Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Bogelbaum. Here,
Speaker 1: have you ever heard the expression they met their waterloo,
Speaker 1: as in the person in question met a crushing defeat
Speaker 1: that ended their ambitions. It comes from what happened to
Speaker 1: Napoleon Bonaparte near a village called Waterloo in Belgium on
Speaker 1: June eighteenth of eighteen fifteen. The forty six year old
Speaker 1: French general turned emperor lost this climactic battle of his
Speaker 1: storied career at the hands of British Impressian opponents. The
Speaker 1: battle ended Napoleon's attempt to make a comeback from exile
Speaker 1: and quashed the short lived glories of France's first Empire. Today,
Speaker 1: let's take a relatively short look at how Napoleon rose
Speaker 1: and fell. Napoleon Bonaparte was born on August fifteenth of
Speaker 1: seventeen sixty nine on the island of Corsica, the son
Speaker 1: of a prominent Corsican family. He was sent to mainland
Speaker 1: France for school, where his Parisian classmates made fun of
Speaker 1: his provincial accent. For the article this episode is based
Speaker 1: on How Stuff Works. Spoke with Peter Hicks, a historian
Speaker 1: and the manager of international affairs for the Napoleon Foundation
Speaker 1: in Paris. He said, instead of calling him Napoleon, they
Speaker 1: called him straw on the nose, mispronouncing his name in
Speaker 1: French with a Corsican accent. When he met thirty two
Speaker 1: year old Paris socialite Josephine du Buernet, Napoleon was six
Speaker 1: years her junior. She already had two children. Their father
Speaker 1: had been executed in seventeen ninety four during France's Reign
Speaker 1: of Terror, part of the ongoing French Revolution that was
Speaker 1: working to unseat the royal dynasty. Napoleon and Josephine married
Speaker 1: in seventeen ninety six. Napoleon became stepfather to her children.
Speaker 1: In the course of time, it was discovered that Josephine
Speaker 1: couldn't have more children. Though Napoleon was said to have
Speaker 1: loved her for the rest of his life, he would
Speaker 1: divorce her in eighteen oh nine to marry the Austrian
Speaker 1: Archduchess Maria louise A, banking on her to produce him
Speaker 1: an air, which she did with the birth of a
Speaker 1: son in eighteen eleven, who would eventually become Napoleon the second.
Speaker 1: For about two weeks in eighteen fifteen, after his father's
Speaker 1: second fall from power. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.
Speaker 1: Napoleon rose through the ranks of the French army and
Speaker 1: was promoted to major general after helping to quash a
Speaker 1: royalist coup in Paris in seventeen ninety six, At just
Speaker 1: twenty six years old, he was sent to Italy to
Speaker 1: mount a last ditch campaign against France's bitter rival Austria.
Speaker 1: He found the French troops there exhausted and unpaid, but
Speaker 1: whipped them into excitement with promises of glory and riches
Speaker 1: to be won. Despite being outnumbered almost two to one,
Speaker 1: Napoleon used speed and cunning to separate the enemy forces
Speaker 1: and ruthlessly attacked their weak points. An Italian officer complained,
Speaker 1: they sent a young madman who attacks right, left and
Speaker 1: from the rear. It's an intolerable way of making war.
Speaker 1: Upon their surrender, Napoleon demanded payment in gold, which he
Speaker 1: gave to his fighting men, sealing their loyalty. A word
Speaker 1: of his exploits spread far and wide, Hicks said, everybody
Speaker 1: wanted to know who is this guy. It didn't take
Speaker 1: long for Napoleon to begin seeing himself as the French
Speaker 1: incarnation of Julius Caesar or Alexander the Great. He could
Speaker 1: have made a play for emperor in seventeen ninety seven,
Speaker 1: but felt the moment wasn't quite right in Paris, so
Speaker 1: he rallied his armies and set off for Egypt, where
Speaker 1: he hoped to cut off British trade with India. There
Speaker 1: he marched thirty five thousand troops across the desert from
Speaker 1: the port of Alexandria towards Cairo and took the city.
Speaker 1: But while Napoleon was daydreaming of conquest, he later wrote,
Speaker 1: I saw myself founding a new religion, marching into Asia,
Speaker 1: riding an elephant, a turban on my head and in
Speaker 1: my hand the new Kuran. The British struck back, destroying
Speaker 1: the French fleet docked in the Mediterranean. Thus stranded in Egypt,
Speaker 1: Napoleon picked a few more fights, but by seventeen ninety
Speaker 1: eight morel was low and a civil war was raging.
Speaker 1: Back home, Napoleon saw an opening for his triumphant return,
Speaker 1: so he abandoned his troops in Egypt and secretly made
Speaker 1: for France. When he made it back in October of
Speaker 1: seventeen ninety eight, he found his country in chaos. The
Speaker 1: state coffers were empty, a coalition of enemies was on
Speaker 1: the attack, and the French central government, led by a
Speaker 1: five man Directory, was divided and crumbling. France needed a
Speaker 1: strong leader, and Napoleon knew just the right authoritarian for
Speaker 1: the job. In a matter of weeks, he plotted with
Speaker 1: two of the directors and some wealthy backers to hatch
Speaker 1: a coup de'tat. They convinced the legislature that another royalist
Speaker 1: coup was eminent pretense for relocating the government to a
Speaker 1: country palace and sending in troops to protect them. Then,
Speaker 1: in a complicated series of political maneuvers, he convinced his
Speaker 1: fellows to dissolve the Directory and create a new three
Speaker 1: person council with himself at the head. Just five years
Speaker 1: after the French Revolution ended, Napoleon took the title of
Speaker 1: first Consul for life and decided it was time to
Speaker 1: bring monarchy back. On December second of eighteen oh four,
Speaker 1: after literally snatching the crown from the hands of the
Speaker 1: Pope and placing it on his own head, Napoleon named
Speaker 1: himself Emperor of France. While in power, he did spearhead
Speaker 1: reforms that pulled the country out of chaos after a
Speaker 1: pact with the Pope. A Napoleonic France recognized Catholics and
Speaker 1: also welcomed Protestants and Jews on equal footing. France created
Speaker 1: its first central bank, the franc was introduced, and taxes
Speaker 1: were collected in a fair and timely manner. The messy
Speaker 1: post revolution legal system was codified under what's known as
Speaker 1: the Civil Code or the Napoleonic Code. On the flip side,
Speaker 1: women lost almost all legal rights and slavery was reintroduced
Speaker 1: in the French colonies. Hicks said government was settled along
Speaker 1: a top down structure and it was very much one
Speaker 1: man at the top. But Napoleon's reforms brought financial security
Speaker 1: and also political and social stability. But Napoleon's rule of
Speaker 1: France was dominated by non stop fighting over territory with
Speaker 1: European rivals, chiefly Britain, the major economic and military power
Speaker 1: of the day, along with Austria, Prussia and Russia. The
Speaker 1: Napoleonic Wars spanned from seventeen ninety six to eighteen fifteen.
Speaker 1: Hicks said Britain was happy to have Europe fighting itself
Speaker 1: so it could run the rest of the world. Britain
Speaker 1: paid other countries to do the fighting against France, but
Speaker 1: the other guys didn't need much encouraging. They found Napoleon
Speaker 1: France quite challenging. Napoleon was a master tactician. He won
Speaker 1: more than fifty battles in his career. He was so
Speaker 1: successful that by eighteen twelve he controlled most of the
Speaker 1: European continent, but his military dominance didn't last, in part
Speaker 1: because of his own hubris. He made what turned out
Speaker 1: to be a disastrous decision to invade Russia in eighteen twelve.
Speaker 1: The Russian Czar Alexander the First backed out of Napoleon's
Speaker 1: blockade of British goods in eighteen eleven, and Napoleon was livid,
Speaker 1: But he failed to prepare his troops for the harsh
Speaker 1: Russian winter and ended up losing and estimated three hundred
Speaker 1: thousand of the five hundred thousand soldiers in his force.
Speaker 1: This was followed by another defeat, this time at the
Speaker 1: hands of the British, Portuguese and Spanish forces. In the
Speaker 1: Peninsula War of eighteen fourteen. They invaded France and seized Paris.
Speaker 1: Napoleon's generals refused to follow him into a final battle,
Speaker 1: and Napoleon abdicated his throne. In April of that year,
Speaker 1: he was exiled to the Mediterranean island of Elba. Hicks
Speaker 1: explained that this exile was kind of a joke, less
Speaker 1: of a punishment for Napoleon than a strategy engineered by
Speaker 1: the Russians to destabilize Austrian controlled Italy, and after less
Speaker 1: than a year in exile, in February of eighteen fifteen,
Speaker 1: Napoleon sailed from Elba with a thousand supporters and landed
Speaker 1: on the French mainland. He issued a proclamation calling for
Speaker 1: the French army to join him and restoring him to
Speaker 1: power in the name of liberating France from foreign domination.
Speaker 1: He promised them victory shell March in double quick time.
Speaker 1: King Louis the Eighteenth, who had been installed by the
Speaker 1: coalition allies in Napoleon's place, skipped town without a fight.
Speaker 1: The emperor was back, but not for long. What followed
Speaker 1: is known as one Hundred Days Campaign, Napoleon's last desperate
Speaker 1: grasp of power. As the allies who opposed Napoleon gathered
Speaker 1: troops at France's borders. Napoleon struck first, leading his forces
Speaker 1: into Belgium, with the plan of beating the opposed armies
Speaker 1: one at a time before they could coalesce against him.
Speaker 1: He had some luck against the Prussians in a preliminary battle,
Speaker 1: but that would be his final triumph. Napoleon sent a
Speaker 1: third of his troops to chase the retreating Prussians. Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: he led his remaining seventy two thousand men towards a
Speaker 1: confrontation with an Allied force of sixty eight thousand soldiers
Speaker 1: led by the British general Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington,
Speaker 1: who was positioned near Waterloo, about a dozen miles or
Speaker 1: twenty kilometers outside the Belgian city of Brussels. Hastuffworks also
Speaker 1: spoke with Tom Makaitis, a professor of history at De
Speaker 1: Paul University, but he said the first thing to bear
Speaker 1: in mind is that even had he been victorious at Waterloo,
Speaker 1: Napoleon would not have won the war. He faced a
Speaker 1: coalition consisting of Britain, Prussia, Russia, Austria, and several smaller powers.
Speaker 1: Defeating Wellington would only have delayed the inevitable. With most
Speaker 1: of Europe ranged against him, defeat was only a matter
Speaker 1: of time. However, In the moment, Napoleon had a pretty
Speaker 1: good chance of winning. The armies were fairly evenly matched.
Speaker 1: You could say that fate intervened. There was a heavy
Speaker 1: rainstorm the night before his planned attack on the British,
Speaker 1: and the ground was so soaked the next morning that
Speaker 1: the French had to wait until eleven am to move
Speaker 1: their artillery into position. That deprived Napoleon of the element
Speaker 1: of surprise. To make matters worse, Napoleon hadn't slept due
Speaker 1: to some mysterious malady. Some biohistorians believe it was a
Speaker 1: severe case of hemorrhoids, which may have made it excruciating
Speaker 1: for Napoleon to sit on horseback that day as he
Speaker 1: directed his forces. Whatever it was may have also made
Speaker 1: it harder for him to think clearly at crucial moments.
Speaker 1: Napoleon's plan was to break Wellington's line and force his
Speaker 1: retreat before an incoming Prussian army could arrive and join
Speaker 1: forces with the British, but he didn't count on Wellington's
Speaker 1: expertise a defensive warfare. Napoleon's elegant plan degenerated into a
Speaker 1: frontal assault. Still, the battle was a tactical draw until
Speaker 1: the afternoon, when Napoleon saw the Prussian troops approaching in
Speaker 1: the distance. The French cavalry desperately attacked Wellington's line of soldiers,
Speaker 1: but they held. When the Prussians finally arrived, it was
Speaker 1: the French line that collapsed. Over sixty percent of Napoleon's
Speaker 1: army was killed, wounded, or wound up my mass in
Speaker 1: action that day, the Emperor's comeback was over. He abdicated
Speaker 1: for the second time four days later, and this time
Speaker 1: it stuck. But even in defeat, Napoleon was still feared.
Speaker 1: The Allies exiled him to Saint Helena, a remote island
Speaker 1: in the mid Atlantic, thousands of miles from France off
Speaker 1: the coast of Africa. He lived there in a ramshackle
Speaker 1: estate called Longwood, a single prisoner, guarded by twenty eight
Speaker 1: hundred men and a Royal Navy squadron of eleven ships.
Speaker 1: Napoleon died there on May fifth of eighteen twenty one,
Speaker 1: likely from stomach cancer, at the age of fifty one years. Reportedly,
Speaker 1: Josephine's name was the last word on his lips. He
Speaker 1: was buried on Saint Helena, but his remains were eventually
Speaker 1: returned to France, where he was entombed at Les, A
Speaker 1: valid among the great French leaders of all time. By
Speaker 1: the way, he wasn't that short. The term Napoleon complex
Speaker 1: dates to the nineteen twenties, a century after his death,
Speaker 1: describing someone usually a guy who compensates for a lack
Speaker 1: of physical height with a combative personality. A few things
Speaker 1: seemed to have gone into the making of this insult. Certainly,
Speaker 1: Napoleon did have an outsized ego for any human person,
Speaker 1: but his contemporary critics often portrayed him as ill tempered. Also,
Speaker 1: he was once given the nickname Le Petite Corporal, but
Speaker 1: this was affectionate and based not on his size, but
Speaker 1: rather his young age when he led that campaign in
Speaker 1: Italy in seventeen ninety six. The real confusion here seems
Speaker 1: to stem from a lack of standardization of measurements. At
Speaker 1: the time of his death. The British and French used
Speaker 1: the same terms for units of length, though the actual
Speaker 1: lengths represented were different, So Napoleon stood five two inches
Speaker 1: tall in French units. The French inch at the time
Speaker 1: was about two point seven centimeters. The British inch, which
Speaker 1: is the standard today, was just two point five four centimeters,
Speaker 1: so Napoleon actually stood at what we would recognize today
Speaker 1: as five feet six inches or one hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: nine centimeters, which was just a smidge above average for
Speaker 1: his time. Today's episode is based on the articles Why
Speaker 1: did Napoleon Lose the Battle of Waterloo by Patrick J.
Speaker 1: Kuiger and a Short History of Napoleon The Ambitious, Charismatic
Speaker 1: Emperor of France by Dave Bruce, both on HowStuffWorks dot com.
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Speaker 1: stuffworks dot Com and is produced by Tyler Klang. Four
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