Original subtitles

if only saint Elena were France

I could be happy on this accursed rock

I am sad board

ill

in 1815

Napoleon bonaparte the former emperor of the French

was exiled to live on the island of santalina

in the Atlantic Ocean

over 4000 miles away from home

for 5 and 1/2 years

Napoleon was a prisoner here of the British

depressed and dying he was a martyr to just one cause

his own

I've won the imperial crown of false

the iron crown of Italy

England has now given me a greater and more glorious

one

for it is that worn by the savior of the world

the crown of forms

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 10

I swear to maintain

the territory of the republic in its integrity

to respect an enforce Equality before the law

political and civil liberty

to govern on lean accordance with the interests

the happiness and the glory of the French people

on the 2nd of December 1804

at the cathedral of nachodam in Paris

Napoleon was crowned emperor of the French

the coronation was splendid

Napoleon and his wife Josephine

were accompanied by the music of 3 orchestras

and a crown sword

and scepter reminiscent of the 1st 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 nachodam

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 splendor of the coronation

and of the new

Napoleonic regime created a new mythology

for France history has seen its guilt and mirrors

as an expression of vanity

greed and aristocracy far from it

to visit the otelda bona 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

emphasized 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 emphasize 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 splendor

I've long been fascinated by Napoleon

and have the middles 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 school children

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 realize

since I started researching Napoleon some 6 years ago

for a biography of the man

that the view of him as the corsican oga

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 the 16th

and his wife Mary 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

masked 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 the 5/10/1795

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 kudeta

at the hands of a broad coalition

of moderates and monarchists

Napoleon deliberately charged his cannon with grapeshot

hundreds of musketballs packed into bags

which he fired at the crowds at close range

the counter revolutionaries

threatened to storm the seat of government

the twiglery palace

Napoleon

masked his cannon to command the streets leading to it

and he concentrated his forces

on the opposition's headquarters

the church here at sanrock saw the

culmination of the insurrection

the wounded were brought here

and an intense firefight developed

that lasted for over 2 hours

there were snipers along the roof sand on array

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 harboring the wounded

Napoleon's merciless commitment

to the cause of revolution was clear

he was outnumbered 5 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 mub with kindness

these creatures fancy themselves invulnerable

if you take a few

they get tired of the game

and become a submissive and humble as they ought to be

researching my biography of Napoleon

it became clear that his aggressive belief in

and defense 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

flash 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 went 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 9

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 7 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

um Alexander the great people like that

and of course everyone was taught that

and most people didn't take it too hard

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 premaffacy 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

7 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

in radiant sunlight

Josephine made her appearance

in a cloud of pale pink tool

sparkling with silver stars and extremely located 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

the iligons 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 outshon her entire artourage

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 the great love affairs of all time

eloise 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 salmons of the day

one of her lovers had been 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 series of letters that he

the young fast track army officer wrote to her

the sexually promiscuous older woman

I'm 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 1000 times

and wait with impatience for the moment

I can be there again

Napoleon is often accused of being a monster

of overconfidence

of being a meglomaniac

but when one reads his letters to Josephine

one is struck by the exact opposite

in fact there's no confidence there at all

there are the letters of an over the top adolescent

writing 3x1 day

completely nerve racked about whether or not

Josephine loved him

and 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 9/3/1796

Napoleon and Josephine

who had only known one another for 6 months

got married here in this very room

in the town hall of the 2nd hour on dismorne of Paris

rather than a romantic moment

it was rather a taudry affair

both Napoleon and Josephine lied about their

ages on the wedding certificate

and Napoleon turned up 3 hours late

and when he did turn up

he

smacked a sleeping mare 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 finnapoleon'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 mobilizing to fight

the absolutist monarchies of Europe

now posed a mortal danger to France and her revolution

Russia Austria Prussia

these sovereign nations appeared

the universal rights of man

and the end to feudal privileges that were enshrined

in the French constitution

for 3 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 civilizations

between the meritocratic republicanism of France

and the onsea regime of Leopold the 2nd

the holy Roman emperor

and the brother of the guillotines queen mariantenet

it was therefore part of an ongoing

ideological struggle

between 2 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 rest from Austria

he had at his disposal

and asset unique to revolutionary France

a new breed of military commander

who I like to think of is 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 esprita corp

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 3 is to one

from the outset of the campaign in Italy

Napoleon's leadership was simply superb

in a series of celebrated battles

montonote milasimo daygo and montovi

the pied montes

Austria's allies were quickly knocked out of the war

and oppolian 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 loddy

early in the campaign

that these skills were to be put to their very 1st test

Napoleon's ultimate objective

for this part of the Italian campaign was always Milan

the capital of lombardy

and on the 10th of may 1796

he got to within a tantalizing 22 miles of Milan

which is just over there

to the northwest

but between Napoleon and Milan was the river adder 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 2 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 6 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 1st assault

they managed to get about halfway

before a devastating Austrian canonade of grapeshot

stop them in their tracks

it was carnage

then there was a 2nd assault led by no fewer than 6

senior officers including 3 future marshals

they got further

they managed to get 3/4 of the way across

and they realized that if men

jumped into the river it was shallow enough

for them to be able to give covering fire to

a 3rd 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 7th 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 ludi

that I believed myself a superior man

after ludi 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 the battle of montenati 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 the 15th of 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 hall 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 behavior

50

million franks 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 India's

he did take tishams 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

a 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 2 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'd seldom even bother 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

then not to get a letter from me or dolciamore

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 fought 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 wold 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 3 sieges

he much preferred campaigns of maneuver

but when he came here to Mantua

he found a city surrounded by water on 3 sides

and by formidable defenses

on the 4th it could only be taken by siege

now to make matters worse

a large body of Austrians were coming from the north

10s of thousands of them

to relieve the city

Napoleon was going to have to fight both a siege and

a campaign of maneuver

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

4 attempts to relieve the city

revolutionary forces bombarded Mantua with canon night

after night in a bulletin

Napoleon sought to boy his troops

reminding them that

all that the revolution had secured

for them was now at stake

soldiers manturise without bread meat and forage

I will say only 2 words

there 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 grueling 8 month

siege of this city

they were reduced to eating horses and dogs

and even rats to survive

over 8000 people died of malnutrition and disease

the city finally surrendered to Napoleon

on the 7/2/1797

after almost a year

total victory in the Italian campaign was in sight

revolutionary France now truly became La Grande nasion

and a president 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 pass the 6th

major cities and states were captured

Napoleon organized a new pro French state in Italy

which was proclaimed to be at the heart

of a new Italian nation

the 1st since ancient Rome

to cap it all

Josephine had finally joined him in Italy

and she was much faded

flush with his success in Italy

Napoleon turns 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 marmore

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 honor

in time

Napoleon would set himself and his wife up comfortably

buying for Josephine the lovely chateau de malmezon

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 capitalizing 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 1st class of the astitude of France

the preeminent 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 realized 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 it was also 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 2 nations has been likened to that

between a whale

and a wolf with her superiority at C

Britain was the most prosperous

powerful economic nation in the world

with her revolution

France the most progressive in terms of isology

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 pounds

Napoleon knew that Britain

under her sovereign King George the 3rd

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 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 savon with him

what's more they could help

characterize the operation as a voyage of discovery

devoted to the acquisition of knowledge

of ancient civilizations

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 chira

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 signy eye

conditions were atrocious

with problems of food water heat and hostile tribesman

as Napoleon wrote in January 1799

we have crossed 70 leagues of desert

which is exceedingly fatiguing

we had brackish water and often non at all

we ate dogs donkeys and camels

it was in the holy land

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 arkhmed al jazar

infamous for beheading his enemies

unknown as the butcher

on the 7/3/1799 on the surrender of the city of jaffa

Napoleon ordered the bayonetting 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 L 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 um

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 jazar

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 east

as well as the supreme defender of the revolution

now took powerful hold

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 haraf a 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 prerequisite

for regenerating France

powerful factions in French politics were now

lobbying for a change of government

and a credible conspiracy formed to mount akudeta

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 marmal

when the house is crumbling

is it time to busy oneself in the garden

a change here is indispensable

on the 18th day of brumeir

in the revolutionary calendar

Napoleon rose at 5 a m

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 San clu

a palace 6 miles outside the city

and they agreed

the scene was now set

for the epic transformation of Napoleon

service to the revolution

a moment that to my mind

is a landmark in the history of Europe

the following day sanklu was surrounded by 3000 troops

some of them but crucially not all

under Napoleon's command

on the 10th of November

1799

Napoleon bonaparte came here to the palace of San clue

to affect a kudeta

his message to the 2 houses of the French parliament

was that he wanted to save the nation

so he 1st 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 listen to him with respect

citizen representatives

you find yourself in no ordinary circumstances

you are on the 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 shout it at him outlaw Caesar

tyrant Cromwell

they rough housed him

and his bodyguards have their uniforms ripped

and he lost his cool he lost his composure

should any erator in foreign bay

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 Lucia 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 1st 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

businessman 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 finalized

her new 30 year old leader vowed to realize it

and protect the new nation

people of false you want peace

if

any power still insists on attempting the fate of arms

the 1st 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 false

and the repulse 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 could tell the freedom of the press

and he replaced over 3000 elected judges

prosecutors and court presidents

with his own appointees

but Napoleon did not turn France

into a police state like hitlers

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 one 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 conseidata 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 Julia 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 plasvondom

architects were commissioned to

reconstruct and redecorate

the tuilery palace

scene of the 1st consul's

bloody defense of the revolution

grand new engineering works were started

including new keys 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 symbolize 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 me advances for themselves

he believed in the French people and the great thing

about Napoleon's advances

be is in education or finance or administration

was to try to liberate the French people to be

even greater

with Napoleon as 1st consul

the political environment of France now stabilized

and the fortunes of the economy began to improve

military victory in Italy

a charismatic campaign in Egypt a successful qudetta

and ruthless loyalty to lapa tree

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 men

held together by enlightenment property and commerce

3 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 1st console

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