Following an initial brush with officials in Paris, Napoleon resumes his stunningly successful campaign in northern Italy, defeating a series of Austrian armies and eventually negotiating a peace settlement highly advantageous to French interests. In the course of his ensuing conquest of Egypt, however, various setbacks force the young commander to return to France to help defend the country against a new coalition of monarchist enemies. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.

The end of the Reign of Terror leads to a new constitution for France and the advent of a period of relative stability under the rule of an executive body known as the Directory. During this period, Napoleon meets Rose Beauharnais, a well-connected member of the salon scene who helps him win a coveted command in the army. The two are married, and Napoleon sets off on a stunningly successful campaign across northern Italy, defeating the allied forces of Sardinia and Austria. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.

Burdened by heavy debts incurred in part from its role in the American Revolution, France undergoes a revolution of its own, setting the stage for a long period of conflict with the remaining monarchies of Europe. As a student at the national military school in Paris, Napoleon bears witness to much of the violence of the Revolution and seeks to play a role in the leadership of his homeland, Corsica. His attempts to do so, however, lead to failure and the loss of his family home. Later assigned to take part in the siege of Toulon, he plays a key role in ousting a large, allied force of English and Spanish troops. For his success there and in Paris during a royalist insurrection, he is appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Interior. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.

France's entry into the American Revolution is seen to have far-reaching consequences in this week's episode, which jumps ahead in time to the French Revolution and the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. The first reading in the Quest for Empire series, the episode begins with the battle of Valmy, where a deep sense of national pride is awakened within the French, a pride that, as much as his own inborn gifts, will propel Bonaparte to unprecedented military success. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.

Elevator speech for Age of Revolution website (ageofrevolution.net)

Increasingly isolated and low on supplies with the campaigning season slipping away, General John Burgoyne gambles on a desperate bid to cut his way through to Albany, where General Clinton is expected to arrive by transport from New York. In an initial battle at Freeman's Farm, Burgoyne's army is stopped in its tracks by Americans under the command of hard-fighting Benedict Arnold. Three weeks later, his anticipated reinforcements Clinton having returned to New York, Burgoyne is soundly beaten and driven from the field. Falling back on Saratoga, he is compelled to surrender. His failure to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies, the strategic objective of the campaign, is widely seen as a turning point in the war. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.

When a British invasion force under General John Burgoyne arrives at Fort Ticonderoga at the foot of Lake Champlain, the fort's American garrison escapes under cover of darkness and flees southward with a British detachment in hot pursuit. A series of skirmishes culminates in a pitched battle at Bennington, where much of the detachment is destroyed. Next, Burgoyne decides to pursue the Americans through dense forest on a direct route to Albany. By the time the British cut their way through to the upper Hudson, however, a combined force of American militiamen and Continentals under General Horatio Gates have assembled near Stillwater to block their passage south. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.

With the campaigning season seemingly over, General Washington plots a surprise attack against a Hessian garrison force at Trenton. On Christmas Day the army recrosses the Delaware to achieve complete surprise, routing the Hessians and consolidating a position east of the river. When a British detachment arrives under Lord Cornwallis, Washington deftly side-steps the new threat to score another improbable triumph at Princeton. Continuing northward, the army goes into winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, having ended the year 1776 with two restorative victories. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.

Following his victory on Long Island, British general Sir William Howe drives the Continental Army the length of Manhattan and succeeds in capturing a large garrison force under Nathaniel Greene at Fort Washington. The fort's namesake, meanwhile, leads the bulk of his army north, drawing the British into the interior to extend their line of supply. Howe proves up to the challenge, however, dealing the Americans a punishing blow at White Plains, and sending them on a long trek across the breadth of New Jersey to safety on the west bank of the Delaware River. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.

In his first major battle of the Revolution, General Washington takes half his army across the East River from Manhattan to Long Island in an effort to challenge the enemy's landings there. Nevertheless, under the cover of the Royal Navy, the landings proceed unimpeded and General Howe brings his forces into line opposite American forces in front of Brooklyn Heights. Here, rather than make a direct assault on the enemy, Howe sends a large flanking force in a wide sweep around the American left. The scheme succeeds in taking the enemy by surprise and the American line is rolled up from left to right, sending stragglers streaming to the safety of the high ground. When Howe fails to capitalize on his success with a follow-on assault, however, Washington is given sufficient time to mount a desperate rescue effort. Rounding up every boat to be found, he orders the evacuation of the island under cover of night and fog, bringing his isolated force back to Manhattan in the face of certain destruction. Visit www.ageofrevolution.net for access to entire series.