Napoleon's greatest foe
LindybeigeCited 3× on HN, 2018–2021
commentary · general · evergreen · 2018–2021 on HN
Lindybeige's long video on Napoleon's most effective opponent, Sir Sidney Smith, with plenty of detail on Napoleon's misdeeds along the way.
Cited by commenters as a source of examples of Napoleon's cruelty and poor decisions.
Up next
12 mo on HNMechanical Computer (All Parts) - Basic Mechanisms In Fire Control Computers
Excelsior10000
13 HN recommender · 2014–2025
11 mo on HNU.S. NAVY BASIC MECHANISMS OF FIRE CONTROL COMPUTERS MECHANICAL COMPUTER INSTRUCTIONAL FILM 27794
PeriscopeFilm
11 HN recommender · 2018–2026
8 mo on HNThe Secret War
Sergio IQ
4 HN recommender · 2019–2025
8 mo on HNThis Is What Winning Looks Like (Full Length)
VICE
7 HN recommender · 2014–2023
8 mo on HNTiedustelueverstin arvio Venäjästä | 3.12.2018
fin_topsu
14 HN recommender · 2022–2024
6 mo on HNSecret History of Silicon Valley
Computer History Museum
6 HN recommender · 2010–2026
6 mo on HNDavid Fravor: UFOs, Aliens, Fighter Jets, and Aerospace Engineering | Lex Fridman Podcast #122
Lex Fridman
8 HN recommender · 2020–2022
6 mo on HNThe Battle of Midway 1942: Told from the Japanese Perspective (1/3)
Montemayor
7 HN recommender · 2019–2022
5 mo on HNThreads (1984) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HD 1080p]
HD Retro Trailers
5 HN recommender · 2019–2024
5 mo on HNThe Secret History of Silicon Valley
Google TechTalks
5 HN recommender · 2008–2016
5 mo on HNGimbal UFO - A New Analysis
Mick West
8 HN recommender · 2022–2025
5 mo on HNOperation InfeKtion: How Russia Perfected the Art of War | NYT Opinion
New York Times Opinion
3 HN recommender · 2019–2022
3 comments from Hacker News
It's not just the extreme left that doesn't like Napoleon. ▶ this video > relevant part starts at about 16 minutes, all lindy really does is point out how absolutely horrible Napoleon actually was.
▶ this video This video is full of good reasons why Napoleon was not a good person, see 24:30 for my personal favorite.
Are you demanding easy answers? There aren't any. The goal is deterrence, but deterrence doesn't work if you don't have a credible threat, which means that you have to have the credible threat, and a sufficiently insane opponent may call you on it. It's the reason why China going to a dictatorship is scary... the details of the dictatorship are irrelevant, the mere fact that one man will be in charge of the military of China is intrinsically scary. This is one place where the general bias towards inaction and other problems of a committee are advantageous; history shows that an individual is much likelier to do something really stupid for really stupid reasons than any government that is run by many people, even if there is a clear leader. A committee may fail to exploit many opportunities and may in various ways run their country into the ground, or they may even engage in misguided military adventures, but they never really rise to the level of outright evil and stupidity that an individual can muster up. For instance, if you've got a spare hour to listen, you could do worse than this: ▶ this video Which contains numerous examples of Napoleon doing stupid and evil things that cost thousands of lives and burned massive piles of reputation just to benefit himself. If you do watch that video, can you imagine a world in which that Napoleon has nukes ? Or, can you imagine a world in which he has them, but doesn't use them? I can't. So, alas, no, I can't promise that some of the reall