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Dispatch 24 (Patreon)

Published:
2024-06-18 01:08:20
Imported:
2026-06
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Content

Here is the twenty-fourthpatrons-only Dispatch. Topics include: Luxembourg in the Napoleonic Wars, the Baker Rifle, and the royalist émigrés.

Don't forget to leave any questions for the next dispatch below. And once again: thank you for your support!

Comments

Taymour Bouran

Hi Everett. Greetings from Japan! I have finally caught up to your show and wanted to express my deepest appreciation for your work. You are truly shaping the model of podcasting in history education. Here is my question: in one of your earlier dispatches you had raised Circassians (albeit from reading a Russian officer’s account and referenced as a metaphor). Being of Circassian heritage myself, I am curious if Napoleon ever shared an opinion, thought, or even plan regarding the Circassians or the Caucasus region.

Lucas Neumeyer (NEW-my-er)

Have you read Les Miserables by Victor Hugo? Most of it takes place in restoration France but there is a lot of discussion about Napoleon. There's a lengthy section dedicated to the battle of Waterloo where Hugo writes, "All [Napoleon's] battle plans were drawn up for projectiles. To have the artillery converge on a given point was his key to victory. He treated the strategy of the hostile general as a citadel and battered it for an opening. He overwhelmed the weak point with grapeshot; he entered and resolved battles with cannon. There was marksmanship in his genius. To destroy battle squares, pulverize regiments, break lines, crush and disperse masses, this was everything to him, to strike, strike, strike incessantly." What can you tell us about this quote? Is it accurate? Is it outdated? Is it completely off the mark? I'm curious how you'd rate Hugo's scholarship on Napoleon.

Steve Verdoliva

As I understand it, the Barbary Coast was making so much money selling supplies to the British and Spanish that being belligerent was the last thing on their mind.

Alasdair Forrest

With the Olympics in Paris coming up soon I was curious about the role of sports in Napoleonic times. Was Napoleon a fan of sports, be that horse racing boxing etc or any other organised sporting activity if it existed? I rknow there was a precursor to the Olympic Games that the revolutionary government held, was there a general interest in sports in Napoleonic/revolutionary society?

Willie Reavis

Would you consider hosting a meet up in the PNW for fans?

Johnny Connolly

Not really related to anything that's being discussed on the show currently, but I am curious about the minor nobility in the Ancien Régime. How different would it be growing up in the minor gentry, as Napoleon did, versus in a wealthy peasant or bourgeois family? To what extent could wealth blur the lines between the estates?

Argyletraveller

Thank you for the last two years of Dispatches. While the main narrative is always my first listen when it becomes available, I always look forward to the Dispatches for the diversity of views that they provide into the era. I was reflecting on Napoleon’s policy of enrolling foreign units into the Imperial Guard and thinking the story behind the Italian, Dutch and Polish units would be an interesting segment, noting you have already covered the most exotic example with your discussion of the Mameluke squadron.

Nick T

You’ve talked about civilian life for those that got annexed into the empire and opposed it, but what about those that supported the empire, how did they show their support for Napoleon? Thank you as always for the great podcast that you have made.

James Tamhane

What happened to all of the men who joined the army with the levee en masse? Did the vast majority of men who joined up during this period stay/become casualties in the revolutionary and then imperial armies, or was there a period when large amounts of men left the armies to return to their previous lives? Additionally do we know what proportion of men who the levee applied to actually joined the army vs illegally not sign up? By the way, I was lucky enough to visit Paris last year for the second time. I was 19 when I went to the first time and didn't know anything about French history or culture. Going back to Paris with the historical background provided by this podcast, recognising all the statues and military street names, and even listening to relevant sections (e.g. 13 Vendemiaire at the church of Saint-Roch) was truly an amazing experience, so thank you!!

Adam H

Great dispatch as always, and congrats on the anniversary! At this point in the narrative, it's been a few years since the disaster at Trafalgar. How has the French fleet rebuilt and adapted to the lessons learned by that battle? Most of France's enemies have been spurred to adapt their militaries to the new era by the disastrous defeats they've suffered, so did the French navy go through anything similar?

QueerCoyote

A while back you touched on the Russian “woman” who was fighting as a man. I know in the US we have several stories like this from the Civil War. While its hard to assign identities to historic persons, many of these “crossdressers” sound much more like the modern understanding of transgender. But as a trans person and a professional historian, I’m very interested in trans history. Do we know much of anything about trans folks in the Western World at the time of the Napoleonic Wars?

Will McCabe

Thanks so much for all your hard work on the podcast, Everett, and congrats on two years of the Dispatches! After I finished Mike Duncan’s Revolutions, I sorely needed a new historical narrative podcast, and The Age of Napoleon quickly filled that niche. It’s also reignited my interest in the Napoleonic period, so thanks for that, too! It’s always nice to revisit a topic after many years and find there is still so much more history to discover. I have a question about the French colonies. I know you discussed this a bit at the end of the mini-series covering the Haitian Revolution, but what was life like in the colonies under Napoleon’s reign, considering the reimposition of slavery and the British naval blockade? To what extent did the re-enslaved people of France’s remaining Caribbean possessions resist efforts to turn back the clock, and how did the political struggle between “grands blancs” and “petits blancs” play out under the Empire? Did Britain attempt further invasions of French colonies, as they had during the Haitian Revolution and the War of the First Coalition? And how did France manage its colonies while Britain dominated the high seas in a time of war?

Thomas

Thanks so much for making this podcast! You do an amazing job of bringing the narrative and the characters to life and I always look forward to the episodes each month. There has been a few times when you've closed these shows out with folk songs from the Napoleonic wars. As a fan of traditional music, it is really striking how much of an impact the wars had on the folk songs of the time and you can find plenty of sympathetic and not so sympathetic treatments of Napoleon in Irish and British traditions, offering a fascinating insight into how the geopolitical ructions touched the lives of ordinary people and what their responses were. My question is do you have a favourite folk song about Napoleon and who is your favourite interpreter? I like Nic Jones' interpretation of 'Bonny Light Horseman' and highly recommend Dónal Lunny, of Planxty, and Franke Harte's collection 'My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte'!

Nicholas Waltman

Do you know French or any other foreign langues? If so, how have your skills changed over the course of this project and do you do anything specific to study?

Jesse mahan

I am trying to lookup the captain you referenced. How do you spell his name?

Jesse mahan

The excerpt from Elzear Blaze that you quoted at the end of the dispatch is one of the best things I've ever heard. I can imagine those young cadets trying to make themselves look weathered just to fit in. Getting to see Napoleon in person if only from a distance must have been incredible. To witness the massive war machine that he had assembled in eastern Prussia. After the losses of Eylau, the Herculean efforts that were be made to build his forces to almost 200,000 men. What a time to be alive. The world had never seen anyone like this man and never would again.

Mason Mcintyre

Between talking about your show and the recent movie, my friend told me a story he had heard about Josephine and Napoleon. My friend claimed that Napoleon once sent a letter to Josephine requesting that she not bathe before he got home. Is this true? If not, how’d the rumor get started?

Geoffrey Dellar

Thank you for continuing to make the podcast and these patron only dispatches. How common were sieges in the napoleonic wars? How impactful were they? And how were They fought?