All Episodes

In praise of... Patrick O'Brian (w/Ian Bradley of the Lubber's Hole)

Has ANDREW ROBERTS changed his mind?

The best books about 1805

Episode 53: Q1-1805 - The invasion riddle

1805-15 preview: The Napoleonic Wars

1804 recap: Imperial tensions

Scenes from a Napoleon movie (screenplay wrap-up, pt2/2)

We wrote a Napoleon movie! (screenplay wrap-up pt1/2)

1803 recap: Against the odds

1802 recap: Haiti's fight for freedom

1801 recap: Making war and making peace

Power without dignity: Napoleon's Brumaire sacrifice (screenplay plotting, mins 105-120)

1800 recap: From Marengo to Moreau

The Fresh Prince of Brumaire (screenplay plotting, mins 90-105)

1799 recap: The French go backwards

Napoleon's dark night of the soul (screenplay plotting, mins 75-90)

Waterloo teaser: The myth of Hougoumont

1798 recap: Egyptian adventure

Napoleon's pear-shaped ambitions (Screenplay plotting, 60-75mins)

1797 recap: The frenzy of victory

Towards the midpoint: Love triangles and military montages (Screenplay plotting, 45-60mins)

1796 recap: The rockstar general

What every Napoleon movie needs: The promise of the premise (Screenplay plotting, minutes 30-45)

1795 recap: Revolutionary reverberations

Crossing the Lodi threshold (screenplay plotting - minutes 15-30)

1794 recap: Robespierre's Terror trap

Napoleon's inciting incident ISN'T Toulon... (screenplay plotting - minutes 0-15)

1793 recap: Spreading Revolution, escalating wars

Let's write a Napoleon movie! (screenplay plotting - initial scoping)

1792 recap: The French Revolution firestorm

Production update: Launch the relaunch!

Coronation drama: Josephine, the Pope, and Napoleon's crowning moment (w/Ambrogio Caiani)

Battlefield despatches: Rivoli, Q1-1797

Marathas at War: The Rise of Holkar and the Second Anglo-Maratha Conflict

Episode 52: Q4-1804 - Three empires

The US Navy vs the Barbary Corsairs

Battlefield despatches: Castiglione, Q3-1796

Beyond the musical: Hamilton's complex second act (w/Peter Kastor)

Episode 51: Q3-1804 - Pirates and emperors

Battlefield despatches: Piedmont, Q2-1796

The Empire’s last act: Ritual, rivalry, and the end of old Germany (w/ Barbara Stollberg-Rilinger)

The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Mapping the great unknown

Episode 50: Q2-1804 - The imperial dignity

ADAM ZAMOYSKI on the Napoleonic soap opera

Power plays in the Caucasus: Georgia, Russia and imperial expansion (w/ Giorgi Tchkadua)

Ready for war: France in 1804-5 (w/ Alan Forrest)

Episode 49: Q1-1804 - Conspiracists and conspirators

Battlefield despatches: Dego, Q2-1796

From Toulon to the Nile: Rival fleets and the struggle for Mediterranean supremacy

1804-5: What to discuss?

Episode 48: Q4-1803 - Haiti, free at last

Battlefield despatches: Assaye, Sep 23rd 1803

Nelson's patent bridge: The Battle of Cape St Vincent, 14 February 1797

Napoleonic Qs #6: The Royal Navy's PR machine, elite units, Suvorov in 1799

Episode 47: Q3-1803 - Enter Wellesley

Medical miseries of the Napoleonic Wars (w/Martin Howard)

Production update: June 2025

Napoleonic Qs #5: Bonapartist ghosts, British baddies, French brinkmanship

Beating Napoleon: A lost 2013 interview with David Andress

Episode 46: Q2-1803 - The Napoleonic Wars

Exploring Napoleonic Malta (w/ Liam Gauci)

What led to... the Louisiana Purchase? (w/Peter Kastor)

[PILOT] Battlefield despatches: Montenotte, 12 Apr 1796

Episode 45: Q1-1803 - The dying peace

Indian soldiers and the British Empire (w/Ravindra Rathee)

Napoleon's Switzerland triumph, 1802-3 (w/Biancamaria Fontana)

Redrawing Germany's political map (w/ Michael Rowe)

Episode 44: Q4-1802 - The bloody quadrupeds

Napoleon Bonaparte as First Consul (w/ Alan Forrest)

The Glorious First of June: Howe v Villaret-Joyeuse, 1 June 1794

Hilary Mantel's A Place Of Greater Safety and the French Revolution (w/William Doyle)

Episode 43: Q3-1802 - Pushing the boundaries

Christmas special: Napoleonic Secret Santa!

PHILIP DWYER on Napoleonic violence

Meet the Ottomans (w/ Michael Talbot)

Episode 42: Q2-1802 - The plot against Toussaint

The NQ masterplan

Are we getting battles all wrong? (w/Graeme Callister)

Q&A: The French Revolutionary Wars

Episode 41: Q1-1802 - Saint-Domingue burns

1802-03: PLANNING MEETING!

The Battles of Algeciras: Saumarez v Linois, June-July 1801

Napoleonic D-Day: The British in Egypt, 1801 (w/Phil Ball)

Episode 40: Q4-1801 - 'Vive Bonaparte!'

The French Institute in Egypt: What did they achieve?

MARLENE DAUT on the Haitian Revolution

Napoleonic Qs #4: Your questions answered

Episode 39: Q3-1801 - Bargaining chips

Strategic insights: The Black Sea, then and now

MARK LAWRENCE on Spain's 'Black Legend'

The Battle of Copenhagen, 2 April 1801: Fischer v Nelson

Episode 38: Q2-1801 - Nelson's blind eye

Pitt's dilemmas: British politics in the 1790s

William Wordsworth: The Revolution betrayed

Malta: At the crossroads of the Napoleonic era

Episode 37: Q1-1801 - The bedroom assassins

KATHY BURK on diplomatic history

In conversation: Alan Forrest and Charles Esdaile

LOUIS SARKOZY on Napoleon’s Library

In conversation: Michael Broers and Charles Esdaile