Hi everybody, welcome to Downsnow's History Hit. The Battle of Austolus was fought on

the 2nd of December 1805, just a couple of months after the Battle of Trafalgar. One would

be Britain's greatest naval victory of the early 19th century, the other was probably

Napoleon's single greatest victory on land. The two of them were carrying so close to

each other, helped to set the scene for the rest of the Napoleon it was that would last

for almost untrusted 10 years right up to them. The final volley of the Battle of Water

Lou. The Battle of Austolus probably shows Napoleon that the peak of his powers is use

of deception, his determination drive, his ability to be everywhere on the battlefield to

provide on-hand leadership at the moment of crisis. It's a battle that very much supports

his claim to all the great military geniuses of all time. In this episode of Downsnow's

History Hit, we have James Rogers, he's on our sibling podcast warfare, he talked to

Andrew Roberts about the Battle of Austolus, it's performed so well on that feed we thought

we'd bring it over here and give him airing. Andrew Roberts has been this podcast many

times before, he is obviously one of Britain's best selling historians, Churchill expert,

just written his biography, George III, which we talked about on this podcast and he's

written about Napoleon in the past as well. Great to hear his opinion about Napoleon's

greatest triumph. If you wish to watch a documentary about the Battle of Austolus, I've

been there. I've been there in the early days of history, we shot a documentary in the

field in early December, it's freezing cold, we've never even food, we're just stagging

around that place like a disorientated Russian infantry unit on the Prats and Heights. But

unlike them, we emerge victorious. So please go and check it out on History Hit TV, it's

our digital history channel. It's like Netflix for history, lots of documentaries on there,

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