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by Grainger for the

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ones who get it done. Hello

1:09

everyone, Stuckuya here. And I'm Gabby. And

1:12

welcome back to the podcast, my hoes.

1:14

Welcome back to episode two of our

1:16

18-part series that we're doing on the

1:18

rise and fall of Napoleon. Yay!

1:22

Yeah, it's not gonna be that bad. Hey,

1:24

guys, guys, it might be

1:26

a little bit longer than I anticipated. I know, I know

1:28

I've never once said that before, but it's so

1:30

funny because the researcher for this episode was like, yeah,

1:32

I can do it in two parts. And then he

1:35

messages this week and he's like, okay, so how bad

1:37

would it be if it's three parts? And I'm like,

1:39

that's on par with the course. Is

1:41

that not the problem that I run into

1:43

literally every time? Yeah, no, because

1:46

he's like researching this from like a stack of

1:48

textbooks, like a stack of books. And he's like,

1:50

oh yeah, I've read all of these every single

1:52

one. And I'm like, okay, how are you

1:54

gonna make that three episodes, my guy? Listen,

1:57

we always try to bite off a little

1:59

bit more. than we could chew and we

2:01

end up choking on it on the way

2:03

down. And that is always what ends up

2:05

happening. The Crusades was only supposed to be like

2:07

a three part series that ended up being

2:09

nine episodes. There's just so much. OK, guys,

2:12

but before we jump into the second part

2:14

of this three part series, we promise it's

2:16

just going to be three part. We

2:18

are officially going to Germany. Our trip

2:20

has been confirmed. And so

2:22

if we still have 12 spots

2:24

available, if anyone wants to sign up, make

2:27

sure these sign up soon if you can, because there

2:29

are payment plan options. And of course, the longer out

2:31

that you go and book this, the easier it becomes

2:33

when things are more spread out. We're going to be

2:35

going to castles. We're going to be seeing Christmas markets.

2:37

We're going to be seeing a variety of things. And

2:40

the people that go, they always get first access

2:42

and knowledge as to what's going to be coming

2:44

next. So if you're excited for more trips in

2:46

the future with us, then by all means go

2:48

and sign up. Have some fun. It's going to

2:50

be a ton of it. It's so funny

2:52

because four out of like

2:54

the eight people that have signed up for

2:56

Germany right now. Also went with us to

2:58

Japan and I'm like, oh my gosh, the

3:00

gang's back together again. Yeah, it actually ends

3:02

up doing a long term thing. Anyway, moving

3:05

on into the story of Napoleon.

3:07

OK, so last week we followed

3:09

Napoleon through his early years in

3:11

his first Italian campaign and

3:13

we had left him in Italy having just

3:15

signed a peace agreement with Austria, something that

3:17

was known as the Treaty of Campo Formio.

3:20

All right. This is this is the setting. This is where we're jumping

3:23

into this. In September of 1797,

3:25

Napoleon goes and sends one of his more

3:27

capable generals back to Paris to assist his

3:29

Republican allies in purging the government of royalists,

3:31

because there are a series of movements that

3:34

are happening here at this time. The

3:36

event that would take place this time would

3:38

become known as the coup of Fruchtador. Remember

3:41

when we talked about that in the whole

3:45

French Revolution series, how they renamed the

3:47

months and all those certain things? Yep.

3:49

Yes. So Fruchtador was this. The

3:52

Republican position was strengthened as a result

3:55

of this, but there was

3:57

something else. This required

3:59

the military might. of a general. And

4:02

so the issue became is that leading men

4:04

within the government, like Paul Barra, they

4:07

were even more dependent upon Napoleon

4:09

to retain their power, even

4:11

if that power was now

4:13

greater. But weren't they withholding

4:16

campaigns from him because he refused to

4:18

do that one campaign? In

4:21

the beginning, at that time. But remember, his

4:23

successes down in Italy were so

4:25

massive that he was the

4:27

one with basically all of the

4:29

military clout at that point. So

4:32

now no one's stopping him. So now no one is really

4:34

stopping him. But here's the problem with

4:36

being a successful military leader. You

4:39

need to continue to be a

4:41

successful military leader. You

4:43

can't just stop you can't just sit back and went, oh, yeah,

4:45

I did this thing 30 years ago. And so now I'm great.

4:48

You have to continue going if you want

4:51

to maintain your relevancy when it comes to

4:53

politics. Basically, oh,

4:55

sorry, basically, their social media. You

4:57

know, pretty much. Yeah, you literally become irrelevant

4:59

otherwise. So after wrapping up the

5:01

Italian campaign and then forcing the Treaty of

5:03

Campo Formia in the Austrians, he returned back

5:05

to Paris in December of 1797. And

5:08

his population, the population, his

5:10

popularity, his popularity, his reputation

5:12

is everything was massive.

5:15

It was stronger than ever. And

5:17

as a result of this, he was given

5:19

command over the Army of England, which

5:21

the whole name for like what that means

5:24

is that this was the force that

5:26

was going to be launching a naval invasion of

5:28

England itself. They were like

5:31

the French were planning on marching

5:33

their boots onto English soil. But

5:36

just after two months of planning, Bonaparte

5:38

would come to the conclusion that an

5:40

invasion was still not likely to work.

5:43

The reason being is that even with the French having tried

5:45

to build up their Navy, he just

5:48

did not compare to the British Royal

5:50

Navy. There's

5:52

no point in trying to ship across

5:54

thousands of men on transport vessels, and

5:56

then those transport vessels getting

5:58

blown up in the water. That's

6:01

not a good idea at all. So

6:04

he had to do something else. He

6:06

knew that his popularity was going to fade

6:08

over time if he didn't try and get

6:10

a command that would have, well,

6:13

good prospects, things that would allow for

6:15

more glory, riches, and to bring power

6:17

to the state. So

6:20

with things on the mainland of Europe

6:22

being more at peace, he

6:25

proposed an expedition to Egypt.

6:28

The whole purpose behind this and why he wanted

6:30

to go to Egypt was that it was ostensibly

6:33

to secure French trade interests in the

6:35

region while creating a base from which

6:37

they could later invade India, which was

6:40

extremely important to the British economy and

6:42

also power and prestige. So think

6:44

about it. The British lose India.

6:46

That is a huge blow to

6:48

the empire. Of

6:50

course, it would be a stretch to say that the invasion

6:52

of Egypt was actually strategically

6:54

important for the French. The

6:57

biggest issue with this was that,

6:59

technically speaking, the Ottoman Empire was

7:01

an ally of France at the time. And

7:04

technically speaking again, Egypt

7:07

was a province of the Ottoman

7:09

Empire despite it being governed independently

7:11

by the Mamluks. This

7:14

is one of the weird little details in

7:16

history for it's like the state of Egypt

7:18

was independent, but it wasn't

7:20

actually independent. Like it was

7:22

technically part of the Ottoman Empire, but for all

7:24

intents and purposes, it ran pretty much everything itself.

7:26

It was almost completely independent. So

7:29

the second issue though, is

7:31

that the same obstacle for invading

7:33

Britain was also present in

7:35

the Mediterranean, the British Navy.

7:39

Admiral Nelson and his Mediterranean fleet had

7:41

complete control of the seas, so this

7:43

would be a little bit

7:45

difficult. Even

7:47

so, Napoleon needed military

7:49

action and the directory fearing

7:51

Napoleon's popularity and the possibility of another

7:53

coup, they wanted Napoleon to

7:55

be as far away from Paris as

7:57

possible. So rumors spread.

8:00

spread through Europe as 40,000 French

8:02

soldiers and 10,000 sailors

8:04

began massing in southern France.

8:06

To keep the British guessing, only Napoleon

8:09

and two of his generals knew where

8:11

the final destination was. And

8:13

that, my friends, was Egypt. So

8:17

on May 19, 1798,

8:19

Napoleon would set sail from Toulon. His

8:21

first stop was to secure the fort at Malta,

8:23

and then under the governance of, which was at

8:25

the time under the governance of the Order of

8:28

St. John, which is one of its own fascinating

8:30

little details when talking about this, the old Knightly

8:32

Orders. Yeah, the Knightly Orders

8:34

from like back in the Crusades were

8:36

still around. Like the Knights of St. John,

8:38

this is the Knights Hospitaller. That's

8:41

them. They became pirates off the island of

8:43

Rhodes, and then after they got kicked out

8:46

of there by the Ottomans, essentially, they fled

8:48

to Malta, and from Malta, they essentially served

8:50

as their own kind of little naval base

8:53

and raiding force where they would continuously attack

8:55

Ottoman shipping, like in the continuous Crusades, so

8:57

to speak. It's

8:59

a fascinating little thing. Anyway,

9:02

he took this over immediately and

9:04

secured an important naval base from which you'd

9:06

be able to launch further invasions. As

9:09

an aside, this very small

9:12

action had major effects on

9:14

European politics. Tsutsar, Paul

9:16

I of Russia, had previously been

9:18

granted the nominal title of Protector

9:21

of the Order for previous dealings

9:23

with the organization. The

9:25

French dissolved the Order, and many knights

9:27

would flee to Russia, where they would

9:30

appoint Tsar Paul as the new Grand

9:32

Master. So Tsar Paul planned

9:34

an expedition to retake the island,

9:36

but the British ended up beating

9:38

him to it. When it

9:41

was clear that the British would not

9:43

return the island to the Knights of

9:45

St. John, Tsar Paul banned British ships

9:47

from entering Russian ports under penalty of

9:49

seizure and closed off Russian ports under

9:51

British trade. This

9:53

could have escalated into open conflict had

9:55

Paul not been assassinated and then replaced

9:58

by his more competent son, Alexander. into

10:00

the first. So did he do

10:02

all of that because he was Grandmaster? Yeah,

10:04

basically, it was also a huge matter of power

10:06

and prestige. And think about this, what

10:08

do the Russians want access to all

10:11

the time throughout history at this point? The

10:13

ocean. So the problem with

10:15

all their ports in the up in the north

10:18

is that they freeze over in the winter. And

10:20

so they really needed more ports and access to

10:22

other sea routes. And yeah, they have the Black

10:24

Sea. But the problem with the Black Sea at

10:26

that point is that the Ottomans

10:28

serve as a kind of gate that

10:30

they can't really get past very easily

10:32

to actually influence things in the Mediterranean.

10:35

So if they had a naval base in

10:38

Malta, in the literal middle of

10:41

the Mediterranean, that means Russian power

10:43

and influence could affect things even

10:45

there. Hello, my friends,

10:47

like are you here? And before we get back to

10:49

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that is, that is scary for a lot of people

12:45

in the West. Closing off reports to

12:47

the British though was bold. Oh

12:50

yeah, very bold, very bold indeed, absolutely.

12:52

But I digress. After securing Malta,

12:54

the French fleet would set sail for Egypt and

12:57

would manage to avoid the British Navy that was

12:59

hunting them. On July 1st,

13:01

Napoleon and the French would land

13:03

near the city of Alexandria. And

13:05

in trademark fashion, Napoleon immediately marched

13:07

4,000 infantry to

13:10

the city with literally no cavalry

13:12

or artillery support or anything.

13:14

He tried to move as fast as possible so

13:16

that the city was not going to be able

13:18

to call for reinforcements from the surrounding area. And

13:21

after some resistance, the garrison would have banned

13:24

their positions and France would enter

13:26

the city. And that's where he

13:28

fired up the pyramids. Oh my

13:30

god, no, no Ridley Scott. No,

13:33

he did not. I know that the whole reason

13:35

they probably did that is for two reasons, one

13:37

dramatic effects and two, so that they wouldn't have

13:39

to actually show any of the stuff for the

13:41

Egyptian campaign. It's like, oh man, how do we

13:43

represent that this guy went to Egypt? Let's

13:46

just shoot at the pyramids. And that's like

13:48

the one of the only scenes in the

13:50

entire movie with him there. And then

13:53

he left because his wife cheated on him,

13:55

which happens. Yeah, yeah, which happens to the

13:57

best of us. That's also

13:59

not how that whole thing went down

14:01

but you know Ridley Scott

14:03

you know you do you you do you from all

14:06

these very things I get all

14:08

of my knowledge from Ridley Scott movies oh

14:12

guys if you could see the look he just gave me

14:14

um oh man I'm in danger

14:17

I say that on this note I to

14:19

this day but my favorite one of my

14:21

favorite historical movies is gladiator I love that

14:23

movie and it's not historical really at all

14:25

with the setup and how it goes down

14:27

it's definitely just a drama but it's

14:30

a lot easier for something like that for representing something from

14:32

over 2,000 years ago versus

14:36

now yes the recent history

14:38

of Napoleon yes relatively 200 years

14:41

versus 2,000 is a big

14:43

difference okay it is

14:45

a big difference and also there's

14:47

a whole thing that apparently gladiator 2 is going to be

14:49

a thing and I'm gonna have to do a review of

14:52

the stuff that they're talking about with this because considering

14:55

how movies have gone I have

14:58

some worries from the beginning

15:00

some mild concern some mild

15:02

concerns yes so

15:05

okay he goes and takes the

15:07

city fast right all right with the

15:09

city secure the remaining expeditionary force completely

15:12

disembarked and the fleet would go to

15:14

seek shelter in Abuqir Bay the

15:17

French wanted to avoid an open battle with the

15:19

Royal Navy and they thought that the bay would

15:21

be able to afford them safe Anchorage which we're

15:23

gonna be talking about here later Napoleon

15:26

and the majority of the army within set out

15:28

for Cairo there were a few

15:30

minor engagements along the route which the

15:32

French would easily manage but on

15:34

the on July 20th the

15:37

French would meet a force of mama

15:39

Luke's about nine miles away from the

15:41

pyramids of Giza Napoleon had

15:43

around 25,000 soldiers compared to the

15:45

mama Luke force of 21,000 and

15:48

most of the mama Luke's were cavalry

15:50

units who were equipped with lances and

15:52

pistols meaning they didn't really have much

15:54

range on them when

15:56

the mama looks charged the French would form

15:58

a large square with the cannon and supplies

16:01

in the center. And when the

16:03

Mamalu cavalry retreated, about 6,000 of

16:06

them were dead in comparison to the 300

16:08

French infantry. Because the guys just

16:10

charged into a straight up gun and

16:13

spear wall, which I

16:15

don't know if I should say this to anyone, because

16:17

I'm not sure if they're aware of it. That's

16:21

a bad idea. The

16:23

battle was another propaganda coup for Napoleon

16:25

and his forces. He'd come to Egypt

16:27

as a supposed liberator, wanting to free

16:29

the Egyptians from their Mamaluk overlords, and

16:31

he had yet to lose a battle.

16:33

He also ensured that his accomplishments would make their

16:35

way back to Paris, but even

16:38

so, there was no real

16:40

prospect for reinforcements, and every

16:42

single French casualty was worth

16:44

infinitely more than a Mamalu

16:47

casualty. The majority of the Mamalu

16:49

forces, some 40,000 soldiers,

16:52

stayed away from the battle. And if we

16:54

go and couple that with the retreating forces, the

16:56

Mamaluks could still muster a force of around 55,000

16:58

strong, which

17:00

was much bigger than

17:03

Napoleon's force. And remember, with

17:05

the British controlling the Mediterranean, you

17:07

can't really do much about getting more troops in. The

17:10

Mamaluks would abandon Cairo, and

17:13

on July 22nd, officials from Cairo would

17:15

travel to Giza to surrender to Napoleon.

17:18

Napoleon would relocate his headquarters and base

17:20

of operations to Cairo then, and

17:22

the Mamaluq forces were then split with

17:25

one army moving further south and

17:27

another heading toward Syria. Napoleon

17:29

would dispatch one of his generals to chase

17:31

the southern army, while he would lead a

17:33

force toward Syria. Napoleon would

17:36

manage to catch up with the Mamaluks

17:38

led by Ibrahim Bey, and there would

17:40

win a resounding victory that pushed the

17:42

enemy out of Egypt completely. But

17:46

Napoleon was not gonna be able to celebrate for long. Admiral

17:48

Nelson and the Royal Navy would go and

17:51

launch a daring attack into Avakir Bey in

17:53

what was become known as the Battle of the

17:55

Nile. The French fleet felt that

17:58

they were anchored close enough to shore. and

18:00

that they could only be attacked from one side.

18:02

But half of the British ships

18:05

were able to cross the French line, which

18:07

in turn subjected the French ships

18:09

to broadsides from both directions. Out

18:12

of 15 ships in the French

18:14

fleet, only four managed

18:16

to escape. The rest were

18:18

destroyed or captured. This

18:21

would completely end any prospect of the

18:23

French gaining any kind of upper hand

18:25

in the Mediterranean. Now

18:27

publicly, Napoleon did not let the

18:29

French naval defeat demoralize him. He

18:32

would continue setting up his administration in Egypt

18:34

and he issued a proclamation that cast him

18:36

as a liberator rather than an oppressor. A

18:39

tactic that he would very oftentimes, and

18:41

frequently he would employ this over the course of his career.

18:44

However, the Egyptian populace didn't

18:47

really believe what it was

18:49

that he was saying. Like if they even understood

18:51

any of his writings that were very poorly translated

18:53

into Arabic in the first place. The

18:56

Muslim population would continue to resist

18:58

him and assassinate French personnel wherever

19:00

it is that they could. So

19:03

he was like, guys, guys, I'm here to

19:05

free you. I'm doing a great

19:07

job freeing you. Yes. And

19:09

they were like, no, fuck you. Yes,

19:12

literally that. There was also one key other thing.

19:14

And I remember there was a thing that he

19:16

tried to do. He tried to bring a whole

19:18

bunch of like Muslim scholars and very influential figures

19:20

in and was somewhat kind of implying during that

19:23

time that he was kind of maybe, perhaps, maybe

19:25

I don't know, maybe interested

19:28

in converting to Islam, just

19:31

to like get them to kind of support him. But

19:34

they could see through his life. He

19:36

didn't know what to make of it because who

19:38

the hell comes to their country, conquers everything and

19:41

just goes, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I might

19:44

be interested in your stuff. He's

19:46

like, guys, guys, I'm one of you. Don't

19:50

hate me, come on. All spare in love

19:52

and war. Oh yeah. So

19:54

in early 1799, Napoleon moves an army of

19:56

13,000 men into the Ottoman

19:58

province of Damascus. He goes

20:00

and assaults several coastal fortresses, including

20:02

a brutal siege of Jaffa. And

20:05

Jaffa held significant strategic importance for

20:07

supply lines, and Napoleon knew that

20:09

he would need to secure the

20:11

fortress if he wanted to continue

20:13

his advantage. So early in

20:16

the siege, Napoleon would send an envoy to the

20:18

garrison commander to discuss terms of surrender. But

20:21

the envoy was returned to the French without

20:24

a head. This

20:26

was going to very much piss

20:28

off Napoleon, and the assault on

20:30

Jaffa would be bloody. But

20:33

the French would succeed in breaching and securing

20:35

the fortress. In the

20:38

coming days, Napoleon had 4,500

20:40

prisoners shot or beheaded

20:43

in bloody reprisals in order to send a

20:45

message to future towns that they

20:47

needed to surrender. Also

20:50

in kind of revenge for what it is that they did to his

20:52

envoy. After securing

20:54

Jaffa, Napoleon would lay siege to Acre. And

20:57

by this point, the British Royal

20:59

Navy was actively reinforcing the coastal

21:01

fortresses wherever possible. At

21:03

Acre, the French were able to take outer

21:05

defenses. But the British would

21:08

land boat crews and artillery pieces to

21:10

assist in Acre's defense. As

21:12

it happened, a French émigré and

21:14

engineer who attended the École Militaire

21:16

with Napoleon was actually the guy

21:18

who was in charge of placing

21:20

the artillery and used Napoleon's tactics

21:22

against him. The defenders

21:25

would fight off three French assaults and

21:27

from that would force Napoleon to withdraw

21:29

or suffer even more heavy losses. French

21:33

forces, by that point, remember since

21:35

they can't really reinforce, are becoming

21:37

dangerously depleted. Despite

21:39

less than 2,000 soldiers dying in

21:42

combat, thousands of more

21:44

were being lost to disease,

21:46

dehydration, and desertion. During

21:48

Napoleon's retreat from Acre, it's alleged that

21:50

Napoleon ordered that soldiers who were too

21:52

ill to march were to be poisoned

21:54

with opium to speed the army's movement.

21:57

And upon returning to Egypt, Napoleon would march to the

21:59

east. to Abakir, whose fort was now defended by

22:01

a garrison of 18,000 men. On

22:05

July 25th, the French would attack

22:07

and route the defenders after a few hours.

22:10

Close to 10,000 Ottomans would drown trying

22:12

to escape, with hundreds more being bayonet

22:14

before they could actually make it to

22:17

the water. Only a

22:19

few hundred of the original force of 18,000 managed

22:21

to escape. At

22:25

a land battle at Abakir, this

22:27

was going to be Bonaparte's last action

22:29

in Egypt. There simply wasn't

22:31

anything else they could really do there, and

22:33

Napoleon had learned of events that were taking

22:35

place back home in Paris. The

22:38

French armies were suffering against its enemies,

22:40

and the current administration was losing authority.

22:43

Napoleon would go and justify to himself

22:46

that his country needed him to restore

22:48

order, and began to plot his return.

22:51

Practically speaking, Napoleon's position in Egypt was hopeless. There was

22:53

nothing that they could do. The population

22:56

did not view him as a liberator. They

22:58

were openly resisting his administration. The

23:00

army was running low on supplies

23:02

and manpower, and getting further support

23:04

from Paris, this was possible. Napoleon

23:07

could not achieve anything by staying.

23:11

So Napoleon and a few of his

23:13

closest friends and generals would board a

23:15

ship in mid-August of 1799, under

23:17

the pretext that they were going to be cruising around

23:19

the Nile Delta so as to not arouse suspicion. The

23:22

escape was so shrouded in secrecy

23:25

that Napoleon did not even tell

23:27

his successor in Egypt except by

23:29

letter, which was delivered after he

23:31

departed. For

23:33

the ones who work hard to ensure their crew

23:35

can always go the extra mile, and the ones

23:37

who get in early, so everyone can go

23:39

home on time, there's Granger. Offering

23:42

professional grade supplies backed by product experts so

23:44

you can quickly and easily find what you

23:46

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on access to a committed team ready

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to go the extra mile for you.

23:53

Call, clickgranger.com, or just stop by. Granger.

23:56

For the ones who get it done. I'm

24:03

Jane Pirlas, longtime foreign correspondent and

24:05

former Beijing bureau chief for the

24:08

New York Times. I've

24:10

been a foreign correspondent in lots of

24:12

places, Somalia, Indonesia,

24:15

Pakistan, but nowhere as

24:17

important to the world as China. I mean,

24:19

China is not dropping anti-democratic paratroopers

24:22

into Montana. But of course, we

24:24

did see things like the weather

24:26

balloon slash spy balloon riveting the

24:28

whole country for a week. This

24:32

is Face Off, an eight-part series

24:34

in which we'll take you behind

24:36

the scenes to key moments in

24:38

the tumultuous U.S.-China relationship. We'll

24:41

speak with a diplomat, a spy,

24:43

a tech reporter, a U.S. admiral,

24:45

even Yo-Yo Ma. Plus

24:47

my pal and noted China

24:49

historian, Rana Mitter, joins the

24:51

conversation. We'll look at what's

24:53

driving the two nations apart and

24:55

explore whether anything can help bring

24:58

them back together. Face

25:00

Off launches April 9th. So

25:03

he didn't leave to go back

25:05

because Josephine was cheating on him? No.

25:09

But he could have? No. But

25:12

maybe theoretically, at the

25:14

same time, he could have also... It could

25:16

have been a dual purpose for leaving.

25:19

No, really, Scott. No. It

25:22

was grand scale political events that were

25:24

happening, not his freaking cheating wife. I

25:28

like the cheating wife one more because it's a little

25:30

bit more romantic, a little bit more dramatic. I

25:33

mean, war is all fine and good, but... So

25:38

yeah, he leaves, right? And

25:40

the army did not initially take the

25:42

news well, of course, but the new

25:44

commander would assure everyone that Napoleon would

25:46

return with reinforcements and supplies to continue

25:48

the mission. And so

25:50

the French army would continue to operate in

25:53

Egypt all the way through

25:55

September of 1801

25:57

when they were finally able to surrender to

25:59

the English. and were then repatriated back

26:01

to France as part of the deal. The

26:04

French also had to hand over many of

26:06

their scientific discoveries to the British, including the

26:08

Rosetta Stone, which many people think it was

26:10

a British discovery. Nope, it was a French

26:13

one, which the British had to then negotiate

26:15

through blood to get. Napoleon's

26:17

voyage home was largely uneventful.

26:20

They would briefly stop by in Corsica due to the

26:22

weather in early October of 1799, and he

26:26

didn't know it in the moment, but

26:28

this was going to be the last

26:30

time that Napoleon would ever set foot

26:32

on his homeland. On

26:34

October 8, Napoleon would land in France and

26:37

immediately set out for Paris. France

26:40

was at this time threatened with invasion, and

26:42

unbeknownst to Napoleon, the Directory had sent

26:45

orders for him to return to France

26:47

with his army. However,

26:49

due to the British blockade,

26:51

those messages never actually reached

26:54

Napoleon. By the time

26:56

that he returned, French armies had

26:58

managed to secure several victories that would

27:00

stave off invasion for now. But

27:03

despite his failures in Egypt, Napoleon

27:05

was still greeted as a hero by the population. The

27:08

Directory, though, were quite

27:10

suspicious of him. They wanted

27:12

to punish him for his failure to secure Egypt

27:15

and for deserting his army, but

27:17

the Republic was bankrupt and the Directory

27:19

was simply too weak to actually punish

27:21

him. They needed him more than anything.

27:24

Napoleon quickly would go about setting himself up to

27:26

secure allies amongst the French legislators, and at the

27:28

same time, some of the members of the Directory.

27:31

Then on November 9, 1799,

27:34

Napoleon, backed by his brother Lucian

27:36

and a detachment of Grenadiers, would

27:39

force the government to dissolve and

27:41

appoint Napoleon and two of his

27:43

allies as consuls. Yes,

27:45

as in like the consuls in the

27:47

whole Roman consulate system, like the people in charge

27:49

of the military and the government. Now

27:52

in theory, Napoleon held equal status with

27:54

the other two consuls, but

27:57

in reality, yeah, he was the

27:59

guy who was quickly injured. He

28:01

very quickly would consolidate power and would

28:03

institute new rules for the legislative bodies

28:05

that had now been supposed to be

28:07

elected. These new rules

28:09

would ensure that Napoleon, his interests,

28:11

and his allies were always going to be

28:14

the guys who had the real power in

28:16

France. He would even introduce

28:18

a new constitution that was ratified

28:20

by the general population by a

28:22

miraculous margin. We are

28:24

talking about 3 million

28:27

votes in favor with

28:30

just 1,562 against. That's

28:34

it. The

28:36

numbers in the situation are, they

28:38

might be a little bit fudged. Napoleon

28:41

also understood by this point that France was

28:43

holding on by a thread. He

28:45

wanted to make peace with the other

28:48

European powers, but he felt that he

28:50

couldn't secure advantageous terms without more military

28:52

victories. How do you make peace

28:55

by having more war? It's

28:58

not the peace. He can get peace pretty much

29:00

at any time, probably, maybe. It's debatable.

29:03

But the terms of the

29:05

peace, being granted a certain

29:07

land, being granted certain trade

29:09

deals, being granted reprecussions, reparations,

29:11

that's the term. All

29:14

of these things would be determined based off the

29:16

war. So the more victories that he wins, even

29:18

if he doesn't have to physically occupy the other

29:21

land, they may just give him stuff. Okay,

29:23

so he just wanted to show them, hey, I'm super

29:25

scary. You want to do what I want? Like

29:28

what I say? Literally, yes. Makes

29:30

sense. Literally, yes. Just that he needs to get as

29:32

good of a deal as he possibly can because the

29:34

better the deal that he also has, the more it

29:36

secures his own popularity and legacy within France. That's

29:39

a poor point. So what

29:41

he then does is he assembles an army of 24,000

29:45

men and he crosses the Swiss Alps

29:47

to invade Italy, which by this point had

29:49

already been reclaimed by Austrian forces. On

29:52

June 14th, 1800, Napoleon would

29:54

go and clash with Austrian forces at the

29:56

Battle of Moringel. The Austrian army

29:58

was little more than that. 30,000

30:01

and they had initiated the battle. In

30:03

a very rare turn of events,

30:05

it was Napoleon who was caught

30:07

off guard and was slowly losing the battle.

30:10

But early in the afternoon,

30:13

French reinforcements would arrive and would

30:15

push the Austrians off of the

30:17

battlefield, leaving behind 14,000 casualties.

30:21

The next day, the Austrians would

30:23

agree to abandon northern Italy and

30:25

would sign an armistice, or an

30:27

armistice, not armistice, armistice, that's

30:30

the term, an armistice with, well, you

30:32

know, permanent peace deals were still being

30:34

discussed. Okay, so

30:37

reinforcements, so when they go to battle and they have

30:39

like 24,000 men, do they just

30:43

have like 10,000 more men marching

30:45

behind? Kind of, actually, yes. In some cases,

30:47

they would. So you typically have multiple forces that be

30:49

split up, you wouldn't just have your forces move in

30:51

one giant block or column, and then

30:54

on top of that, you even when you

30:56

go into a battle, there's a term of reserves. So

30:58

let's say you have a force of 10,000 men,

31:01

you maybe you only sent forward about

31:03

6000 of those men, and

31:05

then you kept 4000 in reserve,

31:08

the reserve are typically then used to

31:10

take advantage of a

31:12

situation like, well, you need to launch an attack

31:15

on the specific position that is a weaker point

31:17

for the enemy, or maybe your own men in

31:19

the center are starting to fall apart, and you

31:21

need to reinforce and send their position, like reinforce

31:24

their positions by sending into the reserve. Okay,

31:26

I get that. But if you split your forces back then,

31:28

it's not like you have GPS, you don't have a cell

31:30

phone, you're not gonna be like, okay, meet me at the

31:32

rock next to the tree where we're gonna fight on this

31:35

big battlefield next to the river. Yeah, no, you're

31:37

100% right. And that's also why they would utilize

31:39

teams of messengers to kind of keep track as

31:41

to where the armies were, but they're varying different

31:43

positions. And they would send off

31:45

these messengers to meet up to ride and

31:47

then this courier system would be able to

31:49

communicate that. Were there battles

31:52

where the reinforcements got lost? Yes.

31:55

Oh my god, yes. All throughout history, there have been

31:57

cases of reinforcements getting lost not showing up all day.

32:00

one time, et cetera, et cetera,

32:02

sometimes refusing to show up. Okay,

32:04

yeah, I could see that happening. Just be like,

32:06

okay, you guys are losing. Why would we, why

32:08

would we? The worst cases

32:10

of reinforcements just not doing that were you

32:12

would have generals that would be controlling armies

32:15

and those generals were rivals with the other

32:17

generals. And they would go, oh no, I'm

32:20

sorry, I just couldn't make it in time. Bad

32:23

luck. What? Yeah,

32:25

yeah, that was a big problem. In

32:27

fact, one of the big issues even

32:29

that the British had during the American

32:31

Revolution were British generals competing with one

32:33

another for essentially

32:35

power and influence. So they were oftentimes

32:37

working almost against each other down in

32:39

the South as they were working

32:41

together. I love

32:44

that though. I love that though. That

32:46

can't happen today because we know where everyone

32:48

is, right? Kind of, yes. It

32:51

still can happen, mind you, but not like

32:53

what it would have before. What would happen

32:56

now is you can have situations where maybe

32:58

it's on the much more minor level of, oh,

33:01

someone didn't call in something that they were supposed

33:03

to for logistics. Oh no, I forgot to file

33:05

this paperwork that was gonna get your men some

33:08

time off. There's

33:11

way more minor things they can do now. They

33:14

could be petty, but they can't be detrimental

33:16

to the overall war effort. It would be

33:18

much harder too. Yeah, that's right. That's

33:21

definitely right. So after

33:24

these victories, right, Napoleon was immensely

33:26

popular. He was already popular, but

33:28

his popularity now was stronger than

33:30

it ever was, but

33:33

his enemies were also growing. Napoleon

33:36

would survive several assassination attempts,

33:39

and ultimately he would use these

33:41

as a pretext for arresting hundreds

33:43

of Yakovins and Royalists, further strengthening

33:45

his own grip on the government.

33:48

In March of 1802, the British

33:50

and the French would formally sign a

33:52

peace agreement. It was widely

33:54

believed that this was something that was

33:56

well good, only gonna be a temporary

33:59

peace, with both. sides licking their wounds

34:01

and preparing for another conflict. During

34:04

this piece, Napoleon was elected consul

34:06

for life by the general population

34:09

with 99% of

34:11

the votes being in favor. At

34:14

least that was the official party statement, mind

34:16

you. What was the point of getting

34:18

rid of a king and then just putting

34:20

someone in charge for life? The king

34:22

was, to be fair, kind of horribly incompetent.

34:26

Napoleon was not. I get that, but

34:28

still, everything they worked to

34:30

break down for having somebody with all of

34:33

this power, they just gave somebody all

34:35

of this power. Mm-hmm. No, it's true.

34:37

It's almost like the French enjoy having something

34:39

to revolt against. No, it's true.

34:41

No, you are entirely right. The whole purpose of

34:44

the French Revolution kind of came crashing down. There's

34:46

a reason why there have been multiple French revolutions,

34:48

so to speak. There's been, of course, there's the

34:50

one big one. We covered that in its entirety,

34:52

which is this whole thing that is even now,

34:54

this is an offshoot of it. But

34:57

the French have had multiple different revolutions,

34:59

so to speak, and there is a reason why they

35:01

are currently on their... All

35:05

you need is a few minutes to start your day off

35:07

with something historic when you listen to

35:09

the This Day in History podcast. Every

35:12

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and subscribe to This Day in History wherever

35:28

you get your podcasts. This

35:30

Day in History wherever you get

35:32

your podcasts. Throughout

35:36

history, royals across the world

35:39

were notorious for incest. They

35:42

married their own relatives in

35:44

order to consolidate power and

35:46

keep their blood blue. But

35:48

they were oblivious to the

35:51

havoc all this inbreeding was

35:53

having on the health of

35:55

their offspring from Egyptian pharaohs

35:57

marrying their own sisters. the

36:00

Habsburgs notoriously oversized lower

36:03

jaws. I explore

36:05

the most shocking incestuous

36:07

relationships and tragically inbred

36:10

individuals in royal history. And

36:12

that's just episode one. On

36:14

the History Tea Time podcast,

36:17

I profile remarkable queens and

36:19

LGBT2 plus royals explore royal

36:21

family trees and delve into

36:24

women's medical history and other

36:26

fascinating topics. I'm Lindsay

36:28

Holiday and I'm spilling the

36:31

tea on history. Join me every

36:33

Tuesday for new episodes of the

36:35

History Tea Time podcast wherever

36:38

fine podcasts are enjoyed.

36:40

Wait, I forget was the fourth

36:42

republic or fifth republic? They're

36:45

on one. Okay, hold on.

36:47

No, this is gonna bother me. The second French republic

36:49

was brought down by Napoleon the third. Well, the first

36:51

one was brought down by Napoleon. The second

36:53

one was brought down by his nephew,

36:55

Napoleon the third. This brought then the

36:58

third French revolution, or

37:00

not the revolution, but the third government

37:03

of the republican government. This the third

37:05

government is what was brought down. Okay, they're on

37:07

their fourth. I don't know fourth

37:09

because I just googled it and they said the

37:11

fourth republic was dissolved on the fifth of October

37:13

1958. Oh, wait,

37:16

it was the third that was brought down. First

37:19

one was brought down by Napoleon. The

37:21

second one, you had the Bourbon restoration. This

37:24

was then brought down and a new republican government

37:26

was put into place. This

37:28

was then brought down by

37:30

the by

37:33

Napoleon the third, right? And then you

37:36

had the third one. When

37:39

did the third one end? 1940.

37:42

Oh my god, that's why? Why of

37:45

all things, why would I suddenly forget

37:47

that the third republican government would be

37:49

destroyed with the occupation of Germany? And

37:52

then the fourth republic is 1946 to 1958. And the fifth one is 1958

37:54

to present day. Also, how

37:59

does it work? Nowadays, like I

38:01

know this one guy has been prime minister or

38:03

president forever. The French system allows for

38:05

I think it was seven years. When

38:08

you are, when you're the president of France, it's

38:10

seven, it's a seven year term, if I recall

38:12

correctly. And how many terms can they do that? I

38:15

don't remember. Because I feel like

38:17

this guy's been around since I gained consciousness enough

38:19

to pay attention to politics. I mean, I

38:21

remember he... Good old matharoon. I think

38:24

it was, was he elected in 2014? And

38:26

I think it might be two terms. I

38:28

think that's a total of 14 years. I was

38:30

still in high school. Because I'm pretty sure he won reelection

38:32

in like 2021 or 2022. So

38:36

he's going to be there for a while unless they like revolution

38:39

him. Oh my gosh. This is going to bother me.

38:41

I know that people are like, Oh, get back to

38:43

the story Napoleon. Okay, hold on. We're almost

38:45

done with this story of Napoleon. We also

38:47

need some side quests, guys. That's the whole

38:49

point. The crown election. It was a 20. Oh,

38:52

it was 2017 when he was elected. Okay. So

38:54

hold on. It was, he was elected

38:56

in 2017. That went

38:58

for... It's a seven year period.

39:01

And that means that, okay, he just won reelection.

39:04

That was the thing. Macron just won reelection, right? It's

39:07

a side quest. I know. Okay. But

39:09

it's something in here in 2022. It's so funny

39:12

though, because there's this one article that

39:14

goes, the headline is Macron slams

39:16

two term limit on French presidency

39:18

as damnable bullshit. Oh

39:21

no. Napoleon the 17th. Which

39:25

ironically to the state, there actually are still

39:27

houses within France. You have the Oleone's house.

39:29

You have the Bonaparte and you have the

39:32

other one. Why can't I remember the other

39:34

one? Why can't you remember anything

39:36

today? Oleone, Bonbon and

39:39

Bonaparte. Those are the three. Sorry

39:42

guys, his brain. We had it charging and I

39:44

guess he didn't let it like sleep. Anyway,

39:47

yeah, there's still a whole thing that you

39:49

could claim like who actually is the rightful

39:51

heir to the throne of France today. Like

39:53

that is a thing. So

39:56

anyway, yeah, he gets elected with 99% of

39:58

the vote. And

40:00

he also then uses the temporary piece

40:02

to go and shore up the French

40:04

colonies, to fix up the French economy

40:06

and to strengthen the military. By

40:09

1803, conflict with England

40:11

seemed imminent, and Napoleon decided that

40:14

he needed to raise cash before

40:16

hostilities would break out. His

40:18

solution at this time was the

40:20

Louisiana Purchase. This agreement would allow

40:23

the United States to double its land size in

40:25

return for $15 million of

40:27

badly needed funds, which was

40:29

an amazing deal for the

40:31

Americans, and it completely... It's

40:33

kind of funny. He really needed this money,

40:36

right? So the Louisiana

40:38

Purchase is a thing

40:40

that probably helped to propagate even more

40:42

wars in Europe. That's

40:44

another funny way of looking at it. Another

40:47

attempt by French royalists to remove Napoleon

40:49

through assassination was carried out in February

40:51

of 1804. This

40:54

attempt also failed, naturally,

40:57

but it allowed Napoleon to once again

40:59

use the plot as a pretext to

41:01

further his ambitions. He secured

41:03

the necessary support on May 18, 1804,

41:05

and in that, the

41:08

Senate would proclaim Napoleon Bonaparte,

41:11

Emperor of the French. They

41:14

went from a king to an emperor. Yes.

41:17

Why? Do they

41:19

understand that an emperor is more powerful than their

41:21

king, their former king? But now it was

41:23

the glorious French empire that was winning great victories

41:25

all over the world, and that

41:27

was the important detail. With this,

41:30

they would approve a new constitution. And do

41:32

you want to guess how big of

41:34

a vote this was? Landslide

41:37

victory. 99%

41:40

of the popular vote, like one from

41:42

the general population. This is what

41:44

would confirm Napoleon's new government. Yay!

41:47

Also, quick little side

41:50

note, but you said the presidency

41:52

for the French was seven years, but

41:55

in 2000, a referendum shortened that term

41:57

from seven years to five years. Ah,

41:59

man. And that's what it was. Okay, so I was wondering, the math didn't

42:01

add up on like the whole 2017 to 2022. So

42:04

that's what it was. Awesome. Thank you for

42:06

that, Gabby. So yeah, the

42:08

vote happens here. It confirms his

42:10

power. However, his ascension is not

42:12

recognized by the European community with

42:15

the lone exception being Austria, who

42:17

was not ready for another conflict and was like,

42:19

Oh, yeah, awesome. We now have not a crazy

42:22

revolutionary nut job case. We have

42:24

an actual empire again. Awesome. Monarchists

42:27

in Europe were somewhat pleased with that at least.

42:31

And so it was then that a minor

42:33

Italian nobleman born on the

42:35

island of Corsica became the

42:37

French Emperor. On

42:40

December 2nd, 1804, Napoleon was

42:42

crowned Emperor of the French. Pope

42:45

Pius VII would anoint Napoleon before Napoleon

42:48

would ultimately and

42:51

famously crown himself

42:53

with a replica of the crown of Charlemagne. That's

42:57

right that there's this whole thing of Napoleon, snatching

42:59

the crown off the out of the

43:01

Pope's hand and crowning himself. Is

43:04

that even legal? Let me explain this. Okay,

43:06

it makes sense. It makes sense as to why he would

43:08

do this. A lot of people

43:10

try to say that this was Napoleon's ego. That

43:13

is the reason as to why he did. No,

43:16

no, no, there is a huge, symbolical thing there.

43:18

Do you remember when we did the whole thing

43:20

on the Holy Roman Empire, Gabby, with the Gidlings

43:22

and the Giuseppes and the whole point about the

43:25

Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire had to be

43:27

crowned by the Pope? Yeah. This

43:29

meant that the Pope had a lot of authority over

43:32

the Holy Roman Emperor. So the

43:34

original HRE Emperor, Charlemagne, where

43:36

a lot of them would derive their

43:38

authority from later on. So it's

43:40

really, the Carolusian Empire is a different entity than

43:42

the Holy Roman Empire, to be fair. But

43:45

still, either way, in crowning

43:47

himself, that meant that the

43:49

Empire, he was not a

43:51

king. He was not going to be beholden

43:53

to the Pope. The Pope wouldn't have this

43:55

authority over the French state. That

43:58

was only him. So it wasn't a thing that… was done

44:00

out of ego. It was literally a separation of

44:02

church and state of he is separate. He is

44:04

his own authority and entity and the Pope can't

44:06

tell him what to do. The

44:09

whole thing was just to say the Pope can't tell him what to do. Kind

44:11

of. Yeah. Yeah. I got that. Yeah,

44:13

that's that's all that. That's the whole thing here.

44:15

So that's what happens. And that

44:18

really is it for us here today. We're

44:20

gonna wrap up Napoleon story in next week's episode. I promise

44:22

that is that is that is going to be a thing.

44:24

We're at the point where you know he gets crowned. He

44:26

is the Emperor. The only thing left for him to do

44:28

now at this point is lose

44:31

that crown. That's really sad

44:33

that okay, getting crowned emperor and then losing

44:35

the crown kind of disappointing, especially

44:37

since he rose up from literally nothing. Yeah,

44:40

hate to see it. Yeah. My

44:42

friends, thank you all for listening. I hope

44:45

you'll join us for the next one. And I hope

44:47

you check out our links in the descriptions down below

44:49

here for Patreon. If you want ad free episodes, if

44:51

you want to join us on one of our trips

44:53

to travel here in the future, any

44:55

event, by all means, thank

44:57

you for listening. And I'll see you next

44:59

time. Bye, my friends. Bye.

45:35

Okay, round two,

45:37

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that's not.

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