Napoleon
Originally uploaded by jables80.

Waterloo Battlefield just outside of Waterloo, Belgium.

Elliott is a listener to the show who recently visited Jena and Leipzig and was thoughtful enough to snail-mail David and I some memorabilia from there! I haven’t had the chance to visit these regions yet so these are terrific additions to my Napoleonic collection (and more stuff for my wife to roll her eyes […]

Welcome to the dramatic conclusion to the Peninsular War! It’s a long episode, possibly our longest, but we were determined to conclude this affair today!
In episode #19 we gave you some background on how Napoleon ended up in the Iberian peninsula. Today we pick it up from about the time Joseph was made the […]

Pascal from Berlin asked:
“Maybe I missed this aspect of Napoleon already mentioned in one of your episode, but if you didn’t, could talk a little bit about that distinct hat Napoleon is often shown with on pictures of him. Maybe it is a modern invention and has nothing to do with the historical figure.”
Actually, Pascal, […]

It’s almost enough to make me believe in God. A new Napoleon film comes out. And it stars Monica Belluci. What more could I ever ask for??? (Okay, apart from actually getting to meet Monica…).

Elba island, 1814. Martino is a young teacher, idealist and strongly anti-Napoleonic, in love with the beautiful and noble Baroness […]

I was just reading this story about how His Imperial Highness Charles Napoleon, great-great-grandson of Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother Jerome, King of Westphalia, is standing for parliament in Fontainebleau. I had to smile at this line:
Incredibly, Mr Napoleon is also 1,120th in line to the British throne, thanks to the marriage in 1807 between Jerome Bonaparte […]

After the Battle Of Trafalgar (1805), the relationship between Spain (which had previously declared war on France in 1793 and then an alliance in 1795) and France soured.
In 1807, Spain was in turmoil, due to infighting between their disinterested Bourbon king Charles IV, his son Ferdinand and the Spanish Prime Minister (also the not-so-secret […]