French statesman, military leader, and Emperor of the French
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In this episode of Five Questions on the Vint Wine Podcast, we sit down with Matt Day, head winemaker at Klein Constantia, one of South Africa's most historic and celebrated wine estates. Located on the slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town, Klein Constantia is renowned for producing the legendary Vin de Constance, a wine once enjoyed by Napoleon Bonaparte and Jane Austen, and for elevating Sauvignon Blanc to new heights in the New World.Highlights:What makes Klein Constantia's terroir so unique in the Constantia ValleyThe legacy and revival of Vin de Constance, South Africa's iconic sweet wineHis inspirations from regions like Sancerre, Tokaj, Napa, and Saint-ÉmilionLandmark vintages in his winemaking journey, including 2010, 2007, 2012, and 2021What the future holds for Sauvignon Blanc and the estate's global aspirations
Thirty-three years after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte’s Empire, his nephew (known as Napoleon III) became the first president of France before becoming emperor himself. Although he was a capable ruler and reformer, Napoleon III’s failed military campaigns, especially France’s loss to Germany in the Franco-Prussian War, led to his defeat, capture, and the fall of the Second French Empire and permanent eclipse of Germany in military power. Many historians have blamed Napoleon III’s wife for his failings. Eugénie de Montijo was a Spanish noblewoman who became the last French empress. She was a cultural tastemaker and activist for feminist equality, but many blame her blunders when she held power as regent for France’s worst failures and reckless rush into a ruinous war with Germany. But the story of her life has rarely been told in full. It was a career filled with glamour, achievement, and tragedy, as well as contributions that transformed the nation she ruled unlike any other royal noblewoman in Europe. She spearheaded movements in health and education to help transform France into a modern country. She pushed Parisian architecture toward steel and glass construction of buildings as well as for inclusion of green spaces throughout the city, many of which exist today. Most of all, she crafted much of the idea of what it means to be French in the modern era. Today’s guests are Petie Kladstrup and Evelyne Resnick, authors of “The Last Empress of France: The Rebellious Life of Eugénie de Montijo.”See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
As the royalists surged through western France, the Republic's response was pitiful. But when the time came to strike at Paris itself, the insurgents chose Nantes instead. This episode charts the defining battles of early 1793. From tremendous triumphs to stunning failures, unpack the chaos and bloodshed of the civil war in the Vendée. Bonus Content 1.95.1 Generals and Guillotines Unpack the grim fates of Republican generals. From scapegoats like Marcé and Quétineau to the downfall of Nantes' unlikely saviour, discover how paranoia, politics, and military disaster turned misfortune into a capital crime. Early Access Become a True Revolutionary and listen to Episode 1.96 Vendée: The March To Hell now! The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Germaine de Staël was a wealthy woman in Paris during the French Revolution. But unlike so many others, she made it through alive! Because she was smart enough to leave town and not return until it was safe! Which means we get to finally talk about what happened in France post-1794. Special guest Allison Epstein joins us, because Napoleon Bonaparte comes up, and if Napoleon has no haters that because both Germaine and Allison are dead. — Preorder info for Ann's upcoming book, Rebel of the Regency! — RSVP for the Vulgar History in-person meet-up in Toronto! — Get 15% off all the gorgeous jewellery and accessories at common.era.com/vulgar or go to commonera.com and use code VULGAR at checkout — Get Vulgar History merch at vulgarhistory.com/store (best for US shipping) and vulgarhistory.redbubble.com (better for international shipping) — Support Vulgar History on Patreon — Vulgar History is an affiliate of Bookshop.org, which means that a small percentage of any books you click through and purchase will come back to Vulgar History as a commission. Use this link to shop there and support Vulgar History. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
During the summer break, the 15-Minute History podcast team are republishing some of their favorite episodes. This episode originally aired on July 12, 2021.___The raft floated in the midst of the River Niemen. On it were two beautiful pavilions, one for the Emperor of the French and the other for the Czar and Autocrat of All the Russias. In the French tent, Napoleon Bonaparte argued with his foreign minister, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, over how harsh the peace terms with the defeated Russians should be. Talleyrand, a servant of every revolutionary government since 1789, was a snake in silk stockings, but he knew foreign policy better than anyone else in the emperor's entourage. He begged the emperor to treat Russia gently and put an end to fifteen years of war. But Napoleon, flush with the victory at Friedland earlier that year, was determined to humiliate Alexander I, and Talleyrand, ever the obedient servant in public, fell silent. What if Napoleon had heeded Talleyrand's advice in 1807 and treated the Russians with more respect? What would our world look like today if history had taken a different course? In this series of bonus episodes on “15-Minute History,” Joe and I will be sharing some of our favorite “What If?” scenarios from this series with you. Building on the theme of Season Four, learning from history, we hope to provide some lessons on how individuals shape the destinies of large groups and entire nations.
1803. July… August… September… Three months in which the Maratha forces are defeated by Arthur Wellesley at Assaye… Hanover becomes the latest victim to Napoleon Bonaparte's forces… And there's another attempted uprising in Ireland. This is episode 47 of the Napoleonic Quarterly - covering three months in which the British and their sepoys take another step towards Empire on the Indian subcontinent.[07:08] - Headline developments[20:17] - Michael Rowe on the French invasion of Hanover[39:45] - Ravindra Rathee on the end of the Second Anglo-Maratha War[1:01:00] - Ciaran McDonnell on Emmet's uprising
Rainy Day Rabbit Holes: Silly Summer Season — Napoleon vs. The Bunny Apocalypse Episode Summary:In this episode, we travel back to 1807, when Napoleon Bonaparte, the conqueror of Europe and master tactician, faced the most humiliating defeat of his career — at the paws of a swarm of ravenous rabbits. We explore how a grand hunting party meant to celebrate his triumph turned into slapstick chaos, why the bunnies charged, and whether this story was an elaborate piece of historical trolling.Topics Covered:The aftermath of the Treaty of TilsitNapoleon's love of grand gesturesAlexandre Berthier's ill-fated event planningThe possibly hangry domesticated rabbitsPaul Thiebault's rivalry and the murky origins of the storyWhat it all means for the myth of invincibilityResources & Further Reading:Ripley's Believe It or NotMental FlossJust History PostsHistory FactsBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/history-unhinged-rainy-day-rabbit-holes--6271663/support.
This is an Annette on the Road post at Non-Boring History, in which your host, historian Annette Laing, plays tourist around the US and UK.Voiceover podcasts of NBH posts are normally only available to paid subscribers, but this time, it's a free sample. Join us today to get every one Annette records!Note from AnnetteJames Garfield belongs to that select group of American presidents whom people remember—if at all— for being assassinated. Look, I'm not an exception to “people”. I'm a historian, sure. Dr. Laing, that's me! But historians don't know everything about history. Not even in our own subjects. Not even close. Or close to close.Hoosen and I did not mean to stop at President James Garfield's home. But while Hoosen was peering at our tires in this land-that-time-forgot-yet-cool gas station parking lot in Mentor, Ohio, I peered at Google Maps. I noticed we were a half mile from the James A. Garfield House, and that it's owned by the National Parks Service.Sorry, libertarians, but even non-historian Hoosen has noticed that a federal government museum is a guarantee of high quality, and as is sometimes the case, as here, it means free admission. Think of the taxpayer value as I spread the word and you read it! Trust me, there's no commercial value in a Garfield museum, but there is value.This museum isn't about Garfield's extremely short presidency (100 days) much less his political career. It's about James Garfield's home, and what happened to that home after his untimely death. Home, Sweet Home!Middle class Victorians—American and British— put the family home on a pedestal. Until now, the home for most Americans had been a workplace, a farm or a shop or a workshop, where the whole family worked together, ate, and slept. But big changes in the economy in the 19th century meant that many men of the new middle class now left the home to work, kind of the reverse of going remote. Such men now thought of home sentimentally, as a cosy refuge from a cruel and complicated world. Their wives (typically more educated than their predecessors) continued to stay home, but now had servants to do much of the drudgery. Middle-class women were encouraged to consider the home their domain. The Garfields were no exception. This estate, Lawnfield, is their home, and it appears largely as it did when Mrs. Garfield died. The lawn of its name would become more important than the field. When the Garfields bought Lawnfield, however, it was a working farm. Garfield bought this place because he wanted his kids to grow up on a farm, just like he had, only with more money. James Garfield thought that farms were an essential part of a great, healthy childhood. Which is striking, because James Garfield was an unlikely champion of the “good old days”: He helped usher in the modern age.Garfield fought in the Civil War, tried to improve civil rights and education for newly freed slaves, and even participated in the great money grab as the American “gilded age” began. He also added eleven rooms to his farmhouse to accommodate the family in comfort, so his commitment to the simple farm life had its limits. Yet James Garfield wasn't entirely comfortable with modern life. Garfield had grown up in what historians call a “face to face” society, in which people mostly dealt with people they knew, or at least recognized. Even the “front porch” political campaign technique James Garfield invented harked back to an earlier time: On Lawnfield's front porch, he met voters. But he also met there with newspaper reporters who communicated his words around the nation and the world- very modern. Lawnfield, as a farm, was mostly cosplay for the Garfields. Most of the farmwork at Lawnfield was done by hired men. But James and the children also dabbled at farm chores, pitching hay to build character. James Garfield was a self-made and possibly a teensy bit corrupt politician (see Credit Mobilier scandal).I've written at Non-Boring History about an over-the-top monument to two of the most scandalous men involved in Credit Mobilier :So James Garfield was very much a man of the mid-19th century. He was torn between the modern world of cities and business, and the agricultural world of his youth that was fast disappearing.What I most enjoyed about visiting Lawnfield was that about 80% of the house furnishings really had belonged to the Garfields, which is very unusual for a house museum. Let me rush to add that I'm not one of those people who's super-interested in old furniture. No, what I liked about the Garfield house is that I felt (rightly or wrongly) that I could sense the family personality. No, no ghosts, please. I'm a historian, for heavens' sake. I have some standards. No, okay, I don't, I love ghost stories, but not today.Home Shadowy Home: American Victorians I love a gloomy, gaslit Victorian house. Yes, ok, the Garfield home is all-electric now for health and safety, but work with me here. The house is dark, cluttered, and makes me think of arsenic poisoning, and other morbid mid-Victorian subjects. Look, the problem isn't me, at least I don't think it is. Victorians were weird, and especially the people I think of as mid-Victorians, a period I am going to date from 1851 to 1875, based on British historian Geoffrey Best's definition of mid-Victorian Britain. In this case, those dates marking off the era work fairly well for America too. Oh, what the hey. If Geoffrey Best could decide when a historical period ends, so can Annette Laing! I say 1881 for the end of the mid-Victorian era. Oh, that's the year James Garfield died? You don't say. Perfect! 1881 it is! ANNOUNCEMENT from the NBH QUALITY CONTROL GNOME : Dr. Laing is correct that historians can argue for changes in commonly-accepted dates for the beginning and end of historical periods. Most historians, however, would consider changing the ending date of the British mid-Victorian era simply because a United States president, in Annette's words, “snuffed it” that year is, however, unconvincing. Thank you.Mid- Victorians like James Garfield lived in an increasingly modern age, and yet death stalked the land like, as the old BBC historical sitcom Blackadder would put it, a giant stalking thing. Americans and Brits, especially those living in cities, were defenseless against disease. Antibiotics were almost a century in the future. Anesthetics and antiseptics were in their infancy. Germs were a new concept. Sewer systems and clean water were a novelty. Victorians were only just learning that illness wasn't a product of “bad air” (note those high ceilings and lots of windows in Victorian institutions). Result? Children, especially, died in horrifying numbers. James and Lucretia Garfield lost two kids in infancy, and James himself was named for a brother, James, who had died young. Get a little shudder at the idea of naming a child after a deceased sibling? Welcome to history!How gloomy is this hallway in the Garfield House? In fact, my wonderful phone camera automatically brightened up the room: It was actually darker than you see. Here's Claire, our NPS tour guide (but without the intimidating Smokey the Bear uniform) who was full of energy, knowledge, and good cheer, which while appreciated, seemed at first to be all wrong for this setting. I was thinking we should have been led by some guy dressed as Lurch the Butler from the Addams family.This hall wasn't a welcoming space to strangers when the Garfields lived here. Most callers had to run through a selection process. When a servant greeted you at the door, she looked you up and down to see if you were suitable for admission. If you passed her first test, she invited you into this hall, and you deposited your visiting card on a waiting plate. A visiting card was basically like a business card, except that only your name was on it. If you graduated high school in the US, you may recall the company that expensively printed your graduation invitation also hit you up for visiting cards. A rip off, wasn't it?Right. Anyway. So the servant now shows you into the reception area (entryway is in the photo above, next to the dude on the left who's staring at the ceiling). Here you wait awkwardly, standing or sitting on a bench or upright chair, while the maid takes the card upstairs to the mistress of the house. She will decide whether to come down and receive you in the parlor, or whether she will instruct the maid to tell you she's unavailable (at least to you) and show you the door. Until then, you are not admitted into the family home. Indeed, there were sliding wooden “pocket” doors in this reception room which were closed so you can't see into the family room or the dining room that leads off it. The pocket doors are now gone, but they were once there, as I pointed out to a surprised Claire the guide, who examined the doorways and confirmed my hunch, while everyone else wondered how that funny little British woman knew such a thing, or thought me some ghastly showing-off Karen.This reception area, created for the purposes of the odd little ritual I just described, wasn't here when the Garfields moved in, or even when James died. It was originally the kitchen. The reception area was devised by Mrs. Garfield after her husband's death. That's because, in her very public widowhood, Mrs. Garfield had further converted the home from workplace to middle-class family sanctuary.On Garfield (man, not cartoon cat)James Abram Garfield may have been the poorest man ever to have ended up as President, and he was definitely the last United States President to be born in a log cabin, a type of tiny dwelling that definitely wasn't a lifestyle choice in 1831.Not only was James Garfield's family poor, but they got poorer: His dad, Abram, died when he was a baby, and he and his four siblings were raised in poverty by his single mother, Eliza. Like many Americans, and especially in new Midwestern states like Ohio, the Garfields were repeat migrants. Eliza's family started out in Wales, something of which she was very proud, while Abram's came from Warwickshire, Shakespeare's county, two centuries before James' birth. The first American Garfields came over as part of the Great Migration of Puritans in 1630 who started Massachusetts. But, like many poor New Englanders, some Garfields eventually moved on to New York State, where land was cheaper.Garfield's dad, Abram, traveled to Ohio all the way from rural New York to propose to the girl of his dreams. He arrived to discover she had already married someone else, and so, not wanting to waste the journey, he married her sister instead. When James was a baby, Abram and his wife Eliza were caught up in the Second Great Awakening of the early 1830s, a massive evangelical Christian movement that swept America. As an early Americanist, I'm more familiar with the first Great Awakening (about a century earlier) but the second was just as profound. The Garfields got religion, but Abram died not long after. James, as the youngest, became very close to his mum, Eliza.So, in short, young James Garfield was poor, fatherless, and after his mother remarried and then divorced, a member of a scandalous family. He was ostracized by his peers. But he had the kind of rags-to-riches success story that Victorian Americans loved, and that were broadcast in the books of Horatio Alger. Indeed, Alger wrote a biography of Garfield called From Canal Boy to President. Alger's implied message was that if you're not rich, you're just not trying hard enough, a message that has caused Americans great anxiety from that day to this, and kind of ignores the roles of inherited wealth, connections, corruption, and plain old luck in gaining worldly success.James Garfield didn't have boyhood friends. So, instead, he read books, and learned. He left home at 16, and tried working on the new canals of the 1840s. But illness forced him home. His mother encouraged him to try school, which he did, and the education bug bit him. After two years of schooling, he was determined to go to college. Working as a part-time teacher, carpenter, and janitor, James Garfield paid his own way through Williams College in Massachusetts. And before anyone says “He couldn't afford to do that now,” he would certainly have qualified for full financial aid today.When I read Garfield described as a “radical Republican” and an abolitionist, I figured I had a handle on his politics. But I quickly realized that no, I don't, and I don't have time to learn enough to write confidently on his career. I really don't get 19th century politics —good luck getting that kind of honesty from pretendy “historians” of the blowhard fake variety! Sure, Garfield was radical: He supported abolition, and education for former slaves. But he opposed the eight hour day, labor unions, and federal government relief during economic downturns. So I'm not going to write about his politics until I read a book or two.Back to Garfield's house and family!Garfield's Doting MumI started to get a feeling of looming tragedy when the tour got to this room. This was where Garfield's mum Eliza lived when she moved in with the family. Check out the impractical but gorgeous Victorian stained glass firescreen emblazoned with Garfield's face in the top right corner. A firescreen is supposed to prevent burning embers entering the room from a fireplace. In summer, when the fireplace wasn't used, the fire screen served as a decorative thingy. This firescreen, featuring Garfield's head in stained glass, is just one of several images of Garfield in his mother's bedroom, as you can see above. Eliza outlived her favorite child, the boy who, unbelievably, had become president, by several years. It was, it seemed to me, a tragic room, a fragile room. I was already thinking of the gloomy Garfield home as a very sad place.Yet this was also a home filled with people, judging from the number of bedrooms. This one caught my eye because of the delicately patterned carpet.Let's take a closer look, shall we?WHAT HELL IS THIS? Was President Garfield a Nazi before Nazis were a thing?? No worries. The swastika was a symbol of good luck before the Nazis ruined it. Please try to look at this carpet from the perspective of people who had never heard of Hitler, and would be horrified if they had. Real, Flesh and Blood Americans: A President and His FamilyRoom by room, the Victorian Garfield family came to life. The dining room, where they gathered, was a typically formal middle-class Victorian room, sure. But the dining room was warmed by a fireplace surrounded by individually painted tiles that every child had a hand in creating. Suddenly, I was intrigued. Painting personalized tiles was a project that suggested a happy home. There were at least two pianos, so this wasn't the quiet house that greets us today: I imagine a kid or two was always bashing away on the ivories. No, wait, they were Victorians . . . Playing the piano properly, with straight backs. Or was I stereotyping?Garfield's children remained a muddled lot in my head, but I did enjoy the teenage girl room, with its “Turkish corner”, bright fabric wall hangings over a daybed, kind of like having a batik hanging over a beanbag for a later generation, and its cluttered dressing table (think loads of make-up today).Garfield's library was a very masculine space, just what you would imagine a Victorian father would have. A sort of ship feel to the design. Pictures of Civil War Union General William T. Sherman, French dictator Napoleon Bonaparte, and founder of Germany Otto Von Bismarck, an odd collection of powerful men, lined up on the walls. And, of course, a huge, eclectic book collection, including the delightfully titled Brain Hygiene, a Victorian manual of psychology from the people who brought you measuring heads to check for mental illness (Oh, and Americans, gotta love your often slightly odd applications of the word “hygiene” over the years, just saying. Love you. Mwah.)The highlight of the house in my view, though, was this chair in Garfield's study. His kids had it made for him in light of Dad's habit of sitting in a desk chair sideways while reading, draping his legs over the side. Can't you just see him lounging in this? Much less formal and stuffy than his portraits and the library suggest!A Real Victorian Woman: Mrs. Garfield Takes ChargeFor me, Lucretia Garfield did not come at all into the picture until Garfield's assassination, and then, boy, did she. A Victorian GoFundMe raised the equivalent of millions for the family, and Lucretia sprang into action with the money. She had all the farm buildings (except the house) moved back on the lot, away from the road, and the house expanded to be more befitting of a martyred president. She completed Lawnfield's emphasis as a respectable middle-class family home that received frequent visitors, more than a working farm. And Lawnfield was an increasingly modern home. A widowed Lucretia did not shrink away from technical stuff. She learned that there was a source of natural gas on the property, and had the power source converted to gas from coal. The gas house is still on the grounds, next to the visitor center. Garfield 's library now became the focus of Lawnfield's third role as a semi-public shrine to a martyred President. Lucretia expanded the library in the years after her husband's death, adding a walk-in safe for official documents that even included a desk for researchers who hopefully didn't have claustrophobia. Lucretia basically created the first US Presidential Library, although the official holder of that title is the purpose-built Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York.There's even a touch of Lucretia in the remodeled library: A photo of Queen Victoria, who had written Lucretia a letter after James's death. Queen Victoria, who became a professional widow after Prince Albert's early death at age 41, twenty years before Garfield's assassination, wrote Mrs. Garfield a very sweet letter of consolation, which you can also see on site. I was pleasantly surprised by her words. I thought Victoria would, as usual, turn the letter's subject immediately to Albert (Never mind your husband, what about mine?) but she only did that a little bit in her note to Lucretia Garfield. When Death and Life Came to LawnfieldA deranged assassin named Charles Guiteau shot James Garfield at a train station in Washington DC in September 1881, just three months after he was inaugurated. Garfield took two months to die, and might even have survived if his doctors had paid more attention to British surgeon Joseph Lister's work, and not messed around in Garfield's wound with unwashed hands and instruments.Garfield was popular, and especially so after his death, only 100 days into his presidency, because it came as such a shock to the nation. In the museum in the visitor center, you will find all the creepy Victorian cult of death stuff on display: The preserved mattress used as an improvised stretcher to get him from the train station to a bed. The black-bordered stationery. The death mask. The souvenirs. The works. But our tour guide, Claire, insisted that the Garfield children later remembered Lawnfield as a happy, lively place. Wikipedia uses the word “cheerful” to describe the family who came to the White House in 1881. James Garfield, the fatherless boy from poverty (but whose family roots in New England suggested he had inherited educational wealth), and Lucretia Garfield, the intelligent and educated woman of her time whom Garfield met in college in Massachusetts, had done well by their five surviving children. Alone, Lucretia took charge, caring for kids, mother-in-law, home, and new role as Presidential widow. These people aren't remote and fascinating relics. They're real. Lucretia Garfield long outlived her husband, and spent at least part of the year at this house until her own death in 1918.Before leaving, I had a chat with Mary the National Parks Service ranger at the reception desk. Yes, Mary was one of those unlikely-looking museum staff in a quasi-military uniform with broad hat, Brits, don't worry, I don't get it either. But Mary was very pleasant. She asked me where Hoosen and I were headed next, and I told her. She said, “Oh, but you'll know about Guiteau, of course?”No. I didn't know about Guiteau and his connection to my next destination. But I was about to find out. Nothing is newThis post first appeared in earlier form (not much different) at Non-Boring History in 2022. Our next stop, long planned (unlike our stop in Mentor, Ohio), was in New York State, about 350 miles away. By astonishing coincidence, it really did have a direct connection with James Garfield, and also a very different interpretation of domestic bliss from the Garfield home in Mentor.Did you know? Become a paid subscriber and you get access to all my work. That includes EVERY weekly Tuesday post and my Sometimes Saturday posts for supporting subscribers only. It's a deal, I tell you! Going paid also gives you access to more than five hundred other still-fresh posts, including these, about our fascinating visit to a unique place in New York State that followed our stop in Mentor:Part 2 includes my chat with Dr. Tom Guiler, the resident historian at this truly astonishing site in New York:I'm Annette Laing, a Brit in America, and I am beyond grateful to every “Nonnie”, aka paying subscriber, in the US, UK, Canada, and around the world, who supports Non-Boring History. No exaggeration: I cannot do this without you and more people like you. In going paid, you can take pride in knowing that you're making it possible for me to continue to write for you as the world churns around us. Not yet a Nonnie? Please join us. Details: This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit annettelaing.substack.com/subscribe
The inferno ignites. Arguably the most divisive theatre of the French Revolution, it's time to return to the west. This episode is a repost of Episode 1.55 Civil War in the Vendée, exploring the dramatic outbreak of rebellion in March 1793. We'll unpack the origins of the insurrection, its initial stages, and the many debates that still divide historians. What role did religion play? How significant were the nobles? And was this truly a popular uprising? From simmering tensions to explosive violence, this episode lays the groundwork for one of the Revolution's darkest chapters. In future episodes, we'll trace the bloody rise and fall of the rebellion, and confront the horrific crimes against humanity that followed. The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Unpack a royalist's account on the importance of religion in the Vendée, and why the topography of the Vendée was so beneficial to the defending insurrectionists! The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
From abandoned palaces to Revolutionary executions, this Q&A dives into five gripping questions from the community! Why didn't Louis XVI flee during the October Days of 1789? What became of Versailles after the royal family moved to Paris? Why didn't the Royal Navy intervene during the 1793 Siege of Dunkirk? Were there more “polite” versions of Republican marriages and baptisms? Why did the Jacobins bother with the show trials of 1793? What was the purpose behind prosecuting the Girondins and Marie Antoinette? Submit Your Questions! Keen to have your questions answered? Either post them on Patreon or submit a question in the community chat on Discord! As always, thank you for your support of the show! The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Early Access Don't wait! Support the show and listen to Episode 1.89 "The Republic Strikes Back!" now! Available for all True Revolutionaries and above! Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Das alte Rom ist die Mutter der imperialen Idee. Sie wurde von Julius Caesar unabsichtlich begründet und seitdem immer wieder aufgegriffen: von byzantinischen Herrschern, Karl dem Großen, den heilig-römischen Kaisern oder von russischen Zaren und Napoleon Bonaparte. Vielleicht, bei genauerem Hinsehen sogar von der EU. Von Ulrich Zwack (BR 2020)
The world doesn't need more people chasing likes or watching others live. It needs you—fully alive, fully engaged, doing work that matters. Napoleon Bonaparte said, “The battlefield is the mind.” Win the war against distraction, and you sort of win everything.So, take back control. Schedule your work and protect it like your life depends on it—because it does. This is what my latest book The Wealth Money Can't Buy is all about. Real wealth versus fake success. True winning versus spending your life climbing a mountain, only to find out at the end that it was the wrong one. You can order it now by clicking here.FOLLOW ROBIN SHARMA:InstagramFacebookTwitterYouTube
Deux pistolets ayant appartenu à l'empereur français Napoléon Bonaparte, avec lesquels il avait une fois l'intention de se suicider, ont été vendus aux enchères pour 1,69 million d'euros.Traduction :Two pistols owned by the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, with which he once intended to kill himself, have been sold at auction for €1.69m. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Deux pistolets ayant appartenu à l'empereur français Napoléon Bonaparte, avec lesquels il avait une fois l'intention de se suicider, ont été vendus aux enchères pour 1,69 million d'euros.Traduction :Two pistols owned by the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, with which he once intended to kill himself, have been sold at auction for €1.69m. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Nous sommes le 5 juillet 1848. Dans son édition du jour, le « Courrier du Havre » écrit, à propos de ceux qui troublent l'ordre public, que les autorités envisagent « d'essayer la substitution d'une colonie pénitentiaire à des bagnes et des prisons centrales ». En novembre 1850, le prince-président Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte donne son aval à de nouvelles initiatives de déportation aux colonies : « Six mille condamnés renfermés dans nos bagnes, écrit-il, grèvent le budget d'une charge énorme, se dépravant de plus en plus, et menacent incessamment la société. Il me semble possible de rendre la peine des travaux forcés plus efficace, plus moralisatrice, moins dispendieuse et plus humaine en l'utilisant aux progrès de la colonisation française ». Le temps des bagnes, du dix-huitième au vingtième siècles, c'est la leçon du jour. Avec nous : Michel Pierre, licencié en histoire de l'art en en archéologie. « Le temps des bagnes, 1748-1953 » paru aux éditions Tallandier. Sujets traités : Bagne, colonie, Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, pénitentiaire, travail forcé Merci pour votre écoute Un Jour dans l'Histoire, c'est également en direct tous les jours de la semaine de 13h15 à 14h30 sur www.rtbf.be/lapremiere Retrouvez tous les épisodes d'Un Jour dans l'Histoire sur notre plateforme Auvio.be :https://auvio.rtbf.be/emission/5936 Intéressés par l'histoire ? Vous pourriez également aimer nos autres podcasts : L'Histoire Continue: https://audmns.com/kSbpELwL'heure H : https://audmns.com/YagLLiKEt sa version à écouter en famille : La Mini Heure H https://audmns.com/YagLLiKAinsi que nos séries historiques :Chili, le Pays de mes Histoires : https://audmns.com/XHbnevhD-Day : https://audmns.com/JWRdPYIJoséphine Baker : https://audmns.com/wCfhoEwLa folle histoire de l'aviation : https://audmns.com/xAWjyWCLes Jeux Olympiques, l'étonnant miroir de notre Histoire : https://audmns.com/ZEIihzZMarguerite, la Voix d'une Résistante : https://audmns.com/zFDehnENapoléon, le crépuscule de l'Aigle : https://audmns.com/DcdnIUnUn Jour dans le Sport : https://audmns.com/xXlkHMHSous le sable des Pyramides : https://audmns.com/rXfVppvN'oubliez pas de vous y abonner pour ne rien manquer.Et si vous avez apprécié ce podcast, n'hésitez pas à nous donner des étoiles ou des commentaires, cela nous aide à le faire connaître plus largement. Distribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
Dan is joined by his dad, veteran broadcaster Peter Snow, to tell the incredible story of the clash between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington on June 18, 1815. This showdown shattered Napoleon's dreams of empire and redrew the map of Europe. Packed with heroic last stands, strategic genius, and catastrophic missteps, Waterloo was a battle that changed everything in just one day.This episode marks exactly 10 years of Dan Snow's History Hit, and in it, Dan and Peter reflect on the very first episode of the podcast they did together and everything that has come since.Produced by Mariana Des Forges and edited by Dougal PatmoreYou can now find Dan Snow's History Hit on YouTube! Watch episodes every Friday here.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.We'd love to hear your feedback - you can take part in our podcast survey here: https://insights.historyhit.com/history-hit-podcast-always-on.You can also email the podcast directly at ds.hh@historyhit.com.
Napoleon Bonaparte's exile wasn't just an end—it was a masterstroke in legacy-building. In this insightful episode of the Jeremy Ryan Slate Show, we take a deep dive into how Napoleon used his exile to rewrite his legacy and safeguard his place in history. From his transformation from Emperor of Europe to prisoner on the remote island of St. Helena, we critically examine the power moves, conspiracies, and resilience that defined his final days. Was he a defeated ruler, or did he continue plotting from the shadows? This must-watch episode offers a unique perspective on how Napoleon turned isolation into a stage for crafting his enduring image. Discover the mysteries of his exile, from rumored poisoning and escape plots to his strategic memoirs that reshaped public perception. We'll explore the historical context, unpack his calculated moves, and draw lessons from his ability to control his narrative—even in defeat.Join the conversation and share your thoughts: was Napoleon a broken emperor or a genius tactician till the end? Drop a comment, smash the like button, and subscribe for more deep dives into history and power. Don't forget to grab my bestselling book, "Command Your Brand," and connect with me on X (@JeremyRyanSlate). Let's question everything, dig deeper, and keep uncovering the untold stories that shape our world.#historyofoppression #exile #napoleonescape #history #internalpolitics___________________________________________________________________________⇩ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ⇩THE WELLNESS COMPANY: Health without the propaganda, emergency medical kits before you need it. Get 15% off now by using our link: https://twc.health/jrsCOMMAND YOUR BRAND: Legacy Media is dying, we fight for the free speech of our clients by placing them on top-rated podcasts as guests. We also have the go-to podcast production team. We are your premier podcast agency. Book a call with our team https://www.commandyourbrand.com/book-a-call MY PILLOW: By FAR one of my favorite products I own for the best night's sleep in the world, unless my four year old jumps on my, the My Pillow. Get up to 66% off select products, including the My Pillow Classic or the new My Pillow 2.0, go to https://www.mypillow.com/cyol or use PROMO CODE: CYOL________________________________________________________________⇩ GET MY BEST SELLING BOOK ⇩Unremarkable to Extraordinary: Ignite Your Passion to Go From Passive Observer to Creator of Your Own Lifehttps://getextraordinarybook.com/________________________________________________________________DOWNLOAD AUDIO PODCAST & GIVE A 5 STAR RATING!:APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-create-your-own-life-show/id1059619918SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/5UFFtmJqBUJHTU6iFch3QU(also available Google Podcasts & wherever else podcasts are streamed_________________________________________________________________⇩ SOCIAL MEDIA ⇩➤ X: https://twitter.com/jeremyryanslate➤ INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/jeremyryanslate➤ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/jeremyryanslate_________________________________________________________________➤ CONTACT: JEREMY@COMMANDYOURBRAND.COM
Un chapeau ayant appartenu à Napoléon Bonaparte lorsqu'il était empereur français a été vendu aux enchères en France le dimanche, atteignant un record de près de deux millions d'euros.Traduction :A hat belonging to Napoleon Bonaparte when he was French emperor sold for a record of nearly two million euros at a French auction on Sunday. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.
From war crimes and Terror to Napoleon and nationalism, unpack the fascinating dynamics of total war in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This interview with Dr David Avrom Bell explores the changing nature of warfare, the impact of the Enlightenment on total war, and the importance of rhetoric in this consequential struggle. We also examine controversial debates, including allegations of genocide in the Vendée and whether "the Terror" ever truly existed. The perfect conclusion to our deep dive on the War of the First Coalition in 1793 - this episode is unmissable! Learn More Davidavrombell.com Princeton Profile The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Send us a textMatteus 23:5-7 Alles wat hulle (die skrifgeleerdes en Fariseërs) doen, doen hulle net om deur mense gesien te word. Hulle maak die gebedsband om hulle voorkop breed, en die tossels aan hulle klere groot. Hulle hou van die ereplekke by die feesmaaltye, en van die voorste plekke in die sinagoges en om op straat deur die mense begroet en as ‘rabbi' aangespreek te word. Die basiese resep om sukses te bereik, is deesdae ‘n klim-patroon: jy klim en klim en klim op daardie leer, totdat jy die top bereik. Ag nou ja, jy sal op pad boontoe op ‘n paar mense moet trap, maar dis net die prys wat die besigheidswêreld van ‘n mens vra, dis nie ‘n probleem nie, dis nou maar hoe dit werk. Of hoe?Napoleon Bonaparte is in1769 gebore. Hy was 'n taktiese genie en 'n groot leier. Hy was so suksesvol dat hy homself teen 1804 tot keiser van Frankryk uitgeroep het en sy ryk oor Europa uitgebrei het. Maar namate sy mag toegeneem het, het sy trots en sy oortuiging dat hy onoorwinbaar is, ook toegeneem, en dit het gelei tot 'n paar verkeerde strategiese besluite.Sy trots het toe tot ‘n val gekom. Hy is uiteindelik ná sy nederlaag met die Slag van Waterloo na die afgeleë eiland Saint Helena in die Suid-Atlantiese Oseaan verban, waar hy basies weens sy verwaandheid in 1821 as 'n eensame misbaksel gesterf het. Dit wys jou wat gebeur met ‘n mens wat ten alle koste die leer van sukses probeer klim.Jesus het hewige kritiek teen die trotse godsdiensleiers van sy tyd uitgespreek. Hulle was die belangrike mense in die gemeenskap; die oënskynlike suksesvolle leiers. Hy het hulle skynheiligheid ontmasker en gesê ...Matteus 23:5-7 Alles wat hulle doen, doen hulle net om deur mense gesien te word. Hulle maak die gebedsband om hulle voorkop breed, en die tossels aan hulle klere groot. Hulle hou van die ereplekke by die feesmaaltye, en van die voorste plekke in die sinagoges en om op straat deur die mense begroet en as ‘rabbi' aangespreek te word.Trots is 'n lelike ding, en daarom is die hoogste rang wat jy ooit in God se koninkryk kan bereik, die van ‘dienaar'. Dit beteken ‘n lewe wat nie daarop gerig is om op die top van die leer te staan waar jy aandag trek nie, maar ‘n onopsigtelike plek in te neem, waar jy in nederigheid kan dien.Dit is God se Woord. Vars … vir jou … vandag. Support the showEnjoying The Content?For the price of a cup of coffee each month, you can enable Christianityworks to reach 10,000+ people with a message about the love of Jesus!DONATE R50 MONTHLY
Monatelang feiern Europas Mächtige nach Napoleons Niederlage und verhandeln die Grenzen auf dem Kontinent neu. Erst als er zurückkehrt, einigt man sich eilig (am 9.6.1815). Von Herwig Katzer.
This episode features the State Tree of Louisiana, the Bald Cypress. (Taxodium distichum). But the Bald Cypress in the plant story is not in the USA but in the Loire in France, in the grounds of a beautiful chateau.How it got there is part of the story, a gift from Napoleon Bonaparte to the chateau owner, bought back from his last expedition to Louisiana in 1802!So through a plant story about a Bald Cypress, we bring together two countries, and a moment in history in 1803, remembered by one nation, perhaps forgotten by the other as Napoleon sells Louisiana to the Americans. You can see photographs of the tree and find links to the chateau on the Our Plant Stories website www.ourplantstories.comOur Plant Stories is presented and produced by Sally FlatmanThe music is Fade to Black by Howard LevyEvery month I will make a plant story but stories often lead to more stories and I end up publishing Offshoot episodes. So if you 'Follow' the podcast on your podcast app you will never miss an episode.It also makes a real difference if you can spare the time to rate and/or review an episode after you have listened. Spotify and Apple look at these ratings and it helps to get the podcast promoted to other plant lovers. Mentioned in this episode:Buy Me A CoffeeThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: OP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy
Scientist. Patriot. Engineer. Revolutionary. Explore the many faces of Lazare Carnot, the famed Organiser of Victory. Perhaps the most celebrated member of the Committee of Public Safety, this episode tracks his ascent to the heights of revolutionary government. From military prison to singing societies, prepare for an unusual career. Sponsor: Lingopie Get 55% off a Lingopie subscription to learn French and 11 other languages with movies and TV shows! CLICK HERE The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Uncover the secrets behind Napoleon Bonaparte's exile in this deep dive into history, power, and survival. From his rise as a brilliant military commander to his dramatic fall and final days on the remote island of St. Helena, this insightful episode critically examines whether his exile was a tale of betrayal or a calculated move for survival. Was Napoleon a broken emperor, or was he still scheming to rewrite his legacy from the shadows? We tackle the conspiracies, the power plays, and the untold stories that shaped his final chapter.Join us as we explore Napoleon's transformation from ruler of Europe to prisoner in isolation, dictating memoirs and battling relentless rumors of poison, escape plots, and political sabotage. Discover how he used exile to craft his image and legacy, offering a unique perspective on resilience, influence, and the art of narrative control. This must-watch episode challenges mainstream history and dives into the complexities of leadership, legacy, and survival under extraordinary circumstances. I'm Jeremy Ryan Slate, host of The Jeremy Ryan Slate Show and CEO of Command Your Brand. My passion is uncovering stories that challenge perspectives and inspire action. Don't miss this critical examination of Napoleon's fate and its relevance to today's power dynamics. Join the conversation by leaving a comment, liking this video, and subscribing for more thought-provoking content. Want to weigh in on Napoleon's exile? Connect with me on X using #NapoleonExiled. Together, let's keep questioning, keep digging, and continue exploring history's most fascinating mysteries.#secretplots #exile #historychannel #elbaescape #weirdhistory___________________________________________________________________________⇩ SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS ⇩THE WELLNESS COMPANY: Health without the propaganda, emergency medical kits before you need it. Get 15% off now by using our link: https://twc.health/jrsCOMMAND YOUR BRAND: Legacy Media is dying, we fight for the free speech of our clients by placing them on top-rated podcasts as guests. We also have the go-to podcast production team. We are your premier podcast agency. Book a call with our team https://www.commandyourbrand.com/book-a-call MY PILLOW: By FAR one of my favorite products I own for the best night's sleep in the world, unless my four year old jumps on my, the My Pillow. Get up to 66% off select products, including the My Pillow Classic or the new My Pillow 2.0, go to https://www.mypillow.com/cyol or use PROMO CODE: CYOL________________________________________________________________⇩ GET MY BEST SELLING BOOK ⇩Unremarkable to Extraordinary: Ignite Your Passion to Go From Passive Observer to Creator of Your Own Lifehttps://getextraordinarybook.com/________________________________________________________________DOWNLOAD AUDIO PODCAST & GIVE A 5 STAR RATING!:APPLE: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-create-your-own-life-show/id1059619918SPOTIFY: https://open.spotify.com/show/5UFFtmJqBUJHTU6iFch3QU(also available Google Podcasts & wherever else podcasts are streamed_________________________________________________________________⇩ SOCIAL MEDIA ⇩➤ X: https://twitter.com/jeremyryanslate➤ INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/jeremyryanslate➤ FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/jeremyryanslate_________________________________________________________________➤ CONTACT: JEREMY@COMMANDYOURBRAND.COM
While we have discussed Napoleon in the past on this podcast, today we talk about his younger sister Pauline. Famous for her beauty and scandalous affairs, she is the only sibling to visit him in exile on Elba. While she only lived to be 44 she certainly lived life to its fullest. Take a listen and learn all about Paula Maria Bonaparte Leclerc Borghese
TRANSLATION MENU: LOOK UPPER RIGHT BELOW THE SOCIAL MEDIA ICONS. IT OFFERS EVERY LANGUAGE AVAILABLE AROUND THE WORLD! ALSO, SOCIAL MEDIA AND PRINT ICONS ARE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST! Pictured above: Mao on the left and Napoleon on the right are two men who have much more in common than you can imagine,... The post Mao Zedong was China's most knowledgeable and biggest fan of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was deeply inspired by his many successes and learned from his mistakes. Radio Sinoland 250525 appeared first on CHINA RISING RADIO SINOLAND.
fWotD Episode 2942: Rhine campaign of 1796 Welcome to Featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Sunday, 25 May 2025, is Rhine campaign of 1796.In the Rhine campaign of 1796 (June 1796 to February 1797), two First Coalition armies under the overall command of Archduke Charles outmaneuvered and defeated two French Republican armies. This was the last campaign of the War of the First Coalition, part of the French Revolutionary Wars.The French military strategy against Austria called for a three-pronged invasion to surround Vienna, ideally capturing the city and forcing the Holy Roman Emperor to surrender and accept French Revolutionary territorial integrity. The French assembled the Army of Sambre and Meuse commanded by Jean-Baptiste Jourdan against the Austrian Army of the Lower Rhine in the north. The Army of the Rhine and Moselle, led by Jean Victor Marie Moreau, opposed the Austrian Army of the Upper Rhine in the south. A third army, the Army of Italy, commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, approached Vienna through northern Italy.The early success of the Army of Italy initially forced the Coalition commander, Archduke Charles, to transfer 25,000 men commanded by Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser to northern Italy. This weakened the Coalition force along the 340-kilometre (211 mi) front stretching along the Rhine from Basel to the North Sea. Later, a feint by Jourdan's Army of Sambre and Meuse convinced Charles to shift troops to the north, allowing Moreau to cross the Rhine at the Battle of Kehl on 24 June and defeated the Archduke's Imperial contingents. Both French armies penetrated deep into eastern and southern Germany by late July, forcing the southern states of the Holy Roman Empire into punitive armistices. By August, the French armies had extended their fronts too thinly and rivalry among the French generals complicated cooperation between the two armies. Because the two French armies operated independently, Charles was able to leave Maximilian Anton Karl, Count Baillet de Latour with a weaker army in front of Moreau on the southernmost flank and move many reinforcements to the army of Wilhelm von Wartensleben in the north.At the Battle of Amberg on 24 August and the Battle of Würzburg on 3 September, Charles defeated Jourdan's northern army and compelled the French army to retreat, eventually to the west bank of the Rhine. With Jourdan neutralized and retreating into France, Charles left Franz von Werneck to watch the Army of Sambre and Meuse, making sure it did not try to recover a foothold on the east bank of the Rhine. After securing the Rhine crossings at Bruchsal and Kehl, Charles forced Moreau to retreat south. During the winter the Austrians reduced the French bridgeheads in the sieges of Kehl and the Hüningen, and forced Moreau's army back to France. Despite Charles' success in the Rhineland, Austria lost the war in Italy, which resulted in the Peace of Campo Formio.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:16 UTC on Sunday, 25 May 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Rhine campaign of 1796 on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm neural Kimberly.
Slaget vid Marengo var långt ifrån det största slag som Napoleon Bonaparte utkämpade, men på många sätt var det ett av hans mest betydelsefulla. Den militära situationen i Italien var prekär våren 1800. Frankrike stred mot en koalition av stormakter som hade det militära övertaget. I Paris hade Napoleon genomfört en statskupp i november 1799, och ett militärt nederlag i Italien hade inneburit ett hårt fall från piedestalen för den korsikanske uppkomlingen. En seger i det pågående kriget mot Frankrikes fiender skulle däremot stärka Napoleons grepp om makten och skapa förutsättningar för ännu fler franska utrikespolitiska framstötar.I detta avsnitt av Militärhistoriepodden ger sig Martin Hårdstedt och Peter Bennesved i kast med en av Napoleons klassiska segrar.Napoleon ledde en armé över Alperna i maj 1800 och kunde inom några veckor driva österrikarna mot fästningsstaden Alessandria. Han hade dessutom försvagat den armé han hade tillgänglig för att möta österrikarnas anfall genom att skicka iväg två avdelningar norrut och söderut. Tanken med denna spridning av den franska armén var uppgifter om att österrikarna höll på att ta sig ur Napoleons inringning.Den österrikiske befälhavaren, fältmarskalk Melas, fattade i detta läge beslutet att gå till anfall i stället för att invänta en fullständig inringning. Anfallet tog fransmännen mer eller mindre på sängen. Det första Napoleon gjorde när det österrikiska anfallet inleddes var att kalla tillbaka general Desaix och hans division, samtidigt som han samlade de reserver han hade och mötte anfallet. Trots österrikarnas numerära överlägsenhet lyckades fransmännen bromsa angreppet, bland annat med hjälp av ett artilleribatteri.Bild: "Bataille de Marengo", målad av Louis-François, Baron Lejeune. Illustration av slaget vid Marengo den 14 juni 1800, där Napoleon Bonapartes franska styrkor besegrade den österrikiska armén.Klippare: Emanuel Lehtonen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
From success to disaster, explore Spain's war effort with Major Michael Hamel. Unpack the state of the Spanish Empire prior to 1789, the outbreak of war, and why Hamel defends Spanish leaders who other historians condemn. A complete account of the Pyrenees front, enjoy this fantastic interview on an overlook conflict! Sponsor: Lingopie Get 55% off a Lingopie subscription to learn French and 11 other languages with movies and TV shows! CLICK HERE Learn More on the War of the Pyrenees The Roussillon Campaign of 1793-94: Spain's Lost Opportunity – Age of Revolutions War Studies Journal 2 The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Disclaimer The opinions expressed herein are those of the individual and do not reflect the official policy or position of the U.S. Army, the United States Military Academy, the Department of Defense, or the U.S. Government. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Guest host Josie Azzam dives into the fascinating (and occasionally outrageous) lives of Napoleon Bonaparte's many siblings while Hannah goes on an existential journey to learn more about the mysterious Sea Peoples and their role in the collapse of the Bronze Age civilizations. A listener mail asks the question: was Shakespeare actually Italian?Episode Tabs:House of Bonapartehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_of_BonaparteWhat Role Did the Sea Peoples Play in the Bronze Age Collapse?https://www.thecollector.com/sea-peoples-bronze-age-collapse-role/Listener Tabs:Shelly's Leghttps://historylink.org/File/22591Crollalanza Shakespeare Theoryhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crollalanza_theory_of_Shakespeare_authorshipEmail your closed tab submissions to: 500opentabs@gmail.comSupport us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/500OpenTabs500 Open Roads (Google Maps episode guide): https://maps.app.goo.gl/Tg9g2HcUaFAzXGbw7Continue the conversation by joining us on Discord! https://discord.gg/8px5RJHk7aSUPPORT THE SHOW and get 40% off an annual subscription to Nebula by going to nebula.tv/500opentabsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Victories and triumphs! Surrounded, betrayed, and seemingly on the brink of collapse, the summer of 1793 was a dark era for the Republic. However, in a series of desperate battles, armies of citizen-soldiers defied the odds. Unpack the dramatic turning points of the War of the First Coalition — a story of blunders, brilliance, and battlefield miracles. This episode examines the Battle of Hondschoote (1793), the Battle of Wattignies (1793), and the Second Battle of Wissembourg (1793). Early Access Don't wait! Support the show and listen to Episode 1.90 Spain & The War of the Pyrenees with Michael Hamel now! Available for all True Revolutionaries and above! The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Your Questions Answered! From the influence of Ancient Rome to using Terror for personal advantage, this Q&A episode unpacks a variety of fascinating topics! Questions include: 1) Did the revolutionaries know of Ancient Roman attempts to control prices? 2) Was hoarding and speculation common? What was driving food shortages? Were shortages occurring across the Republic? 3) Did regular people use the Terror for self-interest and personal vendettas? 4) What powers did the high nobility have prior to the revolution? Submit Your Questions! Keen to have your questions answered? Either post them here, or submit a question in the community chat on Discord! The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Early Access Don't wait! Support the show and listen to Episode 1.89 "The Republic Strikes Back!" now! Available for all True Revolutionaries and above! Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Well Seasoned Librarian : A conversation about Food, Food Writing and more.
Welcome back, dear listeners, to another delectable season of Well Seasoned Librarian! Can you believe it? Season 16 Episode 1! And to kick things off, Dean has a truly sweet treat for us today.Get ready to have your taste buds tantalized because Dean is sitting down with the incredibly talented Dan Abel. Now, Dan isn't just anyone; he's the heart and soul behind the absolutely divine Bissinger's Chocolates.Rooted in 17th-century France, where their exquisite chocolates graced the tables of European nobility like Napoleon Bonaparte and the Rothschilds, earning them the title of Confiseur Imperial by King Louis XIV, the Bissinger family's confectionery legacy journeyed to America in 1845 with Karl Bissinger, who established their first kitchen near Cincinnati; his son, also Karl, continued this tradition by opening a St. Louis kitchen in 1927, a city that remains the company's home, with their current head candy maker representing the third generation from the original French master candy maker, and to this day, many of their acclaimed confections, praised by figures from European royalty to Oprah and featured in national venues like Starbucks and Whole Foods, are crafted using original recipes dating back to 1899, showcasing a commitment to heritage, quality ingredients, and time-honored craftsmanship over mass production.They scour the globe for the finest ingredients, prioritize Fair Trade, and use only the good stuff – real butter, fresh cream, natural flavors... you get the picture. This isn't just chocolate; it's a labor of love.get ready to dive into the rich and fascinating story behind Bissinger's Chocolates. Dean, take it away!Bissengers Chocolates: https://www.bissingers.com/?tw_source=google&tw_adid=380108473574&tw_campaign=56526533&gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD6kdF8dnR6UnpLYeHfyZ7-sQRkK4&gclid=CjwKCAjwq7fABhB2EiwAwk-YbM0s8mqUlSDVM9qGcTn-HlyT7WDKXsVT7GJivMnJq-s3c9eHEpYQXxoCVwQQAvD_BwEIf you follow my podcast and enjoy it, I'm on @buymeacoffee. If you like my work, you can buy me a coffee and share your thoughts
So what, exactly, was “The Enlightenment”? According to the Princeton historian David A. Bell, it was an intellectual movement roughly spanning the early 18th century through to the French Revolution. In his Spring 2025 Liberties Quarterly piece “The Enlightenment, Then and Now”, Bell charts the Enlightenment as a complex intellectual movement centered in Paris but with hubs across Europe and America. He highlights key figures like Montesquieu, Voltaire, Kant, and Franklin, discussing their contributions to concepts of religious tolerance, free speech, and rationality. In our conversation, Bell addresses criticisms of the Enlightenment, including its complicated relationship with colonialism and slavery, while arguing that its principles of freedom and reason remain relevant today. 5 Key Takeaways* The Enlightenment emerged in the early 18th century (around 1720s) and was characterized by intellectual inquiry, skepticism toward religion, and a growing sense among thinkers that they were living in an "enlightened century."* While Paris was the central hub, the Enlightenment had multiple centers including Scotland, Germany, and America, with thinkers like Voltaire, Rousseau, Kant, Hume, and Franklin contributing to its development.* The Enlightenment introduced the concept of "society" as a sphere of human existence separate from religion and politics, forming the basis of modern social sciences.* The movement had a complex relationship with colonialism and slavery - many Enlightenment thinkers criticized slavery, but some of their ideas about human progress were later used to justify imperialism.* According to Bell, rather than trying to "return to the Enlightenment," modern society should selectively adopt and adapt its valuable principles of free speech, religious tolerance, and education to create our "own Enlightenment."David Avrom Bell is a historian of early modern and modern Europe at Princeton University. His most recent book, published in 2020 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, is Men on Horseback: The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution. Described in the Journal of Modern History as an "instant classic," it is available in paperback from Picador, in French translation from Fayard, and in Italian translation from Viella. A study of how new forms of political charisma arose in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the book shows that charismatic authoritarianism is as modern a political form as liberal democracy, and shares many of the same origins. Based on exhaustive research in original sources, the book includes case studies of the careers of George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Toussaint Louverture and Simon Bolivar. The book's Introduction can be read here. An online conversation about the book with Annette Gordon-Reed, hosted by the Cullman Center of the New York Public Library, can be viewed here. Links to material about the book, including reviews in The New York Review of Books, The Guardian, Harper's, The New Republic, The Nation, Le Monde, The Los Angeles Review of Books and other venues can be found here. Bell is also the author of six previous books. He has published academic articles in both English and French and contributes regularly to general interest publications on a variety of subjects, ranging from modern warfare, to contemporary French politics, to the impact of digital technology on learning and scholarship, and of course French history. A list of his publications from 2023 and 2024 can be found here. His Substack newsletter can be found here. His writings have been translated into French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Hebrew, Swedish, Polish, Russian, German, Croatian, Italian, Turkish and Japanese. At the History Department at Princeton University, he holds the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Chair in the Era of North Atlantic Revolutions, and offers courses on early modern Europe, on military history, and on the early modern French empire. Previously, he spent fourteen years at Johns Hopkins University, including three as Dean of Faculty in its School of Arts and Sciences. From 2020 to 2024 he served as Director of the Shelby Cullom Davis Center for Historical Studies at Princeton. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a corresponding fellow of the British Academy. Bell's new project is a history of the Enlightenment. A preliminary article from the project was published in early 2022 by Modern Intellectual History. Another is now out in French History.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting the daily KEEN ON show, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy interview series. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. FULL TRANSCRIPTAndrew Keen: Hello everybody, in these supposedly dark times, the E word comes up a lot, the Enlightenment. Are we at the end of the Enlightenment or the beginning? Was there even an Enlightenment? My guest today, David Bell, a professor of history, very distinguished professor of history at Princeton University, has an interesting piece in the spring issue of It is One of our, our favorite quarterlies here on Keen on America, Bell's piece is The Enlightenment Then and Now, and David is joining us from the home of the Enlightenment, perhaps Paris in France, where he's on sabbatical hard life. David being an academic these days, isn't it?David Bell: Very difficult. I'm having to suffer the Parisian bread and croissant. It's terrible.Andrew Keen: Yeah. Well, I won't keep you too long. Is Paris then, or France? Is it the home of the Enlightenment? I know there are many Enlightenments, the French, the Scottish, maybe even the English, perhaps even the American.David Bell: It's certainly one of the homes of the Enlightenment, and it's probably the closest that the Enlightened had to a center, absolutely. But as you say, there were Edinburgh, Glasgow, plenty of places in Germany, Philadelphia, all those places have good claims to being centers of the enlightenment as well.Andrew Keen: All the same David, is it like one of those sports games in California where everyone gets a medal?David Bell: Well, they're different metals, right, but I think certainly Paris is where everybody went. I mean, if you look at the figures from the German Enlightenment, from the Scottish Enlightenment from the American Enlightenment they all tended to congregate in Paris and the Parisians didn't tend to go anywhere else unless they were forced to. So that gives you a pretty good sense of where the most important center was.Andrew Keen: So David, before we get to specifics, map out for us, because everyone is perhaps as familiar or comfortable with the history of the Enlightenment, and certainly as you are. When did it happen? What years? And who are the leaders of this thing called the Enlightenment?David Bell: Well, that's a big question. And I'm afraid, of course, that if you ask 10 historians, you'll get 10 different answers.Andrew Keen: Well, I'm only asking you, so I only want one answer.David Bell: So I would say that the Enlightenment really gets going around the first couple of decades of the 18th century. And that's when people really start to think that they are actually living in what they start to call an Enlightenment century. There are a lot of reasons for this. They are seeing what we now call the scientific revolution. They're looking at the progress that has been made with that. They are experiencing the changes in the religious sphere, including the end of religious wars, coming with a great deal of skepticism about religion. They are living in a relative period of peace where they're able to speculate much more broadly and daringly than before. But it's really in those first couple of decades that they start thinking of themselves as living in an enlightened century. They start defining themselves as something that would later be called the enlightenment. So I would say that it's, really, really there between maybe the end of the 17th century and 1720s that it really gets started.Andrew Keen: So let's have some names, David, of philosophers, I guess. I mean, if those are the right words. I know that there was a term in French. There is a term called philosoph. Were they the founders, the leaders of the Enlightenment?David Bell: Well, there is a... Again, I don't want to descend into academic quibbling here, but there were lots of leaders. Let me give an example, though. So the year 1721 is a remarkable year. So in the year, 1721, two amazing events happened within a couple of months of each other. So in May, Montesquieu, one of the great philosophers by any definition, publishes his novel called Persian Letters. And this is an incredible novel. Still, I think one of greatest novels ever written, and it's very daring. It is the account, it is supposedly a an account written by two Persian travelers to Europe who are writing back to people in Isfahan about what they're seeing. And it is very critical of French society. It is very of religion. It is, as I said, very daring philosophically. It is a product in part of the increasing contact between Europe and the rest of the world that is also very central to the Enlightenment. So that novel comes out. So it's immediately, you know, the police try to suppress it. But they don't have much success because it's incredibly popular and Montesquieu doesn't suffer any particular problems because...Andrew Keen: And the French police have never been the most efficient police force in the world, have they?David Bell: Oh, they could be, but not in this case. And then two months later, after Montesquieu published this novel, there's a German philosopher much less well-known than Montesqiu, than Christian Bolz, who is a professor at the Universität Haller in Prussia, and he gives an oration in Latin, a very typical university oration for the time, about Chinese philosophy, in which he says that the Chinese have sort of proved to the world, particularly through the writings of Confucius and others, that you can have a virtuous society without religion. Obviously very controversial. Statement for the time it actually gets him fired from his job, he has to leave the Kingdom of Prussia within 48 hours on penalty of death, starts an enormous controversy. But here are two events, both of which involving non-European people, involving the way in which Europeans are starting to look out at the rest of the world and starting to imagine Europe as just one part of a larger humanity, and at the same time they are starting to speculate very daringly about whether you can have. You know, what it means to have a society, do you need to have religion in order to have morality in society? Do you need the proper, what kind of government do you need to to have virtuous conduct and a proper society? So all of these things get, you know, really crystallize, I think, around these two incidents as much as anything. So if I had to pick a single date for when the enlightenment starts, I'd probably pick that 1721.Andrew Keen: And when was, David, I thought you were going to tell me about the earthquake in Lisbon, when was that earthquake?David Bell: That earthquake comes quite a bit later. That comes, and now historians should be better with dates than I am. It's in the 1750s, I think it's the late 1750's. Again, this historian is proving he's getting a very bad grade for forgetting the exact date, but it's in 1750. So that's a different kind of event, which sparks off a great deal of commentary, because it's a terrible earthquake. It destroys most of the city of Lisbon, it destroys other cities throughout Portugal, and it leads a lot of the philosophy to philosophers at the time to be speculating very daringly again on whether there is any kind of real purpose to the universe and whether there's any kind divine purpose. Why would such a terrible thing happen? Why would God do such a thing to his followers? And certainly VoltaireAndrew Keen: Yeah, Votav, of course, comes to mind of questioning.David Bell: And Condit, Voltaire's novel Condit gives a very good description of the earthquake in Lisbon and uses that as a centerpiece. Voltair also read other things about the earthquake, a poem about Lisbon earthquake. But in Condit he gives a lasting, very scathing portrait of the Catholic Church in general and then of what happens in Portugal. And so the Lisbon Earthquake is certainly another one of the events, but it happens considerably later. Really in the middle of the end of life.Andrew Keen: So, David, you believe in this idea of the Enlightenment. I take your point that there are more than one Enlightenment in more than one center, but in broad historical terms, the 18th century could be defined at least in Western and Northern Europe as the period of the Enlightenment, would that be a fair generalization?David Bell: I think it's perfectly fair generalization. Of course, there are historians who say that it never happened. There's a conservative British historian, J.C.D. Clark, who published a book last summer, saying that the Enlightenment is a kind of myth, that there was a lot of intellectual activity in Europe, obviously, but that the idea that it formed a coherent Enlightenment was really invented in the 20th century by a bunch of progressive reformers who wanted to claim a kind of venerable and august pedigree for their own reform, liberal reform plans. I think that's an exaggeration. People in the 18th century defined very clearly what was going on, both people who were in favor of it and people who are against it. And while you can, if you look very closely at it, of course it gets a bit fuzzy. Of course it's gets, there's no single, you can't define a single enlightenment project or a single enlightened ideology. But then, I think people would be hard pressed to define any intellectual movement. You know, in perfect, incoherent terms. So the enlightenment is, you know by compared with almost any other intellectual movement certainly existed.Andrew Keen: In terms of a philosophy of the Enlightenment, the German thinker, Immanuel Kant, seems to be often, and when you describe him as the conscience or the brain or a mixture of the conscience and brain of the enlightenment, why is Kant and Kantian thinking so important in the development of the Enlightenment.David Bell: Well, that's a really interesting question. And one reason is because most of the Enlightenment was not very rigorously philosophical. A lot of the major figures of the enlightenment before Kant tended to be writing for a general public. And they often were writing with a very specific agenda. We look at Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau. Now you look at Adam Smith in Scotland. We look David Hume or Adam Ferguson. You look at Benjamin Franklin in the United States. These people wrote in all sorts of different genres. They wrote in, they wrote all sorts of different kinds of books. They have many different purposes and very few of them did a lot of what we would call rigorous academic philosophy. And Kant was different. Kant was very much an academic philosopher. Kant was nothing if not rigorous. He came at the end of the enlightenment by most people's measure. He wrote these very, very difficult, very rigorous, very brilliant works, such as The Creek of Pure Reason. And so, it's certainly been the case that people who wanted to describe the Enlightenment as a philosophy have tended to look to Kant. So for example, there's a great German philosopher and intellectual historian of the early 20th century named Ernst Kassirer, who had to leave Germany because of the Nazis. And he wrote a great book called The Philosophy of the Enlightened. And that leads directly to Immanuel Kant. And of course, Casir himself was a Kantian, identified with Kant. And so he wanted to make Kant, in a sense, the telos, the end point, the culmination, the fulfillment of the Enlightenment. But so I think that's why Kant has such a particularly important position. You're defining it both ways.Andrew Keen: I've always struggled to understand what Kant was trying to say. I'm certainly not alone there. Might it be fair to say that he was trying to transform the universe and certainly traditional Christian notions into the Enlightenment, so the entire universe, the world, God, whatever that means, that they were all somehow according to Kant enlightened.David Bell: Well, I think that I'm certainly no expert on Immanuel Kant. And I would say that he is trying to, I mean, his major philosophical works are trying to put together a system of philosophical thinking which will justify why people have to act morally, why people act rationally, without the need for Christian revelation to bolster them. That's a very, very crude and reductionist way of putting it, but that's essentially at the heart of it. At the same time, Kant was very much aware of his own place in history. So Kant didn't simply write these very difficult, thick, dense philosophical works. He also wrote things that were more like journalism or like tablets. He wrote a famous essay called What is Enlightenment? And in that, he said that the 18th century was the period in which humankind was simply beginning to. Reach a period of enlightenment. And he said, he starts the essay by saying, this is the period when humankind is being released from its self-imposed tutelage. And we are still, and he said we do not yet live in the midst of a completely enlightened century, but we are getting there. We are living in a century that is enlightening.Andrew Keen: So the seeds, the seeds of Hegel and maybe even Marx are incant in that German thinking, that historical thinking.David Bell: In some ways, in some ways of course Hegel very much reacts against Kant and so and then Marx reacts against Hegel. So it's not exactly.Andrew Keen: Well, that's the dialectic, isn't it, David?David Bell: A simple easy path from one to the other, no, but Hegel is unimaginable without Kant of course and Marx is unimagineable without Hegel.Andrew Keen: You note that Kant represents a shift in some ways into the university and the walls of the universities were going up, and that some of the other figures associated with the the Enlightenment and Scottish Enlightenment, human and Smith and the French Enlightenment Voltaire and the others, they were more generalist writers. Should we be nostalgic for the pre-university period in the Enlightenment, or? Did things start getting serious once the heavyweights, the academic heavyweighs like Emmanuel Kant got into this thing?David Bell: I think it depends on where we're talking about. I mean, Adam Smith was a professor at Glasgow in Edinburgh, so Smith, the Scottish Enlightenment was definitely at least partly in the universities. The German Enlightenment took place very heavily in universities. Christian Vodafoy I just mentioned was the most important German philosopher of the 18th century before Kant, and he had positions in university. Even the French university system, for a while, what's interesting about the French University system, particularly the Sorbonne, which was the theology faculty, It was that. Throughout the first half of the 18th century, there were very vigorous, very interesting philosophical debates going on there, in which the people there, particularly even Jesuits there, were very open to a lot of the ideas we now call enlightenment. They were reading John Locke, they were reading Mel Pench, they were read Dekalb. What happened though in the French universities was that as more daring stuff was getting published elsewhere. Church, the Catholic Church, started to say, all right, these philosophers, these philosophies, these are our enemies, these are people we have to get at. And so at that point, anybody who was in the university, who was still in dialog with these people was basically purged. And the universities became much less interesting after that. But to come back to your question, I do think that I am very nostalgic for that period. I think that the Enlightenment was an extraordinary period, because if you look between. In the 17th century, not all, but a great deal of the most interesting intellectual work is happening in the so-called Republic of Letters. It's happening in Latin language. It is happening on a very small circle of RUD, of scholars. By the 19th century following Kant and Hegel and then the birth of the research university in Germany, which is copied everywhere, philosophy and the most advanced thinking goes back into the university. And the 18th century, particularly in France, I will say, is a time when the most advanced thought is being written for a general public. It is being in the form of novels, of dialogs, of stories, of reference works, and it is very, very accessible. The most profound thought of the West has never been as accessible overall as in the 18 century.Andrew Keen: Again, excuse this question, it might seem a bit naive, but there's a lot of pre-Enlightenment work, books, thinking that we read now that's very accessible from Erasmus and Thomas More to Machiavelli. Why weren't characters like, or are characters like Erasmuus, More's Utopia, Machiavell's prints and discourses, why aren't they considered part of the Enlightenment? What's the difference between? Enlightened thinkers or the supposedly enlightened thinkers of the 18th century and thinkers and writers of the 16th and 17th centuries.David Bell: That's a good question, you know, I think you have to, you, you know, again, one has to draw a line somewhere. That's not a very good answer, of course. All these people that you just mentioned are, in one way or another, predecessors to the Enlightenment. And of course, there were lots of people. I don't mean to say that nobody wrote in an accessible way before 1700. Obviously, lots of the people you mentioned did. Although a lot of them originally wrote in Latin, Erasmus, also Thomas More. But I think what makes the Enlightened different is that you have, again, you have a sense. These people have have a sense that they are themselves engaged in a collective project, that it is a collective project of enlightenment, of enlightening the world. They believe that they live in a century of progress. And there are certain principles. They don't agree on everything by any means. The philosophy of enlightenment is like nothing more than ripping each other to shreds, like any decent group of intellectuals. But that said, they generally did believe That people needed to have freedom of speech. They believed that you needed to have toleration of different religions. They believed in education and the need for a broadly educated public that could be as broad as possible. They generally believed in keeping religion out of the public sphere as much as possible, so all those principles came together into a program that we can consider at least a kind of... You know, not that everybody read it at every moment by any means, but there is an identifiable enlightenment program there, and in this case an identifiable enlightenment mindset. One other thing, I think, which is crucial to the Enlightenment, is that it was the attention they started to pay to something that we now take almost entirely for granted, which is the idea of society. The word society is so entirely ubiquitous, we assume it's always been there, and in one sense it has, because the word societas is a Latin word. But until... The 18th century, the word society generally had a much narrower meaning. It referred to, you know, particular institution most often, like when we talk about the society of, you know, the American philosophical society or something like that. And the idea that there exists something called society, which is the general sphere of human existence that is separate from religion and is separate from the political sphere, that's actually something which only really emerged at the end of the 1600s. And it became really the focus of you know, much, if not most, of enlightenment thinking. When you look at someone like Montesquieu and you look something, somebody like Rousseau or Voltaire or Adam Smith, probably above all, they were concerned with understanding how society works, not how government works only, but how society, what social interactions are like beginning of what we would now call social science. So that's yet another thing that distinguishes the enlightened from people like Machiavelli, often people like Thomas More, and people like bonuses.Andrew Keen: You noted earlier that the idea of progress is somehow baked in, in part, and certainly when it comes to Kant, certainly the French Enlightenment, although, of course, Rousseau challenged that. I'm not sure whether Rousseaut, as always, is both in and out of the Enlightenment and he seems to be in and out of everything. How did the Enlightement, though, make sense of itself in the context of antiquity, as it was, of Terms, it was the Renaissance that supposedly discovered or rediscovered antiquity. How did many of the leading Enlightenment thinkers, writers, how did they think of their own society in the context of not just antiquity, but even the idea of a European or Western society?David Bell: Well, there was a great book, one of the great histories of the Enlightenment was written about more than 50 years ago by the Yale professor named Peter Gay, and the first part of that book was called The Modern Paganism. So it was about the, you know, it was very much about the relationship between the Enlightenment and the ancient Greek synonyms. And certainly the writers of the enlightenment felt a great deal of kinship with the ancient Greek synonymous. They felt a common bond, particularly in the posing. Christianity and opposing what they believed the Christian Church had wrought on Europe in suppressing freedom and suppressing free thought and suppassing free inquiry. And so they felt that they were both recovering but also going beyond antiquity at the same time. And of course they were all, I mean everybody at the time, every single major figure of the Enlightenment, their education consisted in large part of what we would now call classics, right? I mean, there was an educational reformer in France in the 1760s who said, you know, our educational system is great if the purpose is to train Roman centurions, if it's to train modern people who are not doing both so well. And it's true. I mean they would spend, certainly, you know in Germany, in much of Europe, in the Netherlands, even in France, I mean people were trained not simply to read Latin, but to write in Latin. In Germany, university courses took part in the Latin language. So there's an enormous, you know, so they're certainly very, very conversant with the Greek and Roman classics, and they identify with them to a very great extent. Someone like Rousseau, I mean, and many others, and what's his first reading? How did he learn to read by reading Plutarch? In translation, but he learns to read reading Plutach. He sees from the beginning by this enormous admiration for the ancients that we get from Bhutan.Andrew Keen: Was Socrates relevant here? Was the Enlightenment somehow replacing Aristotle with Socrates and making him and his spirit of Enlightenment, of asking questions rather than answering questions, the symbol of a new way of thinking?David Bell: I would say to a certain extent, so I mean, much of the Enlightenment criticizes scholasticism, medieval scholastic, very, very sharply, and medieval scholasticism is founded philosophically very heavily upon Aristotle, so to that extent. And the spirit of skepticism that Socrates embodied, the idea of taking nothing for granted and asking questions about everything, including questions of oneself, yes, absolutely. That said, while the great figures of the Red Plato, you know, Socrates was generally I mean, it was not all that present as they come. But certainly have people with people with red play-doh in the entire virus.Andrew Keen: You mentioned Benjamin Franklin earlier, David. Most of the Enlightenment, of course, seems to be centered in France and Scotland, Germany, England. But America, many Europeans went to America then as a, what some people would call a settler colonial society, or certainly an offshoot of the European world. Was the settling of America and the American Revolution Was it the quintessential Enlightenment project?David Bell: Another very good question, and again, it depends a bit on who you talk to. I just mentioned this book by Peter Gay, and the last part of his book is called The Science of Freedom, and it's all about the American Revolution. So certainly a lot of interpreters of the Enlightenment have said that, yes, the American revolution represents in a sense the best possible outcome of the American Revolution, it was the best, possible outcome of the enlightened. Certainly there you look at the founding fathers of the United States and there's a great deal that they took from me like Certainly, they took a great great number of political ideas from Obviously Madison was very much inspired and drafting the edifice of the Constitution by Montesquieu to see himself Was happy to admit in addition most of the founding Fathers of the united states were you know had kind of you know We still had we were still definitely Christians, but we're also but we were also very much influenced by deism were very much against the idea of making the United States a kind of confessional country where Christianity was dominant. They wanted to believe in the enlightenment principles of free speech, religious toleration and so on and so forth. So in all those senses and very much the gun was probably more inspired than Franklin was somebody who was very conversant with the European Enlightenment. He spent a large part of his life in London. Where he was in contact with figures of the Enlightenment. He also, during the American Revolution, of course, he was mostly in France, where he is vetted by some of the surviving fellows and were very much in contact for them as well. So yes, I would say the American revolution is certainly... And then the American revolutionary scene, of course by the Europeans, very much as a kind of offshoot of the enlightenment. So one of the great books of the late Enlightenment is by Condor Say, which he wrote while he was hiding actually in the future evolution of the chariot. It's called a historical sketch of the progress of the human spirit, or the human mind, and you know he writes about the American Revolution as being, basically owing its existence to being like...Andrew Keen: Franklin is of course an example of your pre-academic enlightenment, a generalist, inventor, scientist, entrepreneur, political thinker. What about the role of science and indeed economics in the Enlightenment? David, we're going to talk of course about the Marxist interpretation, perhaps the Marxist interpretation which sees The Enlightenment is just a euphemism, perhaps, for exploitative capitalism. How central was the growth and development of the market, of economics, and innovation, and capitalism in your reading of The Enlightened?David Bell: Well, in my reading, it was very important, but not in the way that the Marxists used to say. So Friedrich Engels once said that the Enlightenment was basically the idealized kingdom of the bourgeoisie, and there was whole strain of Marxist thinking that followed the assumption that, and then Karl Marx himself argued that the documents like the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen, which obviously were inspired by the Enlightment, were simply kind of the near, or kind of. Way that the bourgeoisie was able to advance itself ideologically, and I don't think that holds much water, which is very little indication that any particular economic class motivated the Enlightenment or was using the Enlightment in any way. That said, I think it's very difficult to imagine the Enlightement without the social and economic changes that come in with the 18th century. To begin with globalization. If you read the great works of the Enlightenment, it's remarkable just how open they are to talking about humanity in general. So one of Voltaire's largest works, one of his most important works, is something called Essay on Customs and the Spirit of Nations, which is actually History of the World, where he talks learnedly not simply about Europe, but about the Americas, about China, about Africa, about India. Montesquieu writes Persian letters. Christian Volpe writes about Chinese philosophy. You know, Rousseau writes about... You know, the earliest days of humankind talks about Africa. All the great figures of the Enlightenment are writing about the rest of the world, and this is a period in which contacts between Europe and the rest the world are exploding along with international trade. So by the end of the 18th century, there are 4,000 to 5,000 ships a year crossing the Atlantic. It's an enormous number. And that's one context in which the enlightenment takes place. Another is what we call the consumer revolution. So in the 18th century, certainly in the major cities of Western Europe, people of a wide range of social classes, including even artisans, sort of somewhat wealthy artisians, shopkeepers, are suddenly able to buy a much larger range of products than they were before. They're able to choose how to basically furnish their own lives, if you will, how they're gonna dress, what they're going to eat, what they gonna put on the walls of their apartments and so on and so forth. And so they become accustomed to exercising a great deal more personal choice than their ancestors have done. And the Enlightenment really develops in tandem with this. Most of the great works of the Enlightment, they're not really written to, they're treatises, they're like Kant, they're written to persuade you to think in a single way. Really written to make you ask questions yourself, to force you to ponder things. They're written in the form of puzzles and riddles. Voltaire had a great line there, he wrote that the best kind of books are the books that readers write half of themselves as they read, and that's sort of the quintessence of the Enlightenment as far as I'm concerned.Andrew Keen: Yeah, Voltaire might have been comfortable on YouTube or Facebook. David, you mentioned all those ships going from Europe across the Atlantic. Of course, many of those ships were filled with African slaves. You mentioned this in your piece. I mean, this is no secret, of course. You also mentioned a couple of times Montesquieu's Persian letters. To what extent is... The enlightenment then perhaps the birth of Western power, of Western colonialism, of going to Africa, seizing people, selling them in North America, the French, the English, Dutch colonization of the rest of the world. Of course, later more sophisticated Marxist thinkers from the Frankfurt School, you mentioned these in your essay, Odorno and Horkheimer in particular, See the Enlightenment as... A project, if you like, of Western domination. I remember reading many years ago when I was in graduate school, Edward Said, his analysis of books like The Persian Letters, which is a form of cultural Western power. How much of this is simply bound up in the profound, perhaps, injustice of the Western achievement? And of course, some of the justice as well. We haven't talked about Jefferson, but perhaps in Jefferson's life and his thinking and his enlightened principles and his... Life as a slave owner, these contradictions are most self-evident.David Bell: Well, there are certainly contradictions, and there's certainly... I think what's remarkable, if you think about it, is that if you read through works of the Enlightenment, you would be hard-pressed to find a justification for slavery. You do find a lot of critiques of slavery, and I think that's something very important to keep in mind. Obviously, the chattel slavery of Africans in the Americas began well before the Enlightment, it began in 1500. The Enlightenment doesn't have the credit for being the first movement to oppose slavery. That really goes back to various religious groups, especially the Fakers. But that said, you have in France, you had in Britain, in America even, you'd have a lot of figures associated with the Enlightenment who were pretty sure of becoming very forceful opponents of slavery very early. Now, when it comes to imperialism, that's a tricky issue. What I think you'd find in these light bulbs, you'd different sorts of tendencies and different sorts of writings. So there are certainly a lot of writers of the Enlightenment who are deeply opposed to European authorities. One of the most popular works of the late Enlightenment was a collective work edited by the man named the Abbe Rinal, which is called The History of the Two Indies. And that is a book which is deeply, deeply critical of European imperialism. At the same time, at the same of the enlightenment, a lot the works of history written during the Enlightment. Tended, such as Voltaire's essay on customs, which I just mentioned, tend to give a kind of very linear version of history. They suggest that all societies follow the same path, from sort of primitive savagery, hunter-gatherers, through early agriculture, feudal stages, and on into sort of modern commercial society and civilization. And so they're basically saying, okay, we, the Europeans, are the most advanced. People like the Africans and the Native Americans are the least advanced, and so perhaps we're justified in going and quote, bringing our civilization to them, what later generations would call the civilizing missions, or possibly just, you know, going over and exploiting them because we are stronger and we are more, and again, we are the best. And then there's another thing that the Enlightenment did. The Enlightenment tended to destroy an older Christian view of humankind, which in some ways militated against modern racism. Christians believed, of course, that everyone was the same from Adam and Eve, which meant that there was an essential similarity in the world. And the Enlightenment challenged this by challenging the biblical kind of creation. The Enlightenment challenges this. Voltaire, for instance, believed that there had actually been several different human species that had different origins, and that can very easily become a justification for racism. Buffon, one of the most Figures of the French Enlightenment, one of the early naturalists, was crucial for trying to show that in fact nature is not static, that nature is always changing, that species are changing, including human beings. And so again, that allowed people to think in terms of human beings at different stages of evolution, and perhaps this would be a justification for privileging the more advanced humans over the less advanced. In the 18th century itself, most of these things remain potential, rather than really being acted upon. But in the 19th century, figures of writers who would draw upon these things certainly went much further, and these became justifications for slavery, imperialism, and other things. So again, the Enlightenment is the source of a great deal of stuff here, and you can't simply put it into one box or more.Andrew Keen: You mentioned earlier, David, that Concorda wrote one of the later classics of the... Condorcet? Sorry, Condorcets, excuse my French. Condorcès wrote one the later Classics of the Enlightenment when he was hiding from the French Revolution. In your mind, was the revolution itself the natural conclusion, climax? Perhaps anti-climax of the Enlightenment. Certainly, it seems as if a lot of the critiques of the French Revolution, particularly the more conservative ones, Burke comes to mind, suggested that perhaps the principles of in the Enlightment inevitably led to the guillotine, or is that an unfair way of thinking of it?David Bell: Well, there are a lot of people who have thought like that. Edmund Burke already, writing in 1790, in his reflections on the revolution in France, he said that everything which was great in the old regime is being dissolved and, quoting, dissolved by this new conquering empire of light and reason. And then he said about the French that in the groves of their academy at the end of every vista, you see nothing but the gallows. Nothing but the Gallows. So there, in 1780, he already seemed to be predicting the reign of terror and blaming it. A certain extent from the Enlightenment. That said, I think, you know, again, the French Revolution is incredibly complicated event. I mean, you certainly have, you know, an explosion of what we could call Enlightenment thinking all over the place. In France, it happened in France. What happened there was that you had a, you know, the collapse of an extraordinarily inefficient government and a very, you know, in a very antiquated, paralyzed system of government kind of collapsed, created a kind of political vacuum. Into that vacuum stepped a lot of figures who were definitely readers of the Enlightenment. Oh so um but again the Enlightment had I said I don't think you can call the Enlightement a single thing so to say that the Enlightiment inspired the French Revolution rather than the There you go.Andrew Keen: Although your essay on liberties is the Enlightenment then and now you probably didn't write is always these lazy editors who come up with inaccurate and inaccurate titles. So for you, there is no such thing as the Enlighten.David Bell: No, there is. There is. But still, it's a complex thing. It contains multitudes.Andrew Keen: So it's the Enlightenment rather than the United States.David Bell: Conflicting tendencies, it has contradictions within it. There's enough unity to refer to it as a singular noun, but it doesn't mean that it all went in one single direction.Andrew Keen: But in historical terms, did the failure of the French Revolution, its descent into Robespierre and then Bonaparte, did it mark the end in historical terms a kind of bookend of history? You began in 1720 by 1820. Was the age of the Enlightenment pretty much over?David Bell: I would say yes. I think that, again, one of the things about the French Revolution is that people who are reading these books and they're reading these ideas and they are discussing things really start to act on them in a very different way from what it did before the French revolution. You have a lot of absolute monarchs who are trying to bring certain enlightenment principles to bear in their form of government, but they're not. But it's difficult to talk about a full-fledged attempt to enact a kind of enlightenment program. Certainly a lot of the people in the French Revolution saw themselves as doing that. But as they did it, they ran into reality, I would say. I mean, now Tocqueville, when he writes his old regime in the revolution, talks about how the French philosophes were full of these abstract ideas that were divorced from reality. And while that's an exaggeration, there was a certain truth to them. And as soon as you start having the age of revolutions, as soon you start people having to devise systems of government that will actually last, and as you have people, democratic representative systems that will last, and as they start revising these systems under the pressure of actual events, then you're not simply talking about an intellectual movement anymore, you're talking about something very different. And so I would say that, well, obviously the ideas of the Enlightenment continue to inspire people, the books continue to be read, debated. They lead on to figures like Kant, and as we talked about earlier, Kant leads to Hegel, Hegel leads to Marx in a certain sense. Nonetheless, by the time you're getting into the 19th century, what you have, you know, has connections to the Enlightenment, but can we really still call it the Enlightment? I would sayAndrew Keen: And Tocqueville, of course, found democracy in America. Is democracy itself? I know it's a big question. But is it? Bound up in the Enlightenment. You've written extensively, David, both for liberties and elsewhere on liberalism. Is the promise of democracy, democratic systems, the one born in the American Revolution, promised in the French Revolution, not realized? Are they products of the Enlightment, or is the 19th century and the democratic systems that in the 19th century, is that just a separate historical track?David Bell: Again, I would say there are certain things in the Enlightenment that do lead in that direction. Certainly, I think most figures in the enlightenment in one general sense or another accepted the idea of a kind of general notion of popular sovereignty. It didn't mean that they always felt that this was going to be something that could necessarily be acted upon or implemented in their own day. And they didn't necessarily associate generalized popular sovereignty with what we would now call democracy with people being able to actually govern themselves. Would be certain figures, certainly Diderot and some of his essays, what we saw very much in the social contract, you know, were sketching out, you knows, models for possible democratic system. Condorcet, who actually lived into the French Revolution, wrote one of the most draft constitutions for France, that's one of most democratic documents ever proposed. But of course there were lots of figures in the Enlightenment, Voltaire, and others who actually believed much more in absolute monarchy, who believed that you just, you know, you should have. Freedom of speech and freedom of discussion, out of which the best ideas would emerge, but then you had to give those ideas to the prince who imposed them by poor sicknesses.Andrew Keen: And of course, Rousseau himself, his social contract, some historians have seen that as the foundations of totalitarian, modern totalitarianism. Finally, David, your wonderful essay in Liberties in the spring quarterly 2025 is The Enlightenment, Then and Now. What about now? You work at Princeton, your president has very bravely stood up to the new presidential regime in the United States, in defense of academic intellectual freedom. Does the word and the movement, does it have any relevance in the 2020s, particularly in an age of neo-authoritarianism around the world?David Bell: I think it does. I think we have to be careful about it. I always get a little nervous when people say, well, we should simply go back to the Enlightenment, because the Enlightenments is history. We don't go back the 18th century. I think what we need to do is to recover certain principles, certain ideals from the 18 century, the ones that matter to us, the ones we think are right, and make our own Enlightenment better. I don't think we need be governed by the 18 century. Thomas Paine once said that no generation should necessarily rule over every generation to come, and I think that's probably right. Unfortunately in the United States, we have a constitution which is now essentially unamendable, so we're doomed to live by a constitution largely from the 18th century. But are there many things in the Enlightenment that we should look back to, absolutely?Andrew Keen: Well, David, I am going to free you for your own French Enlightenment. You can go and have some croissant now in your local cafe in Paris. Thank you so much for a very, I excuse the pun, enlightening conversation on the Enlightenment then and now, Essential Essay in Liberties. I'd love to get you back on the show. Talk more history. Thank you. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
Blood and bayonets! Amidst war and revolution, the French Republic must rebuild its shattered officer corps and overhaul outdated tactics. From the rise of meritocracy to the birth of a bold new military doctrine, discover how revolutionary France redefined modern warfare and prepared an unbelievable comeback! Early Access Don't wait! Support the show and listen to Episode 1.89 "The Republic Strikes Back!" now! Available for all True Revolutionaries and above! Bonus Content 1.88.1 Skirmishers: Light & Lethal Small units, big impact. Discover how untrained recruits became deadly assets on the battlefield, using speed, stealth, and surprise to disrupt traditional armies. From harassing enemy lines to shielding full-scale assaults, these troops helped redefine revolutionary warfare. Explainer Videos Line Formations Column Formations The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We live in an age where our attention has become a most valuable commodity. You know this. We all hear about this. Yet, do you fight for your focus?. Each time you allow your phone to interrupt you, you weaken your focus. Each moment you spend scrolling through someone else's life is a moment stolen from building your own. The cost of distraction is not just time—it's your dreams, your genius, your legacy. The world doesn't need more people chasing likes or watching others live. It needs you—fully alive, fully engaged, doing work that matters. Napoleon Bonaparte said, “The battlefield is the mind.” Win the war against distraction, and you sort of win everything. So, take back control. Schedule your work and protect it like your life depends on it—because it does. Turn off the noise. Work in blocks of uninterrupted time. Step into the rare-air of those who create, while others consume. If you'd like to master a world-class morning routine so you have consistently incredible days, claim a membership into The 5AM Club Method online course here. You're going to absolutely love it! FOLLOW ROBIN SHARMA:InstagramFacebookTwitterYouTube
Her portrait by David is one of the most iconic paintings in the Louvre's entire collection, and attracts millions of viewers each year. As she reclines on her sofa, a sofa she popularized so much that it now bears her name, she teases us with her curly hair, rosy cheeks, and inscrutable smile. Though her image has been reproduced in countless mediums across the globe, few know that she was one of the most remarkable women of the nineteenth century, and inspired the greatest artists, writers, intellects, and politicians of her day, with not only her unrivaled beauty but with the goodness of her heart. In this episode of ArtMuse, we share the immense life story of Madame Juliette Récamier, a French socialite and famed beauty, affectionately dubbed the “darling of Europe”. In fact, her looks were so enchanting, that she drove some of the most powerful men of all of history wild with desire, including Napoleon Bonaparte, his brother Lucien, and the Prince of Prussia. Be sure to follow ArtMuse on Instagram & TikTok. Donate to ArtMuse HERE. ArtMuse is produced by Kula Production Company. Today's episode was written by host Grace Anna. There are accompanying images, resources and suggestions for further reading on the ArtMuse website and Instagram.
In the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean, on the tiny island of Saint Helena, sits the Longwood House. It was the final home of Napoleon Bonaparte. And while there – amidst the serenity Saint Helena has to offer – the former emperor of France became a more reflective person.
For the Republic! Desperate and surrounded, the French government embarks on an unprecedented embrace of 'total war'. Upending the traditional means of warfare, the Convention commences mass conscriptions and coordinated propaganda campaigns. Both the levée en masse and it's propaganda efforts are a prelude to the modern wars of the 20th century and act as key turning points in the development of warfare. Early Access Don't wait! Support the show and listen to 1.88 Total War II: Leadership and Tactics now! Available for all True Revolutionaries and above! Bonus Content 1.87.1 To Enlist or Resist 1.87.2 Stagecraft for Statecraft The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In Week 4 of our Stinkin' Thinkin' series, we dive into one of the most dangerous mindsets that can derail our spiritual lives: Entitlement – the belief that we inherently deserve privileges or special treatment. We explore how entitlement distorts our perspective, blurs the line between rights and privileges, and ultimately pulls us away from a Christ-centered mindset. Through scripture, history (like Napoleon Bonaparte's legacy), and real-life examples, we're challenged to trade pride for humility and adopt the mind of Christ.
Nous sommes le 15 janvier 1835, au château de Chimay. C'est à l'âge de soixante-et-un ans, au terme d'une vie mouvementée, qu'elle comparait elle-même à un roman, que meurt celle que l'Histoire retiendra sous le nom de Madame Tallien. Fille d'un riche banquier espagnol, elle épouse à quinze ans, en France, un peu reluisant marquis dont elle divorce en pleine tourmente révolutionnaire. Adhérant aux idées des Lumières, se retrouvant en prison, à Bordeaux, après avoir dû fuir Paris, elle demande l'aide de Jean-Lambert Tallien qui a des responsabilités politiques. Il la sort de ses ennuis et tous deux se marient, mais il la déçoit. Elle le quitte, devient la maîtresse d'un financier avant de convoler avec le futur prince de Chimay. Une énumération à la mode « magazine à sensation » qui ne doit pas faire oublier que Madame Tallien est une des figures féminines de la Révolution, aux côtés de Madame Roland, Charlotte Corday, Olympe de Gouges ou encore Théroigne de Méricourt. Elle parviendra, notamment, à sauver de la guillotine de nombreux individus, d'où son surnom de « Notre-Dame de Bon Secours ». Elle est aussi une animatrice de la vie intellectuelle de son époque. Sa rencontre avec Napoléon Bonaparte ne lui laissera pas que de bons souvenirs. Partons sur les traces d'une femme qui semble avoir eu mille vies … Avec : Benoît BEYER de RYKE, historien et philosophe, collaborateur scientifique à l'ULB. Merci pour votre écoute Un Jour dans l'Histoire, c'est également en direct tous les jours de la semaine de 13h15 à 14h30 sur www.rtbf.be/lapremiere Retrouvez tous les épisodes d'Un Jour dans l'Histoire sur notre plateforme Auvio.be :https://auvio.rtbf.be/emission/5936 Intéressés par l'histoire ? Vous pourriez également aimer nos autres podcasts : L'Histoire Continue: https://audmns.com/kSbpELwL'heure H : https://audmns.com/YagLLiKEt sa version à écouter en famille : La Mini Heure H https://audmns.com/YagLLiKAinsi que nos séries historiques :Chili, le Pays de mes Histoires : https://audmns.com/XHbnevhD-Day : https://audmns.com/JWRdPYIJoséphine Baker : https://audmns.com/wCfhoEwLa folle histoire de l'aviation : https://audmns.com/xAWjyWCLes Jeux Olympiques, l'étonnant miroir de notre Histoire : https://audmns.com/ZEIihzZMarguerite, la Voix d'une Résistante : https://audmns.com/zFDehnENapoléon, le crépuscule de l'Aigle : https://audmns.com/DcdnIUnUn Jour dans le Sport : https://audmns.com/xXlkHMHSous le sable des Pyramides : https://audmns.com/rXfVppvN'oubliez pas de vous y abonner pour ne rien manquer.Et si vous avez apprécié ce podcast, n'hésitez pas à nous donner des étoiles ou des commentaires, cela nous aide à le faire connaître plus largement. Distribué par Audiomeans. Visitez audiomeans.fr/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.
It all started in the 1500s with Sir Francis Bacon, and then in the 1700s with Carl Linnaeus. And along the way we run into Thomas Jefferson, President McKinley, Melvil Dewey, Elihu Root, Napoleon Bonaparte, Al Capone, Teddy Roosevelt, the Library of Congress, Ainsworth Rand Spofford and J. Edgar Hoover. All of them to birth the FBI.
Our monthly scheduled horse sesh with the Agitator bros. Covering Giza Pyramid developments, Napoleon, and groundbreaking certified hood classic Snow on Tha Bluff (2012). Pre Order Gods Fare no Better by J David Osborne https://ronintrash.bigcartel.com/product/gods-fare-no-better Listen to Agitator https://www.patreon.com/agitator Get 40% off of Rare Candy Premium Subscriptions Until 03/31/25 https://rarecandy.substack.com/ Follow Rare Candy everywhere https://beacons.ai/rarecandy Time Stamps Timestamps 00:00 Intro/Giza Pyramids 09:58 Writing Community Issues 22:26 Trump Assasination Attempt 28:58 Pyramids Continued 35:57 Napoleon Bonaparte 38:25 Almonds/Gavin Newsome/Tim Walz 43:01 Snow On Tha Bluff (2012) 01:29:26 Modern Technology in Art
Napoleon sought to consolidate his rule by promising reforms and peace in Europe, but the powers of the Seventh Coalition including Britain, Prussia, Austria, and Russia declared him an outlaw and he was defeated at the Battle of ...
War returns! Surrounded by enemies on every frontier, the French Republic was desperate and divided. Luckily for the French, their foes were no less dysfunctional. This episode recaps the War of the First Coalition, from its origins and opening stages to the traitorous betrayal of General Dumouriez. It also examines the summer campaign of 1793, with the Prussians besieging Mainz and Anglo-Austrian forces focused on Condé and Valenciennes. Finally, it explores the contradictory aims of the great powers as each ally focuses on it's own geopolitical priorities in Poland, Belgium, and Bavaria. Early Access Don't wait! Support the show and listen to Episode 87 "Total War I: Conscription and Propaganda" now! Available for all True Revolutionaries and above! The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How did virtue and friendship shape the French Revolution and the Terror? This interview with Dr Marisa Linton examines the how the politics of virtue shaped the revolutionary era and the development of the Terror. It also explores the important dynamics of friendships and how both relationships and virtue were weaponized to political advantage. From the Fall of the Girondins to the denouncement of former friends, there's plenty to unpack! Don't miss this insightful deep dive into one of history's most controversial eras! Follow Dr Marisa Linton About X.com BlueSky Book Recommendations: Choosing Terror: Virtue, Friendship and Authenticity in the French Revolution Terror: The French Revolution and its Demons, with Michel Biard Early Access Don't wait! Support the show and listen to Episode 86 "Defeats and Dysfunction" now! Available for all True Revolutionaries and above! The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
"He who saves the country does not violate any law." Trump, using a menacing Napoleon Bonaparte line, suggests yet again that he is above the law. Legal expert and founder of the Democracy Docket, Marc Elias, joins to discuss. Plus, Assistant Democratic Leader, Congressman Joe Neguse, talks about how Democrats are fighting back against the Trump administration.
The revolution devours its children! From princes to mayors, politicians to priests, explore the ultimate fate of yesterday's heroes! This main episode unpacks the rise and demise of the Duke of Orléans (Philippe Égalité) and Madame Roland. Two controversial figures who were once proud Jacobins, the revolution had turned on its biggest supporters. Episode Extra 1.84.1 Dead or Alive? Examine the fate of several revolutionaries who rose to prominence during the constitutional monarchy. This includes Necker, Talleyrand, Abbé Sieyès, Mayor Bailly, and the Feuillant leader Barnave. Early Access Don't wait! Support the show and listen to Episode 85 "Virtue, Friendship, and Terror with Dr Marisa Linton" now! Available for all True Revolutionaries and above! The Grey History Community Help keep Grey History on the air! Every revolution needs its supporters, and we need you! With an ad-free feed, a community discord, a reading club, and tonnes of exclusive bonus content, you're missing out! Do your part for as little as half a cup of coffee per episode! It's the best value on the internet, with the best people too! Join Now And Support the Show Make a one-off donation Contact Me Send your questions, praise, and scorn here Newsletter Sign Up for Free Bonus Episode Follow on Social Media: Facebook Instagram X Advertising Please contact sales@advertisecast.com if you would like to advertise on Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon. All members of the Grey History Community have an ad-free version of the show. Support the show here. About Grey History: The French Revolution and Napoleon is a podcast dedicated to exploring the complexities of our history. By examining both the experiences of contemporaries and the conclusions of historians, Grey History seeks to unpack the ambiguities and nuances of the past. Understanding the French Revolution and the age of Napoleon Bonaparte is critical to understanding the history of the world, so join us on a journey through a series of events that would be almost unbelievable if it weren't for the fact that it's true! If you're looking for a binge-worthy history podcast on the Revolution and Napoleon, you're in the right place! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Napoleon Bonaparte is a household name; a rare example of someone who is as well remembered by his supporters as by his enemies. His life is rich with dramatic irony. He was a key figure in the creation of the First French Republic, yet became a self-appointed Emperor. Surrounded by enemies, he secured peace in France through war abroad and was hated by the monarchies of Europe, who feared he would bring democracy to their lands. Dan was recently a guest on the Echoes of History podcast, hosted by Matt Lewis, to discuss the life of Napoleon which he's sharing here for DSHH fans to enjoy. Echoes of History is a Ubisoft podcast, brought to you by History Hit. It's available wherever you get your podcasts.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.