Napoleon in America
American History Hit
History Hit
4.3 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 23 November 2023
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Napoleon Bonaparte. From military leader to revolutionary to Emperor of the French, his conquests and reforms have had a lasting impact across the world. But what impact did he have on the United States? And what if he had completed the journey across the Atlantic?
Don speaks to author Shannon Selin, whose new book 'Napoleon in America' imagines Napoleon's life in the United States. Together, they discuss Napoleon's relationship with and reputation in the United States, and the French people who did make the journey.
Produced by Sophie Gee. Edited by Aidan Lonergan. Senior Producer was Charlotte Long.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | After the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in June 1815, Bonaparte fled his enemies closing in. |
| 0:08.0 | Secretly, he charters a ship, the brig, La Magreta, and on the night of July 24th he rose out to her under the cover of darkness. |
| 0:18.7 | After all the pomp of his impressive life, in this moment he is accompanied by just four trusted companions. |
| 0:25.5 | One of them is a cook. |
| 0:26.9 | How French! |
| 0:28.2 | And just like that he is gone from France, from Europe, and from the battles he'd fought fought bound for America and his new life. |
| 0:36.2 | His only regret is that his brother, the more famous Bonaparte, Napoleon, had not joined him. Yes, the man setting sail across the Atlantic |
| 0:46.2 | is Joseph Bonaparte. As for his brother, the stubborn Napoleon, well, he apparently felt that being a prisoner of the British on the God-forsaken island of St. |
| 0:56.3 | Helena was preferable to living free in America. |
| 1:00.3 | Ouch. |
| 1:01.3 | Bad choice. Hello and |
| 1:05.0 | Hello and welcome. |
| 1:12.0 | Hello and |
| 1:12.8 | Don Wildman here and thanks for clicking through. Welcome to American History Hit. |
| 1:16.7 | Around Thanksgiving there's a new sweeping epic coming out in the theaters |
| 1:21.4 | from the legendary director Ridley Scott |
| 1:24.0 | starring Joaquin Phoenix and a cast of thousands surely involving the |
| 1:29.2 | pivotal figure of early 19th century European history most Americans think was a fussy little |
| 1:34.7 | Frenchman with his hand in the jacket. Napoleon Bonaparte, that domineering |
| 1:38.9 | enigma, a military and political genius who in the early 1800s declared himself Emperor of France, after |
| 1:46.4 | there was a bloody revolution seemingly meant to do away with such things. |
| 1:50.9 | Who then, for decades and numerous conflicts ran circles around his European rivals across the continent |
... |
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