A new podcast taking the epic conflicts of the 1792-1815 period three months at a time. New episodes every Friday.
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Quarter 2 of 1800 is now live for our Patreons! Have you joined? You should! Here's a the preview of the Headline Developments, featuring Josh's on point narration once again!-BC
Josh talks us through the headline developments of the second quarter of 1800, featuring manuevers, battles, and the odd assassination to boot!
The raw cut of Episode 33, the first of Season 5 is now live on our Patreon! For those of you who aren't yet members (why aren't you??) our headline video should whet your appetite! Look for the full episode on all our platforms soon! -BC
In which Josh Proven walks us through the main developments of the first quarter of 1800. Featuring failed peace agreements, real estate developments, and pa...
Our next bonus epsiode is live! Bernie sits down with Alex to discuss his book recommendations!
In this episode, Bernie Campbell follows up his interview with Charles by talking with Alexander Mikaberidze about the books he has found inspiring during his work on the Napoleonic era. It's a really interesting list, since Alex's background has brought him into contact with some interesting works....
We are still a few years out from 1805, but a Happy Trafalgar Day to all! Huzzah for Nelson and victory! -BC
We are all about expanding our reach here at Napoleonic Quarterly! You can now find us on Amazon Music & Audible! So you can now ask Alexa to play us for you! - BC
Taking the epic conflicts of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars three months at a time. Each episode features interviews with leading historians of the period - covering the campaigns, diplomacy and political dramas of an extraordinary 24 years.
The first of our Post Season 4 Bonus episodes is now live! I sat down with Charles Esdaile to discuss books he reccomends for those interested in a deeper dive in the time period! -BC
While we wait for Season 5 to begin, we at Quartermaster Productions have a series of Bonus Episodes we plan to share with all of you. In our first epsiode, Bernie Campbell interviews esteemed panalist Charles Esdaile about the books he has enjoyed and the books he would reccomend for listeners inte...
Hey everyone! Episode 32, featuring some pretty important events in Q4 of 1799, is now live on Spotify and elsewhere. Check it out for some very interesting discussions of where the world was headed at the dawn of the 19th Century!-BC
1799. October... November... December... Three months in which Napoleon Bonaparte forces France away from democratic politics in the coup of Brumaire... a frustrated and disappointed Tsar Paul gives up on the Second Coalition... and after another British failure in the Low Countries, British ministe...
The Director's Cut of 1799, Quarter 4 is now live on our Patreon. Here's a look at the headline developments! -BC
Josh Proven takes us through the final quarter of 1799!Check out our Patreon for exclusive content, and the Director's Cut of this Episode! Full episode will...
Did you know we have a website too? It's under construction, but we have big plans for it! We hope to have info about all of our guests, and links so you can support them (and us!) by buying their books! -BC
Taking the epic conflicts of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars three months at a time. Each episode features interviews with leading historians of the period - covering the campaigns, diplomacy and political dramas of an extraordinary 24 years.
Are you a member of our Patreon? If you were, you could have access to our Director's Cut of our latest episode! It's available now! In the meantime, check out our Headline video for Quarter 3! -BC
Join us for the headline developments for Quarter 3 of 1799. Are you a member of our Patreon yet? Check us out there for exclusive content!
https://twitter.com/AgeofNapoleon/status/1691553522670793119?s=20
And so it begins...-BC
“On this day in 1769, a son was born to two minor Corsican nobles, Carlo and Letizia Buonaparte, at their family home in Ajaccio. They gave him a traditional family name: Napoleone.”
Something that came up at our meeting on Sat. was the Kingdom of Etruria! Norman Davies has an excellent book called "Vanished Kingdoms" with a whole chapter on, and several folks on the chat endorsed it as recommended reading, so I thought I'd share!-BC
Vanished Kingdoms: The History of Half-Forgotten Europe (sometimes referred to with another subtitle as Vanished Kingdoms: Exploring Europe's Lost Realms) is a history book about fourteen former European countries, such as the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, Kingdom of Ar...
An excellent time was had today by several of us who gathered to help plan/observe the planning process for next season! Want to have the opportunity to participate next time? Join the Patreon!
Patreon is empowering a new generation of creators. Support and engage with artists and creators as they live out their passions!
We have a Youtube account now! It's just headline videos for the moment, but stay tuned for future developments. Hit like and subscribe!!
Taking the epic conflicts of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars three months at a time. Each episode features interviews with leading historians of...
We aren't quite there yet on NQ, but on this date in 1802, Napoleon was proclaimed Consul for life...and you should celebrate this rememberance by checking out our Patreon page, and supporting the podcast!
Patreon is empowering a new generation of creators. Support and engage with artists and creators as they live out their passions!
Not only has Bernie Campbell come up with the podcast's amazing new headline developments videos, Bernie's also kindly agreed to get involved in NQ's socials too. Thanks Bernie, it's really appreciated!
Just putting the finishing touches on ep30, covering Q2-1799, which will be out at the weekend. By way of a trailer you can watch the quarter's headline developments on NQ's page: video , words !
Following the recent Patreon launch in which listeners were heartily invited to get involved and get stuck in as they see fit, Bernie Campbell has come up with a real upgrade to the podcast: a video version of the headline developments! Here's the pilot, as it were, for Q1-1799... combining Josh Provan's words with a little bit of Google Earth wizardry, Bernie has provided a really effective visualisation of the key movements and comings and goings for this three months. I for one have found it really useful in connecting all the goings-on together. In fact Bernie has just sent through the Q2-99 follow-up which is even better - I'll post that one on here too soon! (Episode 30 itself is out with the audio editor, hoping to get it to you asap.)
- The Napoleonic Quarterly's Patreon has the potential to be a real game-changer, helping us take the podcast to the next level of Napoleonic tremendousness.
- By using the $$$ to pay for the services of an audio editor it becomes possible to produce more content complementing the main episodes.
- There's scope for higher-tier Patrons to actually present some of these bonus episodes, so come forward if you're interested and let's see how we get on.
- Patrons will also have plenty of opportunities to go behind-the-scenes and get involved in the planning process, which feels like a really big part of the journey.
- And Patrons will have early access to director's cut full-length unedited episodes, as well as all the really good bits left on the cutting-room floor.
And so, once more with feeling:
Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly
More here on the NQ masterplan:
https://open.spotify.com/episode/2jJ2gHWnaPmf56FtHKytcP
There is a small part of me that can't quite believe that 1798 is in the past for the podcast, and that we are already on to 1799, but here it is - episode 29 covering the first three months of 1799.
The 19th-century is fast approaching but as the second coalition against France's revolution gathers momentum we are still very much dealing with the after-effects of the Bonaparte expedition to/invasion of Egypt. In this episode Everett Rummage continues his coverage of the situation in the near Middle East, with Bonaparte getting bogged down in sieges at El-Arish, Jaffa and ultimately Acre. Charles and Alex ponder the blurred lines around the massacre of many hundreds of Ottoman forces at Jaffa by Bonaparte. On the face of it this seems like a pretty brutal war crime - but maybe in the context of the time it becomes slightly easier to understand - maybe.
Back in Europe, we're on the upper Rhine once again with southern Germany the theatre for yet another showdown between the French and the Austrians. It's been great to welcome a new voice to the podcast, that of David Hollins who has accumulated a vast amount of knowledge about the military activities of precisely this period. In his 10 minutes he covers off the first to-ing and fro-ing which, somewhat frustratingly, leaves the French at the end of March back at square one yet again. So far, so familiar for the Rhine - but things might just be about to change with the sound of Russian boots heading west getting louder and louder.
Jonathan North returns, covering the fallout from the somewhat catastrophic decision by Naples to go on the offensive at the end of 1798. The consequence of that is a new French-overseen republic in Naples itself, but there's plenty of opposition in the form of a nascent insurgency led by one Cardinal Ruffo to deal with.
Aside from the audio snafu with my own recording, for which apologies, this feels like a pretty tight episode all round, 15 minutes shorter than the last one. I'm looking forward to getting cracking on Q2-1799, which I'll aim to have out in either late June or early July. As always, please show your support through a five-star review on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts. And I'm just in the process of launching a new Patreon for the podcast which is now live. More about that in a separate post soon!
https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/alexander-stevenson/episodes/Episode-29-Q1-1799---Defiance-at-Acre-e24p81m
Here's the latest episode, covering the final three months of 1798. And the story has got to an odd sort of place: having beaten off all-comers by the end of 1797, the following year has basically seen the French irritate, er, everyone by invading Egypt. But the consequences of that have not yet fully come to pass. In Cairo Bonaparte is getting settled in, sort of pretending that the Battle of the Nile never happened. In Italy the botched Neapolitan invasion of the Papal States lasted about five minutes before they were running away, so that hardly counts as trouble. And it's only really when we look to the east and see Russia showing willing to join a nascent Second Coalition that it becomes clear things are going to turn troublesome for the French in the new year.
https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/66TK3z9jqzb
Episode 28, 'Cairo crushed', featuring:
[15:38] - Everett Rummage on the Cairo revolt and French efforts to quash Mameluke resistance in upper Egypt
[35:42] - Jonathan North on the ill-fated Neapolitan invasion of the Papal States
[1:01:34] - Elise K. Wirtschafter on Russia's decision to join the Second Coalition
Plus from [1:11:27] Charles Esdaile on storming form sets out how the French had the Second Coalition coming to them, and is surprised by Alex Mikaberidze very much agreeing with him.
New interview episode with Josh Provan! This one will be of interest to anyone wondering about what it takes to get a history book published; it's also got some remarkably sensible views on Empire...
Listen:
As Josh is a proper social media type chap, here are some proper social media type show notes! Josh Provan's Adventures In Historyland YouTube channel contains a wealth of material. He can be found on Twitter . His books are Wild East: The British in Japan 1854-1868 and Bullocks, Grain...
It's been a while since I posted on Facebook, so here's a general update to kick things off once again.
I guess the main thing to say is that the podcast is settling down very happily into a new rhythm which has the intended purpose of levelling things out a bit...
The idea is there'll be one main episode every month, around about the middle of the month. This might sound a bit slow but unlike until now there won't be any breaks between seasons. That way I'll get through three years of the chronology per calendar year - ie in 2023 we should get through 1798, 1799 and 1800. That puts us on track for a finish line around Christmas 2028... yikes! I'll be 45 by then!
Ahem. Rather than bunching the interview episodes in little mini-series as we'd done before, the idea now is that these will form one of the bonus episodes which will come inbetween the main episodes. So far this year I've published my chat with Frank Cogliano on transatlantic relations in the 1790s... and there are more in the pipeline with Josh Provan and a certain very well-known Napoleonic podcaster too...
In addition to the main and interview episodes I'll be launching a new third format - the panel discussion. The slight twist is that rather than presenting these myself I'll be asking some of the voices you've already heard on the Napoleonic Quarterly to step up and lead the discussion. I've often found myself wanting to hear what all these amazing historians I've spoken to individually would say when talking to each other! So this third format will be the opportunity for that. The first of these will be landing very soon...
Hope you're enjoying the latest episodes and don't forget to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts or elsewhere as it helps others find us.
Alex
Here’s episode 23, covering Q3-1797 – three months in which Europe is somehow in flux, the continent held in suspension as peace talks at Campo Formio continue. Our main focus is on Fructidor, one of the lesser appreciated of the French revolutionary coups. It may have been bloodless but its political consequences are enormous for France. Ruth Scurr is not so sure the revolution is selling out at this moment. She was brilliant for her two segments and her interview episode coming out soon will be a real cracker.
There is some fighting in this quarter – just ask Horatio Nelson, who loses his right arm in a rather miserable failure against the Spanish island of Tenerife and its port of Santa Cruz. Rachel Blackman-Rogers is once again on hand to describe what was really something of a debacle. And then there is Talleyrand – who is appointed France’s foreign minister during this quarter and will be at the centre of things, one way or another, all the way to the end of this podcast’s period. Biancamaria Fontana sizes him up.
I am not sure whether listeners will like the fact that this episode is shorter than its immediate predecessors or feel short-changed – do let me know by emailing napoleonicquarterly(at)gmail.com. Personally I quite like these very tight episodes where it seems things move along at a nice, crisp pace. Something tells me episode 24 will end up being longer – quite a bit longer. We’ll be sizing up the end of 1797, there’s another massive naval battle in prospect and we’ll be looking ahead to 1798 and its astonishing turn of events, now just around the corner…
https://open.spotify.com/episode/4CGTHgZwMKIU8AIVCpc8ss?si=4a4e7be093fe4777
I think it was during the editing process for episode 22, covering the second three months of 1797, that I realised the podcast's content had suddenly and unexpectedly changed entirely. Compared to episode 21, the topics under discussion had shifted very firmly from fighting to politics. From death to scheming. From military campaigning to war by other means.
January, February and March 1797 had been all about war and the costs of war. Rick Schneid described the Battle of Rivoli and Bonaparte's breakthrough into the Frioul - continuing a story which had started all the way back in episode 18 with the Piedmontese being knocked out of the war. The Pope's forces received a bashing-up from the French. And in the waters off Cape St Vincent Captain Horation Nelson's 'patent bridge' delivered a thumping victory for the Royal Navy against the Spanish fleet being talked up as a potential invasion threat to Britain.
All straightforward enough and very much in line with what we'd seen for the episodes covering 1796. But in episode 22, out this weekend, things suddenly change entirely. Michael Broers discusses the jostling for position and advantage not on the battlefield but around the negotiating table. The Royal Navy, far from seeing off a potential invasion threat, is leaving its home waters undefended with a series of mutinies over pay and conditions that the British government struggles to resolve quickly. And, after a period of calm, elections in France raise the prospect of a military coup, once again placing an enormous question-mark over the political stability of the country whose ructions and turbulence has driven European history throughout the 1790s. Alongside Russian aggression in eastern Europe, that is.
I hope listeners of the Napoleonic Quarterly get as much from the maneuvering as they do from manoeuvres sur les derrieres and the like. The central position in politics is one thing; when Napoleon Bonaparte is adopting it in north Italy or elsewhere it's quite another. And we find ourselves set up for a very interesting period, now, because in the remainder of 1797 there is both more fighting to come and more realpolitik too. With the occupation of the Ionian Islands the seeds of what comes next are being sown in this episode. Hope you enjoy them both! Episode 21 - Q1-1797 - Italian whirlwind: https://anchor.fm/alexander-stevenson/episodes/Episode-21-Q1-1797---Italian-breakthrough-e1hbm9s
Episode 22 - Q2-1797 - Rogue statesman: https://anchor.fm/alexander-stevenson/episodes/Episode-22-Q2-1797---Rogue-statesman-e1i7dh3
1797. April… May… June. Three months in which a victorious French general secures generous peace terms from Vienna... national elections in France prompt yet another political crisis… and the Royal Navy faces a series of mutinies that puts British security on a knife-edge. This is episode 22 o...
Episode 20 of the Napoleonic Quarterly covers the final three months of 1796. The Battle of Arcola looms large, as described by Rick Schneid in this episode, and there’s also superb contributions from Rachel Blackman-Rogers on the Royal Navy’s withdrawal from the Med and from Ciaran McDonnell on the attempted invasion of Ireland. But these were not what the events picked out by our expert summarisers, Alex Mikaberidze and Charles Esdaile, when asked – in a new section at the top of the episode – the question: what do you think is the most significant development in this three months for the course of the war as a whole? Charles chose Spain’s entry into the war against Britain, a decision with complex motivations but undoubtedly a big deal. Alex, though, preferred Catherine the Great’s death and her replacement by Paul I, an enigmatic and easily caricatured figure. The dangers and certainly the risks posed by an unaccountable, all-powerful Russian leader seem uncomfortably familiar given present events, so I decided to call the episode ‘The shadow of Russia’. Perhaps that is stretching it a bit for this episode, despite Alex’s assessment; but given it was released just hours after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine began, it is really an observation that while it may now be 230-odd years since Russia invaded Poland in an all-too-familiar act of aggrandisement, the past and the present seem disturbingly interchangeable.
Pictures: Catherine the Great, the unfortunate Admiral Mann, Bonaparte at Arcola, Gillray on Bantry Bay.
LISTEN: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/episode-20-q4-1796-the-shadow-of-russia/id1547058446?i=1000552296477
Episode 18 was always going to be a watershed moment for the Napoleonic Quarterly. If this was a podcast that is purely supposed to be about Napoleon Bonaparte, this might even have been an obvious place to start; this is, after all, the first episode in which Bonaparte’s generalship is the dominant influence on the progress of the war. The Italian theatre is not the first ongoing episode-by-episode campaign of note, however, and indeed the action seen in the Low Countries as described by Philip Ball, Paul Demet, Gary Wills and co in seasons one and two has proved surprisingly rich and full of hitherto underappreciated detail. In fact the real reason for starting in 1792 rather than in 1796 is that it provides a chance for the Italian campaign to be set in contrast to what comes before: taking a scientific method of this podcast, there simply has not been a three-month period with anything like the same level of drama – sustained drama – as now. It may be that Rick Schneid’s high-paced delivery might have something to do with it, but the pace of the fighting, the number of battles, the sheer activity displayed by the Army of Italy and its commander is unparalleled thus far. Jordan Hayworth, continuing the Rhine theatre story, underlines this still further. The episode also features a look at Bonaparte’s attitude to the Papal States –underlining the extent to which Bonaparte was, already, acting as a statesman as much as a general at this time.
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/episode-18-q2-1796-an-italian-whirlwind/id1547058446?i=1000548660578
Show The Napoleonic Quarterly, Ep Episode 18: Q2-1796 - An Italian whirlwind - 22 Jan 2022
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-napoleonic-quarterly/id1547058446, https://www.napoleonicquarterly.com/, https
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Just putting the finishing touches on ep30, covering Q2-1799, which will be out at the weekend. By way of a trailer you can watch the quarter's headline developments on NQ's page: video @TcherofHistory, words @LandOfHistory!
Following the recent Patreon launch in which listeners were heartily invited to get involved and get stuck in as they see fit, Bernie Campbell has come up with a real upgrade to the podcast: a video version of the headline developments! Here's the pilot, as it were, for Q1-1799... combining Josh Provan's words with a little bit of Google Earth wizardry, Bernie has provided a really effective visualisation of the key movements and comings and goings for this three months. I for one have found it really useful in connecting all the goings-on together. In fact Bernie has just sent through the Q2-99 follow-up which is even better - I'll post that one on here too soon! (Episode 30 itself is out with the audio editor, hoping to get it to you asap.)
Following the recent Patreon launch in which listeners were heartily invited to get involved and get stuck in as they see fit, Bernie Campbell has come up with a real upgrade to the podcast: a video version of the headline developments! Here's the pilot, as it were, for Q1-1799... combining Josh Provan's words with a little bit of Google Earth wizardry, Bernie has provided a really effective visualisation of the key movements and comings and goings for this three months. I for one have found it really useful in connecting all the goings-on together. In fact Bernie has just sent through the Q2-99 follow-up which is even better - I'll post that one on here too soon! (Episode 30 itself is out with the audio editor, hoping to get it to you asap.)
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