Who was Napoleon Bonaparte? Why have more books been written about this man than anyone else in history apart from perhaps Jesus Christ? And why are so many people around the world fascinated with his story? Was he a tyrant? Was he, as Chateaubriand said, ‘mightiest breath of life which ever animated human clay’?

This podcast intends to provide two opinions on those questions while stepping you through the life of this very complex and divisive man.

Your hosts will be:

David Markham is the Executive Vice President and Editor Chief of the International Napoleonic Society and the Executive Vice President of the Napoleonic Alliance. He has published articles in twenty journals and four websites worldwide and his work has appeared in five languages (English, French, Georgian, Italian, and Russian). He is the author of “NAPOLEON’S ROAD TO GLORY”, “NAPOLEON FOR DUMMIES” and several other important books on the subject.

Cameron Reilly is the Co-Founder and Director of The Podcast Network. He has been a student of Napoleonic history for 15 years.

“NAPOLEON 101” is intended to be a structured podcast lasting 15 episodes, each covering a particular period of Napoleon’s life and career. At this stage, we intend those episodes to be:

1. Prologue – Why Napoleon?
2. Early life and military career
3. The “whiff of grapeshot”
4. The Italian campaign of 1796–97
5. The Egyptian expedition of 1798–99
6. The coup of 18 Brumaire
7. An interlude of peace
8. The Peninsular War and the War of the Fifth Coalition
9. Invasion of Russia
10. The War of the Sixth Coalition
11. Exile in Elba
12. Les Cent-Jours (The Hundred Days) and Waterloo
13. Exile in Saint Helena and death
14. Marriages and children and The Family
15. Epilogue – Napoleon’s Legacy

The first episode should be up mid-February!