14 - Ere I Saw Elba

For the last time in a while, we're going to be leaving Italy behind for this episode and focusing on events elsewhere in Europe. Specifically, we're going to cover, in broad strokes, the Napoleonic Wars and the end of Napoleon's empire, as well as the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. We've talked in some detail about the impact that Napoleon had on Italy. But it's difficult to truly understand Napoleon's legacy in Italy without understanding his legacy in Europe as a whole. Napoleon had a profound impact on Europe, a bigger impact than anyone had had in centuries. This was in part due to the incredible scale and duration of the wars he started, but it was also because of how he tore down and rebuilt centuries-old institutions and sought to remake Europe to suit himself.