The Age of Napoleon Podcast
The Age of Napoleon is a history podcast about the life and career of Napoleon Bonaparte as well as the general context of Europe between the early eighteenth and early nineteenth century. It is about big trends and the grand sweep of history, as well as the smaller, individual stories that bring them to life.
Episodes
Episode 138: Le Brutal
A guide to the artillery of the Napoleonic era... the artillery was a marvel of organization and logistics, and stood at the forefront of technical and doctrinal innovation. Its internal culture made a major impact on Napoleon's character and outlook.
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Episode 137: Spain on the Precipice
Late 1809 saw disaster after disaster for the Spanish Patriots. The French were ascendant in Iberia, but the Empire was struggling with the expense of constant warfare, and Wellington was preparing to fight on, even without his Spanish allies.
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Episode 136: The Stumbling Colossus
1809 was another trying year for the Spanish Patriots. The will to resist remained strong, but the Spanish leadership seemed unable to come up with a winning strategy.
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Episode 135: A Bed of Roses
The spring and summer of 1810 saw Napoleon enjoying life as a newlywed. Bonaparte was happy, but there were ominous signs of trouble ahead. He himself would later admit the Empire was headed towards "the edge of the abyss."
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Episode 134: By Gentler Means
Napoleon's search for a new wife eventually led to Vienna, where the new Austrian Foreign Minister, Klemens von Metternich, was preparing to take Austria in a new direction on the world stage.
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Prix Napoléon Special Episode
We interview David Serero of the Festival Napoléon and get a special message from Will Clark of Grey History.
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Episode 133: Long Live America
News of the Abdications of Bayonne shook Spanish colonial societies to their foundations. Within a few years, the nations of South and Central America would be on the road to independence.
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Episode 132: The Old Master
We examine Spanish America on the eve of the Wars of Independence.
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Episode 131: The Sacrifice
Josephine was the great love of Napoleon's life, but in late 1809, he had their marriage annulled -- how had it come to this?
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Episode 130: The Heart of the Empire
We examine Napoleon's private life, with a special focus on the most important person in it: the charming and controversial Empress of the French, Josephine.
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Episode 129: I Am Charlemagne
In the summer of 1809, General Sir Arthur Wellesley led a small British army into Spain. While the war raged on, Napoleon was also picking a political fight with a powerful enemy: the Roman Catholic Church.
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Episode 128: To Conquer a Throne
Iberia, 1809: the Aragonese capital of Zaragoza was under siege once again. To the west, the French prepared another invasion of Portugal. Meanwhile, in London, the British leadership debated a renewed commitment in this theater of the war.
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Episode 127: The Liberators
Throughout 1809, small groups of brave (or foolish) German patriots tried to stir up nationalist uprisings against France. Meanwhile, in Iberia, a very ugly war dragged on with no end in sight.
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Episode 126: Martyrs and Scapegoats
Late 1809: Napoleon negotiated a punitive peace treaty with Austria and survived a strange assassination attempt. Meanwhile, the British launched a surprise invasion of the continent and dealt with political controversies at home.
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Episode 125: An Age Forlorn
After his victory at Wagram, Napoleon pursued the Austrians. Peace was in the air, but the war would end on an almost unbelievably dramatic note in the middle of a Bohemian thunderstorm.
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Episode 124: My Blood for the Emperor
In the summer of 1809, Napoleon crossed the Danube again to confront Archduke Charles and the Habsburg field army and avenge his defeat at Aspern-Essling.
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Episode 123: Heroes and Rebels
As the War of the Fifth Coalition raged on, anti-French rebels rose up in the Alps and a remarkable Royal Navy captain fought one of the era's strangest battles on the Atlantic.
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Episode 122: The Emperor Alone
Austria, 1809: Napoleon was stunned after the first defeat of his career at Aspern-Essling and the death of his best friend and closest confidant, Marshal Lannes. But all across the continent, the war raged on...
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Episode 121: The Red Danube
On May 21st, 1809, the Austrians attacked the Grande Armée at the towns of Aspern and Essling. The ensuing two days were the hardest test of Napoleon's career to date.
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Episode 120: More Terrible than Ever
In April, 1809, the Austrians finally launched their long-awaited invasion of the Napoleonic Empire. The French were taken by surprise, but Napoleon had a plan to turn the tables.
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Episode 119: Setting the World Aflame
French and British forces continue fighting in Spain. In Paris, Napoleon's frustrations with Talleyrand finally boil over as he prepares to face off against a renewed and reformed Habsburg army.
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Episode 118: The Hornets' Nest
After taking Madrid, Napoleon chased a British army into northwestern Spain. Meanwhile, behind the lines, Spanish guerrillas waged a brutal war against the occupiers.
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Episode 117: Impossible
The Spanish Patriots prepared to hold off Bonaparte in a rocky mountain pass, but they didn't count on the heroism of the Polish cavalry of Napoleon's Imperial Guard.
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Paris Games Special
I sat down with two fellow French history podcasters for a Paris Games-themed discussion of some of our favorite characters of 18th and 19th century French history. You can find Will's show, Grey History, at: https://greyhistory.com, and David's show, The Siècle, here: http://thesiecle.com/.
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Episode 116: Strike Hard
In early November 1808, French troops crossed the Ebro River in their second invasion of Spain, led by the Emperor himself.
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Episode 115: War to the Knife
The summer of 1808 saw desperate fighting across Iberia as Spanish and Portuguese patriots rose up against Napoleon. France's most powerful enemy, Great Britain, sought to take advantage.
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Episode 114: The Limits of Power
The Spanish uprising was a disaster for France. Napoleon tried to shore up his diplomatic situation but found himself undermined by a surprising new enemy. Cameo appearances by José de San Martín and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Episode 113: Victory or Death
In the spring of 1808, Napoleon said he considered Spain conquered. That summer, Spanish forces dealt France its first major battlefield defeat in nearly a decade. How did Spain manage this stunning reversal?
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Grey History Collaboration
I recently recorded a collaboration with Will Clark of Grey History: the French Revolution.
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Episode 112: The Way of the Bandit
In the Spring of 1808, Napoleon installed his brother Joseph on the Spanish throne. However, the people of Madrid had had enough of the French, and took matters into their own hands.
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Episode 111: Bad Omens
With Portugal conquered, Napoleon turned his attention to Spain. As French troops began occupying the country, it soon became clear they were sitting on a political powder keg.
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Episode 110: Barbarians
1807 saw Napoleon and the British jockeying for influence among the remaining neutral states of Europe. Average people paid the price for this competition.
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Episode 109: The Rise of the Sausage-Maker
In 1808, France would find itself in a new war on the Iberian Peninsula. How did Napoleon find himself engaged in a new war less than a year after the Treaty of Tilsit?
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Episode 108: Europe Under the Eagle
By 1808, the Napoleonic empire stretched from Poland to the Pyrenees, and from the North Sea to the southern tip of Italy. How was Europe adjusting to Napoleon's new order?
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Episode 107: The Will of the Emperor
By 1809, Napoleon had ruled France for a decade. How did the Napoleonic regime actually function? How could one person effectively exercise his will over half a continent?
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Episode 106: The Art of Power
In Europe at the dawn of the nineteenth century, art and politics were deeply intertwined, sometimes in surprising ways. No one understood this better than Napoleon Bonaparte.
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Episode 105: The Imperial City
During his 15 years in power, Napoleon put an indelible mark on his adopted city: Paris. The First Empire was a formative period in the history of the city, but what did it mean for average people?
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Episode 104: Man of the Century
Napoleon's new treaty with Russia had totally transformed European geopolitics. What did it mean for the future of the continent? For France? For Napoleon himself?
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Episode 103: The Two Eagles
In the summer of 1807, the emperors of France and Russia, and the King and Queen of Prussia met at the Baltic town of Tilsit for a remarkable diplomatic summit aimed at forging a new geopolitical status quo for Europe.
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Episode 102: Bennigsen's Gamble
In the summer of 1807, Napoleon was on the verge of seizing a prize that had eluded him for 6 months: Königsberg. The end of the war was in sight, but before he could take the city, he would have to deal with a bold surprise attack on his rear.
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Episode 101: Beyond Bravery
As Napoleon struggled to rebuild his army after Eylau, French forces lay siege to the port city of Danzig. In late Spring, the Grande Armée went back out on campaign, to square off against General Bennigsen once again.
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Episode 100: What a Massacre
The Battle of Eylau was the greatest challenge of Napoleon's career so far. For two days, the French and Russian armies fought with unbelievable tenacity in the worst conditions imaginable.
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The Soul of a Free Man
A recording of a recent talk I gave on the life of Toussaint Louverture
You can find out more about the Symposium at: https://www.historysymposium.com/
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Episode 99: Dangers of Every Kind
In January of 1807, Napoleon ordered his men to make winter quarters and turned his attention to an exciting, but dangerous new mistress with a hidden agenda. But before the month was over, fate would draw the Grande Armée back out on campaign.
Also, I am writing Dr. Alexander Mikaberidze's name here in the notes, in case some of you are wondering how to spell it.
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Episode 98: Eagles East
France and the Grande Armée were growing tired of war, but in the winter of 1806, Napoleon led his forces east, into a harsh, new environment that would test the limits of his soldiers' endurance.
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Episode 97: The Rights of War
As Napoleon and the Grande Armée enjoyed a pleasant interlude in occupied Berlin, the war was escalating in unprecedented ways. Sailors, smugglers, and corsairs all over the world were engaged in a new style of total economic warfare.
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Episode 96: Our Favorite Enemy
After their defeats at Jena and Auerstedt, the vaunted Prussian army collapsed in the face of Napoleon's onslaught. As the French pushed into the heart of Central Europe, their presence began to awaken complicated nationalist feelings on both sides.
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Episode 95: The Iron Marshal's Stand
Germany, 1806: while Napoleon was winning another triumph at the Battle of Jena, the Third Corps of his army was forced to fight alone in a desperate battle against a superior force.
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Episode 94: History on Horseback
In early October, 1806, Napoleon led the Grande Armée to war once again, this time against the Prussians. The events of the next week would change the course of history, and have a surprisingly profound impact on western philosophy.
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Episode 93: A Ridiculous War
In 1806, France and Prussia went to war. The Grande Armée was at the height of its powers, but the French did not want this fight. The Prussian army had huge problems, but was eager to prove itself against Napoleon.
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Dispatch #1
Introducing a new feature to the show.
Visit: www.patreon.com/ageofnapoleon and sign up if you'd like to join us.
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Episode 92: Fear and Expectation
1806 saw Europe reeling from the aftermath of Austerlitz. Napoleon organized his new empire and continued to remake the map of the continent, but he would soon be faced with a powerful backlash.
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Episode 91: The Cavalry
An overview of the most colorful and romanticized branch of a Napoleonic military: the cavalry. Depending on your perspective, they were either the bravest, most vital part of any army, or preening, arrogant prima donnas. Napoleonic cavalry regiments saw some of the most desperate and exciting combat of the era, and their unique subculture continues to fascinate.
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Episode 90: The New Order
After his stunning victories of late 1805, Napoleon sought to impose a new international order on central Europe. This would mean an all-out diplomatic assault on one of the world's oldest and most venerable institutions: the Holy Roman Empire.
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Episode 89: Immortal Nelson
Horatio Nelson's last battle was a stunning British victory, but his fleet's troubles were just beginning. We examine the stunning aftermath of Trafalgar and the legacy of the greatest admiral of the age.
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Episode 88: Eastward with Jesse Alexander
I interviewed Real Time History's Jesse Alexander about his latest project: tracing Napoleon's downfall from the invasion of Russia in 1812. You can find them on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/c/realtimehistory
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Episode 87: Thank God I Have Done My Duty
In October 1805, a Franco-Spanish fleet sailed out of Cadiz to seek a confrontation with a British fleet under Horatio Nelson. What ensued was one of the greatest naval battles of all time.
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Episode 86: Six Hours
Napoleon famously said that if he could control the English Channel for 6 hours, he would control the world. In 1805, the French navy launched an audacious plan to buy the Emperor his 6 hours. But to do so, they would have to best one of the greatest military institutions of all time: the 19th century Royal Navy.
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Episode 85: In the Hands of a Giant
The Battle of Austerlitz changed Europe forever. As news of his triumph reverberated across Europe, Napoleon began to redraw the map of the continent.
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Episode 84: The Battle of the Three Emperors
On the first anniversary of his coronation, Napoleon faced off against a powerful Coalition army. With France's strategic situation deteriorating by the hour, he formed an audacious plan to win the war in a single stroke.
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Episode 83: The Chase
Napoleon pursues a Coalition army through Austria. Masséna fights in Italy. Prussian neutrality finally ends.
https://www.patreon.com/ageofnapoleon
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Episode 82: The Fortunes of War
A new coalition forms against France. Napoleon leads his new army into Germany in a stunning, lightning campaign.
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Episode 81: The Eagles of Boulogne
Napoleon brings his army to the Channel Coast and builds it into one of the most formidable war machines in military history. Meanwhile, talk of another anti-French Coalition begins to swirl in the old regime capitals of Europe.
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Episode 80: The Crown of Charlemagne
On December 2nd, 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor.
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Episode 79: The Eagle's Landing
We examine Napoleon's colonial policies, the tragic end of Toussaint Louverture, and the final act of the Haitian War of Independence.
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Episode 78: Free Haiti
After his victory over Britain, Toussaint Louverture began a new struggle: to build a new country out of the ruins of war and rebellion. Louverture had a bright vision for the future, but old divisions still lurked under the surface...
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Episode 77: The Symposium
A recording of a panel on Napoleonic podcasting from the 2021 Massena Society symposium on Napoleonic History.
The Massena Society's YouTube channel can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYvrcTkLRWH_5wOdr4lhKHw
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Episode 76: The Black Napoleon
As the war in Haiti rages on, Toussaint Louverture makes a fateful decision to leave his allies behind. We follow his development as a general as he forges his guerilla forces into a powerful, modern army, and challenges the invaders head-on.
Registration for the conference: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/napoleon-and-his-legacy-warfare-politics-and-society-march-18-21-2021-tickets-142425537617
Episode 75: The Opening
As Haiti sinks deeper into chaos and tragedy, Toussaint begins his rise to leadership within the rebel movement.
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Episode 74: The Age of Toussaint
Haiti was France's richest colony, but Europe's lust for sugar had created a barbaric and unstable social system in the colonies. We meet the man who would one day rise above this barbarism and become father of a new country.
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Episode 73: The Blood of a King
In 1803, Britain sent a team of assassins against Napoleon. They failed, but the plot led to one of the most controversial episodes of Napoleon's career.
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Episode 72: The Experiment
With the war over, France was finally becoming prosperous again. Napoleon contemplated what this would mean for his regime as he worked to reform the country. In many ways, the Consulate was a golden age, but war with Britain was already looming on the horizon once again.
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Episode 71: The Spoiled Child of Victory
France welcomes the Catholic Church back to the country in grand style, but the Concordat complicated Napoleon's relationship with staunch republicans in the army leadership.
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Episode 70: Concord
Napoleon finally had his deal with the Vatican, but how would the Concordat of 1801 change France? What would it mean for the future of the revolution, and millions of alienated French Catholics?
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Episode 69: God Save the Republic
Napoleon continues in his attempt to reconcile with conservatives. He finally manages to bring the Vatican to the negotiating table for an historic agreement.
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Episode 68: The Eagle and the Owls
Napoleon wanted to bring social harmony to France, but to do that, he needed to resolve the bitter conflict between the Catholic Church and the revolution.
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Episode 67: Resistance is Pointless
A conclusion to our discussion of the Napoleonic Code, plus the fate of France's crown jewels, the legal opposition to Bonaparte's regime, and women's rights.
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Episode 66: Master of France
Bonaparte finally takes the last legal step towards dictatorship, and we begin a discussion of his most important legacy: the Napoleonic Code.
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Episode 65: The Blank Slate
The Treaty of Amiens is greeted with celebrations around the world. With peace, Napoleon prepares to embark on an ambitious program of reform.
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Episode 64: The Last Treaty
After 8 years of war, Britain and France were finally on the road to peace, but reaching an agreement between such bitter rivals would be a long, arduous process. Fortunately, for both countries, an unlikely friendship between Joseph Bonaparte and Lord Charles Cornwallis paved the way.
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