The Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast

On June 24, 1812, the Grande Armée of approximately 600,000 men, the largest army assembled up to that point in European history, crossed the river Neman and headed towards Moscow. In this episode, we focus on the first few months, and follow Napoleon as he captures Vilna, Vitebsk and Smolensk. We examine why Napoleon was so confident that the campaign would be a short one and why he was so very, very wrong. We also discuss what was happening in the Russian camp and look at the political implications of their retreat.   The post #24 – The Invasion Of Russia (Part I) appeared first on Napoleon.

In this episode we explore the political events that resulted in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812, the tragedy that formed the central events of Tolstoy’s War and Peace and which saw Napoleon raise the largest army in history up until that time, 500,000 – 700,000 men (historians vary on exactly how many there were). Napoleon is often accused of being the instigator of this war (something Tolstoy, a Russian, was happy to suggest) but David and I examine the facts behind this perspective. While this is a tragic and deeply moving period of Napoleonic history, it is also one of the most fascinating, both from a military and a humanist perspective. Perhaps the best graphical representation of this unfortunate episode (or, in fact, one of the greatest use of informational graphics ever) is this image by French engineer Charles Minard. Edward Tufte called it “the best statistical graphic ever drawn” and uses it as a prime example in The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. (

Welcome back! It’s been a long time between episodes. To celebrate our return, we have a very special guest co-host – Prof. Bob Packett from “History According To Bob”! Bob is the Godfather of History podcasting. It was his show that gave me the idea to start our little Napoleon podcast and we’re very excited about having him join us. If you have never listened to his show, we highly recommend it. In this episode we cover some of the events that happened in Napoleon’s private life during the peace that lasted from Wagram in 1809 until The Sixth Coalition in 1812, including: Napoleon’s divorce from Josephine His attempts to wed Tsar Alexander’s sister Anna His eventual marriage to Marie-Louise of Austria The birth of his first legitimate son known as the King of Rome aka Napoleon II At the end of the show we have provided a suggested bibliography for this period, thanks to a suggestion from listener Jackm over on the forums.   The post #22 &

In 1809, Austria decided to break the peace treaty they had signed after Austerlitz in 1807 and this lead to The War Of The Fifth Coalition. In this episode we discuss the events leading up to Austria’s attack and Napoleon’s response. The war ended with the Battle of Wagram, Napoleonic France’s last decisive military victory. The War Of The Fifth Coalition (with lots of campaign maps)   I have a favour to ask – it would really help the continued success of the show if each of you would go into iTunes and vote for the show and leave a comment about how much you enjoy it. CLICK HERE to open up our page in the iTunes store. Thanks to everyone for your continued support and for all of the terrific comments we get every week! The theme music is La Marseillaise. Yes, we know it isn’t necessarily relevant to Napoleon but it’s hard to beat when it comes to French themes! The post #21 – The War Of The Fifth Coalition appeared first on Napoleon.

Welcome to the dramatic conclusion to the Peninsular War! It’s a long episode, possibly our longest, but we were determined to conclude this affair today! In episode #19 we gave you some background on how Napoleon ended up in the Iberian peninsula. Today we pick it up from about the time Joseph was made the King of Spain. Of course, in discussing Spain we also introduce someone whose story is forever associated with Napoleon’s – Sir Arthur Wellesley, aka the Duke of Wellington. It was during the Peninsula War that their fates first became entwined. Additional Resources: The Peninsula War Map of the Iberian Peninsula The Continental System Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington I have a favour to ask – it would really help the continued success of the show if each of you would go into iTunes and vote for the show and leave a comment about how much you enjoy it. CLICK HERE to open up our page in the iTunes store. Thanks to everyone for your continued support and for all of the terri

After the Battle Of Trafalgar (1805), the relationship between Spain (which had previously declared war on France in 1793 and then an alliance in 1795) and France soured. In 1807, Spain was in turmoil, due to infighting between their disinterested Bourbon king Charles IV, his son Ferdinand and the Spanish Prime Minister (also the not-so-secret lover of Queen Marie Louisa), Manuel de Godoy. They turned to Napoleon for assistance to sort out their affairs. Already having occupied Portugal (because they refused to join the Continental System) Napoleon moved his forces into Madrid. He didn’t count on one thing – the Spanish peasants. The resulting war is where the term “guerrilla” warfare was invented (guerra in Spanish means war and -illa means small – i.e. guerrilla warfare is fought with small, insurgent troops instead of large traditional armies). The Second of May, 1808: The Charge of the Mamelukes, by Francisco de Goya (1814). The Peninsular War saw an alliance of Spain, Port

Welcome to the tragic Episode 18 of the Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast here on The Podcast Network. Once again, David and I would like to thank everyone for the wonderful feedback and comments we have received since the last episode. We both really appreciate it and it’s added motivation to keep producing the show although, as you know, we have so much fun being Napoleon geeks together that the entire British navy couldn’t keep us away! Speaking of the British navy…. this episode is about the Battle Of Trafalgar. On 21 October 1805, the French navy under the command of Villeneuve met disaster against the British navy under the command of Horatio Nelson at Cape Trafalgar, off the coast of Spain, in what is known as The Battle Of Trafalgar To get a good idea of what naval battles in the early 19th century must have been like, we both recommend watching the 2003 film by Australian director Peter Weir, Master And Commander. The theme music is La Marseillaise. Yes, we know it isn’t necessari

On this marvelous 17th episode, recorded almost 200 years after the actual events occurred, we examine the final months of the “Fourth Coalition” leading up to the “Treaty of Tilsit”. Russian forces, lead by Count von Bennigsen, were crushed by Napoleon’s army at Friedland on June 14, 1807. Three days later Russia asked for a truce. By the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, France made peace with Russia and forced Prussia to give up half of its territory to France, Jerome Bonaparte‘s Kingdom of Westphalia, and the new Duchy of Warsaw. Napoleon was virtually in control of western and central Europe. Some historians consider Tilsit to represent the pinnacle of Napoleon’s career. He had conquered all of mainland Europe and secured peace for France. Unfortunately, it was to prove short-lived. We also talk briefly about Talleyrand‘s resignation from his position of Minster of Foreign Affairs after Tilsit and hint at his role as a traitor to France (or was it just to

After Napoleon completely crushed the Prussians at Jena-Auerstedt, Europe was in shock. Back home in Paris, some were concerned that Napoleon’s continued success might blind him to opportunities for peace. Meanwhile, Russia’s Czar Alexander had his armies advance on Warsaw, forcing Napoleon to march to meet them. Early in 1807, he fought an extremely bloody but inconclusive battle at Eylau. He also spent time in Warsaw with the other great love of his life – the very young Maria Walewska. By the way, I screwed up the audio on this show yet again. I think my mic was up too high, picking up too much background noise and making it difficult to raise David’s audio without the background buzz coming up as well. I’ll try hard to get improve it before the next episode!   The post #16 – Eylau, Poland and Maria Walewska appeared first on Napoleon.

The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt (older name: Auerstädt) were fought on October 14, 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today’s Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia. The decisive defeat suffered by the Prussian army resulted in Prussia’s elimination from the anti-French coalition up until the liberation war of 1813. Some links to topics discussed on this episode: Battle of Jena-Auerstedt The Confederation of the Rhine and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire Queen Louise of Prussia Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte David has provided the following photos of objects from his collection which provide a pictorial dimension to this episode: The post #15 – The Battle of Jena-Auerstedt appeared first on Napoleon.

The Battle of Austerlitz (also known as the Battle of the Three Emperors) was a major engagement in the Napoleonic Wars during the War of the Third Coalition. It was fought on December 2, 1805 about four miles (6.4 km) east of the modern Czech town of Brno, then part of the Austrian Empire. The conflict involved forces of the recently formed First French Empire against the armies of the Russian Empire and the Austrian Empire. After nearly nine hours of fighting, the French troops, commanded by Emperor Napoleon I, managed to score a decisive victory over the Russo-Austrian army, commanded by Czar Alexander I. Despite difficult fighting in many sectors, the battle is often regarded as a tactical masterpiece. Austerlitz effectively brought the Third Coalition to an end. Read more about the Battle of Austerlitz on Wikipedia Here’s the entire text of the famous Bulletin issues by Napoleon Bonaparte on the day after the battle, which you can find in David’s book “Imperial Glory” (link below)

This episode is pretty special – David and I recorded it sitting together, in the same hotel room, same city, same country and, as David likes to point out, on the same day (usually we’re in completely different timezones). As we were both in a strange city (San Francisco) and didn’t have access to our usual reference materials, we did a short show (for us that’s under an hour!) looking at the Third Coalition and the build up to Austerlitz. We cut the show before we covered Austerlitz though because we want to spend some time on it and have all of our books around us! It was Napoleon’s favourite victory and possibly the peak of his military achievments. In the Napoleonic Wars, the Third Coalition against the French Empire emerged in 1805 and consisted of an alliance of the United Kingdom, Austria, Russia, Naples, and Sweden. In this episode we discuss: the motivation for the creation of the Third Coalition the creation of La Grande Armee and Marshals Of The Empire “the unfortunate General Ma

Napoleon crowned himself “Emperor Of The French” (as opposed to “Emperor of France”, an important distinction) on 2 December 1804 at Notre Dame de Paris. In this episode, we discuss in detail the events leading up to the Coronation, the reasons for it, the arguments against it, the actual coronation itself, and the reaction to it in France. We also discuss why Napoleon’s mother didn’t attend and why Pope Pius VII left early. The post #12 – Emperor of the French appeared first on Napoleon.

After the signing of The Treaty of Luneville in February 1801, France was at peace with every country in Europe. Only Britian stood in the way of a total peace. Listen in as JDM and I discuss some of the key events of the following period: William Pitt had been replaced briefly by Henry Addington as Prime Minister of Britian The impact of the assassination of Tsar Paul I of Russia in March 1801 Nelson’s destruction of the Danish fleet at Copenhagen ends Napoleon’s idea of invading England via Ireland The reasons behind the Treaty of Amiens which was signed in March 1802 The terms of Amiens Bonaparte made First Consul For Life, August 1802 The “infernal machine” and the trial of the Duc D’Enghien Why Amiens failed Britian declares war on France, May 1803 David and I would like to sincerely thank the thousands of listeners who tuned in since our last episode and a special thanks to those of you who have left us some feedback. Please keep it up! It warms the cockles of our hearts

In this episode we explore First Consul Bonaparte’s failed attempts to make peace with the Kings of England and Austria after he took power in 1799 and the subsequent French campaign into Italy to regain the territory lost to the Austrians since Napoleon’s original Italian campaign. We also cover: The famous Jacques-Louis David painting of Napoleon Crossing The Alps The revisionist (and more realistic) painting of the same journey by Paul Delaroche The Battle Of Marengo, where Napoleon narrowly, but comprehensively, routed the Austrians By the way, here’s a great link to a bicentennial review of the Battle of Marengo Here’s the uniform Bonaparte wore at Marengo from that bicentennial site (on display at Les Invalides in Paris) And we also get slightly side-tracked (my fault!) and talk about some great Napoleonic films, including “Waterloo” (Sergei Bondarchuk, 1970) and “Napoleon” (Abel Gance, 1927).   The post #10 – The Battle of Marengo appeared

In 1799, when Napoleon became First Consul of France, he started a series of important domestic reforms which were revolutionary in Europe, many of which survive to this day. In this episode, we depart from Napoleon’s military triumphs and demonstrate a less-appreciated aspect of his career – his genius for domestic affairs. We talk about: The Code Napoleon The Legion of Honour The Bank of France and the economy Public education The Amnesty for the Emigres and the Concordat with the Catholic Church As always, David and I had a lot of fun producing this show and we hope you enjoy it. We would really love it if you’d let us know if you’re enjoying the show by leaving a comment. The post #9 – Domestic Affairs appeared first on Napoleon.

When we last left Napoleon he was leaving Egypt in the middle of the night to sail quickly back to a corrupt and floundering Paris. In this episode, we talk about: the corruption of the Directory the various plots to overthrow the Revolutionary Government Napoleon’s failed attempt to legitimately join the Directory to save it Sieyes’ approach to Napoleon to join his plot for a coup Napoleon’s speeches to The Council of Ancients, The Council of Five Hundred, and the eventual coup And when we leave Napoleon in this episode he is, at the ripe old age of 30, the most powerful man in France. In our next episode, we’ll talk about the new Constitution of the Year VIII, the Concordat with the Pope, and the drafting of the Civil Code aka the Code Napoleon. The post #8 – The Coup of 18 Brumaire appeared first on Napoleon.

Is it just me or are these shows gradually getting longer?

When we last left Napoleon, he had taken the helm of the Army of Italy and was proving his brilliance in matters of strategy and tactics. In this episode we discuss: The Battle of Lodi The Kellerman incident The Bridge over Arcola The Papal States The Battle of Rivoli The Treaty of Campo Formio Napoleon’s role in the future Unification of Italy Josephine’s behaviour while he on campaign In our next episode, we will follow Napoleon as he enters Egypt! The post #6 – The Army of Italy (part two) appeared first on Napoleon.

Napoleon is made Commander-In-Chief of the Army of France in Italy by Paul Barras in March 1796 (one week before he married Josephine). A couple of days later, he leaves to join his new command. In this episode, we talk about: Building a winning army His key team Berthier, Murat The generals he inherited, Massena, Augereau, how he got them onside The army he inheried the condition they were in, their track record to date How he inspired the troops Who he was fighting and why The first victory Montenotte The lesson of Dego The victory at Mondovi and the Armistice of Cherasco, his first peace treaty And that was all in the first month! Strategy  guess this is a good time to start talking about the major recurrent themes in Napoleon’s strategy. Fast movements, the advantage of surprise Flexible strategy, changing tact mid-stream if needed versus slow, rigid opponents Attack the center, split the opposing force, then attack the wings Napoleon in Victory You can tell a lot about the man from how he acted