The Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast

In this wide-ranging conversation, Cameron reconnects with historian and longtime friend J. David Markham on the eve of his 80th birthday. They reflect on two decades of working together on the Napoleon podcast, swap family updates, and dive into Markham’s latest projects—including his forthcoming book Simply Caesar and several Napoleonic works in progress. The discussion turns to the reception of...

Join J. David Markham and Cameron Reilly as they re-unite after nearly a decade to dissect the travesty that is Ridley Scott’s 2023 film, “Napoleon”… for two-and-a-quarter hours. The post Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast #61 – Ridley’s Travesty appeared first on Napoleon .

After a break of 3.5 years, WE’RE BACK, BABY! Sir J. David Markham – yes, he’s an actual KNIGHT now (see photo below) –  and Cameron Reilly are back with a brand new episode. And what brought the show out of retirement, we hear you ask? The wonderful new 800-page biography by Andrew Roberts “Napoleon The Great”, we reply.   Andrew joined us from N...

Here’s a plug for the Life Of Caesar podcast , hosted by Cameron and Ray Harris. It’s been going since Dec ’13, has about 80,000 listeners and ranks in the Top 100 podcasts in the USA, UK, AUS and CAN, so check it out! The post Check Out The Caesar Show appeared first on Napoleon .

Hey folks! It’s been nearly 18 months since the last podcast! Can you believe it!? This is a special episode to celebrate and promote a special Napoleonic event that is currently happening in Melbourne – Napoleon: Revolution to Empire . I had the chance today to chat with Sophie Matthiesson, one of the curators at the National Gallery of Victoria. We spoke about how the exhibition came...

Welcome back! I know, I know, it’s been 8 months since our last podcast. Sorry folks. On this episode, our special guest is again Nicholas Stark , a 20-year-old wunderkind who David and I first met in Paris back in 2008, and who is studying at West Chester University in Philadelphia and a Fellow of the International Napoleonic Society. Today Nicholas regales us with the story of Wolfe Tone ,...

And once again we are fortunate to have Nicholas Stark back on the show to finish our series on Napoleon and Haiti. Today we focus on the claims that Napoleon directly ordered atrocities to be committed in Haiti. Did Napoleon, as Claude Ribbe claims , invent the gas chamber? (We find no evidence for that.) Did the French troops in Haiti under Generals Leclerc and Rochambeau commit terrible atrocit...

We’re back with Nicholas Stark to discuss St. Domingo / Haiti and Napoleon’s reinstitution of slavery in 1802. Was Toussaint L’Overture really a “saint” (his name translates as “all saints” or “all souls opening”)? Was Napoleon really a racist? Nick does another amazing job of delving into the primary sources from this period to paint a picture...

WELCOME BACK! I know – it’s been a long, long…. long time! But we are glad to be back! On this episode, our special guest is Nicholas Stark , a 19-year-old wunderkind who David and I first met in Paris back in 2008. Nicholas is an undergraduate at West Chester University and a Fellow of the International Napoleonic Society, who has an article published in Volume 3 of the Internat...

Our own J. David Markham was recently interviewed on Australian radio regarding a lock of Napoleon’s hair recently found in Sydney’s town hall . Listen to David’s interview here ! The post David Markham on Australia’s ABC Radio appeared first on Napoleon .

Welcome back! It’s been a long time between shows, I’m so sorry! But you’ll LOVE this episode, trust me, it was worth waiting for! Our guest today is Dr Philip Dwyer, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education and Arts, School of Humanities and Social Science, History Dept, University of Newscastle, Australia. Philip has a long list of credentials: * Ph. D. University of Western A...

We’re very lucky to have Alexander Mikaberidze back to discuss a few more important Russian generals and the crossing of the Berezina .       The post The Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast #53 – Alex Mikaberidze part 4 appeared first on Napoleon .

Alexander Mikaberidze joins us again on this episode to share deep biographical details about the major Russian Generals around the war of 1812 – Kutusov, Bagration, Barclay de Tolly, Tolstoy – the men who defeated Napoleon with a highly unusual strategy.     The post The Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast #52 – Alex Mikaberidze on The Russian Generals appeared first on Napoleo...

Our guest today is again the wonderful Alexander Mikaberidze . We continue the discussion from where we left off in Episode 50, talking about Napoleon’s entry into Moscow, the burning of Moscow, and the “strategic withdrawal”. Was the burning of Moscow deliberate strategy on behalf of the Russians? If they hadn’t burned it, would the outcome of the campaign have been differ...

We made it to 50! w00t! Thanks to everyone for supporting our little show over the last few years. It’s been an honour to create these shows for you. Can I ask a favour? Would you mind going to our iTunes page and rating the podcast? The more ratings we get, the more people find the show. Click here to open up our page in iTunes . Our guest today is the wonderful Alexander Mikaberidze . Alex...

Breaking away from talking to historians about Napoleon, today we have as our guest Australian businessman and political powerbroker, Michael Kroger . Michael joins us to discuss his fascination with Napoleon, which extends to having 5 floors of his Melbourne mansion decorated in the Empire Style and owning (among other things) one of only seven original copies of “ Napoleon After The Abdica...

Continuing our series of chats with eminent Napoleonic scholars, today our guest is Rafe Blaufarb, Ben Weider Eminent Scholar and Director of the Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution at Florida State University . Dr. Blaufarb is a specialist in Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. He is the author of several books on the social and political history of the French military during this pe...

Welcome back! On episode #47, David and I have our first special guest! Jerry Gallaher is Past President of the Napoleonic Alliqance and author of the 1976 classic account of one of Napoleon’s greatest Marshals, Louis Davout – “Iron Marshal – A Biography of Louis N. Davout.” He’s also a true gentleman, scholar and totally charming. Meeting him was one of the hig...

Hi folks. As you’ll have seen in my last post, Ben Weider, President and Founder of the International Napoleonic Society, passed away on October 17, 2008. As Ben was a major influence in Napoleonic circles, a tireless promoter of the Emperor’s achievements, and, not least, a very close friend and colleague of David’s, we wanted to share with you some thoughts on Ben. I was at Dav...

Well…. here we are folks. The end of the chronological part of our story. It’s been two-and-a-half years in the making. Sometimes I never thought we’d get here. In many ways, I wish we hadn’t. But it had to happen – and so – on today’s episode, the Emperor – dies. We discuss his last two years on St Helena, without a decent doctor to attend to his in...

On today’s episode, David and I talk about Napoleon’s struggles with Hudson Lowe, the theory that he was slowly being murdered while on St Helena, poisoned by someone in his own retinue, his sexual escapades with Albine de Montholon , and whether or not he had a “foxhole” religious conversion. The post The Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast #44 – The Murder Of Napoleon appear...

The story of Napoleon’s years on St Helena is dominated by one man, whose name is infamous in Napoleonic history – Sir Hudson Lowe , Napoleon’s “jailer”. The Duke of Wellington later said that he was “a very bad choice; he was a man wanting in education and judgement. He was a stupid man, he knew nothing at all of the world, and like all men who knew nothing of...

Would you like to spend some time with David and I in Paris? Keep an eye on this blog over the next couple of weeks for details but it will be in the evening of July 13th, probably at the Cafe de la Paix around 5pm. On today’s episode, we discuss Napoleon’s journey on the Northumberland to St Helena and his arrival on the island, one of the most remote locations on earth and the last p...

Hey folks – do you think we can make David’s new book, THE ROAD TO ST HELENA, the #1 History book on Amazon? Buy five copies today, give them to your friends, and make Napoleon NUMBER ONE! In this episode of The Napoleon Bonaparte Podcast we examine how the British government came to the conclusion that it would be a cold day in hell before “Old Boney” would ever set foot o...

Hey folks – do you think we can make David’s new book, THE ROAD TO ST HELENA, the #1 History book on Amazon? Buy five copies today, give them to your friends, and make Napoleon NUMBER ONE! On today’s show, David examines the political machinations the British went through to make sure Napoleon never set foot on British soil. According to the British law of ‘habeas corpus&#8...