December 2nd 1804, Napoléon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of the French. Over the next decade, he will keep reforming and modernizing France, but he will also fight the rest of Europe. He will become master of the continent, defeating all his enemies on land, only to go too far and to see Europe strike back at him and at France.
This is the second part of Napoléon's great adventure. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to listen to the first part as well as to my episode on the French Revolution. Let us follow Napoléon and the Grande Armée on the battlefields of Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain and France. And then we will land on a tiny island, on the middle of the Atlantic. The Napoleonic adventure is one of strong contrasts, as you shall see.
Timecodes:
Introduction
04:20 - From Consul to Emperor
12:40 - The First French Empire and the Grande Armée
24:04 - The Fourth Coalition War and the Continental System
31:48 - The Peninsular War and the Fifth Coalition
44:02 - The Beginning of the Downfall: Russia
50:50 - Europe Strikes Back
1:00:00 - The Exile on Saint Helena
1:03:23 - Conclusion
Music: Marche pour la cérémonie des Turcs, composed by Jean-Baptiste Lully, arranged and performed by Jérôme Arfouche.
Art: 1814, Campagne de France, by Ernest Meissonier
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