The Napoleonic Quarterly

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1796. July… August… September… Three months in which Napoleon Bonaparte’s north Italian army runs rings around the Austrians… On the Rhine the French commanders simply can’t get their act together… And in Paris the Directory looks on, uncertainly, as their young general’s star continues...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1796. April… May… June… Three months in which Napoleon Bonaparte has the Austrians on the run and forces Piedmont out of the war altogether… On the Rhine the two French armies struggle to make the same sort of progress… And parts of the Papal States are overrun by Bonaparte, who resists...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1796. January. February. March. Three months in which the British take Ceylon thanks to some daring – or perhaps that should be dairy-ing – exploits… Napoleon Bonaparte takes command of the Army of Italy… And the new French government, the Directory, struggles to find its way. This is e...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Here's what to expect in the next batch of episodes from the Napoleonic Quarterly, beginning with episode 17 in the new year of 2022, including... - A whirlwind of energy and dynamism transforms the course of the war in north Italy - Britain's Royal Navy notches up two more big...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Historian and author Adam Zamoyski discusses the fate of Poland, power politics during the 1792-1815 period and why all decent biographers should seek to empathise with their subjects as human beings, just like the rest of us. This interview was recorded in spring 2020, shortly after th...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Military historian and wargamer Garry Wills discusses his interest in the smaller battles of the 1792-1815 period - and why looking at the records of a regiment or battalion provide just as much interest and insight as looking at the bigger-picture progress of an entire campaign. Garry...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Mary Robinson, Associate Professor of History at Lourdes University, discusses the remarkable story of Louise Charlotte Françoise de Montesquiou, governess to the King of Rome.

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1795. October. November. December. Three months in which Napoleon Bonaparte takes on tens of thousands of armed Parisians amidst the blood and gore of Vendemiare… Austrian, Prussian, and Russian representatives meet on 24 October 1795 to dissolve the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth… And...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1795. July. August. September. Three months in which France’s leaders turn their backs on the electorate… The Rhine theatre sees the launch of the French offensive targeting Mannheim… And the failure of the emigres expedition to Quiberon Bay leads to a terrible reckoning. This is episod...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1795. April. May. June. Three months in which the French make peace with Prussia and Holland… A British attempt to stoke up trouble in Brittany appears to get off to a good start… And John Jay’s deal with an old enemy divides opinion in the United States. This is episode 14 of the Napol...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1795. January. February. March. Three months in which the French complete their conquest of the Netherlands… The British miss a chance to bring the French fleet to battle in the Med… And the French Revolution comes to terms with religion. This is episode 13 of the Napoleonic Quarterly –...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Professor Rafe Blaufarb, Director and Ben Weider Eminent Scholar in Napoleonic Studies at the Florida State University Department of History, discusses the making of the French military machine and the role of Napoleon Bonaparte in shaping an irresistible fighting force. 

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Military historian Paul Demet discusses his fascination with the Wars of the French Revolution, his experiences researching them and why we should all care a little bit more about the 1790s. His book We Are Accustomed to Do Our Duty : German Auxiliaries with the British Army 1793-9 is p...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Professor Marisa Linton of Kingston University discusses the notion that Bonaparte's canniness helped him triumph over other potential military leaders - Hoche or Joubert spring to mind - who might have emerged from the French Revolution.

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1794. October. November. December. Three months in which the Polish uprising is crushed for good… The plantation owners win a victory for slavery on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe… And in Holland the French outflank an increasingly beleaguered British army. This is episode 12 of the...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1794. July. August. September. Three months in which Maximilien Robespierre appears to sleepwalk his way to the guillotine... The British and the Austrians are going backwards fast in the Low Countries... And in the Mediterranean British forces finally wrest a useful prize from the Fren...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1794. April. May. June. Three months in which the French and British fight their first major fleet action of these wars… as France is gripped by the Great Terror, the man at its centre is going through a personal crisis… And on the frontline the French scrape major victories at Tourcoin...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1794. January, February, March. Three months in which the French Revolution’s radicals see enemies everywhere, even amongst their own… The French military machine takes decisive steps to improve itself… And the colonial world is rocked by news that the National Convention agrees to abol...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Here's what to expect in the next batch of episodes from the Napoleonic Quarterly, beginning with episode 9 on Friday June 4th, including... - The first major fleet action of these wars - A sticky end for one of the French Revolution's most importance characters - French numbers...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Professor Emeritus Charles Esdaile of the University of Liverpool discusses his never-ending crusade against the many myths and misperceptions which predominate about the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic period. This interview was the first recorded for this podcast in the spring of...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Dr Jacqueline Reiter discusses the subject of her second autobiography, Sir Home Riggs Popham, an extraordinary man whose ability to persuade the British government to go along with his ideas was only matched by his ability to make a botch of them. You can watch more of Jacqueline talki...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly Military historian and author Philip Ball discusses his experience researching and writing his book Neither Up Nor Down: The British Army and the Flanders Campaign 1793-1795 (2020), as well as his reflections on the odd vagaries - and odd personalities - of the period.  Link: https://ww...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1793. October, November, December. Three months in which Napoleon Bonaparte helps the French retake Toulon… the Austrians set themselves up for a fall at Wattingnies… and in the Caribbean the situation on Saint Domingue descends further into the mire. This is episode eight of the Napole...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1793. July, August, September. Three months in which the machinery of the Terror grinds into action… Toulon hands itself over to the Allies but is soon under siege… And Allied hopes of making progress against the border fortresses protecting France in Flanders meet another major setback...

Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly 1793. April, May, June. Three months in which a leading French general defects to the Allies... In Paris the game is up for the ruling Girondin faction as the sans-culottes and the Jacobins force them out… and revolt and insurrection erupts in the Vendee. This is episode six of the Napo...