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00:00napoleon bonaparte born in corsica he rose to fame in france with a string of glorious military
00:09victories before turning on his paymasters overthrowing the government and becoming emperor
00:15of the french his campaigns brought most of western europe under his control to create the
00:22biggest empire in the country's history but that's just napoleon the emperor what was going
00:27on behind the scenes in this episode i'll visit the palaces from where napoleon ran his empire
00:35and investigate the real man behind the gaudy splendor i'll uncover his relationships
00:41beginning with a prostitute and ending with the founding of a dynasty and i'll reveal how the man
00:47of destiny coped with humiliating defeat i put so many things and you have the heart of napoleon
00:55at the battle of isling napoleon projected himself as a man of destiny the british characterized him
01:02as pure evil but the reality is he was a workaholic he was a military genius and he was a man of great
01:10passion napoleon was one of the most voracious inter readers and intellectually curious people
01:18i think you'll ever meet in the pages of history he was a man who genuinely had a thousand personalities
01:25or no personality he could be brutal he could be merciful he could be generous he could be petty
01:31but the one thing that he always was was fixated on power was napoleon really the short egotistical man
01:40that history remembers him as did his family help him accumulate more mistresses than louis the 14th
01:48how did the court operate behind closed doors and how did he help lay the foundation for the france we know
01:55today this is the private life of napoleon the man
02:09napoleon was born nearly 600 miles from here on the island of corsica to a family
02:33with an italian background his father was a handsome sharp dressing money spender who once said
02:41go hungry if you will but never be without a good suit by contrast his mother was penny pinching strict
02:49and not afraid to use a birch whip perhaps not surprisingly it was his mother whom napoleon
02:56most identified with and her influence who spurred him on to greater things
03:05napoleon moved to the french mainland when he was nine and by the age of 16 began a stint at the
03:11ecole militaire in paris where he trained to be an artillery officer he was a natural and graduated in
03:20just a year instead of the usual two napoleon was sent to religious school and was only there for
03:27a short time before he was sent to a military academy and that's really where he found himself
03:34that's where he belonged his personality was much more suited to that way of life than anything
03:40ecclesiastical a couple of years later napoleon grew up in another way the story goes that he was
03:51walking along a passage when a young woman with a pale complexion caught his eye
03:59it's almost certainly at this point that the 18 year old napoleon lost his virginity
04:05despite its rather grand name the palais royal was basically chock-a-block with prostitutes and napoleon
04:14got talking to a prostitute talked rather too much as as virgins sometimes do and was even asking her
04:21how she lost her virginity and she said to him well isn't about time you lost yours and nevertheless by
04:27all accounts we had a completely satisfactory experience two years later the french
04:34revolution erupted and in the ensuing french revolutionary wars napoleon began to make a name
04:41for himself and was appointed artillery commander of the republican forces at the siege of toulon
04:48he proved himself to have an acute military mind far beyond his years and his success saw him promoted
04:55to brigadier general aged just 24. it was not only his military career that was on track
05:03because in the summer of 1794 napoleon began to court desiree clary the pretty 16 year old daughter
05:11of a deceased royalist millionaire although their relationship was conducted mainly by exchanging
05:17letters napoleon fell very deeply in love and by the following april they were engaged
05:24she was originally engaged to just upon a part uh napoleon's brother and eventually napoleon managed to
05:36convince joseph that in fact he wanted to be engaged to desiree's sister which freed up desiree for napoleon to be
05:47with napoleon's love for her brought out his softer side as he penned the romantic novella clisson and eugenie
06:00the name he preferred to call her about a doomed romance of a soldier and his lover
06:07most young men of napoleon's generation had a go at writing a romantic novel
06:11it's ludicrous really you know the whole thing is overblown it's um it's real mils and boone type stuff
06:19and i think one of the things he came to regret about it was that um he really liked his girlfriend
06:24at the time desiree clary and i think he was really embarrassed about it because he really portrayed them
06:30as a couple of caricatures you know where they were very young and this is just the sort of sad
06:36melodramatic ending that you've got to have if you're writing a romantic novel at the time
06:45and indeed napoleon's relationship with desiree was equally doomed by june 1795 he realized that
06:54she was no longer replying to his letters and it's likely that her mother had discouraged her from
07:00marrying him napoleon was heartbroken but less than a year later in the restaurant behind me here which
07:07still exists to this day it's said that napoleon proposed marriage to another woman
07:15that woman was josephine de beauharnais who had become napoleon's mistress in late 1795 she was six years
07:23older and a widow with two children but napoleon became utterly infatuated with her and fell very
07:30deeply in love first couple of times that she met napoleon she just thought quite understandably he was
07:40a little geek you know this skinny little guy with this strange accent who was in this thing called the
07:45artillery and stuff like that it's the equivalent of being a computer programmer nowadays really you know
07:50it's not a conversation you know if you're if you're really good at trigonometry it's not you know
07:55conversation but he was obviously really bowled over by her and josephine always tried a very beautiful
08:03woman very sociable very intelligent and graceful to attach herself to whoever seemed to be on the rise
08:11legend has it that this is the very table that napoleon and josephine were dining at
08:22when he popped the question and you can see their names on the plaques behind me here
08:27josephine said yes and they were married at a civil ceremony on the 9th of march 1796
08:35the bride was wearing a trickle or sash over her white wedding dress and the groom was two hours late
08:45the reason napoleon was late for his own wedding was because he was being given the best wedding
08:50present he could imagine command of the french army in italy so only a few days after signing the
08:57marriage certificate he left to go and fight to find out more about their relationship i've come
09:04to the napoleon foundation to meet professor peter hicks
09:13most figures in the public eye it's quite difficult to find out about their private lives is that the
09:18case with napoleon no it isn't because we have his love letters these are famous 300 letters they're
09:25preserved at the archive national here in paris with a ribbon around them and there's almost a
09:29religious relic uh and the early letters are full of this passion he's complaining that she doesn't
09:35write he tells her how he imagines him rushing back to her bursting into her bedroom this kind of
09:42thing very intimate kind of details so he's he's passionately in love with her then he goes off to
09:47italy for the uh this italian campaign so he's very fully involved although he keeps talking about her
09:54his his adc's sing he only ever talks about josephine he's always talking about josephine
09:58so he's remembers her but as well he has affairs there are these italian singers that he's meeting
10:04in milan so he kind of slightly shacks up with them and there are rumors that josephine possibly has
10:10affairs at the same time which napoleon of course being a fiery corset comes very upset about they have
10:15affairs on both sides um it's a kind of it's a very french way of behaving i suppose
10:21once napoleon discovered that josephine was having an affair with a hussar called hippolyte charles
10:29he retaliated by having affairs himself and the quite an interesting combination of women one was
10:36pauline four who was a hat maker from paris who stowed away on a ship dressed as a soldier as a male
10:43soldier when they went to cairo and when they got to cairo and she revealed her true identity i think
10:49napoleon found that quite appealing so they had a very a very stormy relationship
10:59from the letters it's clearly a very passionate affair but is there also a meeting of minds that's
11:04yes i think there is so we get these letters from napoleon they show him as being very passionate
11:09they're splendid letters i mean he's very proud of his ability to write so his passion comes out in
11:14his letters but josephine is well connected so that might have interested napoleon particularly
11:20josephine had been connected with the head of state in france a man called bass who was head of the
11:25directorate at that time which was a sort of government body so josephine has interest for
11:30napoleon in terms of political support so that we've seen that yes they were kind of useful to each other
11:36but you do also get the impression there was a meeting of minds that they kind of found their soul
11:43mate
11:51while napoleon was away fighting the egyptian campaign josephine bought them an estate and spent
11:57a fortune renovating it the results was a home that would be very important to both of them
12:04the chateau de melmaison a lot of money was spent which he felt rather uncomfortable about initially
12:14the interior however was was something fit for an emperor um but also fit for a general and somebody
12:20who had spent a lot of time on campaign because one of the themes that ran throughout amazon was one of
12:28campaign tents and there were certain rooms that you entered and the interior was crafted in a way
12:35so that it looked like you were under under a tent and his console room was specifically uh noted for that
12:47this is the nerve center of the house i'm standing at napoleon's actual desk where he did
12:54all that colossal amount of work well the desk is currently in its closed state but it was very
13:01cleverly designed so that it would open up when napoleon was working at it and then when he'd finished
13:07it could be closed and all of his papers concealed from prying eyes and if you come with me there's
13:15another secret just close by
13:29so i'm told that just around here in fact through this door is napoleon's bedroom
13:36wow and here it is so just up that tiny staircase he would walk up when he was getting a bit tired from
13:51conducting all that business and he would come up here to his bedroom well that's probably not napoleon's
14:01actual bed but it's from the period and you can see it's very short now that's because it was
14:07believed at the time that if you lay down you were dead so you didn't sleep lying down you'd be propped up
14:14on cushions which sounds a bit uncomfortable but it didn't stop napoleon from napping he had several
14:21power naps a day by the sound of things in order to keep going to fuel him up to conduct all that business
14:27from downstairs so this is just incredible because it's the public napoleon downstairs
14:35king of his domain and then very much the private man behind that when you come here into his bedroom
14:47despite the egyptian campaign not going according to plan the suntan napoleon returned to france to a
14:54hero's welcome but while his popularity was at an all-time high the same could not be said for
15:02france's government the revolution had essentially gone too far what was supposed to create a constitutional
15:09monarchy in the mold of britain's had gained momentum and become a bloodthirsty nightmare
15:16it was incredibly unstable and a politician emmanuel siez planned to overthrow it
15:28siez saw how popular napoleon was with the public and convinced him to join his planned takeover and in
15:36a building on this street they plotted but napoleon was planning a coup within a coup with the aim of
15:44attaining power not for siez but for himself
15:51napoleon sees power in an event that was frankly pure theater and he turns up with a load of grenadiers
15:57of what was called the council of 500 he storms inside basically they beat him and his grenadiers up
16:04so he retreats he skulks outside he's got blood on his face his brother lucian comes out and says to
16:10the soldiers look at what these politicians have done look at what they've done to your war hero and
16:16then he grabs a sword and puts it to his brother's chest and says and you know if napoleon is a tyrant
16:21i'll run him through now and this seems to fired up the grenadiers they go back inside and they end the government
16:28napoleon was immensely successful as first consul he'd inherited a chaotic republic and turned it into
16:44a state with a strong bureaucracy and a well-trained army and after more than 10 years the budget was
16:52balanced and the whole of europe was at peace he was at the height of his popularity and another public
17:00vote saw him made first consul for life one of the things that siez and his co-conspirators didn't quite
17:09realize was that napoleon had had tremendous political experience and power when he was the ruler of
17:17italy of northern italy while he was was in command there but he'd done it behind the scenes
17:23and they didn't realize that they had hired someone with more executive political mouse than they did
17:30but being first consul wasn't enough in 1804 napoleon used a royalist conspiracy as an opportunity
17:38to gain even more power on the 18th of may he was proclaimed emperor of the french as napoleon
17:45the first with the right to choose his successor from within his family france had become a monarchy
17:52again i think when you look at many accounts of the coronation the switch from consulate to empire
18:02left people more curious than either angry or enthusiastic very few constitutional adjustments
18:10had to be made for him to become emperor mostly about family and succession because he already had
18:16most of those monarchical powers as for as consul for life napoleon was a complete contradiction you
18:23know he was a child of the revolution but he also brought back the grandeur of the court of the sun
18:28king louis 14. he had 60 palaces he had these elaborate costumes for his imperial guard
18:35uh he um was even crowned by the pope and he dressed himself like a kind of cross between a roman emperor
18:43and liberaci you know completely sumptuous
18:55now he was emperor napoleon decided he needed a suitably splendid court to strengthen his monarchy
19:03but contrary to other european courts his was not the product of centuries of tradition but rather
19:10the creation of a man himself and it was on a truly epic scale
19:19to find out what went on inside napoleon's court and palaces
19:23i'm meeting curator of fontainebleau christophe bayele we are in the imperial palace of fontainebleau
19:32which napoleon defined as the true mansion of kings that's why he elected fontainebleau
19:40god
19:45gosh it's magnificent isn't it this room is the great cabinet it was decorated under the king louis the
19:53fifteenth flocked with symbols and virtues allegories of power and here napoleon decided to put his grand
20:04cabinet where he held councils with ministers and advisors trying to take revenge of the defeat of
20:15trafalgar oh i see it was all plotting in here yes mobilizing forces building ships
20:24uh um conscription uh apple to bring together enough force to other crush yes
20:34this restless enemy that was the perfide albion
20:43when you get behind the scenes both in his private life but particularly at the core of his working
20:49life which was in the council of state that great institution of government that he creates
20:56it's incredibly informal everyone's first name everyone sits around the table
21:02he goes around takes everyone in turn he's the boss but a lot of memoirs have said
21:10that everyone just called him chef everyone just called him boss even his brothers
21:18and it was not laid back but sleeves rolled up everybody concentrating no time to stand on ceremony
21:28i suspect it was not unlike the west wing
21:35so we are here in the throne room and this throne room is composed of a canopy a seat on which only
21:45napoleon could sit signs and signs standards and a day it's spectacular isn't it but
21:57i find it quite staggering because this is post-revolutionary france and surely
22:03napoleon is a man of the people yet he seems to be making a king of himself yes
22:09in the wake of the revolution he needed to assert his new power he was a self-assigned monarch and
22:21he wanted to restore an etiquette imperial to distinguish his person from common people or ancient
22:31revolutionary because he said this i don't want anyone to i am now the emperor and you must obey me
22:43and did the people respect him or did they resent his they were afraid of his ruthless and determined will
22:53the over the top splendor of napoleon's court was not the only way in which he indulged his monarchical tendencies
23:04another was in his preferred form of exercise the royal sport of hunting
23:10napoleon apparently enjoyed hunting i mean maybe he was trying to emulate uh louis the 14th in that sense
23:16but even though he was a military man he wasn't the greatest of shots
23:20uh and it even led one prince to sneer at him once well napoleon when you've hunted kings maybe you
23:27shouldn't hunt deer
23:31on one hunt marshal alexandre berthier had brought napoleon rabbits in order to ensure that the
23:38emperor was in with a good chance of a high kill rate problem was they were domesticated and therefore
23:46used to people when napoleon got out of his carriage to begin shooting at them they assumed he was a
23:52keeper bringing them food hundreds of rabbits began charging at the emperor of the french while his
24:00grooms flailed at them with whips napoleon got back in his carriage flinging rabbits out of his window as
24:07he went needless to say he was not amused of course on the battlefield he was far more effective and a
24:17string of victories gave france a european empire on a scale not seen since ancient rome he was a man for
24:26whom war came naturally and in his position no one could reign him in but what was the secret of his
24:33success this huge painting napoleon crossing the alps is probably how we all imagine him he's there on his
24:43horse leading his troops across the alps but in fact the reality was rather different he was three days
24:52behind his troops it was a fine sunny day and instead of being sat on a fiery steed such as this
25:00he actually rode over on a mule so napoleon wasn't shaped by destiny but by sheer hard work
25:13he worked incredibly hard and if you're looking at his daily life it revolved around work
25:21he had a very punishing work routine um he put a lot of time in he was like a sponge
25:28in the detail and the information that he could absorb and process and the sheer energy of the guy
25:36enthused everybody around him he had an enormous belief in himself he had to
25:43but he knew that really it came from hard work and hard-won success and in that sense too he he emulated a
25:53generation who felt they'd raised themselves and he'd raised himself
25:59during his years of victory he barely slept on campaign and as emperor in paris he would sleep at
26:0710 pm rise at 2 a.m to work until 5 a.m grab another couple of hours sleep and then work all day with only
26:1615 minute breaks for simple meals which he would bolt down often standing up he had no friends
26:26those people he did keep around him were for their usefulness work was his only true love apart from that
26:34is josephine but success on the battlefield was one thing to be a true emperor he needed
26:42to found a dynasty problem was no amount of hard work in the bedroom was producing an heir
26:50his many affairs and subsequent illegitimate children showed that the problem lay with josephine
26:57there was only one solution in december 1809 napoleon reluctantly divorced her
27:04wasting no time in creating the air he so desperately needed in 1810 napoleon married the arch duchess marie louise
27:17of austria although not renowned for her beauty or conversation napoleon was very affectionate towards
27:24her and while he continued to have mistresses he kept them very secret he didn't have long to wait for
27:31an heir because on the 20th of march 1811 marie louise gave birth to a son who was confusingly named
27:39napoleon he was given the title king of rome and would be napoleon's only child only legitimate child
27:47that is he always called josephine bellamy my lovely friend and he says to her you'll always be my friend
27:56he wants josephine to be continued to be involved in the court and marie louise has to say now look no
28:02we can't do that i'm sorry i have to put my foot down here but when she gets to realize really through
28:10the intermediary of um napoleon's sister and josephine's daughter who becomes very friendly with
28:16marie louise that look this is the way it is he's not cheating on you but they're friends she accepts it
28:24yeah um she obviously times he thinks he's gone a bit too far but when josephine is delighted at the
28:32birth of their son that breaks the ice napoleon had built up a splendid royal court founded the bonaparte
28:45dynasty and through a series of wars had acquired an empire that ruled half of europe paris had become
28:52the social center of the entire continent and the public adored him he still has his fans today a
29:00few of them even have the contacts and well the means to acquire large collections of napoleonic
29:07memorabilia secreted in this building in the center of paris is one such collection and pierre jean
29:14charlinson is the man behind it wow this is incredible this is napoleon's room really i wasn't
29:23expecting anything like this you don't get a hint of it from the outside and this no because from outside
29:29you don't see really how big is it it's very discreet so obviously you're a huge fan of napoleon i can
29:37see him yes the tapestry it's from 1809 from aubusson aubusson manufacture from 180 only one in the world
29:46and it's interesting because you can see really the size of napoleon this is life-size life-size yes
29:53so he's not that small no of course not he seems to be but you know a lot of people said napoleon was
30:00small the english says that he was english propaganda oh my god this english people
30:06can you talk me through some of your favorite things as we walk through these amazing rooms
30:11here you have a painting order by lord rosemary prime minister of the queen victoria
30:16very important painting napoleon just before he died he doesn't look so well there no this is a
30:21code of harm from the coronation it not in notre dame the 2 december 1804 it was on the top of notre
30:28damme that's the only one we know yeah you know the collection is more than 2 000 pieces you have
30:352 000 yes that's incredible and uh all the furniture that you can see here is national treasure it means
30:44i can't sell i can't move from outside france here we are in a much more napoleonic home with a huge
30:53painting of napoleon oh that's incredible original that's the original one yes and here you have the
31:01ring that's the same ring the same you're wearing napoleon oh i love that you josephine but that's so
31:10rare to see usually something like this would be behind glass it'd be in a case yes but you're just
31:14using uh because i am a little bit crazy and french you know i have my ring why not why not you know
31:21living in rather palatial style pierre jean is a an avid collector i think we can say of napoleonic
31:29memorabilia he's got paintings sculptures furniture and and he's there every night dining with napoleon's
31:37cutlery sitting on his chairs and though many people would probably object to the fact that these
31:44artifacts are displayed in this way nevertheless curiously it does actually give us more of an insight
31:51into napoleon the man napoleon as emperor in the way that they've been used by pierre jean today
31:59this is the jewelry box in marlmaison of josephine de borne her jewelry box yeah jewelry box it's
32:06a lot it looks like wedgewood it's not yes it's several imperial manufacture of sevres
32:11it's a comp it's by bna martin guillomier it's completely french it's completely
32:17i have some tea because i use uh i of course if i have paintings that's an incredibly famous
32:24painting as well of napoleon this one yes the queen in of england as one oh yes you're in good
32:30company you're in windsor i think and uh and mine now i i says the queen and me that's not too bad is it
32:40that that's not the hat is it yes it is napoleon i i have a lot of things you know it's i like this uh
32:49this uh showcase because i i put so many things inside and uh you have the hat of napoleon at the
32:58battle of isling i can't believe that's napoleon's actual hat and it's it's it's not very common because
33:06napoleon used to have during all his life 172 hats approximately yeah but in uh in private
33:14collection just two or three now it's amazing and and it really feels like we're getting a glimpse
33:20into napoleon's private life because there are so many personal mementos so thank you
33:25for showing us around because it's been an absolute treat by 1812 napoleon was lauded by the public
33:34and at the peak of his powers with a colossal 680 000 strong grand dame but still he wanted more
33:43in this age of european empires he wanted to defy geography smash through national boundaries and quite
33:52simply build the biggest empire the world had ever seen and so on june the 24th 1812 he set his
34:00sights eastwards to a new target russia napoleon's grand armée was the largest army ever assembled in
34:09history so he certainly had manpower and there were some early victories the russians even abandoned
34:16moscow napoleon wrote back to his empress comparing the russian autumn to autumns at fontainebleu but of
34:25course winter was coming once the weather set in russia pressed its advantage the largest army in history
34:36was only as good as its commanders and napoleon's best was stationed elsewhere in disgrace or dead
34:43he did not have his a team with him when he went in there he went in at the wrong time of year
34:50there's a tiny little fact on paper but which is huge he he had a massive cavalry he let the horses
34:58graze on raw grass the horses got stomach problems and died long before the russian winter and that is
35:07very unfertile country napoleon's tactic was always to move fast and live off the land
35:14he couldn't do that in russia and he was harried by russian guerrillas all the way who raided his
35:22supply depots he'd encountered this in spain he'd encountered this when he'd fought the russians in 1807
35:29and he just doesn't seem to have taken it on board by the 14th of december 1812 a million people had been
35:37killed in the fighting the result was a catastrophic defeat for france and napoleon himself napoleon was
35:46completely out of his depth in the russian campaign absolutely every tactical imperative
35:55every bit of organization the whole nature of the fighting was beyond him
36:03following the defeat vast swathes of europe took russia's side and attacked france the outcome of
36:10the next year and a half of war was napoleon's ultimate defeat in april 1814 he had no choice but to
36:19abdicate napoleon was taken across the water to the island of elba off the coast of italy and was
36:28treated very well rather than simply being in exile he was given sovereignty of the island and even
36:35promised a pension but as his empire collapsed back home it had a dramatic effect on his state of mind
36:44at three o'clock in the morning on the 13th of april napoleon took out a capsule of poison
36:50that he'd carried with him throughout his russia campaign and he swallowed it
36:57napoleon said that he was opposed to suicide and he apparently once declared that it was like quitting
37:04the battlefield before the war was won or lost and yet nevertheless he seems to have had suicidal episodes
37:12in his life he apparently attempted suicide with a mixture of opium and water
37:18but luckily his physician got to him in time and the opium doesn't seem to have had the
37:23required effect he was revived he vomited and he recovered
37:31napoleon recovered his mental state and instructed those present never to talk about the suicide attempt
37:38again his exile after all was a very lenient one while he had to remain on the island he was free to rule
37:46it napoleon was never one to sit still he had an extraordinary well of energy so even while on elba
37:55in his humiliation he set about improving the island he reformed the army he rebuilt the navy he built roads
38:02he built mines he remade their legal codes he overhauled their education system on elba he was not capable
38:08of sitting still there was pretty much free access to napoleon on elba and he decided to turn this to
38:16his advantage so yes come meet napoleon come and see me yes everybody can have 20 minutes 10 minutes
38:23what do you want to talk to me about let me tell you my side of the story let me tell you what i
38:28really think happened in russia in 1812 let me tell you what they did to me in france a few months
38:34ago when they overthrew me here's my version you're only hearing what the allies are telling you this
38:38is the truth and people would flock to meet him yeah he was a celebrity and the allies actually began
38:46to get a bit worried by this you know people are coming away who went to gop and saying this guy is
38:52genius but there were those among the victorious allies who thought his exile too lenient and so
39:01fearful they would go back on the deal napoleon decided to escape and he came up with a rather
39:07cunning ploy part of the reason he managed to escape from elba was he convinced his british minder
39:14who had a girlfriend in florence that another british official in florence was hitting on her
39:22and he said you better go over there and sort this out and so he took off napoleon made sure he took
39:28off at the exact time the tides and everything were and the winds were right to help him escape himself
39:35so he slipped elbow while his minder was in florence trying to get sweet with his girlfriend again
39:41and he engineered that because his minder was completely captivated by him
39:46napoleon made it to paris but it wasn't a return to glory he had become deeply unpopular worse than
39:56that napoleon's enemies began to mobilize their armies napoleon's very careful when he first returns to
40:03france he's going through southern france where he's not liked once he knows he's got most of the army
40:08behind him and he takes power in paris his game plan is absolutely clear and it's vintage napoleon
40:16i will find an allied army bring him to one big engagement and thump them and the battle of
40:22waterloo was his idea waterloo turned out to be one of the worst commanded battles of the napoleonic wars
40:34the french were slow lacked urgency and napoleon made poor decisions the result was that the battle
40:42of waterloo ended in a disastrous defeat for napoleon and france napoleon abdicated for the second and
40:51final time he surrendered to britain but not repeating their previous mistake he was exiled to an island
40:58over a thousand miles off the coast of west africa saint helena it was in this remote location that he
41:06dictated his memoirs by the time napoleon got to saint helena he was very ill but he dictates his memoirs
41:14he doesn't write memoirs he dictates them to four different people incredibly crafty so that he can
41:22sort of say well if there are contradictions in there you know it's not necessarily my fault it's four
41:27different guys who just couldn't get the story right uh it would all be suspicious if it was
41:32synchronized and all the same anyway wasn't it and um he deliberately crafts this and steers the
41:38conversation i think most of the time he talked and was ill
41:41napoleon died on saint helena on the 5th of may 1821 aged 51 almost certainly of stomach cancer
41:57his final words were france the army head of the army josephine
42:03but his story didn't stop there debate has raged ever since about whether he was killed by the british
42:15if there was any direct deliberate british involvement in napoleon's death it was when they
42:23premeditatedly moved him from one of the nicer parts of the island
42:27up to longwood which is about as insalubrious a place as you can find for someone who's ill
42:38we will never know the true cause of his death but what cannot be debated is that napoleon had left
42:44his mark not just on france but on the wider world there's something cinematic about the arc of napoleon's
42:52life it's a story that any fiction writer would love to have come up with he starts with nothing
42:58he acquires everything and by the time he dies he has even less than he had at the beginning
43:05he truly had it all and lost it all his military conquest gave western europe its public sphere its law
43:14codes its system of administration almost everywhere as a soldier he left an indelible mark
43:21he's a legend as a person as a self-made person again a legend a self-made man who rose to the top
43:31and fell again you couldn't make it up
43:38yes the defeat at waterloo left france smaller than when he had started but napoleon also left france
43:46a very different country the place we know today and that's perhaps why he rests here now in this
43:54magnificent tomb glorifying his memory for all eternity
44:07so
44:14so
44:16so
44:19so
44:24You