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00:05:00Napoleon made France a police state.
00:05:03His ambition crippled France.
00:05:07Ah, but I am an exile.
00:05:10It is safe to blame me.
00:05:14His imprint upon history is stained with blood from Moscow to Haiti.
00:05:18Napoleon was a dictator.
00:05:21Napoleon was a dictator.
00:05:24He betrayed the revolution.
00:05:27He betrayed the revolution.
00:05:29He betrayed the revolution.
00:05:30He has not want to leave quite a few minutes ago.
00:05:38He will fall off of a couple of years, but I have the —
00:05:46and him and him, but I am not a good man, but he has the —
00:05:48But I am a good man.
00:05:52He is the man of course.
00:05:53He is the man of the U.S.
00:05:55Was the man of course on the —
00:05:58He is the man of course.
00:05:59He has the man of course.
00:06:00You would promise life to a corpse if only it would take pills.
00:06:03Sir, you have a fever. You need treatment.
00:06:06I did not seek this position. You asked for me.
00:06:11Then go.
00:06:12If I have dysentery, it's because Sir Hudsonlow has me drinking brackish water.
00:06:17He's trying to kill me by stealth.
00:06:20What is the news, Lescars?
00:06:23The news of the Empress and your son, the King of Rome.
00:06:26There is no news.
00:06:28That is, we are still awaiting.
00:06:31What is the news of me? What are they saying about me?
00:06:35You're hiding in the paper.
00:06:36It's nothing. Nothing at all.
00:06:38It's what you'd expect from bourbon propaganda.
00:06:41Well, they write here that you are a despot, the scourge of Europe,
00:06:45and that liberal ideals are all the rage in your absence.
00:06:53These bourbon liars.
00:06:57As if to be free, it was simply enough to desire freedom, and then everybody could be free.
00:07:05These ideals that come so easily to the pen were forged in France's revolution, cemented in the blood of her
00:07:14battles.
00:07:18Such ideals will become the morality of all nations.
00:07:22Liberal ideals might even flourish in England.
00:07:27How easily they forget.
00:07:30It was I who saved the revolution when it was falling to pieces.
00:07:38No matter what lies they publish, their persecution only renders me a messiah.
00:07:45The revolution will always be inseparable from the name of Napoleon.
00:07:49Aye.
00:08:30You're from Paris, aren't you, Marshawn?
00:08:32Yes.
00:08:35Paris, you see.
00:08:37Had you wanted to be emperor of France, you'd have had no problem with your birthplace.
00:08:44But I was from Corsica.
00:08:49To be of foreign origin was like being a bastard.
00:08:54Something that had to be hidden.
00:08:57Not that I'm ashamed what sort of man disowns his birthplace.
00:09:00We weren't poor, we weren't rich.
00:09:03I was an ordinary boy, but I knew I was destined for greatness.
00:09:12I can still remember the smell of the land.
00:09:16The light.
00:09:20Where's Les Cas?
00:09:21He's taking breakfast.
00:09:46Did you sleep well, Les Cas?
00:09:47It's the air here.
00:09:49I haven't slept soundly since we left France.
00:09:55This morning I found myself wondering about Corsica.
00:09:59About Corsica?
00:10:02What would have happened if I'd stayed in Corsica?
00:10:05If you'd stayed in Corsica.
00:10:08There'd been a nobody.
00:10:10Ah, I see.
00:10:10The point you're making is that it was your destiny to leave.
00:10:15I didn't sleep well.
00:10:17We could have worked.
00:10:18You should have called me.
00:10:20I am reduced to reading books and an endless journey of words through this poor life.
00:10:25Give me a battle!
00:10:27All these words, your words, they will be your defence against the historians.
00:10:31Yes.
00:10:33That will be my greatest victory.
00:10:37Immortality.
00:10:48My boyhood was...
00:10:54My boyhood was spent at the best military school in France.
00:10:58At Vienne.
00:11:03From nine years old I had to be French.
00:11:06Can you imagine?
00:11:08If I'd wanted the company of Corsicans.
00:11:11But it's not as if I didn't go back.
00:11:13As an officer of the revolution I returned to help Paoli.
00:11:16That his refuge in England had made him soft.
00:11:20I wanted Corsica to become completely French.
00:11:24He still wanted self-government.
00:11:27He betrayed Corsica.
00:11:32Inevitably we came into conflict with one another.
00:11:37My family property was lost.
00:11:41Corsica.
00:11:43It's a wart on the face of France.
00:11:46Of all the insults heaped upon me, the one...
00:11:49The one that could always get through was to be called the Corsican.
00:11:59To understand Napoleon, I think you have to understand Corsica and the Corsicans.
00:12:04The Corsicans, you see, have always had a very strong belief in destiny.
00:12:08They believe that each person has a particular destiny all through their life.
00:12:13Napoleon believed that his destiny was to be great.
00:12:16And he often spoke of it.
00:12:18Can you imagine?
00:12:18I was so thin then.
00:12:20The Corsicans have always produced warrior heroes.
00:12:24Some were military leaders, but some were also enlightened rulers and lawgivers.
00:12:30Like Pascual Paoli, who gave Corsica a democratic constitution in the mid-18th century.
00:12:37As a young man, Napoleon idolised Paoli.
00:12:41He wanted to be like him.
00:12:43He was in Corsica to greet Paoli when he returned at the time of the French Revolution after 20 years
00:12:49of exile in England.
00:12:51He thought he could play a great role as Paoli's right-hand man in Corsica.
00:12:56But that was a mistake.
00:12:58He misjudged the situation.
00:13:00And civil war broke out.
00:13:02And Napoleon found himself on the losing side.
00:13:15Mm-hmm .
00:13:26Mm-hmm .
00:13:29Mm-hmm .
00:13:39So
00:14:02Mmm, mmm, mmm.
00:14:07Mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm, mmm.
00:14:16Ah.
00:14:18Ah.
00:14:21Mmm.
00:14:40too long was the turning point for me
00:14:45before then I was only a captain
00:14:49after too long
00:14:51they made me up to a brigadier general
00:14:57you remember there were over 18,000 counter-revolutionaries
00:15:03mostly English hold up in too long
00:15:07there were mountains to the north
00:15:08there were fortifications to the east
00:15:13and the English fleet in the port below
00:15:17I had a plan
00:15:18my idea was not to attack Toulon itself at all
00:15:22instead we took the high ground to the south of the fleet
00:15:27and then bombard them in the port below
00:15:30they would have to set sail or be destroyed
00:15:32Toulon would fall
00:15:36Toulon fell
00:15:40and I was blooded
00:15:43by an English pike to the inner thigh
00:15:47if memory serves me
00:15:49a half pike
00:15:53victory was mine
00:16:12Napoleon would have us believe that he saved the French Revolution
00:16:16but Napoleon always had his eye on the main chance
00:16:19he very carefully avoided any postings where there was no chance for glory
00:16:23or where he might get forgotten
00:16:25although he himself didn't mind forgetting or losing the occasional army
00:16:30he left one in Egypt in 1799
00:16:33arriving back in Paris
00:16:35just after the news of a great victory that he'd won over the Turks
00:16:39now it's very difficult to court-martial a successful general
00:16:44even if he has just deserted his army
00:16:46once back in Paris
00:16:48Napoleon began mixing with politicians
00:16:50who didn't like the way the revolutionary government was shaping up
00:16:54those politicians thought that they could use Napoleon for a coup d'etat
00:16:59in fact Napoleon used them
00:17:20morning sir
00:17:22so has he slept at all
00:17:24he just had a bad night
00:17:26he's had them before
00:17:28he hardly slept at all while on campaign
00:17:30how would you know
00:17:32I thought that you'd only recently become so well acquainted
00:17:34I was present at the moment of the emperor's abdication
00:17:39when did you come back from England?
00:17:41what?
00:17:42well I thought that you weren't in France in the revolution
00:17:46I was a nobleman
00:17:48which was devoid of its traditional advantages
00:17:51for a period in France
00:17:53I visited England
00:17:54but I hurried back to my own country
00:17:57as soon as it was civilized to do so
00:18:00I lost track of your movement
00:18:01that was all
00:18:03London was hard work
00:18:05whilst there I wrote the Atlas
00:18:07no doubt you've heard of it
00:18:09I'm led to believe it has sold a considerable number of copies
00:18:13oh you're being modest
00:18:15last cast
00:18:16no
00:18:16it wasn't only writing that occupied your time
00:18:19weren't you on the expat of
00:18:20the depositionary force that sailed to Kiboran
00:18:25when nobody got off the boat
00:18:31be careful with those papers
00:18:32I've just put them in order
00:18:33we cannot afford any further delay to my work
00:18:39I hadn't realized he was so young
00:18:4224 when he won his first battle
00:18:4329 when he conquered Egypt
00:18:4530 when he took over France
00:18:47well that is why I'm here to ensure
00:18:50through his own words of course
00:18:51that the Emperor's fame endures
00:18:54you were saying when Nicole came
00:18:57well when the question of the Emperor's removal was discussed
00:19:01I immediately asked permission to participate in his fate
00:19:05of course
00:19:06what an opportunity
00:19:07what foresight
00:19:10he was amazed
00:19:12I shall never forget it
00:19:13do you know where your offer might lead you
00:19:16those were his exact words
00:19:18I have made no calculation of it
00:19:21I replied
00:19:22my offer was accepted
00:19:26so
00:19:28here you are on St. Helene
00:19:33some men are like candles
00:19:36I'm not sure I understand what you mean
00:19:38well they burn with this light
00:19:40while other men spend their lives
00:19:41waiting to be consumed by it
00:19:43that is not my case
00:19:45I am here because I've enjoyed modest success as a writer
00:19:48surely you would not wish his deeds to go unrecorded
00:19:51oh no no
00:19:52I'm sure you're right
00:19:53I was in Egypt you know
00:19:55in the English fleet
00:19:56yes I believe you have told me that story before
00:20:01how would you describe your style of writing
00:20:05describe
00:20:06why
00:20:09I'm curious
00:20:11do I ask how you cure your patients
00:20:14I am a writer
00:20:15you are a doctor
00:20:16let us leave it that way
00:20:17how can you describe such a gift
00:20:20it alights
00:20:22defying analysis
00:20:24well
00:20:25he will be waiting
00:20:27Laskas
00:20:29you know that he thinks that the Empress will visit him here with his son
00:20:35yes
00:20:36well what is your information from the English camp
00:20:39is there any truth to these rumors
00:20:42well I'm worried the effect they have on him
00:20:45his morale
00:20:46we should be careful not to raise his hopes
00:20:50I am certain there is no chance of any such visit taking place
00:20:54my only concern is to protect him
00:20:56so that he can finish this most important work without distractions
00:21:00Oh he's waiting
00:21:02I'm coming
00:21:03Laskas
00:21:39Soldiers of the Army of Italy, you are ill-fed and almost naked. Your patience and courage
00:21:56do you honour. I shall lead you to the most fertile plains on earth. There you will find
00:22:07great cities and rich provinces. There you will find honour, glory and wealth.
00:22:21Soldiers of the Army of Italy, you are ill-fed and over.
00:22:25The army will be ill-fed and over.
00:22:31The army will be ill-fed and over.
00:23:02I don't know.
00:23:07Morning.
00:23:08Morning, sir.
00:23:10So how is your ride?
00:23:11Ride? The horses barely have
00:23:14chance to stretch their legs on this
00:23:15rock, O'Mara. When I think of the rides
00:23:17I have undertaken, across mountains
00:23:19covered with cloud through the dust of
00:23:21Europe's great plains, the horses
00:23:23I've lost in battle, the distances
00:23:25my army has marched.
00:23:28There is my
00:23:29illustrious memorialist.
00:23:45I
00:23:45was still a boy
00:23:47when I discovered this talent
00:23:49that was to make me the most famous man in France.
00:23:52I had an instinct
00:23:53for war.
00:23:55I understood its pure geometry, I love to
00:23:57calculate, I constantly reinvent it.
00:24:00Planning.
00:24:02Like a woman before
00:24:03all labour.
00:24:06I
00:24:07fired men to fight for the chance to share
00:24:09in my destiny.
00:24:12You had a march
00:24:13to music from the opera.
00:24:14Yes, yes I did.
00:24:18Yes.
00:24:20Oh, death.
00:24:22It has taken some of my
00:24:23finest men,
00:24:25generals who were my best friends,
00:24:29in the battles
00:24:30and the battles that we won.
00:24:34Against the Austrians at Ulm
00:24:35and Austerlitz.
00:24:37The Prussians at Jena.
00:24:41We conquered Europe.
00:24:43We changed the face of the world.
00:24:49We were our best friend in the world.
00:24:53We were France's finest men.
00:25:01You had another night in the English drinking clubs, Omar.
00:25:04Then you lecture me on my health.
00:25:06Well, I am the doctor.
00:25:07I mean, it's expected of me.
00:25:09It's to walk up the path.
00:25:11I mean, my head wasn't ready for it.
00:25:15Oh, you're an honest man.
00:25:18Well...
00:25:18What do you think of me?
00:25:22What do I
00:25:23take of you?
00:25:27I take you ruthless.
00:25:31Well, the dead of one of my battles
00:25:33could always be
00:25:34made up in a few wild nights in Paris.
00:25:41Does that offend the sanctity of life?
00:25:43Well, I'm a doctor.
00:25:45I... I'm not a priest.
00:25:46I... I...
00:25:46I wasn't thinking of the...
00:25:48the man your ambition has killed.
00:25:51But of your brother.
00:25:53A brother?
00:25:55You forced your brother, Jerome,
00:25:57to divorce his wife.
00:25:59Well, he was underage.
00:26:00He had deserted ship.
00:26:03Anyway, she was an American
00:26:04and came without a throne.
00:26:07I had to think of France
00:26:10and of her empire.
00:26:13He thanked me later.
00:26:16And what of his wife?
00:26:17Oh, never met her.
00:26:21I, er...
00:26:27I've been hearing these...
00:26:30voices.
00:26:33Perhaps it's your conscience.
00:26:36No.
00:26:40Do you ever think that you made a mistake?
00:26:47The greatest mistake I ever made...
00:26:51was with the colonies.
00:26:54I should have let them keep self-government
00:26:56with their own black leaders,
00:26:58like Toussaint Louverture.
00:27:00I should not have re-enslaved them.
00:27:04Look after yourself, doctor.
00:27:06Look after yourself.
00:27:13Look after yourself.
00:27:14Look after yourself.
00:27:19People wanted me to be Washington,
00:27:23a great liberal.
00:27:28Give me America,
00:27:29and I will be Washington.
00:27:32But put Washington in a France
00:27:34which was crumbling to the core
00:27:36and invaded from outside,
00:27:38he would have done the same as I.
00:27:41and he would have done the same as I,
00:27:44as I know as I am...
00:28:02and I would have done it for the most important part...
00:28:03something...
00:28:04You may be in a pen or pen or pen,
00:28:05but I would love to struggle with a joy...
00:28:05You may be in a pen or pen,
00:28:11but you guys, come on,
00:29:12That was an extremely fine cheese.
00:29:15You would have enjoyed it.
00:29:41Come here.
00:29:45Where have you been?
00:29:47I came earlier.
00:29:48You let me sleep.
00:29:50I was told.
00:29:51You should have been working.
00:29:53I get no peace at night, but that is when you sleep, so that we have to make use of
00:29:57the day.
00:29:58Oh, look at the shadows creeping across the floor.
00:30:00I have been working.
00:30:02You have been working.
00:30:03Yes, catching up with my notes.
00:30:05And what will all your notes be worth when the source is dead?
00:30:08What will all your catching up be worth then?
00:30:10But I...
00:30:10Or will you just make it up?
00:30:26I...
00:30:26Well, there is still two hours if we go outside.
00:30:30Next time somebody tells you I am ill, Laskas, and my door is shut, you knock.
00:30:34I understand.
00:30:49It's beautiful.
00:30:55I want you to have it.
00:30:57Oh, no, no, I couldn't.
00:30:58It must be worth a fortune.
00:30:59Two hundred thousand francs.
00:31:03It is a gift.
00:31:08Once I could have given you any honour you wanted, now I trade in baubles.
00:31:14You insult me by refusing.
00:31:15Oh, no, no, no.
00:31:16I didn't mean it.
00:31:17It's just that I don't know what to think.
00:31:22Josephine's daughter wore that at my coronation.
00:31:27When your book is a success, and you're attending fashionable dinners, you must find a pretty neck to wear at
00:31:32Laskas.
00:31:35Josephine.
00:31:38Now, there was a woman who had mastered the art of extravagance.
00:31:43But she could conduct herself with such grace, even when lying down in bed.
00:31:49She must have been the most difficult woman I ever met.
00:31:53She would say no to everything I said.
00:31:56It's not because she disagreed.
00:31:58Just as a defence.
00:32:00Would you like to go to Malmaison?
00:32:02No.
00:32:03I mean, yes.
00:32:07I loved her.
00:32:10Yet she made me lose my faith in women.
00:32:12She betrayed me.
00:32:14A son by Josephine would have completed my happiness.
00:32:19But I needed an heir to carry on the succession.
00:32:24Marie-Louise.
00:32:25Oh, she was sweet.
00:32:27And innocent.
00:32:28She was only 18.
00:32:30She would say to me,
00:32:31I've come.
00:32:32I want more.
00:32:33Then blush.
00:32:37She gave me an heir.
00:32:39Well, she was the niece of the last king of France.
00:32:49Napoleon loved the trappings of empire.
00:32:52He wanted to establish a dynasty.
00:32:54He created a court full of courtiers to flatter him.
00:32:59Josephine is alleged to have spent more money than Marie-Antoinette, the guillotined wife of Louis XVI, much criticised for
00:33:06her extravagance.
00:33:07And yet Napoleon criticised what he called the decadence of the courts of the 18th century.
00:33:14He thought the French state had been made effeminate and weak by the unnatural influence of the women of the
00:33:2118th century Salon.
00:33:23His state was to be, above all, virile and masculine, and women at his court were to be decorative and
00:33:31docile.
00:33:34Paradoxically, as a young man, Napoleon had been strongly attracted to a woman very much in the mould of the
00:33:3918th century Salon hostesses,
00:33:42Josephine, an older woman, a woman with power and patronage to dispense.
00:33:48As he grew older, and acquired his own power, the attraction waned.
00:33:54But women were clearly fascinated by Napoleon.
00:33:57Everyone pays tribute to his charm and his charisma.
00:34:01But when matters of politics intervened, Napoleon could be cynical and ruthless in his dealings with men and women alike.
00:34:09He divorced Josephine to marry the daughter of the emperor of Austria.
00:34:14By the criteria of the English government, every throne in Europe would be shaken to its foundations if I were
00:34:21not a legitimate sovereign.
00:34:31William III was a usurper of the English throne as he was brought in chiefly by the aid of foreign
00:34:36violets.
00:34:37George I hoisted to power by a few nobles.
00:34:41But I, Napoleon Bonaparte, was called to the throne of France by the votes of over 4 million Frenchmen.
00:34:48So what is legitimacy?
00:34:55I, Napoleon Bonaparte, was called to the throne of France by the votes of 4 million Frenchmen.
00:35:26I, Napoleon Bonaparte, was called to the throne of France by the votes of 4 million Frenchmen.
00:35:37I had a belief in its laws.
00:35:41I needed a symbol of power.
00:35:42The crown of France was lying in the gutter.
00:35:44I simply passed by and picked it up.
00:35:48The world was on its knees, begging me to govern it.
00:35:54The coronation of 1804 was really an attempt to congregate various levels of French society around a crown.
00:36:02Although I doubt at this stage whether Napoleon was seriously considering hereditary monarchy.
00:36:07He was, however, very keen on entering the European club of kings and queens.
00:36:12Partly in pursuit of this, he put his relatives on the various empty thrones of Europe.
00:36:17His brother Louis was given the throne of Holland.
00:36:19Another brother Joseph, the throne of Spain.
00:36:22European kingdoms were being transformed into a system of outdoor relief for the Bonapartist family.
00:36:27And in 1808, he gilded this imperial edifice with a system of aristocrats, counts, dukes and barons in an attempt
00:36:37to confer an aristocratic prestige upon the regime.
00:36:41It never really succeeded.
00:36:43The pure royalists continued to treat Bonaparte with some contempt.
00:37:05The pure royalists continued to treat Bonaparte with some contempt.
00:37:39France is my only passion, Omara.
00:37:47Do you believe that?
00:37:51Yes.
00:37:54She has never betrayed me.
00:38:01I think I shall soon be free!
00:38:07Of this rock.
00:38:10Hanson Lowe knows he cannot keep me here forever.
00:38:14I think I shall go to America.
00:38:18After all, I did give them Louisiana.
00:38:27And I shall be reunited with my son.
00:38:57I am going to die.
00:39:04what
00:39:08this is how my countryman saw me
00:39:10tunneling under the sea to pop up in England like some mold
00:39:14it's what we were all led to believe how your hunger for power was so insatiable
00:39:19that even after your fleet was beaten at Trafalgar you'd stop at nothing
00:39:25I'll never understand the English
00:39:28I agreed a peace with England at the Treaty of Amiens and it was your
00:39:31ministers that broke that peace and declared war
00:39:36why couldn't she just live with a revolutionized France because England had
00:39:41been at war with revolutionary France for ten years we are part of pony would
00:39:46invade I was going to invade but not through some tunnel I was gonna come in
00:39:49on barges 3,000 vessels coming in on the tide 20 men and a horse apiece artillery
00:39:54at the ready this was the army that was to win at Auschwitz it was the finest
00:39:59France ever had had it all planned four days March would have seen me in London
00:40:06oh you underestimate the English your first step onto English toil would have
00:40:10been a signal for a million men to take up arms even if you had triumphed they
00:40:15would have burnt London rather than let it fall into French hands now remember
00:40:21Moscow burnt around your ears true but the English aren't Russians if I were a Russian
00:40:33if I had a Russian heart in my army I'd rule the world by now
00:40:43no no no the English the English are far too fond of money to destroy property
00:40:53you were offended when I called you a nation of shopkeepers
00:40:57I simply meant that you were men of commerce of trade trade is the basis of
00:41:01English wealth it was not intended as an insult the ordinary people would have
00:41:08welcomed me as a liberator who demanded no war taxes only offered the hope of a
00:41:13new Constitution I'd have let them abolish royalty nobility and given
00:41:19themselves Liberty freedom equality at last old enemies could have been like
00:41:32you take an Irishman's word for it I I remember when France had that fella General
00:41:39harsh to Ireland to export your French Revolution and then the English came and slaughtered anybody
00:41:49they thought might have collaborated with them oh they can be very vindictive the English
00:41:54believe me they would have burnt London street by street and now hi I drink with
00:42:05them oh oh what else is a man to do with these endless evenings you rest there for a moment
00:42:21I'll call for my
00:42:22car no no no let no no let let me be I I have lots of good friends amongst the
00:42:39English
00:42:39the English all right it it makes me on Fred that's all Hudson low has it in for me when
00:43:04I first came here as your doctor I was fascinated to meet the famous Napoleon who'd killed the
00:43:09his way through Europe. I did not know I'd grow to admire you. Now I'm confused by my
00:43:19loyalties. My concern for your health is alarmed, the English, and they confuse concern with
00:43:28loyalty. You know how they look for plots. You're leaving. Not if it is within my power to stay.
00:43:45I have always trusted you, Amara. Will they finally let me die quietly? No. Yet I have a new doctor.
00:43:56He's a Corsican. A Corsican? His name is Antomarchi. Do you know him? I believe his speciality is
00:44:07anatomy. His speciality? What does that mean? Well, as far as I can understand, his work to date
00:44:15has been in the dissecting rooms. You mean he is intimate with corpses?
00:44:27So I am to be looked after by a dissector. I didn't know Hudson Lowe had that depth of
00:44:36irony within him. I have never met a man who puts himself so securely behind bars of his
00:44:42own making. Ha! He barely does sleep for fear that you might escape whilst his eyes are closed.
00:45:01Napoleon's big problem was beating the British. He thought about invasion, but the problems of
00:45:07getting an army across the Channel were horrendous. So he thought he could bring Britain to her knees
00:45:12and destroy her economy. Napoleonic France created an European Economic Community in which France was
00:45:20the dominant partner. And through two decrees, Napoleon tried to shut off that community to British
00:45:27exports. But the new British Industrial Revolution was creating the things that the Europeans wanted.
00:45:34Napoleon couldn't keep them out. He just didn't realise, and neither did the British government of the day,
00:45:40for that matter, they neither realised the strength of the new British economy.
00:45:54The year 1805 was a real turning point in European history. The Battle of Trafalgar confirmed Britain
00:46:00as a sea-based superpower, whilst Napoleon confirmed France as a land-based power by driving his armies
00:46:07into Central Europe, defeating the Austrians in the Battle of Auschwitz near Vienna. By 1808, France dominated
00:46:13the continent, either directly or through her allies. But 1808 was also a turning point for Napoleon.
00:46:20His invasion of Spain, another attempt to defeat English penetration of the continent.
00:46:26The mass resistance of the Spanish against the invading French armies imposed enormous
00:46:31strains and tensions upon the regime. No wonder Napoleon referred to it as the Spanish ulcer.
00:46:37It ate away at the foundations of the regime itself.
00:46:40It was Madame de Stael who wrote in 1811, France is a garrison where boredom and military discipline rule.
00:46:48She was right.
00:47:04Marchand was worried that you might miss dinner. Have you been out?
00:47:09I have been working on the book. Do you remember comparing yourself to Washington?
00:47:25Omara is leaving.
00:47:30Leaving?
00:47:33Hudson Lowe has ordered him off the island.
00:47:37But I don't understand. Omara is one of them.
00:47:42Lowe will do anything to isolate me. It's a game.
00:47:48He starts these rumors.
00:47:51That I am to be released, sent to England or America.
00:47:59I am left with nothing other than to keep you all at arm's distance.
00:48:05What will I do without Omara?
00:48:07How will I know if the Empress has arrived?
00:48:12For all I know, she's here already.
00:48:15Here? On Santa Helena?
00:48:17It is obvious they don't trust Omara anymore.
00:48:19What if she has made the journey and is being detained by Lowe? Who knows what lives he is entertaining
00:48:23her with?
00:48:24What if he has told her I will not see her?
00:48:28I do not think that such a thing as her presence on this island could be kept secret.
00:48:35What are you trying to tell me?
00:48:38Nothing.
00:48:42She's coming to surprise me. That is the only explanation for her silence.
00:48:48I have written entreating her to visit, seeking news of my son.
00:48:54I hear nothing. She's not a cruel woman.
00:48:57Don't torture yourself with such thoughts.
00:49:00This news has upset me. I have no appetite for food.
00:49:08We must work whilst we still have the time.
00:49:18I have been accused of taking away my fellow citizens' liberty, but I doubt if any of them suffered such
00:49:23a prison as this.
00:49:26Hudson Lowe will not destroy me.
00:49:30And the world will remember you through this book.
00:49:34I am loathe to mention this matter at this particular time, but I am forced to do so, nonetheless.
00:49:42It happens to concern Omara.
00:49:46I have reason to believe that he was planning to write his own book about our time here.
00:49:51Now, surely it is better that there should be one true record and that it should be set down in
00:49:56style.
00:49:57They're all writing books.
00:49:59All?
00:50:01Oh, Count Montelon, General Glogot, everyone except General Bertrand.
00:50:06Even Marchand keeps the diary.
00:50:08Marchand?
00:50:13But yours will be the best, Lasikas, because you are the famous writer.
00:50:17I'm not concerned for myself. It's just that the reader may be saturated with fanciful variations on your deeds.
00:50:25And it would be a shame if the scribblings of a doctor, every little cough and splutter, were to be
00:50:30published first.
00:50:33No single man can know my whole mind, though there are those who claim to.
00:50:40Such men must be cleverer than I if they think they knew my real intentions.
00:50:43I sometimes think I didn't know them myself.
00:50:49For years, I worked 16 hours a day.
00:50:53I used to dictate to six secretaries at once.
00:50:56And do you know how I could do this?
00:50:58Because I filed away ideas in my mind like a chest of drawers.
00:51:02When I wanted to interrupt one occupation, I simply shut its drawer and opened another.
00:51:08When I wanted to sleep, I simply shot them all and I slept.
00:51:15I was the most powerful man in France.
00:51:19Europe.
00:51:23I could have made you a duke, Lasikas.
00:51:26I would have made you a duke.
00:51:28You could have had the Edimonte.
00:51:31What now, Bobby?
00:51:36Ten years of revolution have not changed the French at all.
00:51:39They don't love liberty and equality.
00:51:40What they love is honour.
00:51:43That's why I gave them public distinctions.
00:51:46A legion of honour.
00:51:50I understood the public mood.
00:51:53Every day I'd have the papers read and analysed for anything that might influence public opinion.
00:51:58Philosophy, religion, political ideas, etc.
00:52:01Anything that might cause a ripple among the masses.
00:52:04That's why I was successful.
00:52:11Napoleon was mistaken.
00:52:13You couldn't wipe away ten years of revolution.
00:52:16Liberalism in France was growing, not withering.
00:52:19And a central weakness of his regime was its inability to tolerate any opposition, even discussion.
00:52:26Napoleon wanted to control what people thought, as well as what they did.
00:52:31But his detailed files on people's movements and his attempt to censor their opinions only resulted in a culture characterised
00:52:39by Philistinism.
00:52:41And anyway, the criticism went on.
00:52:43Napoleon refused to listen to public opinion.
00:52:46He hated the key liberal writer Madame de Steyle, for example.
00:52:50But his attempts to silence her and to send her into exile failed.
00:52:56Only after his fall from power did Napoleon turn to the liberals and ask for help.
00:53:01But by then it was too late.
00:53:04Napoleon's state arguably was the first modern police state.
00:53:08He used his police to keep an eye on the threats from the political left and the threats from the
00:53:14political right.
00:53:15He also used his police to ensure that he got his annual supply of conscripts for his armies.
00:53:22Napoleon allegedly said, I have an income of half a million men a year.
00:53:27Now that's one quote that didn't get into Lascar's.
00:53:32Nobody loves peace more than I do.
00:53:39Each of my battles was a diplomatic step toward peace in Europe.
00:53:56What my enemies call peace is another name for my destruction.
00:54:03For me, peace is simply their disarmament.
00:54:06So who is the more moderate?
00:54:09The country I fear is Russia.
00:54:24I did not want war with Russia.
00:54:41I should not have stayed at the Kremlin for 35 days.
00:54:45I should have left after 14.
00:54:47You were unlucky with the weather.
00:54:55I remember reading that Baltia said the Russian winter began in November, not December.
00:55:02But I've never trusted historians.
00:55:10I went to war to bring about a general peace because Tsar Alexander broke our alliance against the English.
00:55:20I thought if I could deliver a blow at the very heart of his empire, if I could just strike
00:55:29at Moscow.
00:55:32It was the most sublime, the most terrifying sight the world has ever seen.
00:55:39That city, submerged under a sea of rolling flame.
00:55:53But what did Alexander gain by burning his capital?
00:56:01Well, a hundred years from now, Europe, and especially England, will regret my failure.
00:56:10When they see the finest countries of Europe overrun, they will say Napoleon was right.
00:56:30The French people will remember my achievements. They're there for everyone to see.
00:56:34Nobody can deny my achievements.
00:56:35I fear your enemies will try to do just that.
00:56:38Then my enemies will find they'd bite against granite.
00:56:41My history is made of facts which no words can destroy.
00:56:44Well, let us make a list of your achievements.
00:56:49Well, there were the great harbours of Antwerp and Cherbourg,
00:56:52the canals linking the Dutch ports with the Mediterranean,
00:56:56and the roads you built over the Alps were grander than anything...
00:57:00You've got to understand!
00:57:03I have sacrificed everything for my dream.
00:57:08I wanted to unite the great European interests,
00:57:12these nations united by geography but separated by politics.
00:57:15I wanted to make all of these peoples one single national body,
00:57:18one great European family with France at its hub.
00:57:23Universal education, one constitution, one currency.
00:57:26A European Supreme Court, one set of laws.
00:57:31If I had succeeded, how might Europe be now?
00:57:37And no one dare question that I was the greatest man known to history.
00:57:42Yes?
00:57:47Yes, Marshal.
00:57:48I'm sorry for disturbing your game, Your Majesty,
00:57:51but Governor Lowe has asked if countless gas could call upon him.
00:57:55At this hour of the night?
00:57:56Yes, sir.
00:58:00Inform Mr Hudson Lowe that the gentlemen will finish their game first.
00:58:03Yes, sir.
00:58:13Who will I play now?
00:58:47Who will I play now?
00:58:51You don't need me needing you any more tonight, my son.
00:59:11Hold me, Josephine.
00:59:15Oh, it's so cold in here.
00:59:18Why won't you hold me?
00:59:23I will be with you soon.
00:59:26And my brave general.
01:00:08We are drawn to the marvelous.
01:00:11The unknown is an irresistible attraction.
01:00:22As I sit here, I'm back in Paris, about to enter the opera.
01:00:26I can see the public.
01:00:29I can hear the acclaim.
01:00:30I can see the actors walking across the stage.
01:00:33I can hear the music.
01:00:36Why can I not leap across the distance of the centuries?
01:00:43Why can I not see the future as well as the past?
01:00:49Is the one more extraordinary, more miraculous than the other?
01:01:01I am here.
01:01:04An only man.
01:01:06I am.
01:01:15I am.
01:01:18I am.
01:01:37ORGAN PLAYS
01:02:00HE CAME, HE SAW, HE CONQUERED
01:02:03THE TALE OF AN AMBITIOUS POWER GRAB THAT TURNED TO TYRANNY
01:02:07JULIUS CESAR, THE MAKING OF A DICTATOR
01:02:10WATCH ON BBC iPlayer
01:02:49ORGAN PLAYS