"It was like a soap opera," Adam says of the Congress of Vienna near the end of this interview episode. That just about sums up his unique perspective on the whole Napoleonic period, as reflected throughout this discussion - a fascination with personalities and the impact individuals can have on human history, contextualised by an understanding of the messiness of diplomacy and power politics which defined the long 18th century.

01.20 - Izabela The Valiant, Adam's most recent book

10.00 - How Adam's views about the biggest characters of 1792-1815 have developed over the past five years

18.00 - Was Wellington over-rated

28.00 - Czartoryski, Alexander's first foreign minister and a key figure for Poland

36.00 - Power politics in eastern Europe - Germany, Poland, Austria, Russia and France

52.00 - Napoleon's Spanish calculations

56.50 - The Congress of Vienna's negative impact on the ideals of monarchy

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