The Napoleonic Quarterly

Could Andrew Roberts' in-depth look at Napoleon's HR issues with those pesky marshals have prompted a bit of a rethink? With his new book Napoleon And His Marshals, Lord Roberts certainly has a fascinating new perspective moving things on from his 2014 biography Napoleon The Great. Whereas the emphasis had previously been on Napoleon's intellectual brilliance, administrative achievements and battlefield genius, this time we have a much more complicated, rounded, human picture. Those marshals were all-important, but they were treated rather roughly at times; and as Lord Roberts' delving into the latest correspondence shows, what he previously admired as effective compartmentalisation in the great Napoleonic brain now appears to be something closer to micromanagement of the most overdone kind.

It was a great pleasure to welcome Andrew on to the podcast, not least to put Charles' 'rat with great PR' jibe to him directly. The answer shows that, while there is more nuance in his latest look at the Napoleonic period, Andrew Roberts will defend Napoleon's achievements in power to the last.

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Bernie Campbell is joined by Alexander Mikaberidze and Rachel Blackman-Rogers to get their picks of the best books about one of the Napoleonic Wars' most consequential years. Covering all the angles of both the year's big campaign on the European continent, and the year's big campaign on the high seas: what book will change how you think about Trafalgar? Which are the best biographies of the main players? Are there any military histories missing from your bookshelf? One could get rather worked up about this sort of thing.

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1805. January... February... March... three months in which British telescopes looking out across the English Channel are trained on the north French coast... the Royal Navy waits in suspense for Frace's emperor to make his move... and the Italian republic is getting a new king - guess who. This is episode 52 of the Napoleonic Quarterly - covering three months of invasion tension.

[07:40] - headline developments

[12:20] - Ambrogio Caiani on Napoleon becoming King of Italy

[43:00] - Rachel Blackman-Rogers on naval strategy eyeing a cross-Channel invasion

[1:08:10] - John Gill on the Camp de Boulogne and the emerging Grande Armee

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With the relaunch period drawing to a close the time is now upon us, finally, when this podcast about the Napoleonic period actually gets to talk actually properly about the actual Napoleonic Wars. In one final build-up episode before episode 53 dives into Q1-1805, here's a last chance for Charles Esdaile and Alex Mikaberidze to consider the entirety of the 1805-15 period as a whole to answer the question: what should listeners expect will be different about what's to come, compared to what we've covered so far?

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Our recap episodes, which offer a synthesis of our 1792-1804 coverage one year at a time, have reached 1804 - the year in which France gets an emperor once again, and Europe gets an imperial-sized problem. Chris Sloan talks presenter Alex Stevenson through specific key clips he's picked out from our old episodes grouped around four themes which, we argue, help frame the period and shape our understanding of it in a whole new way. We hope this will provide a helpful refresh for longstanding listeners - whilst at the same time offering an 'entry ramp' to the podcast for those who want to get up to speed relatively easily (just) before we crash full-speed into the intensity of the Napoleonic Wars.

This episode covers a 12-month period in which there is plenty of change - and lots of slowly developing tension. As well as Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation as Emperor following the uncovering of the Cadoudal-Pichegru plot earlier in the year, we see these themes mirrored in Britain becoming jumpy over intensifying French invasion threat, leading to William Pitt's return as prime minister. Russia breaks relations with France as a result of the deeply controversial kidnapping of the Duc D'Enghien, apparently on Napoleon's orders, whilst Britain moves against Spain by seizing its treasure ships. Old regimes like Austria are reshaping themselves with Francis becoming a new kind of emperor, whilst the United States is moving into new territory - literally - with the Lewis and Clark Expedition setting off.

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It is with a mixture of great embarrassment at my own over-acting and guilt at such outrageous self-indulgence that I, Alex Stevenson, presenter of the Napoleonic Quarterly, provide you, the poor suffering listeners, with an outpouring of thespian histrionics: the concluding episode of our screenplay-concocting relaunch side-project, the Napoleon Movie Quarter-Hourly. In this episode Ben Deery, who thankfully knows a thing or two about acting, works his way alongside my own miserable efforts through the most excitable scenes from the pen of James Topham, who knows a thing or two about screenwriting. Napoleon: One Last Job may never actually get made, but at least you get to hear a grown man pretend to be both Napoleon and Josephine in the same scene.

Or, perhaps more wisely, there is the opportunity to listen to the whole screenplay read by a surprisingly effective AI American lady on Patreon...

Please send through any comments or questions to the usual places - the hope is that we will be able to do a listener feedback episode, as well as putting this to the professors for their verdict.

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This mini-episode unveils the end product from our Napoleon movie discussions: an actual first draft of a screenplay which tells the story of Bonaparte's rise to power. It's now available on Patreon, for the consideration of our esteemed Quartermasters. In the meantime, first James Topham and then Alex Stevenson offer their own versions of what the treatment actually looks like. With Ben Deery doing French accents in the background.

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Our recap episodes, which offer a synthesis of our 1792-1804 coverage one year at a time, have reached 1803 - a year in which peace between France and Britain collapses, and the cause of Haitian independence is finally realised. Chris Sloan talks presenter Alex Stevenson through specific key clips he's picked out from our old episodes grouped around four themes which, we argue, help frame the period and shape our understanding of it in a whole new way. We hope this will provide a helpful refresh for longstanding listeners - whilst at the same time offering an 'entry ramp' to the podcast for those who want to get up to speed relatively easily before we crash full-speed into the intensity of the Napoleonic Wars.

This episode covers a 12-month period in which, despite attack dogs and the death of Toussaint Louverture, the French are defeated on Saint-Domingue and Dessalines emerges as the leader to achieve independence for Haiti. This is the year which sees the Louisiana Purchase, an astonishing moment which turns the United States into a continental power overnight. And in Europe Britain declares war once again on France, setting up endless debates about whose fault the demise of the Peace of Amiens really was. Meanwhile the Swiss Confederation is created thanks to the signature of Napoleon Bonaparte - and in India an up and coming general called Arthur Wellesley achieves a striking victory at the Battle of Assaye which effectively ends the Second Anglo-Maratha War.

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Our recap episodes, which offer a synthesis of our 1792-1804 coverage one year at a time, have reached 1802 - a year in which the French mission to recapture Saint-Domingue combines deception and brutality as the stakes grow ever higher. Chris Sloan talks presenter Alex Stevenson through specific key clips he's picked out from our old episodes grouped around four themes which, we argue, help frame the period and shape our understanding of it in a whole new way. We hope this will provide a helpful refresh for longstanding listeners - whilst at the same time offering an 'entry ramp' to the podcast for those who want to get up to speed relatively easily before we crash full-speed into the intensity of the Napoleonic Wars.

This episode covers a 12-month period in which, whilst the main action takes place in the Caribbean, there is plenty of activity in Europe too. From the annexation of Piedmont to the invasion of Switzerland and the redrawing of the political map in Germany, the French are calling the shots across the continent. Napoleon Bonaparte takes another step towards empire by being made First Consul for life. And whilst the British are forcing the Marathas to abandon their independence hopes in India and the Peace of Amiens ends the war between France and Britain, the reality is this is not a world where anything is going to stay settled for very long.

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Our recap episodes, which offer a synthesis of our 1792-1804 coverage one year at a time, have reached 1801 - a year in which Britain and France make peace, despite a widening canvas of war spreading across from Europe across the globe. Chris Sloan talks presenter Alex Stevenson through specific key clips he's picked out from our old episodes grouped around four themes which, we argue, help frame the period and shape our understanding of it in a whole new way. We hope this will provide a helpful refresh for longstanding listeners - whilst at the same time offering an 'entry ramp' to the podcast for those who want to get up to speed relatively easily before we crash full-speed into the intensity of the Napoleonic Wars.

This episode covers a 12-month period in which Napoleon Bonaparte, having secured a Concordat with the Catholic Church, sends troops to recapture Saint-Domingue and gets himself elected president in Italy. Russia's League of Armed Neutrality is thwarted by Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen before Tsar Paul's assassination prompts a change of course in St Petersburg. The British are on the offensive in Egypt and in India, but William Pitt resigns as Prime Minister. Thomas Jefferson is finally elected President and the US is fighting the first Barbary war... and there's the War of the Oranges between Spain and Portugal as well. Is this a winding-down year? No - it's one of the most dramatic of them all.

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