S2 Ep123. Hubris and Nemesis. Part 2. Napoleon Bonaparte

From 1789 onward, French history became a breathtaking cycle of hubris and nemesis. Nowhere was this more striking than in the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. Rising rapidly through the revolutionary ranks to govern and pacify France, he ultimately crowned himself Emperor and crushed coalition after coalition in legendary battles. By 1812, his self-belief was god-like, his army worshipped him, and his hubris reached its absolute peak. Then came the fateful error: invading Russia. Underestimating his enemy, the vast distances, and the brutal winter—a mistake Hitler would famously repeat over a century later—he lost over half a million men in a campaign he never needed to fight. Though he clawed his way back once more, his nemesis was absolute. His final years were spent exiled on the windswept Atlantic island of St. Helena, where the man who once ruled Europe died broken, isolated, and miserable.