All language subtitles for BBC.Napoleon.1of3.1080p.HDTV.x264.AAC.MVGroup.org.eng

ACTOR AS NAPOLEON:
If only St Helena were France,

I could be happy
on this accursed rock.

I am sad.

Bored.

Ill.

In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte,
the former Emperor of the French,

was exiled to live on the island
of St Helena in the Atlantic Ocean,

over 4,000 miles away from home.

For five and a half years, Napoleon
was a prisoner here of the British.

Depressed and dying,
he was a martyr to just one cause...

his own.

I have worn the imperial crown
of France, the iron crown of Italy.

England has now given me
a greater and more glorious one,

for it is that worn by the saviour
of the world, the crown of thorns.

Napoleon once controlled an empire
of over 40 million people.

Now he was utterly powerless.

History has consistently lied to us
about that power.

Napoleon has even been compared
to Adolf Hitler.

He's been caricatured as a monster.

History has chosen to propagate
these lies.

They now need to be swept aside,

to make way for a man
of astonishing achievement.

Napoleon Bonaparte was the greatest
lawgiver, administrator

and soldier of modern times.

He proves that not all despots are
evil, not all dictators are tyrants.

Yes, he could be ruthless,
even brutal on occasion,

but he was undoubtedly
one of the greatest men of history.

For me, he's been a hero
since I was ten.

CHURCH BELL TOLLS

I swear to maintain the territory
of the republic in its integrity,

to respect and enforce
equality before the law,

political and civil liberty,

to govern only in accordance
with the interests, the happiness

and the glory of the French people.

On the 2nd December, 1804, at the
Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris,

Napoleon was crowned
Emperor of the French.

The coronation was splendid.

Napoleon and his wife, Josephine,

were accompanied by the music
of three orchestras

and a crown, sword and sceptre

reminiscent of
the first Holy Roman Emperor.

Here was a celebration
of an ambitious,

supremely talented soldier,

who embodied the new, revolutionary
ideology of the nation.

The coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte
at Notre Dame

was the triumph
of the self-made man.

Napoleon strode up to the altar,
seized the crown,

turned to the congregation,

raised it high
and placed it upon his own head.

The symbolism could not be more
blatant, or more public.

It had taken years of audacity,
bravery and immense good fortune

to get him to where he was that day

and he wasn't going to allow anyone
to deny him his moment.

The splendour of the coronation
and of the new Napoleonic regime

created a new mythology for France.

History has seen its gilt
and mirrors

as an expression of vanity, greed
and aristocracy.

Far from it.

To visit the Hotel de Beauharnais
in Paris,

lavishly decorated
in typical Imperial style,

is to taste the new design
for living

that the Emperor offered the nation.

Napoleon had delivered France

from the chaos
that followed her revolution.

The lavishness of his regime

emphasised what individual merit
could acquire under his leadership.

And that the murderous,
egalitarian excesses

of the French Revolution were over.

The luxury of the Empire style
had a real political purpose.

Napoleon wanted to emphasise
the power of France

and that can't be done without
a certain degree of ostentation.

Our modern age despises opulence,

equating it with crudity.

But why should the power
of a great new empire

and the achievements of
the individual not merit splendour?

I've long been fascinated
by Napoleon

and have the medals to show it.

At every available opportunity,

I hunt down objects
that remind me of the man

at auction houses and sales.

Like all British schoolchildren,

I was taught to see Napoleon
as the great bad man of history.

And as a British historian, I was
very much set against celebrating

revolutionary imperialism.

However, I've come to realise,
since I started researching Napoleon

some six years ago
for a biography of the man,

that the view of him
as "the Corsican ogre"

is utterly wrong.

And it was one unique quality,
in particular, that won me over.

Instrumental to Napoleon's success
was his skill as a leader.

He didn't just inspire people
to identify with his cause,

he gave meaning to people's lives,

convincing them that they were
following a destiny

that would live in history.

A destiny, a common fate
that united France,

the French people and their emperor.

What history has chosen to ignore

is the turmoil that accompanied
Napoleon's arrival in politics.

The French Revolution of 1789,
was a moment of inspirational hope,

but also of utter chaos.

40,000 people were murdered after
the execution of King Louis XVI

and his wife, Marie Antoinette,

and the republic that followed
was crippled by corruption

and war with the old monarchies
of Europe,

who were terrified
of being overthrown.

The situation had got so bad that
by the autumn of 1795,

30,000 armed counter-revolutionaries
massed in Paris

to overthrow the government.

The task of saving the republic
and averting civil war

fell upon the shoulders of an
aggressive, ambitious army officer,

who had won a formidable reputation

in a brilliant attack on foreign
occupying forces in the past.

It was in these streets of Paris
on 5th October, 1795,

that Napoleon,
a young general in the French army,

rose to national prominence
in an act of utter ruthlessness.

The challenge...

to save the revolutionary government
from an attempted coup d'etat

at the hands of a broad coalition
of moderates and monarchists.

Napoleon deliberately
charged his cannon with grapeshot,

hundreds of musket balls
packed into bags,

which he fired at the crowds
at close range.

The counter-revolutionaries

threatened to storm the seat of
government, the Tuileries Palace.

Napoleon massed his cannon
to command the streets leading to it

and he concentrated his forces
on the opposition's headquarters.

The church here at Saint-Roch saw
the culmination of the insurrection.

The wounded were brought here

and an intense firefight developed
that lasted for over two hours.

There were snipers along
the Rue Saint-Honore.

And Napoleon brought his cannon
to within 60 paces of this church

before shelling it.

Firing into crowds of civilians
at point-blank range.

Bombarding a church
harbouring the wounded.

Napoleon's merciless commitment to
the cause of revolution was clear.

He was outnumbered five to one

but, nonetheless, he won the day
with only 30 killed.

The reputation of the young general
was made,

but at the price of the deaths of
hundreds of his fellow countrymen.

Rule by the Paris mob
had been a curse of the revolution

and Napoleon was adamant
that it should not prevail.

There was also a brutality
to the man.

As he would later tell
his brother...

If you treat the mob with kindness,

these creatures fancy themselves
invulnerable.

If you take a few,
they get tired of the game

and become as submissive and humble
as they ought to be.

Researching my biography
of Napoleon, it became clear

that his aggressive belief in
and defence of the revolution

dated right back to his youth.

Napoleon was born in 1769 on
the Mediterranean island of Corsica.

A year before,
it had been bought by France

off the Italian republic of Genoa.

The wars of independence in Corsica
against France had been ferocious

and gave the young Napoleon
an intense awareness

of the meaning of revolution.

As Napoleon once wrote...

From the heart of a nation
that was ruling over our tyrants

flashed the electric spark.

That nation, enlightened,
generous and powerful,

remembered its rights
and its strength.

It freed itself and wished
that we should share its freedom.

Oh, man! Man!

How despicable in slavery!

How great
when fired with the love of freedom!

What's more, as Napoleon grew older,

the importance
that the revolution attached

to the rights and dignity
of the individual

loomed ever larger in his life.

Packed off to boarding school
in France when he was just nine,

he had been ridiculed by fellow
pupils for his Corsican accent

and relative poverty.

At 15, after his father died,

Napoleon was obliged to look
after his mother and seven siblings,

underscoring the importance
of equality of opportunity.

Intellectually,
he loved ancient history

and withdrew constantly
to read and reread

the glorious exploits
of its great leaders,

taking them as models
of ambition and success.

To my mind, almost turning them
into father figures.

When Napoleon went to school
at Brienne,

he was taught that the people
to follow, the people to emulate,

the role models of his life,
ought to be the great ancients,

Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great,
people like that.

And of course,
everyone was taught that

and most people
didn't take it to heart.

He, on the other hand, did.

He lived his entire life
seeing himself

as somebody who was following
in the steps

of Julius Caesar
and Alexander the Great.

Now, in a lot of people,
that would be prima-facie case

for being considered
stark staring mad.

With him, on the other hand,
of course he succeeded in that.

We do today think of him

as one of the great
seven captains of history,

along with Julius
and along with Alexander.

So, the driving force for him
was this immense ambition,

but allied to a brilliant talent.

And so you have in Napoleon
talent and ability,

together with enormous ambition.

WOMAN: In radiant sunlight,

Josephine made her appearance
in a cloud of pale-pink tulle,

sparkling with silver stars,

an extremely low-cut gown.

After he had saved the revolution
from civil war in 1795,

the government wanted to reward
Napoleon,

so they made him a commander
of the Army of the Interior.

He also found himself a wife.

WOMAN: The elegance of her bearing,
the charm of her smile

and the sweetness of her expression

made such an impression that
I heard many people remark that day

that she outshone
her entire entourage.

The relationship between
Napoleon and Josephine

was very much born
out of revolution.

Daughter to a white
plantation-owning family
in Martinique,

Josephine was the divorced
and then widowed wife

of an aristocratic general in the
French army, who'd been guillotined.

Caricatured for her sexy
lubriciousness

and being a slave to fashion
and luxury,

Josephine had been imprisoned
during the revolution

and lived in fear of execution.

Every reason to become
pleasure-loving,

high-spending and greedy
for all that life had to offer.

Linked to an increasingly powerful
political faction in Paris,

she was fixed up with Napoleon
by a former lover.

History would have us believe
that the love affair

between Napoleon and Josephine
was up there

with all the great love affairs
of all time...

Heloise and Abelard,
Romeo and Juliet,

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

Nonsense.

It was a partnership of convenience.

She offered him access to the best
political salons of the day.

One of her lovers had been
the Prime Minister.

He offered her an escape
from a life of bad debts,

bad teeth and fading allure.

Each had their eyes
on a larger prize.

The young general's
initial sentiment towards Josephine
is revealing,

for it betrays a lack of confidence
in the man,

a sensitivity that would prove
a weakness in later life.

This is attested to in an
astonishing catalogue of letters

that he, the young, fast-track
army officer, wrote to her,

the sexually promiscuous
older woman.

I am going to bed,
my little Josephine,

my heart full
of your adorable image.

You know that I never forget
the little visits.

You know, the little black forest.

I kiss you there a thousand times

and wait with impatience
for the moment I can be there again.

Napoleon is often accused of being
a monster of over-confidence,

of being a megalomaniac.

But when one reads his letters
to Josephine,

one is struck by the exact opposite.

In fact,
there's no confidence there at all.

They're the letters
of an over-the-top adolescent

writing three times a day,

completely nerve-racked about
whether or not Josephine loved him,

whether she was being
faithful to him - she wasn't -

and whether or not
he was attractive enough to her.

The thought of dying without
the certainty of your love

is like the torments of hell,

the very image of utter annihilation.

I experience all the feelings
of a suffocating man.

This is the exact opposite
of the kind of Napoleon

that we've been told about
constantly.

He wasn't particularly calm
with women.

He had proposed to a girl,
Desiree Clary,

some years before
and had been turned down.

Other than that, he doesn't seem to
have had any kind of relationship
with anyone since his mother.

And so, Josephine,
this older woman,

who he was entirely ensorcelled by,

was the great love of his life,

but somebody who he was
deeply, deeply unconfident with.

To live in Josephine
is to live in the Elysian fields.

Kisses on your mouth,
your eyelids, your shoulder,

on you everywhere.

Everywhere!

On Wednesday the 9th of March, 1796,

Napoleon and Josephine, who had only
known one another for six months,

got married here, in this very room,

in the town hall of
the 2nd arrondissement of Paris.

Rather than a romantic moment,

it was, rather, a tawdry affair.

Both Napoleon and Josephine

lied about their ages
on the wedding certificate

and Napoleon turned up
three hours late.

And when he did turn up,

he smacked a sleeping mayor
on the back and said,

"Get us married quickly!"

Rather more romantic, though,

was the wedding present
he gave Josephine,

which was a gold medallion
inscribed with the words,

"to destiny".

The reason for Napoleon's haste

was the threat to France from
the forces of counter-revolution.

In the week of his marriage
to Josephine,

he had been promoted to Commander
in Chief of the French Army of Italy

and they were now mobilising
to fight.

The absolutist monarchies of Europe

now posed a mortal danger to France
and her revolution.

Russia, Austria, Prussia,

these sovereign nations abhorred
the universal rights of man

and the end to feudal privileges

that were enshrined
in the French constitution.

For three years,
Austria, Prussia and Britain

had fought and failed
to destroy France.

By 1796,
the war in Europe had narrowed

to a fight between
France and Austria

over territory in Germany and Italy

and the counter-revolutionary forces
were in the ascendant.

The campaign in Italy was not just
yet another territorial battle

between France and Austria.

It was part of an ongoing
clash of civilisations,

between the meritocratic
republicanism of France

and the ancien regime
of Leopold II,

the Holy Roman Emperor

and the brother of the guillotined
Queen Marie Antoinette.

It was, therefore, part of
an ongoing ideological struggle

between two competing
and fundamentally different visions

of how to order society.

It was these idyllic foothills
of the Alps

and lakes and plains
of northern Italy,

that Napoleon now sought to wrest
from Austria.

He had at his disposal an asset
unique to revolutionary France,

a new breed of military commander,

who I like to think of as
the Enlightenment on horseback.

Promoted to their positions on merit
rather than birth,

this new, youthful officer class

granted the young general
speed of manoeuvre

and a powerful esprit de corps,

born of a shared
ideological heritage.

For Napoleon,
here was an invaluable resource,

for, as he once said,
in waging war...

The moral is to the physical
as three is to one.

From the outset of the campaign
in Italy,

Napoleon's leadership
was simply superb.

In a series of celebrated battles,

Montenotte, Milesimo, Dego
and Mondovi,

the Piedmontese, Austria's allies,

were quickly knocked out of the war

and Napoleon seized the initiative.

People don't need to buy
how-to books to learn leadership.

They just need to look at the way
Napoleon carried himself

before his men.

Crossing bridges
and seizing bridgeheads

in the presence of the enemy

was to be a constant factor
in Napoleon's warcraft.

And it was at Lodi,
early in the campaign,

that these skills were to be put
to their very first test.

Napoleon's ultimate objective for
this part of the Italian campaign

was always Milan,
the capital of Lombardy.

And on 10th May, 1796,

he got to within
a tantalising 22 miles of Milan,

which is just over there,
to the northwest.

But between Napoleon and Milan
was the River Adda here,

about 200 yards wide,

quite shallow, but fast-flowing.

Now, on that side of the bank
were the Austrians,

10,000 of them from the rear guard,
including 14 cannon.

And on this side of the bank here
were the French.

As soon as Napoleon got here to Lodi

he placed two cannon
at the end of the bridge

to stop the Austrians
from destroying it.

He also placed snipers in the town

to stop the Austrians from creating
a barricade.

But most importantly, he sent
his cavalry both south, down there,

and north, up here,

to try to find fords
to cross the river

and envelop the Austrians
from behind.

It was vital that the French
took this bridge.

The operation that followed
was remarkable.

The bridge at Lodi
was 200 yards long

and just 12 feet wide.

At six o'clock in the evening,

Napoleon gave
an inspirational address to his men

over there in the town square,

before sending them
across the bridge.

In a first assault,

they managed to get about halfway

before a devastating Austrian
cannonade of grapeshot

stopped them in their tracks.

It was carnage.

Then there was a second assault,

led by no fewer than
six senior officers,

including three future marshals.

They got further.

They managed to get
three-quarters of the way across

and they realised that,
if men jumped into the river,

it was shallow enough for them
to be able to give covering fire

to a third assault.

And that, led by elite grenadiers,

punched its way across the river
and captured the Austrian guns.

It was then,
at the key psychological moment,

that the cavalry arrived.

Napoleon had sent them 30 miles
up to the north here

and they crossed over at a ford

and came right the way behind
the Austrian lines,

forcing the Austrians to withdraw
under the cover of night.

It was Napoleon's seventh victory
in a row.

Lodi was a turning point
for Napoleon.

For the revolutionary army,
he became an irresistible leader,

they now called him with affection,
"the little corporal".

For Napoleon, it was a
pivotal moment of self-affirmation,

revealing, with total clarity,
his potential greatness.

As he wrote later...

It was only on the evening of Lodi

that I believed myself
a superior man.

After Lodi, I no longer saw myself
as a mere general,

but as a man called upon
to influence the destiny of a people.

The idea occurred to me

that I could become a decisive actor
on the political scene.

When he started winning battles,

from about the Battle of Montenotte
onwards,

and especially the Battle of Lodi,

he actually felt that he had
the capability, within himself,

to achieve these incredible goals.

And so this is not something
that is just a childhood fantasy.

By 1796 and 1797,

it is something that is
actually genuinely achievable.

On 15 May,
the confidence of the French army

turned to utter triumph
as it entered Milan.

This was a glorious moment
for revolutionary France,

since the oligarchs of Austria

had controlled the city
for more than 80 years.

In his address to troops from his
headquarters, Napoleon alluded to

some of the great victories
of ancient history.

Soldiers,
you have rushed like a torrent

from the heights of the Apennines.

Milan is yours

and the republican flag
floats over the whole of Lombardy.

But let the people have no fear.

We are friends to all peoples

and particularly to
the descendants of Brutus, of Scipio

and the great men,
whom we have taken for models.

To awaken the Roman people,

bombarded by centuries of slavery...

..such will be the fruit
of your victories.

However, behind the elevated myth
rested a vicious reality.

The French government back home
was nearly broke.

It ordered Napoleon
to pillage Italy,

a sanctioned part of French
revolutionary army behaviour.

50 million francs in cash
was exacted from local citizens.

The cities of Milan and Padua alone
were squeezed for 22 million.

Works of art were seized
from local rulers and churches

and shipped back to Paris
by carriage,

including masterpieces
by Michelangelo,

Raphael and Correggio.

The scale of looting has been
condemned by critics of Napoleon,

the rape and pillage of a culture.

They need to get over themselves.

It's easy to get on one's moral
high horse about Napoleon's looting.

And, yes, he did take Titians
and Michelangelos and Rembrandts

and all sorts of fabulous sculpture
back to the Louvre

from Italian collections
and churches.

But show me a war in history
where there hasn't been looting.

The British Museum
would hardly be the place it is

if it didn't have looted treasures.

So, there's a sense, I think,
of hypocrisy.

While Napoleon in public was
the invincible, ruthless patriot,

in private,
he was a vulnerable, needy lover.

Josephine, his wife
of just two months,

was refusing to join him in Italy.

Since their marriage, and for no
fewer than 123 successive days,

Napoleon wrote to Josephine
at least once a day,

begging her to join him.

But she seldom even bothered
to reply,

not least because she was having
an affair with another man.

Napoleon's letters betray
a puppy-dog love.

Josephine, no letter from you
since the 28th.

Has she forgotten me?

Or doesn't she know
that there is no greater torment

than not to get a letter from
mio dolce amor?

Here they have given
a great ball for me,

with 500 or 600 pretty and elegant
creatures trying to please me.

But not one was like you.

Not one had that sweet,
harmonious figure

that is so well-graven on my heart.

I saw only you,

thought only of you.

Unrequited in love,
Napoleon found what solace he could

in the brilliant unfolding
of his military campaign.

After the French had seized Milan,
the Austrian army retreated,

leaving the whole of northern Italy
in French hands,

save their garrison
in the walled city of Mantua.

In a series of battles,

the French army
repelled continued Austrian attempts

to seize back territory.

But the enemy hung on to Mantua,

even reinforcing
their military presence there.

Part of Napoleon's
leadership technique

was to convince his followers that
there was strength in shared destiny

and all of the resilience that
that implied

was now called upon at Mantua.

Napoleon would have to take the city
by siege,

an immense military challenge,

but with a great reward.

As he said,
"If fortune smiles upon us,

"Mantua will be taken
and with it, Italy."

In all his 60 military engagements,

Napoleon only fought three sieges.

He much preferred
campaigns of manoeuvre.

But when he came here to Mantua,

he found a city surrounded by water
on three sides

and by formidable defences
on the fourth.

It could only be taken by siege.

Now, to make matters worse,

a large body of Austrians
were coming from the north,

tens of thousands of them,

to relieve the city.

Napoleon was going to have to fight
both a siege

and a campaign of manoeuvre.

It wasn't going to be easy.

Napoleon's response
sealed his reputation

as an expert military strategist.

From June 1796,

more than 9,000 Austrians

and Mantua's 25,000 inhabitants

laid in for a siege.

Outside the walls of the city,

the French fought Austrian armies

and resisted an astonishing
four attempts to relieve the city.

Revolutionary forces bombarded
Mantua with cannon

night after night.

In a bulletin,
Napoleon sought to buoy his troops,

reminding them that all that
the revolution had secured for them

was now at stake.

NAPOLEON:
Soldiers, Mantua is without bread,

meat and forage.

I will say only two words,

they are enough for Frenchmen.

Italy!

Mantua!

The peace of Europe
and the happiness of your families

will be the outcome of your courage.

The Austrians were subjected to

a gruelling eight-month siege
of this city.

They were reduced to eating horses
and dogs and even rats to survive.

Over 8,000 people
died of malnutrition and disease.

The city finally surrendered to
Napoleon on 7th February, 1797.

After almost a year,

total victory in
the Italian campaign was in sight.

Revolutionary France now truly
became "La Grand Nation"

and a precedent had been set
for her revolutionary ideas

to be pollinated across Europe
by her army.

Within a year,
Austria had surrendered.

Napoleon signed a peace treaty
with Pope Pius VI.

Major cities and states
were captured.

Napoleon organised
a new pro-French state in Italy,

which was proclaimed to be at
the heart of a new Italian nation,

the first since ancient Rome.

To cap it all, Josephine
had finally joined him in Italy

and she was much feted.

Flush with his success in Italy,

Napoleon turned his military
headquarters here in Milan

into a political court.

The victories of the army of Italy

felt like the triumph
of a new generation.

"There was grandeur, hope and joy,"

wrote the 22-year-old
General Marmont.

"We were all very young then.

"We had unlimited confidence
in our destiny."

On his return to Paris,

Napoleon was lauded as the hero
of a new age of revolution.

The street in which he lived was
renamed Rue de la Victoire

and dozens of popular songs and
poems were written in his honour.

In time, Napoleon would set himself
and his wife up comfortably,

buying for Josephine
the lovely Chateau de Malmaison,

a country house just outside Paris
set in 300 acres of parkland.

Napoleon would spend many hours
working in its library.

In 1797, instead of capitalising
on his popularity

and pursuing political ambitions,

Napoleon, in what I believe to be

a critical moment in the building
of a personal mythology,

did the most mature
and remarkable thing.

He kept quiet.

He played little part
in domestic politics,

stood above the melee
of post-revolutionary factions

and joined the ranks
of France's intellectual elite,

winning his election to the first
class of the Institut de France,

the pre-eminent academic institution
of the nation.

After his victories in Italy,

Napoleon wanted to become
a director of the government,

but, at 28,
he was still 12 years too young.

And anyhow, he realised that people
want more in a leader

than just a soldier.

They want sophistication,
intellect, culture.

So, he went about creating
a political hinterland for himself.

It was genuine,
but also it was great PR.

An opportunity then emerged
that enabled Napoleon

to associate himself
with romantic legend,

worthy of the giants of
ancient history whom he so admired.

Since the Hundred Years' War
in the 14th century,

enmity between Britain and France

had been a key feature
of world politics.

In the Napoleonic era,

rivalry between the two nations

has been likened to that between
a whale and a wolf.

With her superiority at sea,

Britain was the most prosperous,
powerful

economic nation in the world.

With her revolution, France the most
progressive, in terms of ideology.

Amidst the sovereign nations
of Europe,

Britain was one of the most fervent

in wishing to rid the world
of the French Revolution.

Over 20 years, Britain
would finance enemies of France

to the tune
of more than £60 million.

Napoleon knew that Britain under
her sovereign, King George III,

wanted to end the French Revolution
come what may.

Napoleon said that France must...

Destroy the Anglican monarchy,

or expect itself to be destroyed

by the corruption of these intriguing
and enterprising islanders.

Britain's trade
with the eastern Mediterranean

was a key to her strength.

French control of Egypt
would threaten that.

As Napoleon told
the French government in 1797...

To destroy England thoroughly,

the time is coming
when we must seize Egypt.

In May 1798, he set sail for Egypt,

in command of an armada
of 400 vessels

and some 35,000 men.

This was to be no ordinary invasion.

For Napoleon invited
167 intellectuals to join him.

Scientists, mathematicians,
astronomers, naturalists,

chemists, architects and writers.

It cost him nothing
to take these savants with him.

What's more, they could help
characterize the operation

as a voyage of discovery,

devoted to the acquisition of
knowledge of ancient civilisations.

Here was the Enlightenment impulse
of Napoleon at work.

But the expedition would also expose
the cold-blooded cynicism

that he was prepared to employ
in the service of France.

Militarily, there were triumphs,

such as the Battle of the Pyramids
and the capture of Cairo.

But then also disasters,

such as the naval defeat by the
British at the Battle of the Nile.

To make matters worse,

to secure French gains
made in Egypt,

Napoleon was obliged to take on
the Turks,

invade the Holy Land
and cross the Sinai.

Conditions were atrocious,

with problems of food, water,
heat and hostile tribesmen.

As Napoleon wrote in January 1799...

We have crossed 70 leagues
of desert,

which is exceedingly fatiguing.

We had brackish water
and often none at all.

We ate dogs, donkeys and camels.

It was in the Holy Lands
that an event took place

that has since been ruthlessly
exploited by historians

as evidence of Napoleon's capacity
for cruelty.

The governor of that part of the
Turkish Empire was Ahmed al-Jazzar,

infamous for beheading his enemies,

and known as "the butcher".

On the 7th March, 1799,

on the surrender
of the city of Jaffa,

Napoleon ordered the bayoneting
to death of prisoners

on the beach outside the city.

Amongst the dead were soldiers
from the town of El-Arish,

who had promised
not to fight the French,

but then reneged on their deal.

The exact number of prisoners
murdered by the French is disputed,

but might have been up to 4,000.

The massacre on the beach of Jaffa
in 1799

is easily the biggest blot
on Napoleon's career.

Today, it would be considered
a war crime.

It wasn't, though,
in the late-18th century.

Those Turkish soldiers at El-Arish

had promised not to fight
against the French again

and when they were caught,
only a couple of weeks later,

they had forfeited their lives.

So, it was not any legalistic
sense

that he was breaking
a rule of law.

But morally, of course,
it was indefensible.

He did it because
he was up against

one of the most vicious warriors in
the Middle East of the day, Jazzar.

And he needed to prove
to the Holy Land

that he could be just as tough,
just as brutal,

just as ruthless.

It's not his finest hour

but, in terms of the warfare
of the period,

it is, in fact, understandable.

It was in Egypt
that Napoleon's reputation

as a conqueror of the East

and a towering figure of myth
was made.

What is important is that France
needed that myth like never before

and the idea of Napoleon
as valiant hero of the East,

as well as the supreme defender
of the revolution,

now took powerful hold.

For, while Napoleon was in Egypt,

France had disintegrated
into a failing, almost feral state,

corrupt, demoralized,

with rampant inflation,
mounting debts

and no effective leadership.

After learning of the victories
of a resurgent Austrian army,

now allied to Russia,
a new counter-revolutionary foe,

Napoleon rushed back home
from Egypt.

And when people discovered
that he had returned,

there were massive celebrations.

People were dancing
in the open spaces

and the air rang with cries of,

"Hurrah for Bonaparte!
He will save the country!"

Since his earliest days
suppressing the mob in Paris,

Napoleon had long thought
a change of government

was a vital pre-requisite
for regenerating France.

Powerful factions in French politics

were now lobbying
for a change of government

and a credible conspiracy formed
to mount a coup d'etat.

The plotters needed a general
to lead it.

One preferred candidate
had died in battle.

Others had turned the task down.

The conspirators
then called upon Napoleon

and he was up for it.

As he told his friend,
General Marmont,

"When the house is crumbling, is it
time to busy oneself in the garden?

"A change here is indispensable."

On the 18th day of Brumaire
in the revolutionary calendar,

Napoleon rose at 5am
to save the nation.

He addressed the French parliament,

told them that he had uncovered
a conspiracy

and that they would be well-served

to conduct their business
in Saint-Cloud,

a palace six miles outside the city.

And they agreed.

The scene was now set
for the epic transformation

of Napoleon's service
to the revolution.

A moment that, to my mind,

is a landmark
in the history of Europe.

The following day, Saint-Cloud
was surrounded by 3,000 troops,

some of them, but crucially not all,

under Napoleon's command.

On 10th November, 1799,

Napoleon Bonaparte came here
to the Palace of Saint-Cloud

to effect a coup d'etat.

His message to the two houses
of the French parliament

was that he wanted
to save the nation.

So, he first met the Upper House,
the Council of Elders,

down there in the palace.

He told them that he wanted
to save France from a British plot.

And they listened to him
with respect...

Citizen Representatives,

you find yourselves
in no ordinary circumstances.

You are on a volcano.

I am no intriguer, you know me.

I believe I have given enough proofs
of my devotion to my country.

He then came up to give the same
message to the Lower House,

which met here in an orangery.

That's where that line of trees is.

And there he met with
a completely different reception.

They shouted at him,
"Outlaw! Caesar! Tyrant! Cromwell!"

They roughhoused him

and his bodyguards
had their uniforms ripped.

And he lost his cool.

He lost his composure...

Should any orator in foreign pay

dare pronounce against your General
the word "outlaw",

let the thunder of war
crush him on the instant.

Remember that fortune
and the god of war march beside me.

He actually had to leave
the whole of the chamber

and it wasn't until his younger
brother Lucien came out

to try to prove to the troops
that he was trustworthy.

He did this by taking out his sword
and holding it to Napoleon's breast

and said, "If Napoleon, if my
brother turns into a dictator,

"I will actually stab him
in the heart."

And then they sent in the troops
to the chamber and cleared it.

If Paris had risen that night,

the Bonaparte brothers
would have been guillotined.

As it was, it didn't.

It stayed quiet.

The coup was completely successful.

A new age now dawned for France,
with Napoleon named First Consul.

Notwithstanding the soothing
words of his brother,

Napoleon began to create
a benign dictatorship

that dragged France
into the 19th century

and was easily
the very best part of his rule.

The backbone of France
and her revolution

had been the richer peasantry,

businessmen, employers and strivers.

These were Napoleon's people.

They wanted their interests
protected, especially those assets

that revolution had enabled them
to acquire,

assets that once belonged
to the monarch,

the Church and aristocrats.

France needed a narrative
of success.

A revolution finalised,

her new 30-year-old leader
vowed to realise it

and protect the new nation.

NAPOLEON:
People of France, you want peace.

If any power still insists
on attempting the fate of arms,

the First Consul has promised peace.

He will conquer it
at the head of those warriors

he has more than once led to victory

and he swears to fight for nothing
but the happiness of France

and the repose of the world.

A form of conservative republican
government was now established

that history has chosen
ever since to slander

as crypto-fascist.

It was nothing of the sort.

Yes, Napoleon curtailed
the freedom of the press

and he replaced
over 3,000 elected judges,

prosecutors and court presidents
with his own appointees.

But Napoleon did not turn France
into a police state like Hitler's

and he extended the rights
of certain communities,

such as the Jews.

Authoritarian rule secured order

and wholesale reform
of the public life of France,

of her education,
finance and government.

It institutionalized many
of the rights and privileges

that had been so bitterly fought
for, and won, during the revolution.

His reformed legal system,
known as the Code Napoleon,

consolidated those rights

and remains the basis
of much of European law to this day.

It was at the Conseil d'Etat
that Napoleon chaired the meetings

that ended the revolution
and set France on a new footing.

The Code Napoleon
was his greatest achievement.

It was certainly
his longest-lasting.

It endures even to this day.

It brought together
all the laws of France...

Buying and selling,
divorce and inheritance,

even the role of fathers
in French family life.

"I want to throw some blocks of
granite onto the soil of France,"

Napoleon said, "in order to give
direction to the public spirit."

Those blocks of granite expressed
a new self-confidence in France,

and Napoleon,
the charismatic military leader,

refugee from Corsica

and student of authority figures
such as Julius Caesar,

now chose to render it in stone.

As he would say in later life,

"Men are only great through
the monuments they leave behind."

He made plans
for a triumphal Roman column

to be designed and built
in the Place Vendome.

Architects were commissioned
to reconstruct and redecorate

the Tuileries Palace,

scene of the First Consul's
bloody defence of the revolution.

Grand new engineering works
were started,

including new quays for the River
Seine and sewers for citizens.

These works were nothing to do
with the vanity of Napoleon.

They were inspired by the vision

of Athens, Rome, Babylon
and Memphis

and they symbolised the self-belief
of the new nation.

Napoleon wanted to take away
the constraints on the French people

and to allow them, therefore,
to make the advances for themselves.

He believed in the French people

and the great thing
about Napoleon's advances,

be it in education or finance
or administration,

was to try to liberate the French
people to be even greater.

With Napoleon as First Consul,

the political environment of France
now stabilised

and the fortunes of the economy
began to improve.

Military victory in Italy,

a charismatic campaign in Egypt,

a successful coup d'etat

and ruthless loyalty to "la patrie"

had consigned government

by a ragtag group of
corrupt political hacks to history.

A new, modern state
was now being built in France

that represented
the triumph of the strivers,

led by the greatest striver
of them all.

However, beneath all the propaganda
and bravado of Napoleon,

remained a personality
who was prone to fragility.

He would be obliged constantly
to defend

the value and purpose of the
revolution against a hostile world

and assert the civilian nature
of his rule.

As he was once quoted as saying...

We cannot argue on the analogy
of the Dark Ages.

We are 30 millions of man
held together by enlightenment,

property and commerce.

300,000 or 400,000 soldiers
are nothing in such a mass.

The soldiers themselves
are the children of the citizens.

The army is the nation.

A military coup
had transformed Napoleon

from a provincial outsider

to the ultimate political
insider role of First Consul.

Napoleon was a dictator,

who delivered peace, prosperity
and reform to a failed state.

He'd ended the revolution

and he believed passionately
in "la gloire de la France".

Any attack on that glory would meet
with a devastating response.

As the great powers of Europe
were shortly to discover.