Markham On Russian TV!

David shot me a link to this recent interview he did on Russian television about Napoleon! It runs for 24 minutes and explores whether Napoleon was a hero or a villan. As you’d expect, David laid out the facts, clearly and simply.

Unfortunately I can’t find any embed code, but you can check the video out on RT.

 

Fixing Napoleon In iTunes

Hey folks, some of you may have noticed that your Napoleon feed in iTunes has broken as a result of the server migration. Mea culpa! I tried to make it a smooth transition but it looks like something broke. So, if you’re in that category, please do the following:

  1. UNSUBSCRIBE from the show in iTunes.
  2. Then RE-SUBSCRIBE using this link. Just click on it here and it should open iTunes.

If you have any further problems or questions, just let me know.

While you’re at it, don’t forget to join our Facebook page if you haven’t already. It’s a great way to keep up to date with the future of the show.

 

Moving Day

Hi folks, as you may have noticed, we’re moving to a new site. It’s going to take me a few days to get all of the old content up and running, so please be patient.

Napoleon @ The NGV

Last Saturday, Chrissy and I had the pleasure of attending the opening day of “NAPOLEON : REVOLUTION TO EMPIRE” at the National Gallery of Victoria. I have to say – I was very impressed. The exhibition takes visitors from the last days of Louis XVI, through the Revolution, Reign of Terror, Consulate, Empire and St Helena. I thought they did a great job encapsulating Napoleon’s life and career. There are some major works, one of his bicornes from St Helena, uniforms, copies of the Code Napoleon, and much, much more. I will be recording an interview with one of the Curators of the exhibition this week and will have it online soon. If any of you have the chance to attend the exhibition (it runs until Oct 7), I recommend it highly!

National Gallery of Victoria Does Napoleon!

 

The NGV in Melbourne (my old hometown) is running”>a major Napoleon exhibition in Melbourne starting June 2012. Amazingly, neither David nor I have been invited to participate! I am going to reach out to the curator though and try to get an interview with them about the exhibition.

Napoleon: Revolution to Empire is a panoramic exhibition examining French art, culture and life from the 1770s to the 1820s. Its story runs from the first French voyages of discovery to Australia during the reign of Louis XV to the end of Napoleon’s transforming leadership as first Emperor of France. Exhibition organised with Fondation Napoléon, Paris. Co-curator: Karine Huguenaud, Chargée des Collections, Fondation Napoléon

Congrats To Monsieur Stark!

On behalf of David, myself and our audience, I’d like to congratulate our good friend Nicholas Stark for being accepted into the history masters program at Florida State University, in the Institute on the French Revolution and Napoleon!

Vive la révolution! French MP starts race to Napoleonland

From The Guardian:

Why simply take your children to pose with Mickey Mouse when they could be re-enacting the battle of Trafalgar in a giant aquarium – or dry-skiing past frozen corpses from Napoleon’s desperate retreat from Russia?

A French MP has laid down the gauntlet for a new generation of history-themed mega-rollercoasters with plans for Europe’s first theme-park based on the French general and emperor Napoleon.

Read the full article!

I know I’ll definitely be making a visit to this place if it gets off the ground. Hopefully they will be selling the DVD pack of this podcast in their gift shop?

Cam’s Written A Book!

It’s not about Napoleon though.

The book is called “The Three Illusions” and it looks at science and philosophy. It’s my guide for living with what I call “permanent peace” and the philosophy in it has been the basis of how I’ve lived my life for the last 20 or so years.

Thanks for the folks who have proof read it for me over the last six months and given me notes, including Chrissy, Tony Kynaston and Russell Buckley.

Feel free to read the introduction to the book and to subscribe to the newsletter for updates.

The entire book is available from Amazon in ebook format.

For those of you without an iPad or iPhone or Kindle device, you can download the Kindle app for PC or Mac for free from Amazon’s site. I do plan to publish the book in paperback at some stage in the future.

Napoleonic soldiers remains found in northern Poland – National

Thanks for Andrew Lawson for this story:

Napoleonic soldiers’ remains found in northern Poland
18.11.2011 08:02
Archaeologists believe that the remains of soldiers who died after Napoleon’s doomed march on Moscow have been found during the creation of a new bypass at Olecko, north east Poland.

The skeletons of some 350 people were discovered in the forgotten graveyard, after woodland was cut back to lay the new road.

“Analysis of the bones of several men buried there shows changes characteristic of people who rode on horseback for much of their lives,” archaeologist Hubert Augustyniak told the Polish Press Agency.

About half of those buried were children, and experts believe that they were from the local village. Tests confirm that the villagers suffered from a poor diet and were exposed to hard labour.

A number of coins minted between the years 1710 and 1842 was also found at the site, as well as some jewellery and an iron cross.

It is believed that the soldiers’ uniforms were stolen.

Some 400,000 French troops – many of them Poles hoping for the complete rebirth of their country – are estimated to have died during Napoleon’s Moscow campaign.

Napoleon had created the so-called Duchy of Warsaw in 1807, and called the 1812 war his “second Polish campaign.”

However, the retreat from the Russian capital in the winter of 1812/1813 left victims strewn across much of Eastern Europe.

The defeat marked the beginning of the end both for Bonaparte and the empire that he had created.

via Napoleonic soldiers remains found in northern Poland – National.

How Tall Was Napoleon?

Thanks to Jon for pointing us to this comic in the comments section!

Click on the comic to read more about it and to visit the author’s site!

Napoleon’s height is, of course, one of the things most people know about him. David and I discussed the matter in our very first episode of this podcast.

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