I would like to see the list of battles by Nial Ferguson. Because Napoleon alone had around 60 battles. Don't forget that there were plenty of battles in Revolutionary wars and Napoleonic ones where Napoleon wasn't even present. Number of those alone would be close to 100.



Nial also must elaborate about what wars he is talking about. What does he consider a victory ? Also, do we include Colonial wars ?



Do we count battles and wars of Clovis I, Charlemagne and etc. ? When do we start counting battles as French victories ?



Providing Rocroi and Yorktown as an example of French military might, doesn't really work. Also, what does he mean by ,, Rocroi ended a century of Spanish dominance '' ? Why ? Just because they lost a battle ? Spanish lost battles before and to French as well. War didn't end with Rocroi. In fact, Conde had another battle against them at Lens and war with Spanish ended only in 1659 after Turenne's victory at Dunes in 1658.



France is indeed one of the most successful military powers in history of Europe, but Nial Ferguson and that video don't really make a good case for proving that it was the best.



I also wonder how they judged battle like Borodino, for example ? French tactical victory ? Draw ? Russian strategic victory ?



Smells pop-history.