Napoleon Bonaparte Part One : From Corsican Nobody To Emperor Of Europe

From a sharp elbowed Corsican childhood to blasting his way into command during the Italian campaigns, in this episode we follow Napoleon Bonaparte’s climb from nobody to emperor of pretty much everything he could see. We track the victories, reforms and the moment it all starts to go spectacularly wrong. Along the way, we take the usual detours from battlefield rations, baguettes and bruschetta to Napoleon’s very intense relationship (we think) with his cannons.

From his abdication, exile and brief comeback nobody asked for, until his final days languishing on a damp rock in the Atlantic where Europe made sure he couldn’t cause any more trouble. Big ambition, bigger battles and a man who never knew when to pack it in

From a sharp-elbowed Corsican childhood to blasting his way into command during the Italian campaigns, this episode follows Napoleon Bonaparte’s climb from nobody to emperor of pretty much everything he could see. We track the victories, the reforms, the crowns he definitely shouldn’t have put on his own head, and the moment it all starts going spectacularly wrong. Along the way, we take the usual detours — from battlefield rations, baguettes and suspiciously Italian bruschetta, to Napoleon’s very intense relationship with his cannons (admired, polished, relied upon — nothing more than that). It ends where it always had to: abdication, exile, a brief comeback nobody asked for, and finally St Helena — a damp rock in the Atlantic where Europe made sure he couldn’t cause any more trouble. Big ambition, bigger battles, and a man who never knew when to pack it in.