The Napoleonic Quarterly

1802. July… August… September… Three months in which Napoleon Bonaparte outmanoeuvres France’s Senate to move even closer to absolute power… In St Petersburg Russia’s new Tsar seems to have got over the distressing circumstances of his predecessor’s murder… And on both sides of the English Channel the Peace of Amiens is starting to look more than a little shaky. This is episode 43 of the Napoleonic Quarterly - covering three months in which France moves closer to what many fear looks, feels, smells… like monarchy.

[08:30 - Headline developments]

[17:55] - Philip Dwyer on Bonaparte being made Consul For Life

[44:50] - Elise Wirtschafter on Tsar Alexander I’s first 18 months in power

[1:11:50] - Graeme Callister on the fraying Piece of Amiens as tensions grow between Britain and France once again.

Plus professorial panellists Charles Esdaile and Alexander Mikaberidze offer their own perspectives on this three months of history.

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly

Season's greetings to Quartermasters everywhere! This festive edition sees participants including Charles Esdaile and Alex Mikaberidze nominate, steal and veto Napoleon-themed presents from each other, even as the process is disrupted by the sinister influence of Fouche himself...

Take a look at some of the objects mentioned in the Twitter thread here:

https://x.com/napoleonic_q/status/1871570495054979174

Thank you to all those who have supported the podcast. Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year!

Of all the biographies of Napoleon, Philip Dwyer's three-volume masterpiece is the one Charles Esdaile is the keenest on. Philip, who is Professor of History at the University of Newcastle in Australia, has since moved on to establish the Centre for the History of Violence, and much of this conversation is informed by this later work. But he also has a lot to say about Napoleon himself, a man responsible for so much violence during the 1792-1815 period. Do his achievements outweigh this suffering? Not everyone will agree, but whatever your view please let us know with questions or comments to napoleonicquarterly [at] gmail.com.

The Ottomans played a critical role in the 1792-1815 period, but we haven't been paying too much attention to them - until now. The signing of a peace treaty with France is the hook for this bonus episode which introduces us to the Ottomans and the challenges facing their reforming leader, Sultan Selim III. He faces a tough challenge in shaking up what is, after all, "an Empire besieged", and the tensions his policy agenda creates against entrenched forces of conservatism will come to a head in the most jaw-dropping fashion. That's still to come on the Napoleonic Quarterly - for now, Dr Michael Talbot, Associate Professor of History at the University of Greenwich here in the UK, gives us a guided tour of the Ottoman Empire - and sets ourselves up for the dramas to come.

1802. January… February… March… Three months in which republican resistance on Saint-Domingue falters and the French commanders’ well-laid plans appear to be succeeding… France makes peace with the Ottoman Empire, as Sultan Selim III faces some tricky questions… And back in France Bonaparte adds the so-called Organic Articles to the Concordat deal with the Catholic Church. This is episode 42 of the Napoleonic Quarterly - covering three months in which France appears to be winning the peace at home and abroad.

[07:40] - The strategic irrelevance/relevance of the United States in 1802

[12:42] - Headline developments

[23:00] - Marlene Daut on the Leclerc expedition pacifying Saint-Domingue

[44:20] - Michael Talbot on the Ottomans and their peace treaty with France

[1:02:45] - Mary Robinson on the Organic Articles and Bonaparte's deal with the Catholic Church

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly

It was always the plan that we would use this quieter period before the outbreak of the Napoleonic Wars to ensure the podcast is firing on all cylinders before we hit 1805. With the help of many listeners supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly with either their money all the time, that is exactly what we are now getting ready to do. So this week Alex and Clemens are revealing what those plans look like, sharing some inside info along the way, in the hope that some more of you might just come forward to offer assistance. Here are the main ways you can help:

-Sign-up on Patreon or, if you already have, consider diverting an even greater proportion of your income to the general betterment of the Napoleonic Quarterly!

-Leave us a five-star review wherever you get your podcasts. Especially if they happen to be Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

-If you would be able to spare some time to help the podcast, there are a myriad of little jobs which could make a big difference. I mention quite a few of these in the episode, but here is a fuller list. You could…

Help us create more social media content…

Run a new You-tube channel for the podcast, potentially chopping episodes up into lots of different segments…

Look after our existing content with some proper admin work - adding chapters to Spotify, improving the SEO of the show notes, that sort of thing…

Give us some advice on how best to use Facebook ads...

Contribute to the fledgling podcast website…

Lend us your video skills by working on a trailer which would be the central intro to the project for new listeners…

Come up with your own ideas for how to help push the podcast along…

-Anybody contributing either financially or with their time is very welcome to get involved on the editorial side too. Would you like to have a go at doing one of our interviews? Is there a particular topic you would like to explore doing something on? Get in touch and we can work something out.

-Failing all the above, it's great to have you listening and engaging with the podcast. Do send any questions or comments through, either via social media or napoleonicquarterly (all one word) at gmail dot com.

Thanks for your support, and here's to the road to Waterloo! Vive le podcast!

Dr Graeme Callister, Senior Lecturer in History and War Studies at York St John University, joins Clemens and Alex S to explore the nature and character of battle during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

As we've reached the Peace of Amiens it felt like a good time to pause and review the French Revolutionary Wars... Charles Esdaile and Alexander Mikaberidze took questions from Quartermasters about a decade of fighting in which the French defied expectations, the allies never quite clicked and Napoleon Bonaparte emerged as a truly great military commander.

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly

1800. January… February… March… Three months in which the British and the French finally end the war with the Peace of Amiens… The French force sent to reassert control over Saint-Domingue meets with an unfriendly welcome… And back home Napoleon Bonaparte is considering his next moves as the de facto ruler of France. This is episode 41 of the Napoleonic Quarterly - covering three months in which the revolutionary fight for freedom shifts to the Caribbean.

[24:57] - headline developments

[27:25] - Graeme Callister on the Peace of Amiens

[44:27] - Marlene Daut on the fighting in Saint-Domingue

[1:09:12] - William Doyle on Napoleon Bonaparte’s to-do list

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly

Yes, it's time for the Festival of Structured Bureaucracy once again! From the makers of the 1800-01 planning meeting... there comes another laborious and sometimes painful process of determining what topics will be covered by each main episode's three segments... come for the occasional appalled reaction to less attractive ideas... stay for the poor pronunciation of certain Germanic words! If you want to know how the podcasting sausage gets made - a Napoleonic podcasting sausage made by committee, no less - then these Zoom audio-quality high-level talks are for you.