.  Had he campaigned with 200,000 men rather than 400,000, he'd probably have been more successful.  He was never able to use the numbers he did bring, because the corps had to stay too dispersed in order to feed themselves.

[mongers]

I dunno;  Napoleon learned from and surrounded himself with some of the best mathematicians and chemists in French history.  And he applied those principles to warfare and artillery.

Maybe not a engineer in the grandest sense as Caesar, but definitely from an operational perspective.

Wasnt the concept of canning invented by a scientist working for Nappy - iirc they used champagn bottles to keep food from spoiling - real champagn obviously .

If I remember correctly from those old Connections episodes, yes.

So is there an modern day equivalent for young people of those programmes, or is it just youtube nowadays ?

There are some good space educational programming, but nothing that really matches Connections.

Discovery and TLC have turned into shitholes.

There you go, first part of first episode:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcSxL8GUn-g