In the latest in our series charting the contested reputations of key historical figures, Laura O’Brien and David Andress discuss the life and afterlife of Napoleon Bonaparte, and explore why his story – including his rise to power and his role as the driving force in the bloodshed of the Napoleonic Wars – can still provoke heated debate two centuries later
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Yesterday
Was Napoleon III the world's first populist leader?
Napoleon III's family was, in the words of historian Edward Shawcross, “the most cutthroat mafioso soap opera in the world”. Exiled to Switzerland as a boy and disowned by his own father, he spent years as a laughing stock of French politics, twice arrested trying to seize power. ... Show More
55m 35s
Oct 2015
Episode #6 - Napoleon Bonaparte: Man or Myth? (Part I)
Napoleon is simultaneously one of the most well-known and most misunderstood figures in Western history. He has been portrayed as both the ultimate romantic hero and the most despicable war-mongering dictator. Napoleon's life is riddled with legends, exaggerations, lies, and many ... Show More
41m 33s