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Cheers!

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Welcome

1:22

to the Age of Napoleon. Episode 104,

1:26

Man of the Century. Thanks

1:31

for joining me. As

1:34

always, I'd like to start by thanking

1:36

our Patreon supporters. Without

1:38

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I hope you'll consider joining us.

2:31

Anyway... We left off

2:33

last time in the summer of 1807. Napoleon

2:36

was traveling west from the town of Tilsit

2:38

on the Russian-Prussian border. He had

2:40

just signed two momentous treaties

2:43

with the Emperor of Russia and the

2:45

King of Prussia. These were

2:47

two separate treaties. Indeed,

2:49

Napoleon and Alexander had negotiated

2:52

over this specific point. Napoleon

2:54

had wanted two treaties, and he had gotten his

2:56

way.

2:57

However, for whatever reason, history

3:00

usually remembers these documents in the singular,

3:02

as the Treaty of Tilsit. So

3:05

I'll stick with that convention.

3:07

Whatever

3:07

you want to call them, the agreements reached

3:09

at Tilsit had completely reset

3:12

the European geopolitical scene.

3:14

In this episode, I'd like to explore

3:16

European diplomacy and French foreign

3:18

policy in the wake of this momentous

3:20

treaty.

3:22

Two relatively large new countries

3:24

were coming into being, the Kingdom of Westphalia

3:26

in northwestern Germany, and the Grand

3:29

Duchy of Warsaw in what had once

3:31

been the western provinces of the Polish

3:33

Commonwealth.

3:35

Prussia had lost roughly half its territory

3:38

and population.

3:39

These losses disproportionately included

3:41

some of the wealthiest, most productive,

3:43

and most strategically important parts

3:46

of the country.

3:47

The Prussians would also be forced to host

3:49

an occupying French army,

3:51

pay massive war reparations, and

3:54

limit the size of their ground forces to just 43,000

3:56

men.

3:59

of Prussia had been on the rise

4:01

for over a century. Some had even believed

4:04

it was destined to unite the disparate

4:06

states of northern Germany and supplant

4:09

Austria as the hegemon of the German-speaking

4:12

states. At Tilsit,

4:14

that rise had abruptly stopped,

4:17

and that dream seemed further away than

4:19

at any point in living memory. And

4:22

Napoleon had not stopped at inflicting

4:24

political, diplomatic, and strategic

4:26

losses on the Prussians. He seemed

4:28

to have gone out of his way to humiliate

4:31

and insult the Prussian king and queen.

4:33

This was not purely about geopolitics. Napoleon's

4:36

hatred of the Prussians was personal.

4:39

The most important outcome of the negotiations

4:42

at Tilsit was the agreement between Napoleon

4:45

and Emperor Alexander of Russia.

4:47

France and Russia were now aligned on the

4:49

world stage. Alexander had agreed

4:51

to join Napoleon's so-called continental

4:54

system, banning all trade with the

4:56

United Kingdom, and helping France

4:58

keep British merchants locked out of

5:00

lucrative European markets.

5:03

Here, too, there was a personal side to

5:05

the story. Napoleon and Alexander

5:07

had gotten along far better than anyone had dared

5:10

hope. The two men had spent hours

5:12

together during the negotiations, mostly

5:14

one-on-one.

5:16

There seems to have been a mutual fascination

5:18

at the very least, maybe even a real friendship.

5:21

Napoleon

5:22

was convinced that he had forged

5:24

a special bond with the young Russian

5:26

Emperor, that, come what may, he

5:29

would always have Alexander in his corner.

5:32

As he made the journey back to his capital,

5:34

Napoleon must have felt the weight of all his achievements.

5:38

Nearly the entire continent was now

5:40

under his power. Most of

5:42

Germany was occupied by French troops, or

5:45

ruled by governments that were locked into

5:47

unequal alliances with France.

5:50

His younger brother Louis sat on the throne

5:52

of the Kingdom of Holland. Switzerland

5:55

remained under pro-French rule as well, although

5:58

it had been renamed once again.

5:59

the Helvetic Republic had been

6:02

reorganized and was now called the

6:04

Swiss Confederation. Northern

6:06

Italy was dominated by the Kingdom of Italy,

6:09

ruled by Napoleon himself, with his

6:11

stepson Eugène de Beauarnais acting

6:13

as Viceroy. Southern

6:15

Italy was ruled by the Kingdom of Naples, under

6:18

King Giuseppe I, formerly

6:20

known as Joseph Bonaparte,

6:22

although Sicily still remained under enemy

6:25

control. Much of central

6:27

Italy was still ruled by the Pope, who

6:30

was independent, but his domains

6:32

were surrounded by French satellite states,

6:34

and his administration and military were

6:37

very weak.

6:38

He was practically at Napoleon's mercy.

6:40

His only real power was his moral

6:43

authority as leader of the Catholic Church.

6:46

Spain was allied to France.

6:48

Many in Madrid were unhappy with this state

6:50

of affairs, but with their government and military

6:53

weak and ineffective, they stood little

6:55

chance of changing it any time soon. To

6:58

the north,

6:59

Denmark, which also ruled over Norway,

7:01

remained independent, but was drifting

7:04

closer to Paris.

7:06

Even the faraway province of Dalmatia,

7:08

the modern coast of Croatia, was now

7:10

host to a French garrison.

7:12

Several Greek islands had been added to the empire

7:15

as well.

7:17

The list of European countries not

7:19

under either direct French control or

7:22

indirect domination is considerably

7:24

smaller.

7:25

Great Britain, of course, including Ireland.

7:27

The

7:28

Russian Empire retained its holdings

7:30

in Eastern Europe, but they were now aligned

7:32

with the French.

7:34

The Ottomans still controlled huge swathes of

7:36

territory in the Balkans. To

7:38

the west, Portugal also remained

7:40

outside French influence.

7:42

The Portuguese had long-standing diplomatic

7:45

and commercial ties to Great Britain, and

7:47

their economy was highly dependent on

7:49

international trade. Thus, they

7:51

had proved unwilling, so far, to

7:54

join Napoleon's continental system.

7:56

However, as we'll see, Bonaparte was

7:58

already in the early stages

7:59

of a plan to deal with the Portuguese.

8:04

Sweden remained at war with France,

8:06

but with its old nemesis, Russia, now

8:09

aligned with Napoleon, their situation

8:11

had become very precarious.

8:14

Austria was of course still outside

8:16

French influence as well.

8:18

They had not joined the most recent coalition,

8:21

but Vienna remained hostile to France.

8:24

They had lost a lot of territory in the preceding

8:26

decade, but the Habsburg Empire

8:29

was still massive, including Austria-Proper,

8:31

the modern states of Hungary, Slovenia,

8:34

Slovakia, and the Czech Republic,

8:36

along with huge swathes of territory

8:39

in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.

8:41

However, the Habsburgs controlled precious

8:44

little coastline. Their

8:46

few ports were all on the Adriatic

8:48

Sea, far from British commerce and

8:51

largely controlled by the French and

8:53

their Italian allies.

8:55

Vienna was unlikely to voluntarily

8:58

join the continental system, but with

9:00

their land border with Russia now closed

9:03

to British commerce, there was no longer

9:05

any safe, reliable avenue for

9:08

trade between the Habsburg lands and

9:10

Great Britain.

9:11

Furthermore, many had begun to question whether

9:14

or not Austria was even still capable

9:16

of challenging French power.

9:19

Germany and Italy had been venues of competition

9:21

between France and Austria for longer

9:23

than any living person could remember, and

9:25

now they were both firmly under French

9:27

control. When you compare

9:30

the most recent three wars between

9:32

France and Austria, the gap in performance

9:34

between the two militaries seemed to be growing,

9:37

not shrinking.

9:39

As things stood, France had

9:41

no serious rivals on the continent, at

9:44

least for the moment.

9:45

Once again, Britain stood practically

9:48

alone. Bonaparte

9:50

was quite satisfied

9:52

with himself. He had achieved all

9:54

his foreign policy goals, and more.

9:57

Tilsit had made him more powerful

9:59

and influential.

9:59

influential than any European leader in

10:02

centuries,

10:03

perhaps since Charlemagne, whose

10:06

reign was by then almost a thousand

10:08

years in the past, roughly as

10:10

distant to Napoleon as the Norman conquest

10:12

of England is to us.

10:15

It had only been seven and a half years

10:17

since his seizure of power,

10:19

less time than two-term American presidents

10:21

serve an office.

10:23

It had been less than two years since

10:26

the Grande Armée had left its camps on

10:28

the English Channel and stormed into

10:30

Germany to catch General Mach at Ulm.

10:33

The twin hammerblows of Jena

10:35

and Auerstedt were only eight months

10:37

in the past. Bonaparte

10:40

believed he had finally reached the summit.

10:43

With Alexander by his side, it was

10:45

only a matter of time until the few remaining

10:47

countries outside French influence

10:50

accepted this new order. Then,

10:52

it would just be a matter of maintaining

10:54

the blockade on British trade and

10:57

waiting for the ensuing economic chaos

10:59

to force the British government to the negotiating

11:02

table, where they would have little choice

11:04

but to accept French hegemony

11:06

over Western Europe.

11:09

Not only had Napoleon done it, he

11:11

had done it more or less himself.

11:14

Obviously, he had led the army to victory

11:16

at Friedland, which had forced the Russians to

11:18

negotiate, and then he had

11:21

conducted those negotiations himself,

11:23

with very little help from his professional

11:25

diplomats and foreign policy experts.

11:29

Talleyrand, France's corrupt

11:31

but brilliant foreign minister, had not

11:33

even been present at Tilsit until

11:36

the third day of talks, and

11:38

he had mostly sat on the sidelines, while

11:40

Napoleon and Alexander spent hours

11:42

together alone, hashing things out

11:44

one-on-one. The Emperor

11:47

and his foreign minister traveled back to Paris

11:49

together.

11:50

We don't know exactly what they discussed on this

11:53

three-week journey, but I have to imagine

11:55

they spent at least some of the time discussing

11:57

France's diplomatic position,

11:59

momentous treaties Napoleon had just

12:02

signed.

12:03

Talleyrand had a very different perspective

12:05

on these events.

12:07

Napoleon believed he had just laid

12:09

the groundwork for a new geopolitical order,

12:12

with France ruling the west and Russia

12:15

the east.

12:16

But Talleyrand felt Tilsit had been

12:18

a massive mistake. He believed

12:21

this new order was built on shifting

12:23

sands, destined to fail.

12:27

He was not very impressed by his

12:29

emperor's profession of friendship with Alexander.

12:32

Depending

12:33

on your perspective, Talleyrand

12:35

was either totally cynical or

12:37

a clear-eyed realist.

12:39

He looked at diplomacy in terms of

12:41

national interests and balances of power.

12:44

Fuzzy emotional concepts

12:46

like friendship didn't really enter

12:48

into his calculations.

12:51

When Talleyrand looked at the diplomatic situation

12:53

between France and Russia, he saw

12:56

a massive flashpoint for future

12:58

conflict.

12:59

Poland.

13:01

If you'll recall last episode, Napoleon

13:03

had not been blind to the sensitivity

13:06

of this issue.

13:07

He believed he and Alexander had

13:09

worked out a compromise that left both

13:11

parties satisfied.

13:13

The new pro-French Polish state

13:15

that was carved out of Prussia's eastern provinces

13:18

would not be called Poland, but the

13:21

Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

13:23

They had even picked a non-Polish nobleman

13:25

to serve as its grand duke, Frederick

13:27

Augustus, king of Saxony, a German.

13:31

Napoleon and Alexander had both claimed

13:34

to be happy with this compromise, and

13:36

apparently both considered the Polish

13:38

issue settled.

13:40

Talleyrand thought otherwise, and

13:42

I think he had a point.

13:44

This compromise was no compromise

13:47

at all.

13:48

They had simply slapped a new name at

13:50

a German figurehead on the old

13:52

idea of a refounded Polish state.

13:55

There would be no mechanism within the agreement

13:58

to prevent the Grand Duchy of Warsaw.

13:59

from realizing Russia's worst

14:02

fears and seeking to unite

14:04

with other formerly Polish territories

14:06

within Russia.

14:08

And it would be a liberal constitutional

14:10

monarchy right on Russia's doorstep.

14:13

This was bound to cause anxiety among

14:15

the deeply conservative Russian aristocracy,

14:18

no matter what the state was called or what

14:20

the nationality of the ruler was.

14:23

Napoleon had Alexander's personal

14:25

assurance the issue was settled,

14:27

but how much was that promise really worth

14:30

in the face of Russia's national interest

14:33

and the grand impersonal forces of history?

14:36

According to Talleyrand, not

14:38

much.

14:40

The wily foreign minister believed

14:42

France should pursue an entirely different

14:45

policy.

14:46

Talleyrand strongly supported Polish

14:48

statehood.

14:50

In fact, he believed the fall of

14:52

Poland was one of the main reasons European

14:54

geopolitics had become so unstable

14:57

in the late 18th century. He

14:59

saw the resurrection of Poland as an

15:01

important key to re-establishing

15:03

equilibrium.

15:05

However, he had no illusions about what

15:07

this would mean for Franco-Russian relations.

15:11

He knew the foundation of a new French-backed

15:13

Polish state would mean rivalry

15:16

between France and Russia for the foreseeable

15:18

future.

15:19

He also knew there were significant commercial

15:22

ties between Russia and Great Britain.

15:24

Learning the continental system would be very

15:27

painful for Russia, and that meant

15:29

there would be a lot of powerful people putting

15:31

pressure on Alexander to change course.

15:35

Talleyrand believed Napoleon should have

15:37

been focused on winning over a different

15:40

former enemy, Austria.

15:44

At first blush, that might seem insane.

15:46

Austria had been France's greatest geopolitical

15:49

rival for longer than anyone could remember.

15:52

Within the last 15 years, there had been

15:54

three different wars between the two countries.

15:57

Austria was France's great nemesis.

15:59

Everyone knew that.

16:01

But remember, Talley Rand was a coldly

16:04

calculating realist. When

16:06

he looked beyond feelings and

16:08

history and conventional wisdom,

16:11

he saw an opportunity for reconciliation

16:13

between Napoleon and the Habsburgs.

16:16

When you look at his thinking, he may have been

16:18

on to something. Since

16:20

the time of the Renaissance, Franco-Austrian

16:23

rivalry had been driven by two main

16:25

flashpoints, Western Germany

16:27

and Italy.

16:28

Generations of policymakers in both

16:30

countries believe their country

16:33

had to dominate these regions to keep

16:35

their own borders secure.

16:37

That had inevitably drawn the two countries

16:39

into conflict.

16:41

The competition for influence in Western Germany

16:44

and Italy had lasted for over a century

16:46

and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands.

16:49

But by 1807, that struggle

16:51

was over and had been for several years.

16:54

Austria had lost.

16:56

No trace of Habsburg influence remained

16:59

in either Italy or Western Germany.

17:02

The Holy Roman Empire was gone too.

17:04

Just two years ago, the presence of tens

17:07

of thousands of French troops in Germany

17:09

would be a crisis for the Empire that

17:11

the Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II,

17:13

would be expected to address. Now

17:16

that he was just Emperor Francis of Austria,

17:19

he had no more obligations to the small states

17:21

of Germany. These were just foreign affairs

17:24

across his northern border.

17:26

Whatever enmity still existed between

17:28

France and Austria, it was mostly

17:30

just hard feelings. There was little underlying

17:33

conflict remaining between the two empires'

17:36

national interests.

17:38

And there were areas where French and

17:40

Austrian interests aligned, most

17:43

importantly in southern and eastern Europe.

17:45

In both Vienna and St.

17:47

Petersburg, policymakers looked

17:50

south to the Balkans with hungry

17:52

eyes. They had seen that their old

17:55

mutual enemy, the Ottoman Empire, was

17:57

weak at getting weaker. Some of the others

17:59

were not. Ottomans' European provinces

18:01

were quite wealthy and strategically important,

18:04

and they might be ripe for the taking.

18:07

Many of these areas had large, non-Turkish-speaking

18:10

Christian populations, who probably

18:12

would have welcomed a change in government.

18:16

Neither Russia nor Austria was very

18:18

interested in sharing these spoils,

18:21

and so they were coming to view each other as rivals.

18:25

Since the fall of Poland, the two empires

18:28

also shared a long land border

18:30

in Eastern Europe.

18:31

Whenever two large empires share a border,

18:34

there is almost inevitably tension.

18:37

They say good fences make good neighbours,

18:40

and it's the same with empires. A

18:42

few buffer states in between make for

18:44

much more harmonious relations.

18:46

No one likes having a big menacing army

18:49

right on their doorstep.

18:51

Furthermore, the third partition of Poland

18:53

was only 12 years in the past. The

18:56

new borders were still fresh, and still

18:58

unsettled. Both powers

19:00

privately wished they had a bigger slice

19:03

of Poland,

19:04

and both were aware their rivals

19:06

felt the same way.

19:08

With the French now deeply invested in

19:11

Poland, Talirand believed all

19:13

this was a recipe for collaboration and

19:15

perhaps even friendship between France

19:18

and Austria. If Napoleon

19:20

went to the Habsburgs with the same spirit

19:22

of openness and cooperation he had shown

19:24

Alexander, and emphasized

19:26

their shared interest in preventing Russian

19:29

expansion, the Austrians would

19:31

be receptive.

19:33

They certainly hated Napoleon, and

19:35

decades of warfare between the two countries

19:37

had sowed a lot of bitter feelings. But

19:41

the Austrians were not fools. Like

19:43

all statesmen, they were guided by their

19:45

country's national interest, and it

19:47

was hard to argue with the fact that France's

19:49

involvement in Poland and their conquest

19:52

of Italy and western Germany had brought

19:54

French and Austrian interests into alignment.

19:58

Geopolitics is like the weather. unpredictable

20:01

and capricious, outside of any one

20:03

person's control.

20:05

One day the diplomatic winds blow west,

20:07

the next they blow east.

20:09

Great diplomats learned to harness the

20:11

wind. Amateurs fight against

20:14

it. Talleyrand

20:16

believed the wind was carrying France

20:18

towards Vienna, but Napoleon stubbornly

20:21

insisted on rowing towards St. Petersburg.

20:25

On their journey back to France, Napoleon and

20:27

Talleyrand must have discussed these two competing

20:30

visions. They

20:32

didn't have any kind of falling out. Both

20:34

men were too intelligent and calculating

20:36

for that, but it became clear to both

20:38

of them that they could no longer continue working

20:41

together quite so closely. How

20:43

could Talleyrand help lead France

20:45

down what he felt was the wrong path?

20:48

And how could Napoleon rely on the advice

20:51

of someone he knew did not support his

20:53

policies?

20:55

And so, Talleyrand would be

20:57

promoted out of the Foreign Ministry.

21:00

He was given a grandiose new title,

21:02

Vice Grand Elector of the Empire,

21:04

technically making him one of the highest

21:07

ranking members of the Executive Branch of Government.

21:09

He would continue to advise

21:11

Napoleon and play his role on the Council

21:14

of State, but he would no longer

21:16

play a direct role in French foreign policy.

21:20

He would be replaced at the Foreign Ministry

21:22

by Jean Baptiste de Nompaire de Champagnie,

21:25

a retired admiral who had entered

21:27

government service as Minister of the Interior.

21:31

Champagnie had proven to be a capable administrator,

21:33

but he had very little diplomatic experience.

21:37

Consensus seems to be that his main qualifications

21:39

for the job were his loyalty to Napoleon

21:42

and his willingness to shut up and do what he was

21:44

told.

21:49

Talleyrand wasn't the only person with concerns

21:51

about the new alliance between France and

21:54

Russia.

21:55

As we discussed last episode, Emperor Alexander

21:57

was elated with the deal.

22:00

He had been bracing himself to give up Russian

22:02

territory in exchange for peace. Instead,

22:05

he had found an intriguing opportunity to expand

22:08

his empire's power through collaboration with

22:10

France, and an opportunity

22:12

to study Bonaparte up close, a

22:15

man he clearly found fascinating, and

22:17

believed he could learn from. However,

22:20

upon his return from Tilsit, he discovered

22:23

that most of his courtiers and senior officials

22:25

felt differently. There

22:27

was a great deal of hostility towards

22:29

France among the Russian ruling class.

22:32

Many of them were crazy for French fashions

22:34

and luxury goods. Many of them even

22:37

spoke French amongst themselves, as

22:39

a mark of their education and sophistication.

22:42

However, in the well-heeled neighborhoods

22:44

of St. Petersburg and Moscow, people

22:46

were still afraid of the dangerous ideas

22:49

unleashed by the revolution. Perhaps

22:51

understandably, many also felt

22:54

threatened by the power of the French military,

22:56

and the speed of Napoleon's recent conquests.

23:00

And for many Europeans, Napoleon himself

23:03

had become a frightening figure.

23:05

He was well known to be ambitious, and

23:07

there were plenty of examples of him behaving

23:09

ruthlessly in pursuit of his goals.

23:12

He had contempt for the old rules and

23:14

traditions that had governed European geopolitics

23:17

for centuries.

23:18

It seemed there were no limits to his

23:21

behavior.

23:22

Who knew what he might do next?

23:25

If Napoleon was here to defend himself, he

23:27

would probably say that he was only ever ruthless

23:30

in service of the greater good, that his

23:32

wars had all been started by his enemies,

23:35

and that he was merely defending France and

23:37

ensuring its future security, and

23:39

that he had contempt for the rules

23:42

of that old style of diplomacy because

23:44

they were ineffective and unfair.

23:47

Perhaps there's some truth there, but

23:49

that's certainly not how the Russian nobility

23:51

saw things.

23:54

There's also the question of Alexander's own personal

23:56

commitment to the deal.

23:58

Napoleon had left Tilsit, can you imagine?

23:59

convinced he had secured a friend

24:02

and partner for life. But, as

24:04

we discussed last episode, Alexander's

24:06

own private correspondence from the period

24:08

immediately after the treaty paint a somewhat

24:11

different picture. He

24:13

ensured King Frederick William of Prussia

24:15

that they remained friends, and said

24:17

that he would prove it in the future. He even

24:20

said that at some point in the future Napoleon

24:22

would break his own neck. In

24:25

his letters to his family, he seemed less

24:27

than enamored with Napoleon, fascinated

24:30

to be sure, but definitely not

24:32

under some kind of spell, as Bonaparte

24:34

seemed to believe. As

24:37

we discussed last episode, Alexander

24:39

was a difficult man to read, who often

24:41

told people what they wanted to hear and

24:43

kept his own true thoughts hidden. But

24:46

who was he lying to? Was he downplaying

24:48

his relationship with Napoleon to his family

24:51

and to Frederick William, or had he been

24:53

pretending at Tilsit? Bonaparte

24:56

believed his personal relationship

24:59

with Alexander would be the glue that

25:01

held this deal together, but

25:03

their connection might not have been quite as strong

25:06

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We've now devoted a lot of time to criticisms

25:43

of the Treaty of Tilsit, but I don't want

25:45

to give a misleading impression.

25:47

Critics of the deal were very much in the minority.

25:50

To most of the European public, this was

25:53

another stunning success for Bonaparte.

25:56

As that French senator we quoted from last episode

25:59

put it, quote,

25:59

quote,

26:00

the triumphs of the diplomat added

26:02

to those of the general,

26:04

end quote.

26:06

This was a victory at the negotiating table

26:08

to match his dazzling battlefield

26:10

victories. If

26:12

you'll think back to our episodes on the Treaty of Amiens,

26:15

that short window of peace between France

26:17

and Britain in 1802 and 03, you'll recall what a golden time that

26:21

was for France. People

26:23

were very optimistic about Napoleon's

26:26

regime, and not only his own subjects,

26:28

all over Europe people were eager to see

26:31

what the first consul might achieve.

26:34

Those feelings had been dashed, first

26:36

by the return to war with Britain, then

26:38

the coronation, then two years

26:41

of almost non-stop bloody fighting,

26:44

and then by the harsh reality of

26:46

French occupation over so many conquered

26:48

lands. However,

26:50

the victory at Friedland and subsequent

26:52

deal at Tilcet seemed to have rekindled

26:55

a degree of faith in Bonaparte and his government.

26:58

He was now commonly referred to as Napoleon

27:01

the Great within France, the

27:04

first monarch to get that honour since

27:06

the Sun King Louis XIV nearly

27:08

a hundred years earlier.

27:11

However, this surge of optimism

27:13

was weak and shallow compared to the enthusiasm

27:15

of the old days.

27:18

Two years of bloody war had

27:20

taken a toll on the French public.

27:22

People had become much more cynical

27:24

about Napoleon and his regime.

27:28

Seven years earlier, the public had been

27:30

eager to read Napoleon's bulletins.

27:32

Now, hardly anyone believed them,

27:35

and many ignored them entirely. A

27:37

new idiom entered the French language,

27:40

to lie like a bulletin, basically

27:42

meaning the same thing as to lie through

27:45

one's teeth.

27:47

As to the news of the Battle of Friedland reached

27:49

Paris, one observer remarked that

27:51

it was generally received not with joy

27:54

at victory, but with relief that

27:56

it was not a defeat.

27:58

If you'll think back

27:59

1998, you'll recall that in late 1806,

28:03

Napoleon had received a delegation of French

28:05

senators in Berlin, who had warned

28:07

him that the public was turning against

28:09

the war and begged him to seek peace

28:12

by any means.

28:13

Around the same time, Napoleon's

28:16

sinister but effective Minister

28:18

of Police, Joseph Foucher, had

28:20

given him a similar message.

28:22

These warnings had come before

28:24

the ill-fated winter campaign in Poland,

28:27

and before the bloodbath of ILAU.

28:29

Tens of thousands of Frenchmen had

28:31

died in the field since then, and

28:33

many more had been maimed.

28:36

And it wasn't just the human cost.

28:38

As we've discussed in past episodes, the

28:41

massive spending required to keep

28:43

the Grand Armée functioning at peak efficiency

28:45

far from home put a lot of strain

28:48

on the French economy. The country

28:50

was also engaged in an ambitious

28:53

and very expensive shipbuilding program

28:55

to replace the losses of Trafalgar. The

28:59

ongoing trade war with Britain was

29:01

tremendously costly as well, both

29:03

in terms of the economic disruption it

29:06

caused and the direct costs

29:08

of enforcement.

29:10

No wonder people weren't exactly feeling

29:12

that old Bonaparte magic.

29:15

Still, the mood in the country was more optimistic

29:18

than it had been in years. When

29:20

Napoleon returned to Paris, huge

29:22

crowds turned out, crying out,

29:24

Long live the Emperor, and Long live

29:27

France.

29:29

With nearly all of Europe under French domination,

29:32

at least some members of Napoleon's government

29:34

were intoxicated with the possibilities

29:36

before them. A young French civil

29:38

servant left Paris for a posting in

29:40

Germany around this time, and he would

29:42

later recall his feelings and his memoirs.

29:47

It was something to be a Frenchman in

29:49

Europe. In Germany, I

29:51

was what the Roman pro-consuls had been

29:54

once upon a time.

29:55

I lived in an age of ambition,

29:57

and the road opened before me, wide and

29:59

strewn with flowers.

30:02

I could no more doubt my good fortune than

30:04

that of the Empire, and I can still recall

30:06

that sort of drunkenness which I felt

30:08

crossing that eternally famous river,

30:11

the Rhine, now bent under our

30:13

yoke after our victories.

30:16

Whether as a soldier or a civil servant

30:18

of Napoleon, it was not easy

30:20

to be modest."

30:22

End quote.

30:25

You can see how the current state of affairs

30:27

might have captured the imagination of an ambitious

30:30

young bureaucrat.

30:32

But was this all really a positive development

30:34

for the country? Remember, by

30:36

our standards, the bureaucracy of Napoleonic

30:39

France was small, corrupt,

30:41

amateurish, and extremely limited

30:44

in its capabilities. This

30:46

small band of eager civil servants

30:48

was now responsible for governing much

30:51

of the continent. They would be

30:53

asked to enforce unpopular dictates

30:55

from Paris, including the continental

30:57

system.

30:59

You could make the argument that the French government

31:01

was now overextended.

31:03

The economic and political heartland

31:06

of Napoleon's empire remained mostly

31:08

unchanged, northern and western

31:10

France, the Low Countries, and northern

31:12

Italy.

31:14

A lot more territory had been added to

31:16

the empire, but it would probably not

31:18

correspond to a proportional increase

31:21

in tax revenue or administrative capacity.

31:23

The French government had

31:25

a lot more to do, but not many more

31:28

resources with which to do it. Halleran's

31:34

move to the position of Vice Grand Elector

31:36

would prove to be the first of several changes

31:39

to the French government.

31:40

Now that he was back in his capital, it seems

31:43

the emperor wanted to clean house.

31:45

Senior civil servants were shuffled around,

31:48

new senators were appointed, and new

31:50

titles given out. Perhaps

31:53

the most significant of these changes, aside

31:55

from Talleyrand, was at the war ministry.

31:58

Since early 1804, Napoleon's

32:00

loyal, reliable chief of staff, Marshal

32:03

Louis-Alexandre Berthier, had been doing

32:05

double duty, serving both as chief of

32:07

staff of the Grande Armée and as

32:09

Minister of War.

32:11

Berthier had an absolutely unstoppable

32:14

work ethic, perhaps second only

32:16

to Napoleon.

32:17

Maybe this was one reason the two men got along

32:19

so well.

32:21

During peacetime, he had handled both jobs

32:24

quite well, but now that the army had

32:26

spent the better part of two years on

32:28

campaign, it had become clear

32:30

there were some serious drawbacks to

32:32

having the war minister away from Paris

32:35

for extended periods of time. And

32:38

so Berthier would be replaced by Henri

32:40

Jacques Guillaume Clark, another

32:43

former army staff officer.

32:45

As you might guess from that name, Clark

32:47

had Irish roots. His father

32:49

had served in the old Irish exile

32:51

regiments of the kings of France, and Clark

32:54

had followed him into the military.

32:57

He was a very competent administrator, and

32:59

would prove to be a good fit at the war ministry.

33:02

However, he was widely disliked for

33:04

his bombastic, pretentious personality,

33:06

and tendency to launch into long,

33:09

boring monologues, usually about

33:11

himself. Nonetheless,

33:13

Napoleon found him very useful, and he

33:15

will remain as Minister of War almost

33:18

until the end of our story. Napoleon

33:23

also dissolved the tribunate, one

33:25

of France's three legislative bodies.

33:28

At first glance, that probably sounds

33:30

pretty awful. Fresh from his conquests,

33:33

the dictator comes home, and immediately

33:35

disbands the legislature. But

33:38

if you'll think back to episode 67, you'll

33:40

recall that Napoleon had pretty effectively

33:42

sidelined the tribunes all the way back

33:44

in 1802, when they had dared

33:47

to reject the first draft of the new civil

33:49

code. The

33:51

Senate had a somewhat unwieldy, tri-cameral

33:54

legislature, with the Senate

33:56

as the upper house and two lower

33:58

houses, the tribunate and the legislative

34:01

core. Almost anyone

34:03

who was paying attention saw the dissolution

34:05

of the tributate as a positive development,

34:08

streamlining the government and getting rid

34:10

of a redundant institution. And

34:12

of course, not very many people were paying

34:15

attention. Most people in France

34:17

were not very politically conscious, and

34:19

most of those who were, correctly,

34:22

saw the legislative branch of government as

34:24

little more than a rubber stamp for Napoleon

34:26

and a way for him to dole out patronage.

34:29

No surprise, no one made much of a fuss.

34:34

Speaking of patronage, Napoleon also

34:36

announced a whole host of new noble titles.

34:39

The new Napoleonic nobility was different

34:42

from the aristocracy of the old regime. These

34:45

were rewards for service. They

34:47

went mostly to army officers

34:49

who had distinguished themselves on the battlefield,

34:52

or to politicians or bureaucrats

34:54

who had proven effective in the government.

34:57

Some former aristocrats of the old

34:59

regime were able to gain new titles,

35:02

but most of these freshly ennobled men

35:04

came from more humble backgrounds. Nearly 80%

35:07

had been commoners before the

35:10

revolution. And

35:12

these new titles were not unconditional.

35:15

They could be inherited, but there were income

35:17

and property requirements for the heirs. So,

35:21

if a noble family lost its estates,

35:23

and its potential heirs didn't have some

35:25

kind of well-compensated job, they

35:28

would lose the title. Bonaparte

35:30

believed this would keep his new nobility

35:32

devoted to achievement and service, naturally

35:35

weeding out the unworthy and

35:37

preventing the proliferation of relatively

35:40

poor and undistinguished people with noble

35:42

titles, as had occurred under the old system.

35:45

By late 1807, thousands

35:48

of people in France had received titles

35:50

from the Napoleonic government, and

35:52

that's not counting less prestigious awards

35:54

like the Order of the Legion of Honor. If

35:57

you could ask Napoleon, he would probably tell

35:59

that you this was all fundamentally different

36:02

from the elitist social structure of

36:04

the old regime. This new

36:06

aristocracy was open to all.

36:09

Anyone who served the public good would

36:11

receive a just reward, whether

36:13

he was born in a chateau or a dirt-flored

36:16

farmhouse, a fine mansion

36:18

in Paris, or a rotting tenement in

36:20

the slums. Anyone could rise

36:23

if he served France. At

36:25

least, that's how it was supposed to work in theory.

36:28

You might call it a betrayal of the ideals

36:30

of the revolution,

36:32

or you might call it a practical modern

36:34

adaptation of an old idea,

36:36

but there was no denying the fact that

36:39

social distinction had returned to

36:41

France.

36:44

Napoleon also set to work on another

36:46

project that would bring back memories

36:48

of the old regime, the restoration

36:50

of Fontainebleau Palace, just outside

36:53

Paris, which had served as a country

36:55

estate for the kings of France since

36:57

the Middle Ages.

36:59

He sunk over three million francs into

37:01

the palace, roughly 17 million

37:04

dollars in today's money. Fontainebleau

37:07

was closely associated with two of the

37:09

greatest kings in the history of France,

37:12

Francis I, who had helped build

37:14

up the absolutist institutions of the

37:16

old monarchy and been a famous patron

37:19

of artists and intellectuals, and

37:22

Henry IV, a pragmatic peacemaker

37:24

who had helped heal and unify the country

37:27

after the ruinous wars of religion. Napoleon

37:31

looked to both men as models, and you can

37:33

probably see why. He saw parallels

37:35

between his own regime and theirs. He

37:38

was clearly thinking about his legacy. He

37:40

wanted to put his own mark on Fontainebleau

37:42

because he wanted future generations to

37:44

look back on him the same way his

37:46

generation looked back on Francis and

37:48

Henry. There

37:51

was also a purely pragmatic reason

37:53

for his interest in the palace. The

37:55

route between Fontainebleau and central Paris

37:58

would take him right through the work of the French. working-class

38:00

districts of the city, where his regime

38:02

was popular, rather than through the wealthy

38:04

neighborhoods, where royalism was still

38:06

strong. It had been

38:09

years since there were civil disturbances

38:11

of any consequence inside the capital.

38:14

The imperial regime looked as strong as

38:16

ever. But for a man like Napoleon

38:18

who had lived through the bloody chaos

38:20

of the revolution, the fear of the power

38:23

of the mob always lurked in the background,

38:25

no matter how stable things seemed.

38:31

There were all kinds of reasons behind the

38:33

decisions Napoleon made in the weeks

38:35

and months after his return –

38:37

practical concerns, political expediency,

38:39

and his own beliefs and psychology.

38:42

But many outside observers saw the

38:44

same pattern. As the regime

38:46

became more entrenched, it increasingly

38:49

resembled the old pre-revolutionary

38:51

monarchy. Around this time,

38:53

a French senator described Napoleon's court

38:56

this way,

38:57

quote,

38:58

It was no longer the tent of the hero

39:01

crowned in victory, but the ridiculous

39:03

show of an old-fashioned royal court, with

39:05

all the exaggerations of the past, without

39:08

the politeness, the urbanity, and the good manners.

39:11

End quote.

39:13

Interestingly, that same senator believed

39:16

the change in the court corresponded

39:18

with the change in Napoleon's character,

39:20

quote.

39:22

There was in his manner a kind of constraint,

39:25

a sort of stiffness, which inspired fear

39:27

rather than respect, and seemed to

39:29

put distance between him and those

39:32

closest to him, end

39:33

quote.

39:35

We've talked about this phenomenon before. The

39:37

higher Napoleon rose, the more remote

39:40

he became.

39:41

Power isolated him, even from

39:43

his inner circle.

39:45

Perhaps that's all this was, with

39:47

the Treaty of Tilsit, the scale of his power

39:49

had increased yet again. I

39:52

think it's also worth mentioning that Napoleon

39:54

was getting older.

39:55

Shortly after his return to Paris, he

39:57

would celebrate his 38th birthday. The

40:00

emperor was leaving youth behind and

40:03

entering middle age. He would

40:05

certainly not be the first person to become

40:07

more stern, less social, and more

40:09

conservative at this stage of life.

40:13

In a sense, Napoleon and his regime

40:15

were at roughly the same stage of development.

40:18

Bonaparte had come to power as a young

40:20

phenom, a prodigy. He had

40:22

been just 30 years old, and the whole continent

40:25

had been eager to see what he might do.

40:28

Now, he was a known quantity, with a

40:30

track record of seven years. As

40:32

we've discussed, there was no longer the same

40:35

glimmer of hope around his government. People

40:37

were either satisfied or had become disillusioned.

40:40

No one was drunk on the possibilities

40:43

of what Napoleon might do with

40:45

power. Everyone in Europe had seen

40:47

how he ruled. Some approved of

40:49

it, some didn't, but it wasn't an unknown

40:52

quantity for anyone. The

40:55

time for new frontiers and fresh

40:57

experiments was over. Both

40:59

the empire and its ruler were entering

41:01

a period of consolidation. The

41:03

tasks facing Napoleon now were

41:06

to secure and institutionalize what

41:08

he'd already done, and to tie up

41:10

the remaining loose ends that still threatened

41:12

to unravel the new order he was bringing

41:14

into being. Even

41:17

after the greatest foreign policy victory

41:19

of his career, Napoleon had no time

41:21

to rest on his laurels. While

41:23

the negotiations were underway at Tilsit, he

41:26

had received word of unfortunate developments

41:28

in Italy. Pope

41:31

Pius VII was not happy with Bonaparte,

41:34

and was considering issuing an official

41:36

public rebuke of the French government.

41:40

Friction between the Church and the

41:42

governments of Catholic countries was far

41:44

from unusual, but these disagreements were

41:46

almost always kept private, to be handled

41:49

by diplomats and politicians behind

41:51

the scenes.

41:52

A public denunciation, like the one

41:54

the Pope was apparently considering, would

41:56

have been an escalation of the conflict, and

41:59

it might have even turned out to be a

41:59

some average French Catholics against

42:02

the government.

42:03

It could even be the first step down

42:05

the road back to civil discord,

42:07

maybe even civil war.

42:10

Napoleon sent a letter to his stepson, Eugène

42:13

de Beauarnais, who was acting as his official

42:15

representative in Italy. In this letter,

42:17

he laid out his position on Franco-Vatican

42:20

relations. He instructed Eugène

42:22

to leak this letter to the Vatican, tell

42:25

the Pope that he only wanted to provide clarity

42:27

on his stepfather's thinking, in the interests

42:29

of avoiding conflict.

42:31

From that letter, quote,

42:34

Jesus Christ declared that his kingdom

42:36

was not of this world. Why won't

42:38

the popes render unto Caesar what

42:40

is Caesar's?

42:42

Is the Pope something greater on earth

42:44

than Jesus Christ was?

42:46

Is religion to be based on anarchy,

42:49

on civil war, on revolt?

42:51

The Pope threatens me with an appeal to the people.

42:54

In truth, I begin to blush

42:56

and feel ashamed at all the foolishness

42:58

that the court of Rome makes me endure. And

43:01

if they insist on creating disturbances

43:03

in my states, perhaps it will not

43:05

be long before I refuse to recognize

43:07

the Pope as anything more than the bishop

43:10

of Rome. End

43:11

quote.

43:13

In case that last line is unclear, that

43:15

would mean denying the Pope's authority

43:17

to lead the Church, effectively the

43:19

same move King Henry VIII of England

43:22

made when he turned his country away from

43:24

Catholicism.

43:26

For the moment, the letter seemed to work, although

43:28

I doubt the Pope enjoyed being lectured

43:31

on Christian theology by a soldier.

43:33

However, the whole affair

43:35

was proof that despite the Concordat

43:37

of 1801, there was still a great deal

43:39

of tension between Paris and Rome. Neither

43:42

side wanted a return to open conflict,

43:45

but it seemed neither was ready for true

43:47

cooperation either. The

43:50

Vatican would continue to be a thorn in

43:52

Napoleon's side, although perhaps not

43:54

quite as sharp or irritating as it had

43:56

been to previous French governments. Shortly

44:00

after this business with the Pope, Bonaparte

44:02

received a very different communique from

44:04

Berlin. It was a letter from King Frederick

44:07

William of Prussia, and the contents were

44:09

quite surprising given all that had happened

44:11

between the two countries over the last year. The

44:14

Prussian king praised Napoleon

44:16

in effusive terms. You

44:20

are the greatest man of the century.

44:23

He proposed an alliance between

44:25

France and Prussia.

44:27

A year earlier, Napoleon would have jumped

44:30

at this opportunity. Now, Prussia

44:32

didn't have much to offer.

44:34

Bonaparte had just forced them to cap

44:36

the size of their military at 43,000 men. French troops

44:40

were occupying the country. To be blunt,

44:43

if Napoleon wanted something from the Prussians,

44:45

he could just take it.

44:47

So you might think he turned Frederick William

44:49

down, but in fact, he didn't even

44:51

respond to the letter. Yet another

44:54

insult.

44:55

This brings me to another criticism of the

44:57

Treaty of Tilsit.

44:59

What was Napoleon doing with the Prussians?

45:02

Not only had he made them suffer at the negotiating

45:04

table, he had gone out of his way to

45:07

insult them at every turn.

45:09

Bonaparte certainly had his reasons to dislike

45:12

the Prussian king and queen, but once he had

45:14

made the decision to let them keep their crowns,

45:16

how did it serve France's interests to

45:19

antagonize them further? If

45:21

he was seeking to build a new geopolitical

45:24

order for Europe, surely this goal

45:26

would be best served by reconciling

45:28

the Prussians to the new way of things, not

45:31

by keeping them alienated. With

45:34

this letter, Frederick William seemed to

45:36

be signaling his readiness to turn

45:38

the page on the acrimony of the preceding

45:40

year and accept Napoleon's

45:42

vision for Europe, at least for the time

45:44

being. But Napoleon wasn't interested.

45:48

If he was here to defend himself, perhaps he

45:50

might say he couldn't trust the Prussians.

45:53

He knew they were both personally and

45:55

ideologically hostile to France. He

45:58

knew they wanted to regain all their love.

45:59

losses from Tilsit.

46:01

They would never be truly reconciled

46:04

to a geopolitical order led by Napoleon's

46:06

empire. Fair enough,

46:08

but if Napoleon couldn't work with Frederick

46:10

William, not even when there were French

46:13

troops on the streets of Berlin, why

46:15

had he allowed him to remain on the throne? The

46:18

obvious answer was that Alexander had

46:20

asked him to, and Napoleon had agreed

46:23

because he needed to appease the Russians. But

46:25

what was the long-term plan here?

46:27

Was he going to just leave the Prussians out in

46:29

the cold forever, or was

46:31

he planning to forgive them after a suitable

46:34

period of time out?

46:36

In any case, it's a strange way to conduct diplomacy.

46:39

Napoleon prided himself on his coldly

46:42

rational governance. He saw himself

46:44

as above petty human biases, and

46:46

focused solely on the public good.

46:49

But how were France's interests served

46:52

by punishing King Frederick William?

46:55

Napoleon was also troubled by reports from

46:57

Austria. If you'll think back to past

46:59

episodes, we've discussed how the Austrian military

47:02

leadership had been divided. There

47:04

was a young guard who wanted to make sweeping

47:06

reforms,

47:07

everything from the basics like the training

47:10

and equipment of individual soldiers, to

47:12

huge broad changes like

47:15

new doctrines and new organizational

47:17

structures.

47:18

Some of them even advocated changes

47:20

to government and administration to

47:22

facilitate these improvements to the military.

47:25

This group was probably best

47:27

represented by the younger brother of the Austrian

47:29

emperor, Archduke Charles von Tischen.

47:32

However, there was also an old guard who

47:35

felt such drastic reform might cause

47:37

more problems than it solved.

47:39

A lot of the young guard's agenda was inspired

47:42

by military innovations pioneered by

47:44

the French. As you might expect,

47:47

the Habsburg leadership was a conservative

47:49

bunch, and the idea of making

47:51

things in Austria more like they were

47:53

in France was a tough sell.

47:56

That may make it sound like they were just old sticks

47:58

in the mud, but remember

47:59

at this point in history, it was not at

48:02

all clear that the military revolution

48:04

underway in France was compatible

48:06

with an old regime system of government.

48:09

The Young Guard thought it was worth the risk

48:11

to try to reconcile a new-style

48:14

army with an old-style regime. The

48:16

Old Guard was not so optimistic.

48:19

As you can see, this was a thorny conflict.

48:22

However, recent events had tipped the

48:24

balance in favour of the Young Guard.

48:27

Quite simply, the fact that Austria had

48:29

lost three wars to the French in

48:32

ten years was a powerful argument

48:34

that their military needed to change.

48:37

In particular, the performance of the Austrian

48:39

army in the most recent conflict, the War

48:41

of the Third Coalition, which had culminated

48:43

at Austerlitz, had been atrocious.

48:46

The Austrians had been outclassed at almost

48:49

every step.

48:50

In some engagements, they hadn't even looked

48:52

very competitive with their French enemies.

48:55

It also probably didn't help the Old Guard

48:57

that one of their leading voices, General

49:00

Karl-Mock von Liebrich, had committed

49:02

perhaps the worst act of incompetence

49:05

by any military leader in Europe

49:07

since the outbreak of the French Revolution, getting

49:09

his entire army surrounded at Ulm and

49:12

surrendering to Napoleon without a major battle.

49:15

And so, in the wake of Austerlitz, the

49:17

pro-reform faction within the Austrian

49:20

military was allowed to implement much

49:22

of their program.

49:23

The government poured massive resources

49:25

into recruiting, training, and equipping

49:27

new units. The military was reorganized

49:30

into a more logical and more French-style

49:32

system. By the time Napoleon

49:35

returned from Tilsit, it was clear

49:37

to any outside observer that Austria

49:39

was preparing for another war in the

49:41

near future,

49:42

and given the current geopolitical situation

49:45

in Europe, France was the

49:47

only likely opponent.

49:49

Napoleon instructed his new foreign minister,

49:52

Champagne, to write a letter to the Austrian

49:54

ambassador to France, warning him that

49:56

the French were aware of Austrian

49:58

war preparations, and…

49:59

saw them as a threat. Quote,

50:03

What vertigo has seized people at Vienna?

50:06

What enemy threatens you?

50:08

You were calling the whole population to arms.

50:10

Your princes beat up the country like knights

50:13

errant.

50:14

What would you say if your neighbors did the same?

50:17

Do you wish to bring about a crisis?

50:19

Knowing as we do that you have no alliance

50:21

with Russia, the help of England is clearly

50:23

no service to you.

50:25

The Emperor cannot understand what you are about.

50:28

Up to the present he has taken no military

50:30

steps. Can you inform me confidentially

50:33

what it all means, and how we can prevent

50:35

a crisis from occurring? End

50:37

quote.

50:39

Of course, the Austrians had no interest

50:42

in preventing a crisis, only in

50:44

delaying it until their new military

50:46

was ready, and the moment was right.

50:49

Napoleon was also beginning to turn his

50:52

focus southwest, towards Spain.

50:55

We'll discuss this more in future episodes,

50:57

but to make a long story short, the Franco-Spanish

51:00

alliance was now over 10 years old, but

51:02

it had never been solid. The two

51:04

countries' interests were aligned on the world stage,

51:07

but the two governments were not a good fit. For

51:10

one thing, Spain was ruled by the Bourbon

51:13

dynasty, the same family that

51:15

had been violently deposed by the French

51:17

revolutionaries. Generally

51:19

speaking, the Spanish ruling class was piously

51:22

Catholic and very attached to the

51:24

traditional way of doing things.

51:26

As we've discussed at length in past episodes,

51:29

Bonaparte's government was anything but.

51:31

There was little holding the two

51:33

countries together, beyond their shared

51:35

opposition to the British, and Madrid's

51:38

fear of French power.

51:40

Napoleon felt Spain had been a poor

51:43

ally, its government did not truly

51:45

believe in cooperation with France.

51:48

And beyond that, even if he could

51:50

somehow convince them to embrace the alliance,

51:53

their administration and military were

51:55

so old fashioned and incompetent

51:57

that they probably would not be very useful. Even

52:00

before the Treaty of Tilsit was finalized,

52:02

he was already contemplating radical steps

52:05

to bring Spain in line with his vision.

52:09

And of course, the last of these remaining

52:11

loose threads was the British.

52:13

Napoleon hoped the Continental

52:15

system would eventually bring them to their knees,

52:18

but for the time being there was a powerful

52:20

enemy lurking right across the channel, who

52:23

Napoleon had no way of striking at directly.

52:25

As we'll discuss in the future, the

52:27

British were already preparing a shocking

52:30

military response to Tilsit.

52:33

They didn't look like a country on the verge

52:35

of collapse.

52:37

Looking at the European geopolitical scene

52:39

in mid-1807 from our vantage

52:41

point, knowing what would happen over the

52:44

course of the next eight years, it

52:46

is pretty clear what we are seeing.

52:48

Napoleon had reached the apex of

52:50

his power, but the cracks

52:52

were beginning to appear. The

52:54

task of consolidating all the incredible

52:57

gains of the past few years while

52:59

addressing these remaining loose ends would

53:02

prove impossible.

53:03

As strong as the Empire looked, the

53:06

seeds of its destruction were already germinating.

53:10

Of course, no one has the luxury of

53:12

looking at their own time with the benefit

53:14

of hindsight.

53:15

To those who actually experienced these events,

53:18

it looked like there were only a few remaining obstacles

53:21

to Napoleon's total victory.

53:23

As we'll see over the course of the coming episodes,

53:26

Bonaparte's defeat was certainly

53:28

not inevitable.

53:30

His journey will get harder, but he

53:32

was still in control of his own destiny.

53:34

The Grande Armée was still the

53:36

most powerful fighting force in the world.

53:39

The French government was still the most dynamic

53:42

and effective on the continent.

53:44

Although public enthusiasm for his regime

53:46

had waned, generally speaking,

53:48

the people of France were still behind

53:51

him. He could also call upon the

53:53

resources of most of Western Europe.

53:56

And of course, Napoleon was still

53:58

Napoleon, his genius. and energy

54:00

remained undiminished, even as he grew

54:02

colder and more remote.

54:04

His reputation was stronger than ever.

54:07

Whatever difficulties lay ahead, the Emperor

54:10

of the French would continue to make his mark

54:12

on Europe for the foreseeable future. In

54:14

the coming episodes, we'll explore the

54:17

nature of Napoleonic rule, and watch

54:19

as Napoleon's enemies begin to adapt

54:21

to his methods.

54:23

But all that will have to wait for the future.

54:26

As always, thanks for listening.

54:36

One last thing, don't forget to check out other

54:38

podcasts on our network, like the

54:40

Explorers podcast, the History of Everything,

54:43

and Pax

54:43

Britannica.