Napoleon the Great? A debate with Andrew Roberts, Adam Zamoyski and Jeremy Paxman

Intelligence Squared

Arts, News, Society & Culture, News Commentary

4.2 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 21 September 2017

⏱️ 60 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How should we remember Napoleon, the man of obscure Corsican birth who rose to become emperor of the French and briefly master of Europe? In 2014, as the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo approached, Intelligence Squared brought together two of Britain’s finest historians to debate how we should assess Napoleon’s life and legacy. Was he a military genius and father of the French state, or a blundering nonentity who created his own enduring myth? Was his goal of uniting the European continent under a common political system the forerunner of the modern ‘European dream’? Or was he an incompetent despot, a warning from history of the dangers of overarching grand plans? Championing Napoleon was historian Andrew Roberts, author of, among other books, 'Napoleon the Great', 'Napoleon and Wellington', and 'Waterloo: Napoleon's Last Gamble'. Opposing him was fellow historian Adam Zamoyski, author of, among other books, '1812. Napoleon's Fatal March on Moscow' and 'Rites of Peace. The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna'. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/intelligencesquared. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:27.8	Each of tonight's historians and they're both distinguished historians, have written, has written, an enormous book.
0:41.0	Here we are, The other way around, this one is heavier. Each comes in its own
0:48.0	parcel force truck, should you order them from Amazon. The proposition we're going to discuss is
0:56.0	Andrews claim that Napoleon should be called great. There is no question mark in his assessment. On the spine of this book,
1:07.0	it's just Napoleon the Great by Andrew Roberts. Now Andrew as you know is a very distinguished historian who has made the
1:19.1	business of Napoleon and what Napoleon got up to one of his main interests in life.
1:24.0	He is the keeper in many ways of the Napoleonic flame.
1:27.8	His books include Napoleon and Wellington, sorry, and the investigation into the relationship between the two generals,
1:35.7	Waterloo, Napoleon's last gamble and his latest, Napoleon the Great is also going to be the subject of a TV series which starts on the BBC
1:46.2	next year isn't it? Next year yes. Why Andrew is going to make the case that Napoleon should be called great.
1:54.8	When I googled what did Napoleon do for France the other day, I learned that he took the country
2:00.4	to war, had the country declare him emperor, nationalize anything he felt like
2:05.3	nationalizing and introduced the secret police. Now we have heard of him of course. We've all heard of him.
2:14.0	He used to be used to terrified children in this country.
2:18.0	He certainly won battles. He was, everyone agrees, a brilliant general.
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