The Napoleonic Quarterly

It is with a mixture of great embarrassment at my own over-acting and guilt at such outrageous self-indulgence that I, Alex Stevenson, presenter of the Napoleonic Quarterly, provide you, the poor suffering listeners, with an outpouring of thespian histrionics: the concluding episode of our screenplay-concocting relaunch side-project, the Napoleon Movie Quarter-Hourly. In this episode Ben Deery, who thankfully knows a thing or two about acting, works his way alongside my own miserable efforts through the most excitable scenes from the pen of James Topham, who knows a thing or two about screenwriting. Napoleon: One Last Job may never actually get made, but at least you get to hear a grown man pretend to be both Napoleon and Josephine in the same scene.
Or, perhaps more wisely, there is the opportunity to listen to the whole screenplay read by a surprisingly effective AI American lady on Patreon...
Please send through any comments or questions to the usual places - the hope is that we will be able to do a listener feedback episode, as well as putting this to the professors for their verdict.
Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly

This mini-episode unveils the end product from our Napoleon movie discussions: an actual first draft of a screenplay which tells the story of Bonaparte's rise to power. It's now available on Patreon, for the consideration of our esteemed Quartermasters. In the meantime, first James Topham and then Alex Stevenson offer their own versions of what the treatment actually looks like. With Ben Deery doing French accents in the background.
Help us produce more episodes by joining the Napoleonic Quarterly community on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly

Our recap episodes, which offer a synthesis of our 1792-1804 coverage one year at a time, have reached 1803 - a year in which peace between France and Britain collapses, and the cause of Haitian independence is finally realised. Chris Sloan talks presenter Alex Stevenson through specific key clips he's picked out from our old episodes grouped around four themes which, we argue, help frame the period and shape our understanding of it in a whole new way. We hope this will provide a helpful refresh for longstanding listeners - whilst at the same time offering an 'entry ramp' to the podcast for those who want to get up to speed relatively easily before we crash full-speed into the intensity of the Napoleonic Wars.

This episode covers a 12-month period in which, despite attack dogs and the death of Toussaint Louverture, the French are defeated on Saint-Domingue and Dessalines emerges as the leader to achieve independence for Haiti. This is the year which sees the Louisiana Purchase, an astonishing moment which turns the United States into a continental power overnight. And in Europe Britain declares war once again on France, setting up endless debates about whose fault the demise of the Peace of Amiens really was. Meanwhile the Swiss Confederation is created thanks to the signature of Napoleon Bonaparte - and in India an up and coming general called Arthur Wellesley achieves a striking victory at the Battle of Assaye which effectively ends the Second Anglo-Maratha War.
Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly

Our recap episodes, which offer a synthesis of our 1792-1804 coverage one year at a time, have reached 1802 - a year in which the French mission to recapture Saint-Domingue combines deception and brutality as the stakes grow ever higher. Chris Sloan talks presenter Alex Stevenson through specific key clips he's picked out from our old episodes grouped around four themes which, we argue, help frame the period and shape our understanding of it in a whole new way. We hope this will provide a helpful refresh for longstanding listeners - whilst at the same time offering an 'entry ramp' to the podcast for those who want to get up to speed relatively easily before we crash full-speed into the intensity of the Napoleonic Wars.

This episode covers a 12-month period in which, whilst the main action takes place in the Caribbean, there is plenty of activity in Europe too. From the annexation of Piedmont to the invasion of Switzerland and the redrawing of the political map in Germany, the French are calling the shots across the continent. Napoleon Bonaparte takes another step towards empire by being made First Consul for life. And whilst the British are forcing the Marathas to abandon their independence hopes in India and the Peace of Amiens ends the war between France and Britain, the reality is this is not a world where anything is going to stay settled for very long.
Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly

Our recap episodes, which offer a synthesis of our 1792-1804 coverage one year at a time, have reached 1801 - a year in which Britain and France make peace, despite a widening canvas of war spreading across from Europe across the globe. Chris Sloan talks presenter Alex Stevenson through specific key clips he's picked out from our old episodes grouped around four themes which, we argue, help frame the period and shape our understanding of it in a whole new way. We hope this will provide a helpful refresh for longstanding listeners - whilst at the same time offering an 'entry ramp' to the podcast for those who want to get up to speed relatively easily before we crash full-speed into the intensity of the Napoleonic Wars.
This episode covers a 12-month period in which Napoleon Bonaparte, having secured a Concordat with the Catholic Church, sends troops to recapture Saint-Domingue and gets himself elected president in Italy. Russia's League of Armed Neutrality is thwarted by Horatio Nelson at the Battle of Copenhagen before Tsar Paul's assassination prompts a change of course in St Petersburg. The British are on the offensive in Egypt and in India, but William Pitt resigns as Prime Minister. Thomas Jefferson is finally elected President and the US is fighting the first Barbary war... and there's the War of the Oranges between Spain and Portugal as well. Is this a winding-down year? No - it's one of the most dramatic of them all.
Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly