Emperor of Ambition: Napoleon Bonaparte's Rise and Fall

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In a post World War two World

France has been turned into a punch line.

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Their flag,

a once bold combination of red, white

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and blue bars,

turned into a white flag of surrender.

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That really isn't the whole story, though.

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A key part of the rich and forgotten

history is a man who has been

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enveloped by a myth mystery

all to himself.

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Today, we'll be talking about

one of history's most storied men.

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And that, friends,

is the podium Bonaparte.

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Napoleon's story isn't your typical rags

to riches, but it does involve one man

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refusing to settle for his lot in life

and having high opinions of himself.

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He was cunning, manipulative, and forever

guided by his quote unquote, lucky star,

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which made one of the most prolific

military campaigners in history.

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All of that today on another episode

of The Remedial Scholar.

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That's ancient history.

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I feel I was denied

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credit critically.

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I need to know information

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belongs to him.

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Stop.

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Stop.

And you're working. Medium class. Class.

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Welcome back,

everyone, to the remedial scholar.

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I am your host, Levi for new.

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Thank you for joining us.

What a lovely presence you bring.

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Before we get into the mythical mini

madman known as Napoleon.

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Few things got over.

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The last thing before we get to Napoleon.

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Okay, enough.

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Enough of the politicking

and begging on to Napoleon.

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The show is going to be pretty

straightforward.

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You're following the biographical timeline

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of Napoleon and his background

before diving into his military conquests

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and then getting into the major campaigns

and what those led to.

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Dang it. Perfect. Let's get into it.

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Napoleon Bonaparte was born

Napoleon Bonaparte on August 15th,

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1769, in the city of Jocko,

on the island of Corsica.

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Corsica was under Italian rule

during this period,

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but had just been annexed by the French

the previous year.

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The Bonaparte family was of Italian origin

and the end of the minor gentry,

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meaning that at the time

they were of most of modest means,

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but still had a little bit of influence

on the island.

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Napoleon's father, Carlo, Carlo,

Maria Bonaparte.

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That's how I got to pronounce it.

Otherwise.

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Otherwise, I'm not going to figure it out.

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They were Italian, right?

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So I can do a bad Italian accent.

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Anyway, Carlo was a gambling man

who was reckless

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with the family money and descended

from a family of Tuscan nobles.

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And those nobles would be from the Tuscany

region of Italy.

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Obviously, Napoleon also had 11 siblings.

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His mother, Maria Latisha Merlino,

who was married at the age of 14,

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was described as an austere

and courageous woman.

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I wonder why that's 11 kids.

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That's insane.

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Now, if I met somebody who has 11 kids

in this day and age,

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I would be bewildered by their tenacity

is one way to say it.

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But then also back then,

when medicine was not the greatest.

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That's impressive.

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Anyway,

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the Bonaparte's had been allied with

the Italian side of the Corsican conflict,

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meaning that they were initially against

the French occupation of the island.

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However, in a bid for survival,

they shifted outward allegiance.

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You see, at the time the French observed

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a strategy of integration

when they occupied a territory,

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or at least

when it came to the taking of Corsica.

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As such, families

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like the Bonaparte's would be hard pressed

not to naturalize to do so.

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Many of these families

sent their young boys out

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to mainland France

to receive their education.

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Napoleon was of no exception.

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At the age of nine,

he was sent to a religious school,

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and the Frenchman learned

in the French mainland at the age of ten,

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Napoleon learned how to speak French.

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During his formative years,

he was rumored to have been bullied

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for his accent,

stature, manners and also short height.

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Granted, you know, he was a child,

but this is a good moment to segway into

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common misconception that Napoleon was

in fact not a short king.

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By the time he was 18 years old,

he was around

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five six, four, an 18th century man,

Pretty average, pretty standard.

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Sorry haters counts as.

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The idea that Napoleon was a short

man was actually most likely

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originated by British propaganda

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who sought to discredit him

during his rapid rise to power.

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Also, and another notable mention here

is the fact that some historical texts

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attribute

his childhood bullying to have been

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a contributing factor to his desire

to constantly improve himself.

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Also, I have read that

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there is also just a difference

in how they measured

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people like the French measured people

using one system

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that was like way different

than the way the English measured people.

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And the English are the numbers

and assumed it was in their measurement.

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And so they're like, Dude,

this guy is fucking tiny.

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Like, Dude, this guy is tiny.

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And then you got to put in the fact

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that when they saw him on the battlefield,

he's probably pretty far away.

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And that means he's just a little bit guy.

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Just kidding. That's silly. But

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anyway, in

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1785, at the age of 16,

Napoleon, who was an avid reader

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and displayed interest in the sciences,

got a scholarship to a military academy.

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École Militaire in France.

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Obviously, he was noted

as the first Corsican student to graduate

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and enter in the service of the French

army as a humble artillery officer.

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Kidding is never humble.

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It's important to mention that here

that at the time

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French society was structured in a way

that was deeply

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hierarchical and class

warfare sentiments were already brimming.

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A French Revolution

would officially begin four years later,

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but sentiments that had led to French

peasant peasant

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French peasantry were to revolt,

namely the fact that the wealthy were

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not being taxed enough to fund repeated

war efforts were already coming to a head.

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It's in the midst of this

deeply classes mindset that young Napoleon

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started his military career.

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The rank of artillery officer

was by no means glamorous or coveted.

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The position required knowledge

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and skills two things that the nobility

thought of as below them.

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This is because being aware of minutia

was essentially the job of the poor,

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whereas people in positions of power

needn't bother with such details as such

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wouldn't do for a man such as Napoleon

to be relegated to this position for life.

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Napoleon, as it was, refused to ever

be condemned to a life of mediocrity.

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The plan was a young man with a very high

opinion of himself, his personal view

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as something that would be needed

to be fed by external validation.

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By: 1789

the French Revolution was brewing.

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Intentions were rising between

France and Corsica.

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Napoleon took this opportunity

and left his position in the French army,

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making a return to his homeland.

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He was intent on pursuing a course

to greatness regardless of allegiance.

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Let's take a moment to highlight this,

because it's a personality trait

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that influences future endeavors

pretty severe.

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Severely.

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Napoleon is more interested

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in his personal glory

as opposed to any idealism or loyalty.

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Now back to our story.

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His first foray into personal greatness

led him to participate

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in many military uprisings

in Corsica establish establishing himself

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as a fervent Corsican nationalist

and also led him to seek out

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one of his personal idols,

the leader of the Corsican Independence,

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Pascal Pioli, a man who he admired

greatly in Napoleon's mind.

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He thought might as well back

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this guy, and chances are glory

will be mine in some form of another.

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But Napoleon's relationship

with Pascal Poli or was growing

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increasingly unstable or poli,

who was considered the father, Of course.

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Again, nationalism was a man

who still operated under the Corsican

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Corsican clan mentality,

and Paley believed that the Bonaparte's

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were traitors who allied themselves with

the French occupiers, which are not wrong.

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But they only did not pale.

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He did not factor in

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any form of societal survival,

which most likely fell into the, you know,

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the Napoleon's family's desire to fold

within the French when they took over.

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For him, traitor was a traitor

and he let it be known.

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What's more, Napoleon himself

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was increasingly espousing beliefs

that allied themselves

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with French revolutionary ideas

during a French attack in Sardinia.

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Napoleon received confusing orders from

an officer who was appointed by peyote,

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which caused Napoleon

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to retreat from battle and abandon

precious cannons on the battlefield.

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As a result,

French were successful in their attack.

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The Bonaparte suffered

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political persecution as a result,

which caused their home to be burned down,

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forcing them to relocate to mainland

France.

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This episode was formative for Napoleon.

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His inability to accept him

and the immediate retaliation

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on the Bonaparte's for reasons

that he deemed unjust is after this

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that he officially changed his birth name

from Napoleon Bonaparte

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to the French sounding Napoleon Bonaparte.

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By: 1792

the French Revolution was in full swing.

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There was a lot of turmoil,

lots of fighting, and a whole society

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was in upheaval.

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As mentioned earlier,

the focus of the revolution was to upend

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and rewrite the relationships

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between people in power and the folks

in the lower echelons of society.

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And a theme

all too common in history in the West.

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Destroying unequal power

dynamics should be the only achieved

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through means of violence,

vigilantism, general instability

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in Europe, Prussia, Britain and Italy

were all at war with France.

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As for France itself, it was in

the process of upending its monarchical

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structures, meaning civil war was raging

between different political factions.

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It was in this very climate that Napoleon

first slid back onto the military scene

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in France.

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First, he helped the government take

on some rebels in the south of France,

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but his allegiance was precarious

and conditional, and soon he would turn

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to new opportunities.

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In: 1793

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I think its Jacobins, right?

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Yeah. Jacobins. Yeah.

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Just kidding.

I did look up a pronunciation with that.

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I just wanted to be silly.

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Faction of French Republicans

vying for power at the crux of the French

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Revolution set their sights

on the port city of Toulon as a side bar.

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The Jacobins were particularly violent

leftist faction

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that cultivated an aura of ruthlessness

during the revolutionary period.

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They were quick to dispatch their enemies,

and in their bid for control,

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that's for sure.

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So much so that their period of political

a century was called the reign of terror.

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Which is terrifying, I suppose.

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So. Perhaps

it's because of their open callousness

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or the fact that they were

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gaining some net advantage

that Napoleon saw his chance at Allyship.

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The leader of the Jacobins,

Maximilien Robespierre, who is known as

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being a controversial

and iconic historical person.

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His mottos of equality, liberty

and fraternity would not match up

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with the literal reign of terror

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that he provoked in the streets of Paris

and all throughout France.

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Pendulum swung too far, as it were,

and the radical nature of his propositions

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fueled extremism

in the form of executions, persecutions

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and the general assassination

of his opponents.

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The Jacobin party took control

of the Committee of Public Safety

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and in turn caused mass on safety

for the public, it turns out.

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Weird, isn't it ironic.

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In July of: 1793

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Napoleon took it upon himself

to write a profile of Republican pamphlet,

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basically the historical equivalent of a

tweet or an X, whatever is going on there.

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This pamphlet defended the ideas

of the revolution and got the attention

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and support of Augustan Robespierre,

who has, you guessed it,

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the brother of the leader

of the revolution.

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Anyway, back to Toulon.

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Toulon was a port city

in southern France's Mediterranean coast.

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Historically, it was a place that always

carried significant French naval presence.

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At the time that Toulon

got into the crosshairs of the Jacobins.

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It was full of French royalists

that were in turn supported by Anglos,

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Anglo Spanish forces.

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This conflict actually marks

the first time that the French

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fought with the British Royal Navy aboard

Napoleon ever the opportunist,

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and who was still just an artillery

officer at the time, took advantage

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of the fact that the chief of artillery

l0 Augustine causing damage there.

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And what a mouthful that was was wounded

and in great ingratiated himself

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upon the whole situation with the help

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of some well-positioned friends

such as Augustan Robespierre.

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In short, it cashed in on the in short,

it cashed in on his little pamphlet stunt.

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So to recap, Napoleon's superior,

who hated the poem, by the way,

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was out of commission.

Napoleon saw an opportunity.

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He got his buddies

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to sneak him to the core of action

and even propelling him to the helm,

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who was appointed by a senior gunner

and artillery commander of the Republican

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forces that arrived in Toulon on September

th,: 1793

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The biggest day in history. What's up now?

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Let's just be reminded

that it's not to say that Napoleon got

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to such historical great heights due

to his cunning missing connections alone.

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He was, of course,

a good military strategist.

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The siege of Toulon, in fact,

would be the first notable example

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of his military prowess.

00;13;12;12 - 00;13;15;21

Napoleon's plan was to capture a hill

that would serve as a vantage point.

00;13;15;26 - 00;13;19;19

From there, the Republican gunmen

would be able to mow down any opponents

00;13;19;19 - 00;13;20;17

in the city's harbor.

00;13;20;17 - 00;13;24;28

Napoleon's plan ultimately succeeded,

which meant that he gained some notoriety

00;13;24;28 - 00;13;29;20

and was promoted to the position

of brigadier at the tender age of 24.

00;13;29;22 - 00;13;30;24

Just pretty impressive.

00;13;30;24 - 00;13;34;19

Now, do you remember when I said that

Napoleon is basically in it for Napoleon

00;13;34;19 - 00;13;35;14

and no one else?

00;13;35;14 - 00;13;39;25

Well, in: 1794

steady rise against the Jacobins

00;13;39;25 - 00;13;42;27

party start form,

which would ultimately culminate

00;13;42;27 - 00;13;44;29

in the stomping

out of the revolutionary fever.

00;13;44;29 - 00;13;47;15

This may have something to do

with the fact that by this point

00;13;47;15 - 00;13;51;12

the Jacobins had killed at least 40,000

people that disagreed with them,

00;13;51;14 - 00;13;54;02

many of them

by way of mass public executions,

00;13;54;02 - 00;13;55;29

which is a good way to get your message

across.

00;13;55;29 - 00;14;00;09

As it were, regimes came and went in quick

succession in Paris at the time.

00;14;00;09 - 00;14;03;27

Napoleon, perhaps sensing the imminent

downfall of his friends,

00;14;03;29 - 00;14;06;21

the people who had given him a leg

up in certain circles.

00;14;06;21 - 00;14;11;25

Power, you know, saw his rise to power

by allegiance, momentarily halted.

00;14;11;25 - 00;14;16;03

A new regime had began to coalesce

as the royalist uprising fermented.

00;14;16;05 - 00;14;19;15

The period of quick change

that ensued is called the Thermidor.

00;14;19;15 - 00;14;22;24

In reaction named after the month

in which the coup was held.

00;14;22;26 - 00;14;25;10

Thermidor

the 11th month of the French Republic.

00;14;25;10 - 00;14;26;29

In calendar case you are curious.

00;14;26;29 - 00;14;30;25

In one fell swoop,

a coup ousted Robespierre and his head

00;14;30;25 - 00;14;35;05

basically in a period of turmoil

engineered by the left economic populism,

00;14;35;08 - 00;14;39;03

the Christian izing and the harsh

military moves meant that the populists

00;14;39;06 - 00;14;42;05

lean towards

wanting any type of stability.

00;14;42;05 - 00;14;45;26

As such, this desire was capitalized on

to push out Robespierre,

00;14;45;26 - 00;14;48;07

but the thermidor of succession

was no better.

00;14;48;07 - 00;14;52;14

Pendulum simply swung from radicalism

to reaction ism with staunch

00;14;52;14 - 00;14;55;25

measures put in place that would assure

the opposition would be limited.

00;14;55;25 - 00;14;59;08

As prisons were emptied

and social lives became more free.

00;14;59;09 - 00;15;02;22

There was an uptick in over opulence

and personal

00;15;02;22 - 00;15;06;19

and political corruption set

in the diametric opposition to once again

00;15;06;24 - 00;15;10;11

a suffering lower class

that was still reeling from civil unrest.

00;15;10;12 - 00;15;14;10

What came out of this was a group

called the Directory, an association

00;15;14;10 - 00;15;18;04

of representatives that were part

of the surviving bourgeois bourgeoisie.

00;15;18;04 - 00;15;21;24

And this fact is important

as the surviving bourgeoisie

00;15;22;01 - 00;15;25;17

can be characterized

as kind of revolutionary exploiters

00;15;25;18 - 00;15;29;27

who stepped out of the reign of terror

more or less exalted to have survived

00;15;29;28 - 00;15;30;29

the post terror climate

00;15;30;29 - 00;15;34;26

was one for the lucky members of society

marked by extreme frivolity.

00;15;34;27 - 00;15;38;16

Even the fashion was loose with women

wearing no bras.

00;15;38;19 - 00;15;39;29

Crazy.

00;15;39;29 - 00;15;43;13

Many privileged folks

would simply lounge around in salons

00;15;43;13 - 00;15;47;01

all day long where decadent food

was passed around and music played.

00;15;47;02 - 00;15;51;07

It was in this specific vignette of time

that Napoleon would meet his future wife.

00;15;51;10 - 00;15;55;22

In: 1795

who was

00;15;55;25 - 00;15;58;02

five years older than him at the time.

All right.

00;15;58;02 - 00;16;02;16

And then the older ladies and as you know,

already been married with two children.

00;16;02;18 - 00;16;07;11

Josephine had legally been separated

from her husband, Alexander, debonair

00;16;07;12 - 00;16;09;04

by court order some time

00;16;09;04 - 00;16;12;26

re the latter was executed in: 1794

during the reign of terror.

00;16;13;01 - 00;16;17;02

Josephine, for her part, was imprisoned

during that period and subsequently freed

00;16;17;02 - 00;16;20;01

when Robespierre was executed

and his regime fell.

00;16;20;03 - 00;16;24;04

Josephine, a charming, beautiful woman

who was also connected

00;16;24;04 - 00;16;25;22

to the higher echelons of society.

00;16;25;22 - 00;16;28;00

She was a lady of the salon,

meaning that, you know,

00;16;28;00 - 00;16;30;00

she spent her days schmoozing, basically.

00;16;30;00 - 00;16;33;24

When Napoleon matter, they fell madly

in love and began a passionate affair.

00;16;33;27 - 00;16;38;11

th,: 1796

they married Napoleon's family, was none

00;16;38;11 - 00;16;39;03

too pleased with this

00;16;39;03 - 00;16;42;22

marriage, as Josephine was technically

a widow with two children to boot.

00;16;42;29 - 00;16;45;29

Not a good look,

I guess, for for, I don't know,

00;16;45;29 - 00;16;49;22

this old timey thing

where, like, Guy can't marry a widow.

00;16;49;22 - 00;16;52;22

That's she shouldn't

be allowed to love ever again.

00;16;53;00 - 00;16;55;25

Apparently, they're not allowed

to love more than once in their life.

00;16;55;25 - 00;16;59;24

Anyway, two days after Napoleon

and Josephine married, he was sent to lead

00;16;59;24 - 00;17;01;16

the French army in Italy.

00;17;01;16 - 00;17;02;21

What about what? A honeymoon.

00;17;02;21 - 00;17;07;08

Napoleon was given the position of

commanding general of the army of Italy.

00;17;07;10 - 00;17;11;14

It was worth mentioning here that Napoleon

was often noted as being a superstitious

00;17;11;14 - 00;17;15;10

man, one who believed that, you know,

some people were born inherently lucky in

00;17;15;10 - 00;17;20;10

life, is reported to always seeking out

a lucky star amid his various campaigns.

00;17;20;11 - 00;17;23;21

For him, it can be contrived

as his concept of destiny as well.

00;17;23;23 - 00;17;26;23

Napoleon undoubtedly

thought that he was destined for greatness

00;17;26;23 - 00;17;31;13

for his tours in Italy, Napoleon sought

the guys of Lucky Star in his new life,

00;17;31;18 - 00;17;34;17

kept a small portrait of her

with him at all time.

00;17;34;17 - 00;17;36;03

He's a little romantic, this guy.

00;17;36;03 - 00;17;37;11

When Napoleon arrived in Italy,

00;17;37;11 - 00;17;40;26

the French forces that were stationed

there had been highly neglected.

00;17;40;26 - 00;17;45;01

And so the terrain was ripe for Napoleon

to, you know, rouse the troops

00;17;45;01 - 00;17;46;11

with an impactful speech.

00;17;46;11 - 00;17;49;00

As such,

he targeted their specific woes, no doubt,

00;17;49;00 - 00;17;51;28

but also betrayed the little bit

of his overall intention.

00;17;51;28 - 00;17;55;05

Here we get all that glory for you, glory

for us, glory for me.

00;17;55;06 - 00;17;58;18

Type of diatribe

as well as the highest of incentives

00;17;58;18 - 00;18;02;04

honor, glory and wealth for the money,

the fame, but mostly for the money.

00;18;02;05 - 00;18;03;02

You know what I'm saying?

00;18;03;02 - 00;18;05;22

The campaign on Italy

is a good little vignette illustrating

00;18;05;22 - 00;18;09;14

the type of warfare that will be

historically known as Napoleonic warfare.

00;18;09;14 - 00;18;13;09

It was almost piratical in its swiftness

with the type of plunder and,

00;18;13;10 - 00;18;15;03

you know, subdued backbone to it.

00;18;15;03 - 00;18;18;14

At the time, Italy was occupied

by the Austrian empire, whose army

00;18;18;14 - 00;18;22;26

was formidable to counter them, Napoleon

acted in a way that would, you know, be

00;18;22;28 - 00;18;24;01

distinctly him.

00;18;24;01 - 00;18;27;11

He got on the offensive quickly

and on this unexpected, deadly scene,

00;18;27;11 - 00;18;29;14

Napoleon was lucky enough

to have a great eye

00;18;29;14 - 00;18;32;29

for geographical detail

and could take in the scenery

00;18;32;29 - 00;18;34;29

and figure out how to cut off the enemy

best.

00;18;34;29 - 00;18;38;20

A signature move would be making it

so that the enemy could not retreat or

00;18;38;20 - 00;18;43;11

restock and have to face the French forces

sometimes woefully unprepared.

00;18;43;14 - 00;18;46;17

So in some,

Napoleonic warfare is mainly characterized

00;18;46;17 - 00;18;48;07

as being one of rapid movement.

00;18;48;07 - 00;18;52;17

In: 1797

the Austrian Austrians threw in the towel.

00;18;52;19 - 00;18;53;28

Napoleon, at his first victory

00;18;53;28 - 00;18;56;29

as general,

which I'm sure was just fine for his ego.

00;18;56;29 - 00;18;58;05

Thanks for asking.

00;18;58;05 - 00;19;02;12

So here's the thing, though Jokes aside,

Napoleon was a good battlefield leader.

00;19;02;20 - 00;19;07;00

However, as we mentioned

before, it's never enough for our boy.

00;19;07;01 - 00;19;10;20

So on top of being a good military leader,

Napoleon had designs

00;19;10;27 - 00;19;13;02

on being a political leader as well.

00;19;13;02 - 00;19;17;04

One could even say that he felt entitled

to political clout, as the kids say.

00;19;17;04 - 00;19;20;12

Some may say that he had the entitlement

of the monarch.

00;19;20;15 - 00;19;22;28

Crazy.

Who would think that about Napoleon?

00;19;22;28 - 00;19;26;29

So this humble, pious little Napoleon,

not him.

00;19;27;02 - 00;19;29;17

Napoleon is documented

as having expressed admiration

00;19;29;17 - 00;19;31;22

for some of history's

greatest military leaders,

00;19;31;22 - 00;19;35;16

like like Hannibal, Julius Caesar,

Alexander the Great Hannibal

00;19;35;16 - 00;19;39;26

not being The Silence of the Lambs

Hannibal, but you know, the Roman his.

00;19;39;28 - 00;19;42;07

You know what I'm talking about anyway.

00;19;42;07 - 00;19;47;10

Yeah, All those guys probably be

good cover at some point, but not today.

00;19;47;11 - 00;19;51;08

He did adopt and fine tune some of the,

you know, their military tactics,

00;19;51;08 - 00;19;54;04

especially from Alexander

who was one of his favorites.

00;19;54;04 - 00;19;56;09

One of his signature moves

was the pincer movement

00;19;56;09 - 00;19;59;15

engaging both flanks of an enemy formation

with his troops

00;19;59;17 - 00;20;02;26

while moving his artillery support

the infantry in just over a year.

00;20;02;27 - 00;20;05;11

Napoleon became a national hero

to the French people.

00;20;05;11 - 00;20;08;14

He had conquered most of northern

northern Italy and the Netherlands.

00;20;08;15 - 00;20;12;02

He also sacked and robbed the Italian

nobility and sent countless riches

00;20;12;02 - 00;20;16;12

and art back to France, further boosting,

you know, his exploits from afar.

00;20;16;14 - 00;20;19;11

A steady stream of treasures

was an outward demonstration

00;20;19;11 - 00;20;23;07

of his success and cemented his reputation

as an effective campaigner.

00;20;23;08 - 00;20;25;21

Hey, look at all these cool things

I'm sending you.

00;20;25;21 - 00;20;28;12

Isn't this great? Wouldn't

you like this to continue?

00;20;28;12 - 00;20;30;09

Vote Napoleon.

00;20;30;11 - 00;20;31;17

Vote for Pedro.

00;20;31;17 - 00;20;35;13

Now, it is important to note that

with every meteoric rise

00;20;35;15 - 00;20;38;20

to power comes the inevitable scrutiny

that follows.

00;20;38;20 - 00;20;42;12

Some French monarchists

decry Napoleon's plundering of Italy,

00;20;42;15 - 00;20;45;22

condemning it as a warning sign

of his underlying intent.

00;20;45;29 - 00;20;47;07

Overall pompous ness.

00;20;47;07 - 00;20;50;00

Some folks literally said

that he might become a dictator.

00;20;50;00 - 00;20;52;21

And I say nay, not Napoleon.

00;20;52;21 - 00;20;54;06

He is humble and kind.

00;20;54;06 - 00;20;58;03

Anyway, in September of: 1797

Napoleon sent

00;20;58;03 - 00;21;02;16

some of his troops in support of a coup

attack upheld by the French directory.

00;21;02;16 - 00;21;06;22

These members overturn election results

from months prior, which were in favor

00;21;06;25 - 00;21;08;22

of a return to a monarchist regime.

00;21;08;22 - 00;21;11;17

As such, the monarchists were ousted

from the legislature

00;21;11;17 - 00;21;15;12

and Napoleon's main critics at the time

faded from political relevancy.

00;21;15;13 - 00;21;16;18

Big move.

00;21;16;18 - 00;21;17;24

Super humble, obviously.

00;21;17;24 - 00;21;21;09

However, even members of the Directory

had some queasiness about his quick

00;21;21;09 - 00;21;27;14

ascension to power in a bid to prevent

any further improvement of his status.

00;21;27;16 - 00;21;29;25

He was sent as far away as possible.

00;21;29;25 - 00;21;32;05

Sent by the directory to Egypt.

00;21;32;05 - 00;21;37;19

Thus, in: 1798

upon France's greatest enemy, the British.

00;21;37;20 - 00;21;40;12

Which means, of course,

that he set his sights on New Egypt.

00;21;40;12 - 00;21;42;10

There is nothing more British than Egypt.

00;21;42;10 - 00;21;44;25

Especially if you look at their museums

00;21;44;25 - 00;21;48;18

as part of France's long term

strategic thinking aimed at ending British

00;21;48;18 - 00;21;53;10

stalemate in Levant, an area

broadly analogous to the Middle East.

00;21;53;12 - 00;21;56;07

One of Napoleon's strong suits,

which we already kind of saw

00;21;56;07 - 00;22;00;09

in his earlier power plays, was his

ability to use networks of influence and,

00;22;00;12 - 00;22;02;28

you know, publicity campaigns

to his advantage.

00;22;02;28 - 00;22;06;24

Let's not forget that his personal glory

always informed his decisions

00;22;06;24 - 00;22;08;06

in his Egyptian campaigns.

00;22;08;06 - 00;22;10;19

Napoleon

hoped to explore the idea of Egypt

00;22;10;19 - 00;22;14;01

as a source of economic power

and a way to move the French East.

00;22;14;02 - 00;22;15;28

Disrupt Britain's success to India.

00;22;15;28 - 00;22;20;02

By doing so, Britain would be cut off

from products and resources.

00;22;20;03 - 00;22;23;10

Napoleon's strategy

in Egypt betrays his underlying capacity

00;22;23;10 - 00;22;26;00

for manipulating

a situation for his gains.

00;22;26;00 - 00;22;30;05

What's more, his stay in Egypt

will solidify his love of ruling

00;22;30;13 - 00;22;33;18

and his capacity for violence

before departing for Egypt.

00;22;33;24 - 00;22;36;15

Napoleon was made

a member of Academy of Sciences,

00;22;36;15 - 00;22;39;18

for which he will be later

elected as leader in: 1801

00;22;39;18 - 00;22;41;29

for his contributions

during the Egyptian campaign.

00;22;41;29 - 00;22;44;18

As such,

he did not only bring soldiers into Egypt,

00;22;44;18 - 00;22;48;11

but he also brought a team of 167

scholars and scientists,

00;22;48;14 - 00;22;51;16

including mathematicians,

naturalists and chemists, and establish

00;22;51;16 - 00;22;54;20

a study of what is essentially known today

as Egyptology.

00;22;54;21 - 00;22;56;17

These folks traveled with the campaigning.

00;22;56;17 - 00;23;00;11

Soldiers collected artifacts,

quote unquote, for future studying.

00;23;00;11 - 00;23;04;19

One notable example is, of course,

the taking of the Rosetta Stone.

00;23;04;21 - 00;23;06;19

The ancient tablet with the inscription

00;23;06;19 - 00;23;10;06

of a decree written

in the Ptolemaic dynasty.

00;23;10;08 - 00;23;13;18

The stone was instrumental in deciphering

Egyptian hieroglyphs

00;23;13;18 - 00;23;17;05

and is important to note that by collected

I did mean steal.

00;23;17;05 - 00;23;20;20

But the campaign again

wasn't a purely academic endeavor.

00;23;20;23 - 00;23;24;25

Napoleon will also plan to steal Egypt's

many riches in the form of artifacts.

00;23;24;26 - 00;23;28;27

His eventual occupation of Egypt

was characterized by deception, French

00;23;28;27 - 00;23;33;00

Republicanism and his antique

Catholic stance was mistakenly

00;23;33;01 - 00;23;37;15

or perhaps the right word, is deceivingly

inferred to as being pro Islam.

00;23;37;16 - 00;23;42;18

What's more, Napoleon lied by declaring

himself worshipers of Islam, allegedly.

00;23;42;19 - 00;23;44;24

It's also highlights his ability

to flip flop

00;23;44;24 - 00;23;47;06

without any true allegiance

other than to himself.

00;23;47;06 - 00;23;50;29

The occupation of Egypt highlights

some of the characteristics of what would

00;23;51;01 - 00;23;52;07

later be termed

00;23;52;07 - 00;23;57;10

Napoleonic object occupation, looting,

acquisition, theft, physical abuse.

00;23;57;12 - 00;23;58;29

He also found himself comfortable

00;23;58;29 - 00;24;03;01

with ruling because in Egypt

he set himself up in a whole pavilion.

00;24;03;01 - 00;24;04;10

In this lavish space,

00;24;04;10 - 00;24;07;23

he would adorn himself

with the most luxurious garbs of the area,

00;24;07;25 - 00;24;12;12

gave gifts to the populace and cast

himself as the liberator of the people.

00;24;12;14 - 00;24;15;25

This is very relevant

as it kind of shows his true colors.

00;24;15;28 - 00;24;19;21

Is this where he was like

allowed to truly be how he wanted

00;24;19;23 - 00;24;23;07

without any kind of external forces

telling him otherwise?

00;24;23;08 - 00;24;26;04

It also is a bit of an indication

of things to come.

00;24;26;04 - 00;24;29;14

It should be noted here

that in another manipulative tactic,

00;24;29;15 - 00;24;32;25

the overt opulence and display

of domination that he cultivated

00;24;32;25 - 00;24;36;18

while on Egyptian soil was shed

when he eventually returned to France.

00;24;36;19 - 00;24;40;19

It's like he tried on the suit of a ruler

in, shall we say, Got the taste for it

00;24;40;19 - 00;24;42;23

a little bit.

You're going to like the way you look.

00;24;42;23 - 00;24;45;13

The conquest of Egypt

culminated in the Battle of the Nile,

00;24;45;13 - 00;24;48;28

where the French fleet

fought the British Royal Navy once more.

00;24;48;29 - 00;24;50;11

Battle of the Nile was considered

00;24;50;11 - 00;24;54;08

one of the more decisive

confrontations of the age of sail,

00;24;54;12 - 00;24;58;12

which we kind of learned

about a little bit in the pirate episodes.

00;24;58;12 - 00;25;00;06

But, you know, that's what they called it.

00;25;00;06 - 00;25;01;16

There's all the all the giant

00;25;01;16 - 00;25;05;16

sailboats with cannons is a good time

with the British ultimately winning.

00;25;05;19 - 00;25;07;21

A little side note here.

00;25;07;24 - 00;25;10;05

Do you remember in the very first episode

00;25;10;05 - 00;25;15;12

when I talked about the total war games

that led me to pick the War Dogs episode?

00;25;15;13 - 00;25;19;20

Well, there's also a total war game

about Napoleon, about the boy.

00;25;19;20 - 00;25;21;08

And I played that one.

00;25;21;08 - 00;25;21;27

And guess what?

00;25;21;27 - 00;25;24;10

You you get to do the Egyptian campaign.

00;25;24;10 - 00;25;27;06

And I got to tell you,

that game is any indicator.

00;25;27;06 - 00;25;31;08

Napoleon was in sanely good

at just dominating everybody

00;25;31;08 - 00;25;33;06

because that's that's what I did

when I played it.

00;25;33;06 - 00;25;34;14

I'm sure that's pretty realistic.

00;25;34;14 - 00;25;38;11

But anyway, back to the Battle of

the Nile, which was fought on August 1st,

00;25;38;18 - 00;25;41;23

first: 1798

00;25;41;23 - 00;25;44;27

under Admiral Horatio Nelson

with Napoleon's fleet.

00;25;44;28 - 00;25;49;04

Napoleon was fresh from victory in Malta

and perhaps feeling a little cocky,

00;25;49;05 - 00;25;51;14

his forces

awaited the arriving British fleet

00;25;51;14 - 00;25;53;12

and what they thought

was a secure position.

00;25;53;12 - 00;25;56;14

But Nelson arrived near nightfall

and attacked immediately.

00;25;56;14 - 00;26;00;12

In a key move, several Nelson's ships

were able to penetrate the French line

00;26;00;12 - 00;26;04;03

and wreak havoc with some

even getting behind the French fleet.

00;26;04;05 - 00;26;05;11

Not a good move.

00;26;05;11 - 00;26;06;29

Ultimately, the battle was fierce.

00;26;06;29 - 00;26;08;27

The British emerged victorious.

00;26;08;27 - 00;26;10;16

It was a deadly battle as well.

00;26;10;16 - 00;26;15;15

The French losing between: 2005

thousand men, over 9000 being captured.

00;26;15;17 - 00;26;18;28

As for the British,

it is reported that they only lost 218 men

00;26;18;28 - 00;26;22;27

and that 706 or 617 flip flopped them.

00;26;23;01 - 00;26;24;17

617 were injured.

00;26;24;17 - 00;26;28;04

Napoleon, however, did not leave the area

immediately upon defeat.

00;26;28;04 - 00;26;31;22

He marched his troops in the Ottoman

province of Damascus in Syria.

00;26;31;24 - 00;26;35;05

Interestingly enough, interestingly,

this is where the elements

00;26;35;05 - 00;26;39;16

of his brutality of Napoleon's personality

kind of emerged.

00;26;39;18 - 00;26;43;04

He is reported to have ordered

the execution of: 1400

00;26;43;04 - 00;26;46;29

at Haifa, but some sources say

it could be up to: 4000

00;26;47;00 - 00;26;48;24

They were mostly executed by bayonet.

00;26;48;24 - 00;26;53;04

However, some died in drowning or

bladed weapons in order to save bullets.

00;26;53;05 - 00;26;55;24

This event marks

Napoleon's capacity for violence.

00;26;55;24 - 00;26;58;11

And news of it trickled back to France.

00;26;58;11 - 00;26;58;29

Not good.

00;26;58;29 - 00;26;59;27

This is very interesting

00;26;59;27 - 00;27;03;14

because there's a lot of propaganda

resulting from the Syrian campaign.

00;27;03;14 - 00;27;06;24

For instance, Napoleon is reported

as being benevolent towards plague

00;27;06;24 - 00;27;10;14

stricken soldiers in the city of Haifa

and even carrying them there.

00;27;10;14 - 00;27;14;12

Even paintings depicting Napoleon

extending his reach towards plague victims

00;27;14;14 - 00;27;17;14

and offering some sort

of supernatural quality to his being

00;27;17;20 - 00;27;21;03

like he's able to perform miracles

like Jesus type character.

00;27;21;03 - 00;27;24;12

Rumors about his ability

to not only touch but heal plague victims

00;27;24;12 - 00;27;27;15

circulated at the time,

giving him a supernatural aura.

00;27;27;16 - 00;27;30;26

This kind of highlights

another aspect there is to Napoleon.

00;27;30;26 - 00;27;32;08

It's never enough, you know.

00;27;32;08 - 00;27;34;02

He can't just be good at something.

00;27;34;02 - 00;27;35;24

He has to be downright heavenly.

00;27;35;24 - 00;27;39;06

He's not above letting the rumor mill

spill beneficial gossip

00;27;39;13 - 00;27;41;16

and manipulate it to his advantage.

00;27;41;16 - 00;27;45;25

In fact, the fact that he visited plague

stricken soldiers being underlined serves

00;27;45;25 - 00;27;46;18

as a reminder

00;27;46;18 - 00;27;50;06

that there's probably an attempt somewhere

down the line to quell the news

00;27;50;09 - 00;27;52;19

of some of the atrocities

that were committed at Haifa.

00;27;52;19 - 00;27;55;21

There's even a rumor circulated

that after visiting the plague

00;27;55;21 - 00;27;58;12

stricken soldiers in Haifa,

Napoleon ordered them to be pulled

00;27;58;12 - 00;28;02;23

poisoned by opium because he did not want

to have to wait around for them to die.

00;28;02;24 - 00;28;03;24

This is not something that

00;28;03;24 - 00;28;07;14

is generally agreed upon by historians,

but interesting to note.

00;28;07;16 - 00;28;11;17

Ultimately, Napoleon failed to defeat

the British and the British backed

00;28;11;17 - 00;28;16;17

Ottoman soldiers in Egypt, so he decided

to return to parents in: 1799

00;28;16;19 - 00;28;18;18

But it was not under any direct orders.

00;28;18;18 - 00;28;22;16

He'd simply just passed out on his own,

effectively leaving a whole army behind,

00;28;22;16 - 00;28;25;21

which was an offense

punishable by death under the revolution.

00;28;25;23 - 00;28;26;24

His Egyptian campaign

00;28;26;24 - 00;28;30;17

had abjectly failed,

but no one in France knew it at the time.

00;28;30;17 - 00;28;34;16

Remember, the man cultivated an aura

for himself and his exploits

00;28;34;19 - 00;28;37;08

was all carefully crafted

when he returned to France.

00;28;37;08 - 00;28;38;00

It was his.

00;28;38;00 - 00;28;40;02

It was in his traditional soldier's garb.

00;28;40;02 - 00;28;43;09

Thus he was parading himself

as a humble soldier of the people

00;28;43;11 - 00;28;45;02

and was given a hero's welcome.

00;28;45;02 - 00;28;48;29

It looks like Napoleon engendered himself

enough propaganda to hide the fact

00;28;48;29 - 00;28;51;29

that he lost the great battle

and perhaps had even taken out

00;28;51;29 - 00;28;55;10

his frustrations on prisoners

and sick soldiers in his own troop.

00;28;55;11 - 00;28;59;11

One thing is for sure, Napoleon left Egypt

with a sense of what he was

00;28;59;13 - 00;29;03;06

capable of doing,

both in his inward capacity for violence

00;29;03;09 - 00;29;07;04

to achieve by any means, and his,

you know, ease of rule.

00;29;07;06 - 00;29;10;10

When Napoleon returned to France,

was that an auspicious time?

00;29;10;11 - 00;29;14;17

The political situation was dire, as now

France, under the corrupt five person

00;29;14;17 - 00;29;17;05

directory,

was facing a new coalition of enemies

00;29;17;05 - 00;29;19;23

the British and the Holy Roman Empire.

00;29;19;23 - 00;29;22;01

This war was dubbed

the War of the Second Coalition

00;29;22;01 - 00;29;26;12

and the economic situation of France

was struggling as a result because war

00;29;26;12 - 00;29;27;16

is expensive.

00;29;27;16 - 00;29;31;01

Sensing that a regime change was in order,

Napoleon made the boldest

00;29;31;01 - 00;29;34;14

move of his life, one that would actually

change the course of history.

00;29;34;15 - 00;29;37;20

However, Napoleon believed

that he was destined for this role.

00;29;37;23 - 00;29;41;03

He staged a coup to to November

nine,: 1799

00;29;41;03 - 00;29;45;12

overthrowing the directory

and imposing a new authoritarian solution.

00;29;45;13 - 00;29;48;22

The coup, called the coup of 18

Brumaire, is considered

00;29;48;22 - 00;29;52;14

by some historians to be the official end

of the French Revolution.

00;29;52;16 - 00;29;55;16

It was orchestrated by Napoleon

and his brother Lucian,

00;29;55;17 - 00;30;00;20

who was the president of the council 500

or the lower house of Legislature,

00;30;00;20 - 00;30;03;28

as well as Emmanuel Joseph Sears,

the chief political theorist

00;30;03;29 - 00;30;05;07

of the French Revolution.

00;30;05;07 - 00;30;08;25

The coup had a shaky start, as it is

said, that Napoleon, not being a good

00;30;08;29 - 00;30;10;23

public speaker, could not get his voice

00;30;10;23 - 00;30;13;26

across the shouts

and yells coming from the legislature.

00;30;13;27 - 00;30;17;13

To remedy this, he called in his army

that was waiting outside to you

00;30;17;16 - 00;30;21;19

and using it to dissolve the legislature,

which is pretty, pretty intense.

00;30;21;20 - 00;30;25;14

Napoleon, as allies, formed a new

political regime called the Consulate.

00;30;25;17 - 00;30;29;12

It was elected and took power under

the FIR, under the title of first Consul.

00;30;29;13 - 00;30;31;19

He was now the head of the French

First Republic.

00;30;31;19 - 00;30;35;07

The position of first Consul were himself

almost ultimate power

00;30;35;10 - 00;30;37;13

in order to cement his newfound power.

00;30;37;13 - 00;30;41;18

Napoleon draft constitution,

which was signed in a fraudulent flub,

00;30;41;20 - 00;30;45;04

which was signed in a fraudulent vote

that stated that 90%,

00;30;45;06 - 00;30;49;22

99% of the votes had been cast in favor

of Napoleon retaining this position.

00;30;49;23 - 00;30;53;15

The first task that he undertook

was reestablishing bonds between the state

00;30;53;20 - 00;30;54;26

and the Catholic Church.

00;30;54;26 - 00;30;57;17

Napoleon believed that the country

should have a religion.

00;30;57;17 - 00;30;58;29

It just didn't matter which one.

00;30;58;29 - 00;31;02;01

As we said before,

he toyed with Islam when he was in Egypt.

00;31;02;01 - 00;31;05;14

For France, he surmised that mending ties

with the Catholic Church

00;31;05;14 - 00;31;06;26

would serve his purposes.

00;31;06;26 - 00;31;10;22

In: 1801

he agreed to a concordat with the papacy,

00;31;10;22 - 00;31;14;28

which officially recognized Catholicism

as the official religion of France.

00;31;14;29 - 00;31;16;23

There's a bit of a trade at play here.

00;31;16;23 - 00;31;20;28

Here, however, because this concordat

was somewhat conditional.

00;31;21;01 - 00;31;24;19

Among other minutia,

the state would, you know, pay clergymen

00;31;24;19 - 00;31;27;23

salary as long as they upheld

the current French government.

00;31;27;24 - 00;31;31;16

This assured that the sport

was a very important institution.

00;31;31;16 - 00;31;35;20

So basically, listen,

we're going to pay your salary of all your

00;31;35;22 - 00;31;38;22

your priests,

but make sure they're in there talking

00;31;38;22 - 00;31;44;14

about how great Napoleon and team Napoleon

and Co Napoleon Inc is doing.

00;31;44;15 - 00;31;46;20

It's important to note here

that France at this point

00;31;46;20 - 00;31;51;06

was ripe for change and that most notably

Napoleon had a lot of public support.

00;31;51;10 - 00;31;55;00

This is most likely due to the persistent

lack of stability created by decades

00;31;55;00 - 00;31;58;29

of economic disruption, war

and regime changes in cases like these.

00;31;59;00 - 00;31;59;24

We'll find out.

00;31;59;24 - 00;32;03;22

It seems like populist gravitates

towards openly authoritarian regimes

00;32;03;22 - 00;32;05;23

as a tradeoff for stability and security.

00;32;05;23 - 00;32;09;06

So during his time in Egypt,

France had lost most of the territories

00;32;09;06 - 00;32;12;16

that Napoleon had gained, notably Italy

and the County of Nice.

00;32;12;17 - 00;32;16;21

In order to bolster his position

as first consul, Napoleon decided

00;32;16;21 - 00;32;20;16

to retake northern Italy

by taking a page out of Hannibal's book,

00;32;20;16 - 00;32;23;16

using an unexpected route

that took his troops through the great

00;32;23;16 - 00;32;26;19

Saint Bernard Pass, passing

so many gigantic dogs.

00;32;26;23 - 00;32;28;27

No in the Swiss Alps.

00;32;28;27 - 00;32;31;20

Hannibal,

of course, famous for taking the elephants

00;32;31;20 - 00;32;35;08

through the Alps into Italy from Poland,

was able to surprise his enemy.

00;32;35;08 - 00;32;39;02

In fact, his army was kind of coalesced

out of nowhere, appearing behind

00;32;39;04 - 00;32;43;28

Austrian forces that were fighting

th,: 1800

00;32;44;01 - 00;32;46;17

The battle of Marengo raged.

00;32;46;17 - 00;32;50;07

Napoleon led 24,000 soldiers

against 30,000 Austrians.

00;32;50;07 - 00;32;54;00

Ultimately, the French lines held

and the Austrian Austrians lost

00;32;54;00 - 00;32;55;03

the surprise attack.

00;32;55;03 - 00;32;58;24

Is said that Napoleon himself constantly

rode in between the rows of his soldiers,

00;32;58;24 - 00;33;03;20

boosting their morale himself as victory

gave the French control over Apple Valley.

00;33;03;21 - 00;33;07;13

In December of that year, for the French

defeated the Austrians in Germany as well,

00;33;07;13 - 00;33;10;14

forcing the Austrians

to sign the Treaty of Louisville

00;33;10;19 - 00;33;14;24

and consolidated Napoleon's position

as first consul in Paris.

00;33;14;26 - 00;33;15;19

Britain remained

00;33;15;19 - 00;33;19;17

the sole great enemy of France,

but the two forces were at a stalemate.

00;33;19;19 - 00;33;23;20

What's more, Britain had What's more,

Britain had no more continental allies.

00;33;23;22 - 00;33;27;19

Another salient win for Napoleon

was the temporary cessation of hostility

00;33;27;20 - 00;33;31;22

under the tree Treaty of Avions,

th,: 1802

00;33;31;22 - 00;33;35;17

between France and the United Kingdom,

which effectively put an end to the French

00;33;35;17 - 00;33;36;27

Revolutionary War.

00;33;36;27 - 00;33;40;10

This ushered in a brief period of peace

and the economy began

00;33;40;10 - 00;33;43;25

to rebound, causing Napoleon

to have a period of great approval.

00;33;43;26 - 00;33;46;15

However, some dissidents still remained.

00;33;46;15 - 00;33;49;06

In fact,

an assassination plot was discovered.

00;33;49;06 - 00;33;50;11

One that Napoleon claimed

00;33;50;11 - 00;33;54;10

was spearheaded by the heir

of the previously reigning Bourbon family.

00;33;54;16 - 00;33;58;08

And no, not that bourbon,

although that would be cool.

00;33;58;10 - 00;34;03;08

The heir, the Duke of England, not confirm

that one was unceremoniously executed.

00;34;03;15 - 00;34;05;28

So they get for having a confusing

last name.

00;34;05;28 - 00;34;09;05

This execution shocked the French

aristocracy and seemed to awaken

00;34;09;05 - 00;34;12;11

the dormant sentiment that Napoleon

had the designs of a dictator.

00;34;12;12 - 00;34;15;13

It is an event

that is sometimes credited by historians

00;34;15;13 - 00;34;19;04

as the origin point of what would later

become the Napoleonic Wars.

00;34;19;05 - 00;34;21;18

Many royal families in Europe saw this act

00;34;21;18 - 00;34;25;20

as an omen of Napoleon's

ultimate intention in: 1802

00;34;25;22 - 00;34;30;05

People were urged to think Napoleon for

bringing peace sort of gift to the people.

00;34;30;06 - 00;34;33;09

As such, a referendum was put in place

asking Should

00;34;33;09 - 00;34;35;13

Napoleon be the first Council for Life?

00;34;35;13 - 00;34;39;06

Question Mark This referendum

was overwhelmingly supportive,

00;34;39;08 - 00;34;42;19

but its legitimacy, such

as that of the vote earlier that got him

00;34;42;19 - 00;34;45;21

you know,

the first council in the first place

00;34;45;22 - 00;34;48;22

has historically been put into question

regardless.

00;34;48;22 - 00;34;52;19

Napoleon had himself declared

consul for life, which it turns out

00;34;52;21 - 00;34;58;05

is a huge red flag because on December

nd,: 1804

00;34;58;07 - 00;35;02;13

Napoleon literally crowned himself

Emperor of France under the name Napoleon

00;35;02;13 - 00;35;07;05

one or Napoleon the first, effectively

creating a military dictatorship.

00;35;07;06 - 00;35;07;16

That's right.

00;35;07;16 - 00;35;09;23

He actually placed the crown

on his own head.

00;35;09;23 - 00;35;13;02

He marched into the coronation room

wearing a circlet of laurels

00;35;13;02 - 00;35;16;14

and reminiscent of the Roman era,

and was crowned

00;35;16;14 - 00;35;20;10

with the crown of Charlemagne,

which is specifically made for this event.

00;35;20;11 - 00;35;22;23

Charlemagne,

I should mention, was a medieval monarch

00;35;22;23 - 00;35;25;12

who was the king of Franks

and the Holy Roman Emperor.

00;35;25;12 - 00;35;28;16

This is actually pretty significant

for many reasons, the first of which

00;35;28;16 - 00;35;32;21

is that its self-aggrandizing,

propagandistic tone and choice

00;35;32;21 - 00;35;35;23

that showed the world that Napoleon,

you know, this is how he viewed himself.

00;35;35;24 - 00;35;38;21

The second was

that the whole scene was in contrast

00;35;38;21 - 00;35;42;29

to the time Charlemagne himself

was crowned by Pope Leo, the third in 800

00;35;42;29 - 00;35;47;10

seat pope in effectively crowning himself,

meant that he owed his legitimacy

00;35;47;10 - 00;35;48;07

to no one,

00;35;48;07 - 00;35;52;12

especially not to the Catholic Church,

whereas Charlemagne needed the pope to go.

00;35;52;12 - 00;35;54;13

You're the you're the king now, man.

00;35;54;13 - 00;35;56;24

Napoleon

justified this dictatorship by stating

00;35;56;24 - 00;36;00;12

it was simply a return

to the good old days of the Roman Empire.

00;36;00;14 - 00;36;04;24

This created a hereditary system,

assuring a clear line of succession

00;36;04;24 - 00;36;09;04

for the Bonaparte family

and also fed into a logical line of action

00;36;09;04 - 00;36;13;24

espoused by the noblemen of the Time

who were all well versed in the classics.

00;36;13;24 - 00;36;14;27

The natural evolution

00;36;14;27 - 00;36;18;16

of this time of political upheaval

was the crowning of an emperor, Right?

00;36;18;17 - 00;36;23;00

So to recap, in only ten years, our boy

Napoleon, went from being an unknown

00;36;23;00 - 00;36;24;08

artillery officer

00;36;24;08 - 00;36;28;11

to the emperor of the largest empire

Europe had seen in like a thousand years.

00;36;28;11 - 00;36;32;05

And this highlights the fact that Napoleon

was highly ambitious, very intelligent,

00;36;32;05 - 00;36;35;15

and saw untold amounts of power

as part of his rule.

00;36;35;17 - 00;36;39;05

He forwarded the idea of working legal

and judicial systems

00;36;39;05 - 00;36;43;08

by codifying the law,

centralizing the judicial system in Paris.

00;36;43;09 - 00;36;45;23

The Napoleonic Code was more conservative.

00;36;45;23 - 00;36;49;22

It reasserted patriarchal systems

and did away with progressive ideas

00;36;49;22 - 00;36;52;22

for the times like abolitionism

and equal rights for women.

00;36;52;25 - 00;36;54;15

You know these things

you definitely don't need.

00;36;54;15 - 00;36;56;24

Just kidding.

In case that was not obvious.

00;36;56;24 - 00;37;00;09

In fact, in fact,

the status of women was noticeably reduced

00;37;00;09 - 00;37;01;20

during Napoleon's reign.

00;37;01;20 - 00;37;04;26

The civil rights were more

or less stripped away with all decisions,

00;37;05;00 - 00;37;09;06

with all decision power over their lives

being handed to their fathers or husbands.

00;37;09;07 - 00;37;13;17

Napoleon also ushered in a public school

system based on the ideals of reasoning

00;37;13;17 - 00;37;14;24

and intelligent debate.

00;37;14;24 - 00;37;17;29

So a little bit a not so good

00;37;17;29 - 00;37;21;09

little bit of a good Napoleon

did not want to limit his rule of France.

00;37;21;09 - 00;37;23;06

Let's not forget the man idolized,

00;37;23;06 - 00;37;25;16

you know, Alexander

the Great and Julius Caesar.

00;37;25;16 - 00;37;27;25

As such,

he aimed for territorial expansion

00;37;27;25 - 00;37;30;06

of all of Europe,

as well as British Isles, too.

00;37;30;06 - 00;37;34;26

To do so, he drafted a huge army of young

men aged between 20 and 24 years old.

00;37;34;27 - 00;37;38;08

Perhaps here we can also glean the reason

as to why Napoleon was favored

00;37;38;08 - 00;37;42;13

by his soldiers, as he did fight

alongside his men in over 60 battles.

00;37;42;13 - 00;37;45;06

Gaining military victory

after military victory.

00;37;45;06 - 00;37;49;05

The ideal espoused was conquest

without limit, a perfect metaphor

00;37;49;05 - 00;37;50;28

for the man who could never have enough.

00;37;50;28 - 00;37;54;25

Napoleon with conquered territories

like Austria and Germany, and how the

00;37;54;25 - 00;37;58;28

men of those territories join his army

constantly beefing up his numbers.

00;37;58;28 - 00;38;02;27

By: 1806

the Holy Roman Empire after feeding

00;38;02;27 - 00;38;07;18

Austria and Russia in several battles,

culminating in the Battle of Austerlitz.

00;38;07;22 - 00;38;11;29

Napoleon ushered for some standardization

in the conquered territories.

00;38;12;00 - 00;38;15;22

He unified Europe by ending serfdom,

you know, legislating

00;38;15;22 - 00;38;19;26

religious tolerance and creating schools

for scientific and technological study.

00;38;19;28 - 00;38;24;07

He also created the Confederation

of the Rhine, which unified German states.

00;38;24;08 - 00;38;29;04

He the Napoleonic Code, as discussed

previously, as well as the metric system.

00;38;29;04 - 00;38;33;15

All of these actions standardization

more or less serve to somewhat unify

00;38;33;15 - 00;38;36;29

Europe at the time,

which you can kind of look at as he's

00;38;36;29 - 00;38;40;24

doing this as like really building

like a massive empire.

00;38;40;24 - 00;38;42;20

Like he wasn't he wasn't going,

00;38;42;20 - 00;38;46;12

Hey, man, I'm going to conquer this,

and then you're going to keep running it.

00;38;46;13 - 00;38;49;07

He was like,

This is the system we're going to run.

00;38;49;07 - 00;38;50;13

You're all going to learn it.

00;38;50;13 - 00;38;53;03

And this whole thing is going to be great.

00;38;53;03 - 00;38;56;03

And I kind of wonder while reading this

that this isn't like

00;38;56;03 - 00;38;59;05

the underplaying

of like the European Union now.

00;38;59;06 - 00;39;01;08

Like,

did he kind of lay the building blocks?

00;39;01;08 - 00;39;01;24

I don't know.

00;39;01;24 - 00;39;03;28

Anyway, it should also be mentioned here

that Napoleon,

00;39;03;28 - 00;39;07;28

who often referred to his wife

as Josephine as his lucky star

00;39;08;00 - 00;39;12;09

who wrote her poems on the battlefield,

had since been faced with a conundrum.

00;39;12;11 - 00;39;15;10

Josephine, as it transpired,

was unable to produce an heir.

00;39;15;10 - 00;39;16;29

And this, of course, meant,

00;39;16;29 - 00;39;20;18

you know, problematic for an emperor,

hellbent on creating a dynasty.

00;39;20;19 - 00;39;23;18

As such, he was forced to.

00;39;23;18 - 00;39;25;02

Josephine Naturally.

00;39;25;02 - 00;39;28;07

Originally,

Napoleon sat Sara, the youngest sister

00;39;28;07 - 00;39;31;11

of Czar Alexander the first Anna Pavlova.

00;39;31;12 - 00;39;33;03

This was in hopes of legitimizing

00;39;33;03 - 00;39;36;14

his empire by marrying into one of the

leading royal families in Europe.

00;39;36;15 - 00;39;40;22

However, an Austrian union was pushed,

and ultimately he married Marie-Louise,

00;39;40;22 - 00;39;44;16

Duchess of Parma, by proxy on March 11th,

1810.

00;39;44;18 - 00;39;45;14

The important to note

00;39;45;14 - 00;39;49;00

that the marriage was conducted

solely for political reasons.

00;39;49;01 - 00;39;53;09

Marriage did produce a son, of course,

who was named naturally Napoleon.

00;39;53;10 - 00;39;57;06

During this period, Napoleon

also reinstated aristocracy in France,

00;39;57;08 - 00;39;59;11

handed out titles

to his friends and family,

00;39;59;11 - 00;40;01;27

which caused quite a bit of problems

for him down the line.

00;40;01;27 - 00;40;05;24

Napoleon's janky mastery of Europe

created a bit of a fair

00;40;05;24 - 00;40;09;00

bit of nationalism

on behalf of his conquered territories.

00;40;09;03 - 00;40;11;22

This is due in part

because he was in the habit of generally

00;40;11;22 - 00;40;14;03

putting one of his brothers

and this is quite literal.

00;40;14;03 - 00;40;18;04

He put his brothers in position of power

in pseudo monarchical positions

00;40;18;09 - 00;40;19;24

over his conquered territories

00;40;19;24 - 00;40;22;24

instead of his new subjects,

viewing themselves as French.

00;40;22;26 - 00;40;27;10

They dug their heels and retained the

sense of ardent nationalism, for example.

00;40;27;11 - 00;40;28;16

During this period, Spain

00;40;28;16 - 00;40;32;08

proved to be a thorn in the bull inside

as it resisted occupation.

00;40;32;09 - 00;40;36;08

The conflict that resulted was the single

most destructive event in Napoleonic wars

00;40;36;08 - 00;40;40;13

and would contribute to the poem's

eventual demise in order to push back

00;40;40;13 - 00;40;44;04

against Britain's constant opposition,

Napoleon sought to attack their economy

00;40;44;11 - 00;40;47;11

by forcing other European nations

to close their ports to Britain.

00;40;47;15 - 00;40;49;21

He would attempt to cripple them

financially.

00;40;49;21 - 00;40;52;19

Portugal refused to do so

and continued to trade with Britain,

00;40;52;19 - 00;40;56;26

which is a total Portuguese move

I've ever seen. One.

00;40;57;03 - 00;40;57;25

No, I'm just kidding.

00;40;57;25 - 00;41;01;01

You don't understand that

point of contention against Portuguese.

00;41;01;02 - 00;41;03;18

Listen to the pirate episodes.

You'll learn something.

00;41;03;18 - 00;41;07;04

Their continued trade with France

or with Britain causes

00;41;07;06 - 00;41;10;14

caused the French army

to occupy Lisbon in: 1807

00;41;10;16 - 00;41;13;13

Then Napoleon's side took control over

Spain.

00;41;13;13 - 00;41;14;20

In May of: 1808

00;41;14;20 - 00;41;18;05

He invaded Spain and occupied

Madrid in a move that would prove costly,

00;41;18;05 - 00;41;21;01

Napoleon deposed the ruler of Spain, King

Charles, the fourth

00;41;21;01 - 00;41;23;19

and placed his own brother

Joseph on the throne.

00;41;23;19 - 00;41;26;24

This caused a massive uproar

and started a six year rebellion.

00;41;26;25 - 00;41;30;00

The Spanish held open and active disdain

for the French conquerors

00;41;30;01 - 00;41;33;01

who have been thus depicted

as being barbaric.

00;41;33;01 - 00;41;36;19

Conflict was the result

of a severe miscalculation on Napoleon's

00;41;36;19 - 00;41;39;25

part, to the point that it was

sometimes dubbed the Spanish Ulcer.

00;41;39;26 - 00;41;42;14

Officially, the French army would engage

Spain and Portugal

00;41;42;14 - 00;41;45;17

in what was called the Peninsular War,

which were fought in the Iberian

00;41;45;17 - 00;41;48;24

Peninsula,

which would last from: 1808

00;41;48;25 - 00;41;51;11

Casualties of the Peninsular war

were staggering.

00;41;51;11 - 00;41;55;26

Some sources place the French casualties

to: 240000

00;41;55;27 - 00;41;59;07

with 91,000 soldiers killed in action,

whereas the Spanish

00;41;59;07 - 00;42;02;16

side would feel the loss of upwards

of 580,000 people,

00;42;02;16 - 00;42;05;26

with 300,000 of those deaths

being classified as military deaths.

00;42;05;27 - 00;42;08;29

Ultimately, with the help of the British,

Spain and Portugal were able

00;42;08;29 - 00;42;12;01

to fight off the French forces away

from the Iberian Peninsula.

00;42;12;02 - 00;42;16;02

This was a crushing blow to Napoleon's

plan of unending territorial conquest.

00;42;16;08 - 00;42;19;22

Another big moment in his bid for global

00;42;19;22 - 00;42;22;29

domination, Napoleon set his sights

on the conquering of Russia.

00;42;23;00 - 00;42;28;01

He amassed an army of up to 700,000 men

from all across his territories

00;42;28;03 - 00;42;32;26

began the invasion in June of: 1812

as the campaign marched on.

00;42;32;27 - 00;42;36;25

Extended periods of time, they began

to grow weary from the exhaustion.

00;42;36;26 - 00;42;39;27

The Russians, for their part, counteracted

steadily by retreating,

00;42;39;27 - 00;42;44;09

but in doing so, also burned and destroyed

all resources that they could be used.

00;42;44;09 - 00;42;48;07

Which food, shelter, cattle, wood,

all these things.

00;42;48;08 - 00;42;51;22

This tactic, which you may have heard of

is called the scorched earth tactic.

00;42;51;23 - 00;42;55;21

The campaign ultimately reached its apex

with the Battle of Borodino,

00;42;55;21 - 00;42;59;16

where the French narrowly won

but lost 30,000 soldiers and army

00;42;59;16 - 00;43;02;23

was far away from home

and in the depths of Russia territory.

00;43;02;24 - 00;43;06;19

I don't know if you guys know this,

but Russia has some pretty harsh winters.

00;43;06;23 - 00;43;10;14

So as the seasons changed and

the temperature dipped, so did supplies.

00;43;10;15 - 00;43;12;27

One of the surviving men

in Napoleon's army,

00;43;12;27 - 00;43;16;01

the ones who had come from conquered

lands, opted to dip out.

00;43;16;07 - 00;43;16;21

I get it.

00;43;16;21 - 00;43;19;02

They were less loyal

than the actual French ones.

00;43;19;02 - 00;43;20;12

The remaining 100,000

00;43;20;12 - 00;43;24;04

or so soldiers massed marched on to Moscow

only to find the city burning.

00;43;24;04 - 00;43;26;01

And once again, resources scarce.

00;43;26;01 - 00;43;28;11

This did not initially discourage

Napoleon,

00;43;28;11 - 00;43;32;05

who Originally planned to wait for Czar

Alexander the first surrender.

00;43;32;06 - 00;43;35;22

Now, Alexander

refused to surrender or agree to terms

00;43;35;22 - 00;43;39;04

and and and what I'm

sure is a truly crushing defeat.

00;43;39;04 - 00;43;39;17

Appalling.

00;43;39;17 - 00;43;42;22

Marched his troops on to nearby

Poland, defeated and then starving.

00;43;42;22 - 00;43;44;06

By the time they reached the border

00;43;44;06 - 00;43;48;03

in: 1813

which is harrowing.

00;43;48;04 - 00;43;51;16

: 700000

00;43;51;17 - 00;43;55;29

So Napoleon, returning from Russia

with a depleted force was not a good look.

00;43;55;29 - 00;43;57;25

And some European forces took note.

00;43;57;25 - 00;44;02;00

This is why Napoleon's mastery over Europe

was rather short lived as far as empires

00;44;02;01 - 00;44;06;01

go, as it were Russia, Austria, Sweden,

Prussia form a coalition

00;44;06;07 - 00;44;09;00

which was happily

financially backed by the British,

00;44;09;00 - 00;44;12;16

and this coalition numbered

some 320,000 men.

00;44;12;18 - 00;44;15;23

Napoleon, for his part, replenished

his ranks with new, inexperienced

00;44;15;23 - 00;44;18;23

recruits,

garnering a total of 180,000 souls.

00;44;18;25 - 00;44;22;22

th,: 1813

coalition forces attacked the French near

00;44;22;29 - 00;44;26;07

Leipzig, Germany,

in the Kingdom of Saxony.

00;44;26;08 - 00;44;28;06

The first day was considered a draw.

00;44;28;06 - 00;44;32;05

Some key French positions were seized,

but the French held off On the second day

00;44;32;05 - 00;44;34;15

of the French attempted

an unsuccessful counterattack

00;44;34;15 - 00;44;37;01

as new coalition reinforcements

joined the ranks.

00;44;37;01 - 00;44;38;25

By the fourth day,

the coalition was in hot

00;44;38;25 - 00;44;41;29

pursuit of the retreating French force

and a disastrous turn of events.

00;44;42;00 - 00;44;46;10

One of Napoleon's generals failed

to destroy a bridge over the Elser River.

00;44;46;10 - 00;44;48;04

This blunder ultimately caused the death

00;44;48;04 - 00;44;51;28

of many Frenchmen and the cap

and the capture of 30,000 French soldiers.

00;44;51;29 - 00;44;56;04

In: 1813

French forces at Leipzig in what is known

00;44;56;04 - 00;44;57;18

as the Battle of the Nations.

00;44;57;18 - 00;44;59;29

This marked the beginning

of the end of Napoleon's reign.

00;44;59;29 - 00;45;02;07

Napoleon waged

this battle as opposed to yielding

00;45;02;07 - 00;45;05;12

to the coalition's terms,

which would have kept him in as France's

00;45;05;12 - 00;45;09;29

ruler, which is, you know, little just

emblematic of his his nature in general.

00;45;10;00 - 00;45;14;12

So having lost, he had to abdicate his

throne under the Treaty of Fontainebleau.

00;45;14;13 - 00;45;17;19

I don't know that it's been so long

since I took French class,

00;45;17;19 - 00;45;18;28

I can't pronounce anything.

00;45;18;28 - 00;45;21;28

Following this,

he went into exile on the island of Elba,

00;45;22;00 - 00;45;24;22

a mediterranean island

off the coast of Italy,

00;45;24;22 - 00;45;28;09

which he was allowed

to rule over this island while his wife,

00;45;28;10 - 00;45;31;09

Marie-Louise,

and their son Napoleon, lived in Austria.

00;45;31;09 - 00;45;33;24

The end? No,

00;45;33;27 - 00;45;34;18

just kidding.

00;45;34;18 - 00;45;38;13

In: 1859

Napoleon escaped Elba

00;45;38;13 - 00;45;42;02

and sailed to France with a thousand

of his supporters and four guns.

00;45;42;02 - 00;45;42;26

Big time.

00;45;42;26 - 00;45;45;25

On March 20th of that year,

he returned to the front.

00;45;45;27 - 00;45;47;09

He returned to France, landing

00;45;47;09 - 00;45;51;04

in cans as he marched through rural areas

heading to Paris.

00;45;51;05 - 00;45;53;29

He was casted by cheering

crowds of peasantry,

00;45;53;29 - 00;45;56;28

the new King Louis

the 17th, and already made a hasty exit

00;45;56;28 - 00;46;00;22

before Napoleon even touched the shore

in preparation for Napoleon's arrival.

00;46;00;23 - 00;46;04;10

Alliance of British,

Prussian, Russian and Austrians

00;46;04;12 - 00;46;09;02

vowed to maintain 150,000 in the field

until Napoleon was overthrown.

00;46;09;03 - 00;46;12;11

Shortly after, it was decided

that the Allied armies would muster up

00;46;12;19 - 00;46;16;10

794,000 troops and march on Paris

00;46;16;17 - 00;46;19;24

to thwart Napoleon because Russia

would take a while to join the fray.

00;46;19;25 - 00;46;21;16

The invasion was pushed into July.

00;46;21;16 - 00;46;23;27

It's allowed Napoleon

to build up his defenses.

00;46;23;27 - 00;46;28;02

He had 160,000 men at his disposal

and would have been able to muster up

00;46;28;02 - 00;46;31;11

more had mandatory conscription

not been abolished.

00;46;31;11 - 00;46;33;01

By summoning on discharge men,

00;46;33;01 - 00;46;36;29

he was able to amass 80,000 extra souls

in order to confront the coalition.

00;46;36;29 - 00;46;39;12

At the time

Prussia, Russia, Austria and Britain.

00;46;39;12 - 00;46;42;03

His idea was decidedly Napoleonic.

00;46;42;03 - 00;46;46;06

He wanted to strike quickly, preventing

the forces from acting as a united front.

00;46;46;06 - 00;46;47;05

Pretty good plan.

00;46;47;05 - 00;46;49;01

In June of: 1815

00;46;49;01 - 00;46;52;24

invaded Belgium, intent

on attacking British and Prussian troops.

00;46;52;26 - 00;46;55;16

The Prussian troops were defeated

at the Battle of Ligne

00;46;55;16 - 00;46;58;23

June: 1815

00;46;58;23 - 00;47;02;29

The Allied forces, numbering 68, numbering

68,000 Belgian, German and Dutch

00;47;02;29 - 00;47;04;18

soldiers, were led by German

00;47;04;18 - 00;47;07;14

General Arthur

Wellesley, the first Duke of Wellington,

00;47;07;14 - 00;47;15;06

with an additional 45,000 Prussians

under Gerhart Lebrecht, Bull von Bulgar.

00;47;15;09 - 00;47;17;27

That's a that's not even a real name

00;47;17;27 - 00;47;20;26

added to the fold, ultimately contributing

to Napoleon's defeat.

00;47;20;26 - 00;47;21;27

The battle was fought near

00;47;21;27 - 00;47;24;27

the town of Waterloo,

nine miles south of Brussels, Belgium

00;47;25;03 - 00;47;27;28

and would prove to be Napoleon's

last stand on the battlefield.

00;47;27;28 - 00;47;30;23

He fought alongside 72,000 of his men.

00;47;30;23 - 00;47;33;00

Napoleon made a crucial error on this day

00;47;33;00 - 00;47;34;28

because there was rainfall

the night before

00;47;34;28 - 00;47;37;28

Napoleon, judged The waiting

for the waterlogged ground to dry

00;47;37;28 - 00;47;39;12

was the best course of action.

00;47;39;12 - 00;47;43;17

Because of this, he only ordered

the attack to move forward around midday.

00;47;43;24 - 00;47;47;13

Because of that delay, 30,000 Prussians

had time to join the fray.

00;47;47;13 - 00;47;49;11

Didn't mean to rhyme, but you're welcome.

00;47;49;11 - 00;47;53;18

Napoleon's troops fought valiantly,

but the Duke's forces were very well

00;47;53;18 - 00;47;54;09

positioned.

00;47;54;09 - 00;47;56;22

Being behind and along a ridge top.

00;47;56;22 - 00;47;57;18

By the time Prussians

00;47;57;18 - 00;48;01;03

joined the battle in the afternoon,

the French demise was all but assured.

00;48;01;05 - 00;48;04;16

The French suffered around

40,000 casualties, meaning dead, wounded

00;48;04;16 - 00;48;09;05

or taken prisoners, while the Prussians

and British numbered around 22,000.

00;48;09;05 - 00;48;13;11

However, altogether, the French suffered

upwards of 10,800 deaths

00;48;13;11 - 00;48;14;15

in the Battle of Waterloo.

00;48;14;15 - 00;48;17;18

Napoleon's forces

were finally crushed by the British,

00;48;17;18 - 00;48;20;14

and he surrendered for the last time

at the Battle of Waterloo.

00;48;20;14 - 00;48;23;28

Story has been stated that Napoleon left

the battlefield in tears.

00;48;24;00 - 00;48;27;12

This ended the 23 year

recurring warfare between France

00;48;27;15 - 00;48;31;00

and other European nations,

or as final exile, Napoleon spent

00;48;31;00 - 00;48;32;26

the rest of his life on a British occupied

00;48;32;26 - 00;48;36;19

island of St Helena,

where he ultimately died at the age of 52.

00;48;36;20 - 00;48;38;11

It said that he died of stomach cancer,

00;48;38;11 - 00;48;41;11

although some folks surmised

that he was poisoned.

00;48;41;11 - 00;48;45;23

Legend has it that his final

whispered word was Josephine, and he.

00;48;45;25 - 00;48;48;06

He died at 51.

00;48;48;06 - 00;48;51;24

His last battle, like die, said

June of: 1815

00;48;51;24 - 00;48;53;13

He died in: 1821

00;48;53;13 - 00;48;55;04

Separate that in perspective.

00;48;55;04 - 00;48;58;29

You know how much time he spent

on that island after he was exiled.

00;48;59;01 - 00;49;01;18

Napoleon was undoubtedly a complex

character.

00;49;01;18 - 00;49;04;29

Modern interpretations of his exploits

and personality place him

00;49;04;29 - 00;49;08;17

as someone who was incapable

of settling for mediocrity

00;49;08;17 - 00;49;11;17

and believed in himself

to be destined for greatness.

00;49;11;18 - 00;49;14;18

Although he is very cozy

with the idea of ultimate rule

00;49;14;24 - 00;49;18;23

and used a lot of manipulative tactics

and violence to get their view of him

00;49;18;23 - 00;49;21;14

as one of the greats

still persists to this day.

00;49;21;14 - 00;49;24;16

He did, of course, bring about

certain changes to the European

00;49;24;16 - 00;49;27;27

social and educational landscape

that cannot be discredited.

00;49;27;27 - 00;49;31;16

But he also had noted disdain

for the masses.

00;49;31;19 - 00;49;34;29

With that, let's move into the fun facts

we learn about Napoleon today.

00;49;35;00 - 00;49;38;12

With someone so who is so embroiled

by myths and propaganda,

00;49;38;12 - 00;49;41;10

it is nice to have everything laid out

in this kind of fashion.

00;49;41;10 - 00;49;45;04

The biggest, ironically, is his size,

As mentioned, you know, in addition

00;49;45;04 - 00;49;48;18

to the English propaganda,

it just very well could have boiled down

00;49;48;18 - 00;49;52;24

to a difference in measuring techniques

by the British and the French.

00;49;52;25 - 00;49;57;12

You know, people give us crap for using

scales like how many bananas tall is that?

00;49;57;12 - 00;50;00;16

But this countries right

next to each other, we're off by

00;50;00;16 - 00;50;04;13

like half a foot in some cases,

which is kind of hilarious to me.

00;50;04;14 - 00;50;07;23

Kind of leads me into the next one where,

you know, Napoleon syndrome

00;50;07;23 - 00;50;10;22

or short man syndrome is misattributed

00;50;10;22 - 00;50;15;00

or maybe not misattributed, but maybe this

I believe it is a thing, obviously.

00;50;15;00 - 00;50;16;28

But Napoleon was a little different

than that.

00;50;16;28 - 00;50;18;19

Like,

it makes more sense that being bullied

00;50;18;19 - 00;50;21;19

as a child would create a mentality

that would lead him to feel like

00;50;21;22 - 00;50;23;15

nothing was ever enough for him.

00;50;23;15 - 00;50;26;00

Maybe it really is short man syndrome.

00;50;26;00 - 00;50;29;05

Then what

it stands for just men who are short

00;50;29;05 - 00;50;32;21

and feel, you know,

this inferiority complex about it from,

00;50;32;22 - 00;50;36;15

you know, being bullied as children

and trying to make up for it as adults.

00;50;36;19 - 00;50;40;23

Also, how wild was it

that he got kicked out and given an island

00;50;40;23 - 00;50;45;20

and a lovely area off the coast of Italy

and he was like not going back in.

00;50;45;22 - 00;50;49;13

Go, go, stop right now

and Google pictures of Elba.

00;50;49;19 - 00;50;53;02

Like, it is insane, is gorgeous in there.

00;50;53;02 - 00;50;55;29

Like you can

you can rule this island, man.

00;50;55;29 - 00;50;57;16

This is your kingdom.

00;50;57;16 - 00;50;59;04

This island, you got it.

00;50;59;04 - 00;51;02;01

And he said, no, this is I need more.

00;51;02;01 - 00;51;05;18

I'm going you know, this is the same

passion is the thing that prevented him

00;51;05;18 - 00;51;07;13

from being emperor for a long time,

00;51;07;13 - 00;51;09;24

always wanting more,

always needing to prove something.

00;51;09;24 - 00;51;12;02

And thus, you know, always to tyrants.

00;51;12;02 - 00;51;15;12

I said that like I wrote that in there

because I thought it sounded cool,

00;51;15;12 - 00;51;19;20

but really, Napoleon was overthrown due

to his inability to be satisfied after,

00;51;19;21 - 00;51;20;24

you know, accomplishment.

00;51;20;24 - 00;51;25;13

You know, he he made these,

you know, big, big conquests.

00;51;25;20 - 00;51;27;07

And then he's like, I got to go further.

00;51;27;07 - 00;51;29;28

And they're like,

We're cutting it up. Like, you're done.

00;51;29;28 - 00;51;32;05

And he did It was was accomplished.

00;51;32;05 - 00;51;36;01

I went so I read this article

about mathematically how

00;51;36;01 - 00;51;40;27

Napoleon was so effective

as a general in his troops victories.

00;51;40;27 - 00;51;45;02

Like if you compare all the battles

that happened at the time when he was,

00;51;45;02 - 00;51;46;29

you know, in the field somewhere

00;51;46;29 - 00;51;50;27

and all the battles

where he was technically emperor or,

00;51;50;27 - 00;51;54;17

you know, he was in charge of the country,

but not at those battles.

00;51;54;22 - 00;51;57;01

Like, statistically, he's he's great.

00;51;57;01 - 00;51;58;25

He's a great general.

00;51;58;25 - 00;52;03;00

And having been physically

in over 80 battles

00;52;03;00 - 00;52;06;00

and I think only losing 11 of them,

that's pretty impressive.

00;52;06;00 - 00;52;09;21

Honestly, the whole Russian thing

is kind of wild, like looking it

00;52;09;28 - 00;52;13;16

it's so abstractly,

like removed from the situation.

00;52;13;16 - 00;52;16;07

And you go, Why did he just keep going?

00;52;16;07 - 00;52;19;14

And it's nothing

short of like just determination

00;52;19;14 - 00;52;24;22

and to make yourself into this,

you know, massive power.

00;52;24;23 - 00;52;27;18

Like, that's all it was.

Like he wanted a bigger name.

00;52;27;18 - 00;52;29;23

He wanted to go big,

you know, go for broke.

00;52;29;23 - 00;52;32;04

Try to do whatever you can

to make this happen.

00;52;32;04 - 00;52;35;07

And that ultimately was his downfall.

00;52;35;07 - 00;52;36;23

Just trying too much.

00;52;36;23 - 00;52;39;06

Same thing with coming back in.

00;52;39;06 - 00;52;43;02

Like he rushed Belgium

when he didn't need to.

00;52;43;03 - 00;52;46;26

He could have hunkered down in France and,

you know,

00;52;46;26 - 00;52;48;15

picked off people in different ways.

00;52;48;15 - 00;52;50;14

But he was like, no, I got to do it.

00;52;50;14 - 00;52;51;23

I got to go now.

00;52;51;23 - 00;52;54;02

And it worked in a lot of ways.

00;52;54;02 - 00;52;59;05

But then also he drove himself off

a cliff, a of different ways.

00;52;59;07 - 00;52;59;27

He just kept going.

00;52;59;27 - 00;53;01;02

And I think that's something

00;53;01;02 - 00;53;04;13

I always really think about,

you know, how intense of a personality

00;53;04;13 - 00;53;07;25

he would have had to have had to do

some of the things that he did.

00;53;07;28 - 00;53;09;28

But I love to hear your favorite parts

of this.

00;53;09;28 - 00;53;12;14

Your thoughts on this or any episode.

00;53;12;14 - 00;53;13;14

Go ahead, Gil.

00;53;13;14 - 00;53;16;17

Go to the Facebook,

share them in the Facebook page.

00;53;16;17 - 00;53;20;22

There's a Facebook group now

which is just Remedial scholar podcast.

00;53;20;23 - 00;53;23;00

And you could go there, You can commune,

00;53;23;00 - 00;53;26;06

communicate with other people who listen

to the podcast, share history stuff.

00;53;26;06 - 00;53;29;10

Share means all the things,

but that's it for Napoleon.

00;53;29;10 - 00;53;31;18

Man had an intense drive,

to say the least.

00;53;31;18 - 00;53;32;29

Thank you again for listening.

00;53;32;29 - 00;53;35;27

Thank you to those who support me.

I appreciate it so much.

00;53;35;27 - 00;53;39;14

Thank you to the people who have given me,

you know, some topic suggestions.

00;53;39;14 - 00;53;40;29

I would love to have more.

00;53;40;29 - 00;53;44;06

If you have one, send an email

to Remedio scholar

00;53;44;06 - 00;53;47;05

at gmail.com

or posted in the Facebook page or group.

00;53;47;08 - 00;53;49;11

Next week going to be a fun one.

00;53;49;11 - 00;53;52;11

Salem

Witch trials get into some more Woodstock

00;53;52;16 - 00;53;55;23

but more focused on them

than the little bit I mentioned last week

00;53;55;23 - 00;53;58;29

with Joan and the English

still very intense, very interesting.

00;53;58;29 - 00;54;01;24

Going to be discussing

all of the possible scenarios that could,

00;54;01;24 - 00;54;04;24

you know, explain the actions

that led to the deaths of 19 people

00;54;04;24 - 00;54;07;24

in the community

of 17th century Massachusetts.

00;54;07;29 - 00;54;11;01

One of the more fascinating parts

of early settlement history.

00;54;11;01 - 00;54;13;13

And I am excited to bring it all to

you next week.

00;54;13;13 - 00;54;15;02

Please check out all the links.

00;54;15;02 - 00;54;18;03

Share us everywhere

and I will see you next time maybe.