The slaves who defeated Napoleon

During the Vietnam War, North Vietnamese VietCong guerrillas built a vast network of tunnels in the south of the country as part of the insurgency against the South Vietnamese government and their American allies. The tunnel network was a key base and shelter for the North Vietna ...  عرض المزيد

During the 1940s, a playboy spy became one of wartime’s most successful double agents, as well as the reported inspiration behind James Bond. A gambler and womanizer who spoke several languages, Dusko Popov was approached by a friend working for the Abwehr, Germany’s military int ...  عرض المزيد

Late 18th-Century Saint Domingue in the Caribbean – now known as Haiti – was one of the richest countries in the world. Known as ‘the pearl of the Antilles’, its wealth was built almost entirely on slavery. Around half a million enslaved Africans were transported to the French co ...  عرض المزيد

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Haitian Revolution. In 1791 an uprising began in the French colonial territory of St Domingue. Partly a consequence of the French Revolution and partly a backlash against the brutality of slave owners, it turned into a complex struggle invo ...  عرض المزيد

Napoleon is emperor of France. Having consolidated his rule at home, he starts to look abroad and to the re-institution of slavery. His eyes set upon Haiti, where Toussaint L’Ouverture, the Black Spartacus, leads his army of freed slaves. How will this titanic clash play out? Th ...  عرض المزيد

Greg Jenner is joined by Prof Marlene Daut and comedian Athena Kugblenu to examine the events and aftermath of the 18th century revolution in Haiti, the first nation to abolish slavery. They look at the life of revolutionary leader Toussaint Louverture, confront the atrocities co ...  عرض المزيد