Episode Twelve: Long Live the Fatherland

The Bonaparte brothers launch their political careers with very mixed success, Paoli returns from exile a changed man, and we take a close look at the crooked, violent world of eighteenth century Corsican electoral campaigning. Also: Joseph Bonaparte birtherism Learn more about y ...  Show more

Back on the mainland, 1792 saw the revolution face an existential crisis, which gave birth to a new new kind of army. Topics include Count Guibert and his theory of the citizen-soldier, the Battle of Valmy, and the foundation of the First Republic. Learn more about your ad choice ...  Show more

As a young Corsican boy, Napoleon dreamed of his island’s independence from France. But by the time he reached 30 years old, with a military career inspired by the likes of Julius Caesar and Alexander the Great, he was a hero of France — and one of the country's most powerful men ...  Show more

After a quickie wedding, Napoleon Bonaparte dashes south to take command of the French Army in Italy. Here he announces himself with a devastating display of battlefield brilliance. In Milan, he gets a taste for political rule and good living. Napoleon will return to Paris both a ...  Show more

After a quickie wedding, Napoleon Bonaparte dashes south to take command of the French Army in Italy. Here he announces himself with a devastating display of battlefield brilliance. In Milan, he gets a taste for political rule and good living. Napoleon will return to Paris both a ...  Show more

Within the turmoil of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte stands out to his military superiors, first by defeating the British at Toulon, then by putting down a royalist mob in Paris when outnumbered four to one, with a “whiff of grapeshot”. Having finally shaken off the hu ...  Show more