1 00:00:00,680 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to Noble Blood, a production of iHeartRadio and Grim 2 00:00:05,080 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: and Mild from Aaron Mankie. Listener Discretion advised it looked 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,960 Speaker 1: like they would be facing another winter with too little 4 00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:24,480 Speaker 1: bread and not enough firewood for French peasants. In October 5 00:00:24,600 --> 00:00:28,640 Speaker 1: seventeen ninety five, it turned out that the recent revolution 6 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:34,600 Speaker 1: hadn't actually changed all that much. Those who starved under 7 00:00:34,680 --> 00:00:39,000 Speaker 1: King Louis the sixteenth were starving still, and the government 8 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:44,800 Speaker 1: that had replaced the royal family was by turns corrupt, unstable, 9 00:00:45,000 --> 00:00:51,400 Speaker 1: and impotent. Pro Royalists wanted a constitutional monarchy, and when 10 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,840 Speaker 1: the governing body at the time passed an extremely unpopular 11 00:00:56,000 --> 00:01:01,520 Speaker 1: law limiting the pro Royalist party's power, the French did 12 00:01:01,560 --> 00:01:06,919 Speaker 1: what they do best. Riot. Tens of thousands of pro 13 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: Royalists marched on Paris. They gathered in front of the 14 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:17,320 Speaker 1: Tullery Palace, where the representatives of the National Convention government sat. 15 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,959 Speaker 1: The rioters didn't have much by way of artillery, but 16 00:01:22,080 --> 00:01:26,920 Speaker 1: they outnumbered the National Guard four to one. The National 17 00:01:26,920 --> 00:01:30,640 Speaker 1: Guard was led by a general who wasn't savvy enough 18 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,680 Speaker 1: for the job. When he met with the rebel leaders, 19 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,920 Speaker 1: they promised that they would disarm and He happily retreated, 20 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: believing them, but the rebels did not disarm and the 21 00:01:42,880 --> 00:01:46,920 Speaker 1: general was replaced. The new general would need to be 22 00:01:47,040 --> 00:01:52,800 Speaker 1: someone ruthless. The Thermidorian leader on the ground remembered a 23 00:01:53,080 --> 00:01:57,600 Speaker 1: brilliant young officer who might just be the man for 24 00:01:57,680 --> 00:02:03,760 Speaker 1: the job. Send for Bonaparte, he said. Napoleon Bonaparte had 25 00:02:03,760 --> 00:02:09,040 Speaker 1: been idling away his twenties at the topographical Bureau after 26 00:02:09,120 --> 00:02:13,520 Speaker 1: making a wrong career move, and he was practically salivating 27 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:17,400 Speaker 1: at the chance to lead an army again. He would 28 00:02:17,440 --> 00:02:20,560 Speaker 1: remind his country that he was a leader to be 29 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:24,800 Speaker 1: reckoned with. Bonaparte instructed his men to go to a 30 00:02:24,919 --> 00:02:28,919 Speaker 1: nearby military camp and bring back every cannon they could 31 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:31,920 Speaker 1: get their hands on. If someone stands in your way, 32 00:02:32,560 --> 00:02:37,400 Speaker 1: kill them, he instructed. His men. Soon returned with forty cannons, 33 00:02:37,760 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 1: which they packed with grape shot, small metal rounds in 34 00:02:42,360 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: canvas bags that exploded upon firing, which could rip through 35 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 1: a dozen bodies in a dozen directions at the same time. 36 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 1: Not even in the bloodiest battles of the revolution did 37 00:02:55,639 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: anyone think to use this weapon on civilians. And again, 38 00:03:01,040 --> 00:03:05,720 Speaker 1: no one ever thought like Napoleon. The young commander spent 39 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:11,080 Speaker 1: the morning riding from station to station, inspecting every cannon 40 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:16,160 Speaker 1: to make sure it was equipped for maximum damage. He 41 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:19,959 Speaker 1: had just been given his first part in the pun 42 00:03:20,440 --> 00:03:25,360 Speaker 1: shot at victory. In years, defeat was not an option. 43 00:03:26,280 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: He didn't tell the troops to fire until it was 44 00:03:29,320 --> 00:03:34,200 Speaker 1: absolutely clear there would be no peaceful surrender. But once 45 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:39,000 Speaker 1: he gave the order, the damage was brutal. Riders who 46 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 1: weren't screaming in pain were screaming in fear, accompanied by 47 00:03:43,720 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: the staccato boom of cannons. Historians would write that Napoleon 48 00:03:49,080 --> 00:03:53,880 Speaker 1: gave the pro royalists quote a whiff of grape shot, 49 00:03:54,640 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 1: but that day Paris smelled only of blood. In the end, 50 00:03:59,440 --> 00:04:04,800 Speaker 1: around three hundred civilians died, and the Republican Guard under 51 00:04:04,880 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: Napoleon only lost around thirty men. For his efforts, Napoleon 52 00:04:10,920 --> 00:04:14,760 Speaker 1: was awarded a salary of forty eight thousand francs, given 53 00:04:14,840 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: command of the French Army of Italy, and even negotiated 54 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:23,839 Speaker 1: a plumb gig in the diplomatic service for his brother Joseph. 55 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,599 Speaker 1: Little did the Convention know what it had just set 56 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:33,120 Speaker 1: into motion. This was the beginning of the end of 57 00:04:33,160 --> 00:04:37,160 Speaker 1: the French Revolution. The beginning of the beginning of the 58 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:42,880 Speaker 1: Napoleonic Age. In terms of the history of Europe, Napoleon 59 00:04:43,120 --> 00:04:46,599 Speaker 1: was a great man in the capital g sense of 60 00:04:46,640 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: the word. Greatness only rises to its full heights when 61 00:04:51,040 --> 00:04:57,280 Speaker 1: challenged by arrival. Serena has Venus, Rocky had Apollo, and 62 00:04:57,400 --> 00:05:01,120 Speaker 1: after putting down his rebellion in Paris, there was only 63 00:05:01,320 --> 00:05:06,320 Speaker 1: one man that Napoleon thought of as his adversary. His 64 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 1: rival would be the undisputed star of the French military, 65 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 1: the Black Count, the Angel of Death, a man whose 66 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:21,359 Speaker 1: son would go on to write stories still celebrated in 67 00:05:21,400 --> 00:05:25,279 Speaker 1: the canon of literature, but whose own name would make 68 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:30,680 Speaker 1: a mark on the world. The man Napoleon feared Toma 69 00:05:30,760 --> 00:05:37,840 Speaker 1: Alexandra Duma Davy. I'm Danish Schwartz and this is noble blood. 70 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: Flashback to seventeen eighty nine years before Napoleon put down 71 00:05:49,040 --> 00:05:53,360 Speaker 1: the pro royalist sympathizers in the streets, the bloody French 72 00:05:53,440 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: Revolution and equally bloody bred Riot had already made Paris 73 00:05:58,440 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: a place of chaos. Toma Alexander Duma, a young private, 74 00:06:03,120 --> 00:06:06,200 Speaker 1: and his unit had been called to the hunting town 75 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: of Ville Coterret, a few hours outside of Paris to 76 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,919 Speaker 1: keep the peace there in case the violence spread. As 77 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,960 Speaker 1: the town had no barracks, the soldiers stayed among the people, 78 00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:22,320 Speaker 1: and Duma was personally invited by a man named Claude 79 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: Lebret to stay at his inn and even to dine 80 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:29,800 Speaker 1: with his family. That night. At dinner, Duma sang for 81 00:06:29,880 --> 00:06:34,159 Speaker 1: his supper, so to speak, charming the Lebret with stories 82 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:37,320 Speaker 1: from his youth spent in a sugar colony in what 83 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:41,200 Speaker 1: is now Haiti, telling the tale of how his father, 84 00:06:41,400 --> 00:06:45,279 Speaker 1: the son of a marquis, had briefly sold Alex into 85 00:06:45,360 --> 00:06:48,960 Speaker 1: slavery in order to afford passage for both of them 86 00:06:49,040 --> 00:06:52,920 Speaker 1: back to France, and how when they arrived, his father 87 00:06:53,040 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: had enrolled him in the finest school in the city, 88 00:06:56,560 --> 00:07:00,799 Speaker 1: where Alex learned how to ride and duel. He actually 89 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: learned the dueling from the greatest swordsman in France, the 90 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,839 Speaker 1: Chevalier de Saint George, who we covered in a two 91 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 1: part episode in June. The Chevalier was also an accomplished violinist, 92 00:07:13,400 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: and perhaps it was he the Chevalier, who confirmed in 93 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: the young Alex Dumas's mind the notion that anyone of 94 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: any color could aspire to greatness in whatever endeavor they chose. 95 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:32,440 Speaker 1: Because Toma Alexander Dumat was black, he had been born 96 00:07:32,640 --> 00:07:36,760 Speaker 1: to an enslaved woman that his father had owned as property. 97 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:41,320 Speaker 1: Before Dumas's father left the French colony where Alex was born, 98 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: he sold Alex's mother and Alex's siblings. I think it's 99 00:07:46,200 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: important to stop and think for a minute here about 100 00:07:49,200 --> 00:07:54,680 Speaker 1: that cruelty, that dehumanization. It was only Alex who was 101 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: brought back to France. Alexander was temporarily sold into slavery 102 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: himself for his father to pay for that passage. When 103 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:09,560 Speaker 1: Alex arrived, his father repurchased him and then officially freed him. 104 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:14,239 Speaker 1: Given the unique opportunity presented to him, Duma was able 105 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,360 Speaker 1: to spend the early part of his twenties as a 106 00:08:17,440 --> 00:08:22,040 Speaker 1: Parisian socialite. But when his father married their housekeeper and 107 00:08:22,200 --> 00:08:25,800 Speaker 1: cut off his allowance, alex did what all young men 108 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:30,680 Speaker 1: of his station did joined the military. Typically well to 109 00:08:30,680 --> 00:08:33,600 Speaker 1: do boys with noble pedigree would have been able to 110 00:08:33,800 --> 00:08:37,440 Speaker 1: enlist as officers, but for Duma, the color of his 111 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:43,280 Speaker 1: skin made that a little challenging. There weren't rules against it, really, 112 00:08:43,640 --> 00:08:46,080 Speaker 1: but it was a no man's land, and it would 113 00:08:46,120 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: have been hard for Duma to receive the position he 114 00:08:48,920 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: was entitled to. Screw it, he thought, he enlisted in 115 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:58,080 Speaker 1: the Queen's dragoons as a mere private. Dumas's father was 116 00:08:58,200 --> 00:09:02,800 Speaker 1: infuriated and war that he wouldn't let his son drag 117 00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: their family name Davy through the mud. Fine alex reasoned, 118 00:09:08,280 --> 00:09:11,839 Speaker 1: I'll take my mother's surname, and so he dropped his 119 00:09:11,880 --> 00:09:17,920 Speaker 1: father's last name Davy and became a Duma. Particularly taken 120 00:09:18,040 --> 00:09:22,000 Speaker 1: with Alexander's stories at the La Beret's dinner table was 121 00:09:22,080 --> 00:09:26,560 Speaker 1: the innkeeper's pretty daughter, Marie Louise. She wrote to a 122 00:09:26,640 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: friend the night that she first met Duma, he is 123 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:34,040 Speaker 1: a fine figure of a man. The fact that she 124 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:38,280 Speaker 1: was white and he was black, well by Rachel, was 125 00:09:38,320 --> 00:09:41,560 Speaker 1: for Marie Louise and her family no issue at all. 126 00:09:42,320 --> 00:09:45,520 Speaker 1: That Alex's mother had been enslaved wasn't a knock on 127 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:49,240 Speaker 1: his character, and it actually explained much of his committed 128 00:09:49,360 --> 00:09:53,280 Speaker 1: zeal to the French Revolution. To zoom out a little bit, 129 00:09:53,880 --> 00:09:58,320 Speaker 1: this was a very complex time for race relations in France. 130 00:09:58,920 --> 00:10:02,600 Speaker 1: Revolutionary idea deals at the time were challenging long held 131 00:10:02,640 --> 00:10:08,079 Speaker 1: assumptions about equality, or rather inequality. Those of mixed race, 132 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:13,600 Speaker 1: like Duma, were actually considered a unique class, separate from 133 00:10:13,840 --> 00:10:18,920 Speaker 1: both whites and blacks. Many were rich, some even owned 134 00:10:19,080 --> 00:10:25,119 Speaker 1: their own slaves. There was then, as today, widespread racism, 135 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:30,560 Speaker 1: and the ever changing government occasionally passed laws to limit 136 00:10:30,600 --> 00:10:33,840 Speaker 1: the rights of non white people, dictating what they could 137 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:38,080 Speaker 1: wear and what names and titles they could use. Laws 138 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:41,960 Speaker 1: like these spoke to an attitude of supremacy, but did 139 00:10:42,040 --> 00:10:46,920 Speaker 1: not in themselves make life considerably harder for free non 140 00:10:46,960 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: white people. They simply wore other clothes. There were more 141 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:56,040 Speaker 1: pernicious laws, like an attempt to round up and register 142 00:10:56,280 --> 00:10:59,760 Speaker 1: all non white people in France, but the government was 143 00:10:59,800 --> 00:11:04,040 Speaker 1: far to disorganize to ever actually follow through on the plan. 144 00:11:04,840 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 1: In some circles, it was actually considered fashionable to be 145 00:11:09,120 --> 00:11:15,720 Speaker 1: not quite white. A quote exotic heritage made you more interesting, 146 00:11:16,559 --> 00:11:21,080 Speaker 1: and even the most hardened racists in France liked to 147 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:26,120 Speaker 1: see Duma as an quote exception. It was simply an 148 00:11:26,160 --> 00:11:30,839 Speaker 1: accepted fact. He was the strongest soldier in the army. 149 00:11:31,559 --> 00:11:34,520 Speaker 1: Legend had it he could hang from a ceiling beam 150 00:11:34,880 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 1: and lift a horse with his legs. Would anyone dare 151 00:11:39,160 --> 00:11:41,840 Speaker 1: to make a belittling remark to the man who won 152 00:11:42,120 --> 00:11:45,720 Speaker 1: three duels in a single day at six foot one 153 00:11:45,960 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 1: in an era when the average height for a man 154 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:53,640 Speaker 1: was five foot eight. Alex Dumas cut a very imposing figure, 155 00:11:54,200 --> 00:11:58,560 Speaker 1: and he became the sort of Chuck Norris character of 156 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:03,000 Speaker 1: the French army. To Marie Louise, the innkeeper's daughter, and 157 00:12:03,120 --> 00:12:07,880 Speaker 1: to others, he was quite literally, tall, dark and handsome, 158 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:12,360 Speaker 1: and she was thrilled when her father agreed to an engagement. 159 00:12:13,000 --> 00:12:16,800 Speaker 1: But like any protective dad, the innkeeper wanted to know 160 00:12:16,880 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: that his daughter would be taken care of and told 161 00:12:19,840 --> 00:12:22,320 Speaker 1: Duma that they couldn't wed until he had risen to 162 00:12:22,360 --> 00:12:26,520 Speaker 1: the rank of sergeant. In the fall of seventeen ninety two, 163 00:12:26,760 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 1: Duma returned from the front lines to claim his bride. 164 00:12:30,720 --> 00:12:34,040 Speaker 1: But he was no sergeant. He was a war hero 165 00:12:34,440 --> 00:12:39,319 Speaker 1: and lieutenant colonel of an entire unit of men like himself, 166 00:12:39,760 --> 00:12:44,280 Speaker 1: known as the Black Legion. Duma was a shooting star 167 00:12:44,480 --> 00:12:47,560 Speaker 1: in the military, and soon the government was assigning him 168 00:12:47,600 --> 00:12:52,600 Speaker 1: a series of herculean challenges. It's almost comical how he 169 00:12:52,679 --> 00:12:56,120 Speaker 1: was dispatched to fix any problem that had stymied others. 170 00:12:56,720 --> 00:13:00,119 Speaker 1: Oh this Spanish fleet had defeated the last two generals 171 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: we sent in try Duma, and after that, would you 172 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:06,800 Speaker 1: mind capturing Oh, I don't know the Alps, even though 173 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,520 Speaker 1: you've never seen, let alone fought in the snow. By 174 00:13:10,559 --> 00:13:13,720 Speaker 1: the age of thirty two, he was equivalent to a 175 00:13:13,800 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 1: four star general. He would be the first person of 176 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:21,720 Speaker 1: color to achieve the ranks of brigadier general, division general, 177 00:13:22,000 --> 00:13:26,679 Speaker 1: and General in chief. Duma was a ferocious soldier on 178 00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:32,040 Speaker 1: his own, once single handedly taking twelve enemies prisoner, but 179 00:13:32,200 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: much of his success could also be attributed to his 180 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:40,079 Speaker 1: style as a leader. Armies in those days weren't particularly 181 00:13:40,600 --> 00:13:45,440 Speaker 1: well trained or organized. They often didn't have enough equipment, 182 00:13:45,600 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 1: and instead of being paid by their government, they just 183 00:13:49,520 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: stole from whatever place they were invading. Raping the local 184 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: women was another common occurrence. Duma was having none of 185 00:13:58,920 --> 00:14:04,720 Speaker 1: that isuted order and stability, and he was unfailingly fair 186 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:10,479 Speaker 1: to citizens, earning him the somewhat derisive nickname mister Humanity. 187 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:15,040 Speaker 1: In return for his men's loyalty, he advocated for them, 188 00:14:15,440 --> 00:14:20,960 Speaker 1: writing a letter after letter to Paris to secure payment, boots, rations, 189 00:14:20,960 --> 00:14:25,359 Speaker 1: and horses for his men. Not only was looting not allowed, 190 00:14:25,880 --> 00:14:30,920 Speaker 1: it wasn't necessary. There was seemingly no sealing on his career, 191 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:36,840 Speaker 1: regardless of his race. In seventeen ninety four, France officially 192 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:42,800 Speaker 1: abolished slavery throughout the Empire. Black and mixed race legislators 193 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,680 Speaker 1: joined the governing body, the Council of the Five hundred. 194 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:51,800 Speaker 1: The first integrated secondary school in Europe opened in Paris, 195 00:14:52,280 --> 00:14:58,360 Speaker 1: the National Colonial Institute, a world class academy educating both 196 00:14:58,440 --> 00:15:02,800 Speaker 1: children of the elite and scholarship students from the colonies. 197 00:15:03,440 --> 00:15:07,760 Speaker 1: But just as true greatness was seemingly within Dumas's grasp, 198 00:15:08,280 --> 00:15:12,400 Speaker 1: did the unstoppable force of his career run into the 199 00:15:12,480 --> 00:15:20,120 Speaker 1: immovable object of Napoleon Bonaparte. By seventeen ninety six, both 200 00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:24,440 Speaker 1: were generals. Napoleon was put in charge of the French 201 00:15:24,640 --> 00:15:29,040 Speaker 1: Army of Italy, and Dumas was assigned to work just 202 00:15:29,480 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: under him. The two men almost immediately did not like 203 00:15:37,120 --> 00:15:40,480 Speaker 1: each other. Dumas was one of the last officers to 204 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,280 Speaker 1: arrive in Italy, and he was dismayed by what he saw. 205 00:15:44,760 --> 00:15:48,840 Speaker 1: Deference to Napoleon was based not on his admirable qualities, 206 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 1: but on the fact that he promised his ally's riches 207 00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:58,200 Speaker 1: Napoleon allowed looting, even arranged it and elevated it. His 208 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:02,600 Speaker 1: soldiers didn't just steal food from the Italian towns they invaded, 209 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:07,320 Speaker 1: they made the Italians cook feasts for them. Duma once 210 00:16:07,400 --> 00:16:11,320 Speaker 1: had to intervene to keep an entire towns women from 211 00:16:11,400 --> 00:16:14,600 Speaker 1: getting trapped on a bridge by soldiers where they would 212 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:19,520 Speaker 1: have surely been assaulted. Under these circumstances, how could Duma 213 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:24,120 Speaker 1: be expected to implement his more gentlemanly style of conduct. 214 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 1: The soldiers were in a position not unlike a kid 215 00:16:28,640 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 1: playing their parents off one another. Oh, Mommy, Alex says, 216 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:36,640 Speaker 1: I can't pillage, well, Daddy, Napoleon said it was okay. 217 00:16:37,840 --> 00:16:43,360 Speaker 1: Napoleon took pillaging to a new and sophisticated level. He 218 00:16:43,440 --> 00:16:47,680 Speaker 1: made a project of identifying the most valuable treasures and 219 00:16:47,920 --> 00:16:51,960 Speaker 1: artworks from each region and shipped them back to France. 220 00:16:52,600 --> 00:16:56,800 Speaker 1: He brought experts on his expeditions just for that purpose. 221 00:16:57,640 --> 00:17:02,720 Speaker 1: He also charged Milan twenty million francs cash for having 222 00:17:02,800 --> 00:17:07,360 Speaker 1: been liberated from Austria, and he repeated that pattern everywhere 223 00:17:07,400 --> 00:17:11,399 Speaker 1: his army went. Duma did what he could to limit 224 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:14,960 Speaker 1: Napoleon's damage, but if it was all in the service 225 00:17:15,040 --> 00:17:19,879 Speaker 1: of spreading the ideals of the French Revolution far and wide, well, 226 00:17:19,960 --> 00:17:24,320 Speaker 1: he'd mostly follow his orders. He played a pivotal role 227 00:17:24,440 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 1: in the Siege of Mantua and was understandably angry when 228 00:17:28,800 --> 00:17:31,960 Speaker 1: he found out that Napoleon's aid had written to the 229 00:17:32,000 --> 00:17:35,640 Speaker 1: general that Duma had stayed out of the action. Alex 230 00:17:35,720 --> 00:17:40,760 Speaker 1: composed his own letter explaining the situation to Napoleon. General, 231 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:44,000 Speaker 1: I have learned that the jackass whose business it is 232 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,160 Speaker 1: to report to you upon the Battle of the twenty seventh, 233 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:51,720 Speaker 1: stated that I stayed in observation throughout that battle. I 234 00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:55,680 Speaker 1: don't wish any such observation on him, since he would 235 00:17:55,720 --> 00:18:00,840 Speaker 1: have shit in his pants. Saluta and brotherhood Alex do end. 236 00:18:02,440 --> 00:18:07,639 Speaker 1: Alex's reputation continued to grow. Taking small groups of soldiers 237 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:14,160 Speaker 1: on strategic missions, Duma easily recognizable scared the living daylights 238 00:18:14,240 --> 00:18:17,640 Speaker 1: out of the Austrian army. They began to call him 239 00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:22,439 Speaker 1: d Schwartze Chuffel, or the black Devil. Just as Duma 240 00:18:22,680 --> 00:18:27,200 Speaker 1: was too smart to fight Napoleon directly, Napoleon was too 241 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:31,119 Speaker 1: smart to let go of Duma. He praised his general's 242 00:18:31,200 --> 00:18:35,399 Speaker 1: victories and gave him the nickname the Horacious cocolos of 243 00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: the Tyrol, as well as ordering him a new set 244 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:43,280 Speaker 1: of pistols after he lost his In seventeen ninety seven, 245 00:18:43,720 --> 00:18:47,320 Speaker 1: Duma received a letter from his wife informing him that 246 00:18:47,359 --> 00:18:51,960 Speaker 1: their second daughter, a toddler named Louise, had died. He 247 00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:54,280 Speaker 1: went home to be with his family for a few 248 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: months before being called back into service once again to 249 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,280 Speaker 1: serve Napoleon, as he had a tempted to conquer a 250 00:19:01,400 --> 00:19:05,879 Speaker 1: foreign land. But this time it wasn't Italy they were after, 251 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:11,200 Speaker 1: and it wasn't that classic French enemy England either. No. 252 00:19:11,680 --> 00:19:16,080 Speaker 1: General Bonaparte was taking his men on a much more 253 00:19:16,280 --> 00:19:25,120 Speaker 1: perilous journey, and he wouldn't tell anybody where as if 254 00:19:25,160 --> 00:19:29,840 Speaker 1: to remind everyone of the pecking order, Napoleon installed himself 255 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:32,600 Speaker 1: on a ship called the Orient, which was at the 256 00:19:32,640 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: time the largest on earth, and he put Duma on 257 00:19:36,640 --> 00:19:41,760 Speaker 1: the mid sized ship called William Tell. Because Napoleon could 258 00:19:41,760 --> 00:19:45,680 Speaker 1: not earn his men's respect as Duma had, he once 259 00:19:45,720 --> 00:19:50,280 Speaker 1: again tried to buy it, promising every soldier six acres 260 00:19:50,280 --> 00:19:53,600 Speaker 1: of land once they got to wherever they were going. 261 00:19:54,240 --> 00:19:57,919 Speaker 1: He didn't say, which must have made it hard to pack. 262 00:19:58,760 --> 00:20:02,760 Speaker 1: First stop, Malta, a Mediterranean island that had been ruled 263 00:20:02,800 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: by knights whose income came from their estates back in France. 264 00:20:07,760 --> 00:20:11,520 Speaker 1: When the French Revolution did away with feudal dues, the 265 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:17,240 Speaker 1: richest Maltens suffered and weren't exactly friendly to the revolutionary 266 00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 1: government's army that came knocking at their port. But Napoleon 267 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,920 Speaker 1: had a plan. He promised to pay whatever price they 268 00:20:25,960 --> 00:20:29,720 Speaker 1: wanted once he and his fleet got inside the harbor, 269 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,800 Speaker 1: and as a sweetener, the Grand Master could have a 270 00:20:33,880 --> 00:20:39,600 Speaker 1: principality in Germany. Why not. Once Napoleon's fleet was inside, 271 00:20:40,040 --> 00:20:44,160 Speaker 1: Napoleon gave the Maltens three days to get the hell out. 272 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,560 Speaker 1: What he lacked in honor, he more than made up 273 00:20:47,600 --> 00:20:52,040 Speaker 1: for in savvy. In Malta, Dumas saw for the first 274 00:20:52,240 --> 00:20:56,439 Speaker 1: time when Napoleon would look like, not just as a leader, 275 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:01,880 Speaker 1: but as a ruler. Napoleon declared declared religious freedom for all, 276 00:21:02,320 --> 00:21:07,359 Speaker 1: protecting Jews from persecution and abolishing torture. He freed two 277 00:21:07,400 --> 00:21:12,199 Speaker 1: thousand enslaved people and set about modernizing the infrastructure. He 278 00:21:12,280 --> 00:21:17,480 Speaker 1: planned hospitals, schools, post offices, and street lights. He instituted 279 00:21:17,520 --> 00:21:21,399 Speaker 1: rent control and passed into law the early version of 280 00:21:21,440 --> 00:21:25,360 Speaker 1: what would become the Napoleonic Code, and he made all 281 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: of these progressive changes without going through any kind of 282 00:21:29,400 --> 00:21:36,199 Speaker 1: red tape or bureaucracy or democracy. Napoleon was ruling like 283 00:21:36,280 --> 00:21:39,679 Speaker 1: a dictator. But there was no time for alex to 284 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:44,000 Speaker 1: dwell too much on that, because Napoleon had finally revealed 285 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:49,800 Speaker 1: what their final destination would be, Egypt. It had long 286 00:21:49,840 --> 00:21:54,359 Speaker 1: been Napoleon's ambition to conquer Egypt, as Alexander the Great 287 00:21:54,480 --> 00:21:58,320 Speaker 1: once did. The cities were ancient, even compared to Rome, 288 00:21:58,800 --> 00:22:02,560 Speaker 1: and they were believed to hold great treasures, not to 289 00:22:02,600 --> 00:22:07,000 Speaker 1: mention the incredible Pyramids, and it was in a highly 290 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:13,160 Speaker 1: covetable strategic position, given Britain's reliance on trade with India. 291 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: Taking Egypt in the name of France and liberating its 292 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:22,280 Speaker 1: people from the Mamelukes who controlled the region was a 293 00:22:22,480 --> 00:22:27,680 Speaker 1: grand and romantic notion. It was also, as everyone would 294 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:32,600 Speaker 1: soon see, a pretty dumb idea. In the wee hours 295 00:22:32,640 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 1: of July second, four thousand frenchmen stepped ashore, led by 296 00:22:38,000 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: Napoleon and Dumont. Napoleon had put Duma in charge of 297 00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:47,119 Speaker 1: the cavalry. The problem was there wasn't much cavalry to 298 00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:50,960 Speaker 1: speak of the plan was to get most of their 299 00:22:51,000 --> 00:22:55,840 Speaker 1: horses once they arrived, but horses were hard to come by, 300 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:01,520 Speaker 1: and it was one hundred and ten degrees outside quote unquote. 301 00:23:01,720 --> 00:23:08,360 Speaker 1: Liberating Italy had involved bloodshed, yes, but also feasting. There 302 00:23:08,480 --> 00:23:12,880 Speaker 1: was no feasting when the army showed up to seize Alexandria. 303 00:23:13,640 --> 00:23:18,000 Speaker 1: The citizens weren't particularly happy to see them, and the 304 00:23:18,040 --> 00:23:23,760 Speaker 1: soldiers kept getting attacked by Bedouin tribes. Napoleon's army took 305 00:23:23,880 --> 00:23:28,760 Speaker 1: Alexandria easily enough, but there was no reward, just the 306 00:23:28,840 --> 00:23:35,560 Speaker 1: prospect of a long, very hot march to Cairo. To 307 00:23:35,640 --> 00:23:40,760 Speaker 1: call it a suicide mission is both insensitive and correct. 308 00:23:41,520 --> 00:23:47,600 Speaker 1: The men were in dark wool uniforms carrying forty pound packs. 309 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:53,960 Speaker 1: They were starving, and so so thirsty that many preferred 310 00:23:54,000 --> 00:23:58,320 Speaker 1: a bullet to the long, slow agony that had taken 311 00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,679 Speaker 1: their brothers. They were marching alongside. If a man became 312 00:24:02,800 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 1: weak and fell behind, he would be picked off by 313 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:10,919 Speaker 1: a Bedouin tribe. Many men caught an eye infection that 314 00:24:11,080 --> 00:24:17,760 Speaker 1: burned and hussed and rendered them partially blind. Others suffered dysentery. 315 00:24:18,520 --> 00:24:23,080 Speaker 1: At the smaller cities they stopped at soldiers standing guard 316 00:24:23,440 --> 00:24:26,840 Speaker 1: had their throats slit in the night, not by an 317 00:24:27,000 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: enemy army, but by the very citizens they'd assumed would 318 00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:35,600 Speaker 1: greet them with cheers as liberators. It was clear whose 319 00:24:35,720 --> 00:24:39,600 Speaker 1: mistake this was. The man who decided to surprise the 320 00:24:39,760 --> 00:24:44,159 Speaker 1: enemy by attacking in the summer, the man who hadn't 321 00:24:44,240 --> 00:24:50,080 Speaker 1: made any arrangements for a way to carry water around Napoleon, 322 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:55,080 Speaker 1: and who wanted to conquer six acres of desert anyway. 323 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:59,880 Speaker 1: But they were either too loyal or too tired to mutiny, 324 00:25:00,480 --> 00:25:05,320 Speaker 1: so onward they marched. But Duma always had the energy 325 00:25:05,400 --> 00:25:09,480 Speaker 1: to take Napoleon down a peg. One night, he scrounged 326 00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:13,919 Speaker 1: up a few of these delicious novel fruits they called watermelons, 327 00:25:14,280 --> 00:25:17,120 Speaker 1: and he invited the other generals back to his tent 328 00:25:17,240 --> 00:25:21,440 Speaker 1: for a chet. They kicked around the question of why 329 00:25:21,480 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 1: they were even there, what their commander's plan even was. 330 00:25:25,840 --> 00:25:30,119 Speaker 1: Was Napoleon doing his best with an impossible task, or 331 00:25:30,200 --> 00:25:33,840 Speaker 1: at Paris used this as an excuse to get rid 332 00:25:33,840 --> 00:25:37,880 Speaker 1: of him once they reached Cairo, Should they the other 333 00:25:38,000 --> 00:25:44,320 Speaker 1: generals make a plan to stop One of Napoleon's informants 334 00:25:44,359 --> 00:25:49,640 Speaker 1: overheard the chatter. These men who doubted their leader, who 335 00:25:49,640 --> 00:25:54,800 Speaker 1: would refuse to march past their next destination. There's a 336 00:25:54,800 --> 00:26:00,159 Speaker 1: word for that in the military coup. Things came to 337 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:05,440 Speaker 1: a head after the French finally took Cairo. Napoleon confronted 338 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: Duma about what he'd heard, making it clear that he 339 00:26:09,160 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 1: wouldn't tolerate criticism or questioning from anyone, even a fellow general. 340 00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:20,640 Speaker 1: War makes strange bedfellows. Until this point, the two men 341 00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,720 Speaker 1: had been fair weather friends. They were always in a 342 00:26:24,880 --> 00:26:28,520 Speaker 1: kind of cold war, but put their differences aside for 343 00:26:28,560 --> 00:26:31,720 Speaker 1: the sake of their missions, and when things were good, 344 00:26:31,880 --> 00:26:36,639 Speaker 1: they even got along. Napoleon's wife, Josephine, who was white 345 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,440 Speaker 1: but had herself been born in the French colony of Martinique, 346 00:26:40,920 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 1: genuinely liked Duma. If either she or Dumas's wife, Marie 347 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:49,320 Speaker 1: Louise ever had a boy, both families had promised to 348 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: be godparents to the other's son, and, whether begrudgingly or not, 349 00:26:54,800 --> 00:26:59,960 Speaker 1: Napoleon had praised Dumas's skill on the battlefield, which Duma 350 00:27:00,000 --> 00:27:05,160 Speaker 1: perhaps naively took to heart. But the bright Egyptian sun 351 00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:12,040 Speaker 1: shed a new light on their fundamental incompatibilities. Napoleon resented 352 00:27:12,240 --> 00:27:16,880 Speaker 1: Duma everywhere they went. The Egyptians marveled at the sight 353 00:27:17,000 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: of a black man leading a white army, and he 354 00:27:20,840 --> 00:27:24,879 Speaker 1: was so tall and imposing, they just assumed he was 355 00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:29,600 Speaker 1: in charge. When Duma put down an uprising by riding 356 00:27:29,680 --> 00:27:34,600 Speaker 1: into a mosque, rebels screamed, the Angel, the Angel. They 357 00:27:34,680 --> 00:27:38,720 Speaker 1: thought he was the angel of death. You can imagine 358 00:27:38,840 --> 00:27:44,080 Speaker 1: how little Napoleon liked that. Even if the whole Napoleon 359 00:27:44,200 --> 00:27:49,320 Speaker 1: complex insecure about being short is an English bit of propaganda, 360 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:54,639 Speaker 1: I'm sure he didn't love everyone praising this tall, handsome, 361 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:59,880 Speaker 1: gallant soldier. Actually, you don't have to imagine how Napoleon felt, 362 00:28:00,320 --> 00:28:04,400 Speaker 1: because years later Napoleon commissioned a painting of this incident, 363 00:28:04,920 --> 00:28:08,919 Speaker 1: and he replaced Duma in the painting with a nameless 364 00:28:09,119 --> 00:28:14,399 Speaker 1: white cavalry man. In another painting, it was Napoleon himself 365 00:28:14,600 --> 00:28:19,040 Speaker 1: who saved the day during that rebellion. Here we have 366 00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:24,200 Speaker 1: to wonder how much of Napoleon's antipathy towards Duma was racial. 367 00:28:25,040 --> 00:28:28,919 Speaker 1: It's likely Napoleon would have hated anyone of any color 368 00:28:29,320 --> 00:28:33,320 Speaker 1: who was as impressive a rival as Duma, but to 369 00:28:33,440 --> 00:28:38,440 Speaker 1: ignore race would be completely naive. If Duma had been white, 370 00:28:38,840 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 1: perhaps Napoleon would have tried harder to recruit him as 371 00:28:42,440 --> 00:28:47,600 Speaker 1: an ally. How did Duma feel about Napoleon. In one 372 00:28:47,880 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: potentially revealing incident, Duma discovered a stash of treasure while 373 00:28:53,400 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: excavating a home that had apparently been abandoned. Since the 374 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:01,640 Speaker 1: goods had no owner, he could have kept them for himself, 375 00:29:02,120 --> 00:29:06,200 Speaker 1: but he turned them over to Napoleon, writing quote, the 376 00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 1: leopard cannot change his spots, nor can I change my 377 00:29:10,160 --> 00:29:14,720 Speaker 1: character and principles. As an honest man, I must concede 378 00:29:14,760 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 1: to you the fact of a treasure I have just discovered. 379 00:29:18,320 --> 00:29:22,000 Speaker 1: I abandon it to your disposition, reminding you only that 380 00:29:22,160 --> 00:29:27,040 Speaker 1: I am a father and without fortune. End quote. On 381 00:29:27,120 --> 00:29:31,880 Speaker 1: its surface, a straightforward thing to do, but I detect 382 00:29:32,200 --> 00:29:37,120 Speaker 1: two possibly passive, aggressive digs in that letter. One, he 383 00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:40,880 Speaker 1: reminded Napoleon that he was an honest man. They both 384 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:43,720 Speaker 1: knew that Napoleon would have stashed the stuff if he 385 00:29:43,800 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 1: had been the one to find it. Second, he had 386 00:29:46,560 --> 00:29:50,080 Speaker 1: every right to note that as a dad, he needed money, 387 00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:54,840 Speaker 1: but Napoleon hadn't fathered any children at the time, so 388 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: it's possible that's another bit of a one up, and 389 00:29:59,240 --> 00:30:02,600 Speaker 1: we can pretty safely assume Duma was not a fan 390 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:07,400 Speaker 1: of what Napoleon was doing with the enslaved population of Cairo, 391 00:30:08,320 --> 00:30:14,520 Speaker 1: which was nothing sure. Napoleon had liberated thousands in Malta, 392 00:30:15,040 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 1: but that had been a pragmatic decision on Napoleon's part 393 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:22,080 Speaker 1: to bring the island into the fold of the French Revolution. 394 00:30:22,760 --> 00:30:26,680 Speaker 1: It hadn't been an ethical decision. Egypt was more of 395 00:30:26,720 --> 00:30:31,240 Speaker 1: an outpost, and the more hierarchical its society, the more 396 00:30:31,360 --> 00:30:35,280 Speaker 1: firmly Napoleon could establish himself at the top of it. 397 00:30:36,080 --> 00:30:39,240 Speaker 1: For Duma, the son of a slave who had briefly 398 00:30:39,280 --> 00:30:44,320 Speaker 1: been enslaved himself, it must have been maddening. At least, 399 00:30:44,440 --> 00:30:48,840 Speaker 1: the two men agreed on one thing. Duma should leave 400 00:30:48,960 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: Egypt as soon as possible. The two men would never 401 00:30:53,800 --> 00:30:59,240 Speaker 1: see or speak to each other again. Duma hopped aboard 402 00:30:59,320 --> 00:31:02,920 Speaker 1: a malten ship bound for home, but it was a leaky, 403 00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 1: rickety thing, and when they hit a storm, Duma tossed 404 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:11,960 Speaker 1: anything that weighed anything overboard, the horses he'd purchased, the 405 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: Arabian coffee that he'd planned to resell, all of their cannonballs, 406 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:21,680 Speaker 1: all their food, water. It was just enough to get 407 00:31:21,680 --> 00:31:26,400 Speaker 1: them safely to the nearest port, which happened to be Toronto. 408 00:31:26,560 --> 00:31:31,400 Speaker 1: In Naples, Duma sent the governor a letter explaining their 409 00:31:31,440 --> 00:31:35,680 Speaker 1: situation and asking for assistance while they made the necessary 410 00:31:35,760 --> 00:31:40,120 Speaker 1: repairs and arrangements. The governor said, sure, come on in, 411 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: but if you don't mind a short quarantine, just in case, 412 00:31:43,760 --> 00:31:47,520 Speaker 1: so you don't spread disease. This was a common practice 413 00:31:47,560 --> 00:31:50,760 Speaker 1: at the time, and Duma thought nothing of it, But 414 00:31:50,920 --> 00:31:53,960 Speaker 1: then he had an experience that I think many of 415 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,560 Speaker 1: us can relate to. What he thought would be a 416 00:31:57,720 --> 00:32:03,760 Speaker 1: short quarantine turned into two years, two years of life 417 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:10,280 Speaker 1: ruining imprisonment. While Duma had been in Egypt, news that 418 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:14,080 Speaker 1: the French army conquered Naples had reached his camp, and 419 00:32:14,160 --> 00:32:17,000 Speaker 1: so when his rickety ship had managed to dock there, 420 00:32:17,480 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: he had every reason to expect friendly faces on the shore. 421 00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:25,479 Speaker 1: What he didn't know is that a pro royalist faction 422 00:32:26,240 --> 00:32:31,320 Speaker 1: led by the Cardinal Fabrizio Rufo, had recently retaken control 423 00:32:31,440 --> 00:32:35,920 Speaker 1: of Naples. The group called themselves the Holy Faith Army, 424 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:40,440 Speaker 1: and they had managed to overtake the revolutionary French government. 425 00:32:41,360 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: Almost everyone on Dumas's ship was allowed to return to 426 00:32:45,280 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 1: their home country after signing a pledge that they wouldn't 427 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,200 Speaker 1: take up arms against the Holy Faith Army for two years. 428 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: But Duma and his fellow general, Jean Baptiste Moncourt, were 429 00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:59,680 Speaker 1: locked up with no real long term plan for what 430 00:32:59,800 --> 00:33:03,760 Speaker 1: was to become of them. The two generals slept on 431 00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,960 Speaker 1: beds of straw atop stone benches, and they had little 432 00:33:08,000 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: to eat or drink. They could meet up once a 433 00:33:12,000 --> 00:33:15,680 Speaker 1: day in an enclosed courtyard, but other than that they 434 00:33:15,720 --> 00:33:18,880 Speaker 1: had no one to talk to except the guards, who 435 00:33:18,960 --> 00:33:24,240 Speaker 1: mocked them. But in other ways things were sort of chivalrous. 436 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,880 Speaker 1: Duma was allowed to keep all of the money he'd 437 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:30,400 Speaker 1: brought with him, which he would use to pay for 438 00:33:30,480 --> 00:33:34,480 Speaker 1: food and other items throughout his imprisonment. At the start 439 00:33:34,520 --> 00:33:37,440 Speaker 1: he even had a servant, and they let him keep 440 00:33:37,520 --> 00:33:40,680 Speaker 1: a small goat he'd picked up in Egypt, I think 441 00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:45,000 Speaker 1: as a pet. Duma wrote again and again to the 442 00:33:45,040 --> 00:33:48,880 Speaker 1: cardinal asking for a meeting, but the only visitor he 443 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:53,360 Speaker 1: got was a young man who introduced himself as Crown 444 00:33:53,600 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: Prince Francis, son of King Ferdinand the Fourth of the 445 00:33:57,480 --> 00:34:02,320 Speaker 1: Kingdom of Naples, ignoring Dumas's pleas for a meeting with 446 00:34:02,440 --> 00:34:07,920 Speaker 1: the French ambassador, the quote unquote crown Prince asked a 447 00:34:07,960 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 1: few questions about Egypt, and then left. He was actually 448 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:17,360 Speaker 1: not a crown prince at all, but an impostor trying 449 00:34:17,360 --> 00:34:22,080 Speaker 1: to gather information to fight against the French. But although 450 00:34:22,120 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: he was a fake prince, he was actually a decent 451 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:30,240 Speaker 1: military leader, at least decent enough to round up an army, 452 00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:34,000 Speaker 1: which he took north, where he was promptly captured by 453 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:38,600 Speaker 1: the French. Well, great, now they could do a prisoner 454 00:34:38,640 --> 00:34:42,520 Speaker 1: swap and Duma could go home, except there had been 455 00:34:42,560 --> 00:34:48,000 Speaker 1: a miscommunication that fake prince hadn't actually been captured by 456 00:34:48,040 --> 00:34:51,920 Speaker 1: the French. He was killed, there was no chance of 457 00:34:51,960 --> 00:34:57,200 Speaker 1: a prisoner swap. Imagine the psychological torture Duma must have 458 00:34:57,280 --> 00:35:01,040 Speaker 1: been suffering. Every path to freedom to a twist and 459 00:35:01,239 --> 00:35:04,480 Speaker 1: a turn, then led to a dead end, and his 460 00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:08,520 Speaker 1: only visitor was a guy lying about his identity who 461 00:35:08,560 --> 00:35:12,120 Speaker 1: then seemed like he would be a getaway car and 462 00:35:12,160 --> 00:35:16,040 Speaker 1: then ended up being nothing at all. Dumas's mental and 463 00:35:16,160 --> 00:35:22,120 Speaker 1: physical help declined precipitously shortly after being locked up. He 464 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:27,600 Speaker 1: suffered a quote strange paralysis in his face. A few 465 00:35:27,640 --> 00:35:31,120 Speaker 1: months after arriving, he was having a biscuit and a 466 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:34,600 Speaker 1: glass of wine while taking a bath. When he doubled 467 00:35:34,719 --> 00:35:39,480 Speaker 1: over in pain, his servant found him a mobile sweating 468 00:35:39,640 --> 00:35:44,280 Speaker 1: in a pool of his own vomit. A doctor was summoned, 469 00:35:44,400 --> 00:35:48,239 Speaker 1: and when he arrived, the doctor looked so scared and 470 00:35:48,480 --> 00:35:52,320 Speaker 1: to Duma, so surprised to see that Duma was alive 471 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:56,120 Speaker 1: that Duma immediately hit upon the idea that he had 472 00:35:56,160 --> 00:35:59,520 Speaker 1: been poisoned and the doctor was actually in on it. 473 00:36:00,360 --> 00:36:04,000 Speaker 1: Instead of listening to whatever remedies his maybe would be 474 00:36:04,160 --> 00:36:08,840 Speaker 1: killer prescribed, Dumas preferred the treatment of his friend Manscore, 475 00:36:09,160 --> 00:36:13,040 Speaker 1: who had also come to hell. He fed Duma olive 476 00:36:13,040 --> 00:36:17,160 Speaker 1: oil and lemon juice and gave him enema. After enema, 477 00:36:17,440 --> 00:36:21,400 Speaker 1: which was the treatment for parasites at the time, the 478 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:26,359 Speaker 1: possibly murderous doctor would return to give Duma blisters and 479 00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:31,920 Speaker 1: ear injections that may be contributed to Dumas's partial deafness. 480 00:36:32,040 --> 00:36:36,560 Speaker 1: Later on, Dumas would claim in his recollections of this 481 00:36:36,719 --> 00:36:40,360 Speaker 1: period that the doctor tried to have a secret meeting 482 00:36:40,400 --> 00:36:43,799 Speaker 1: with him, but he was so weak and strained that 483 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,520 Speaker 1: he never got a clear idea on what exactly the 484 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:52,720 Speaker 1: conspiracy was. When the doctor dropped dead A few days later. 485 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:56,760 Speaker 1: Dumas ascribed it to a cover up, and his pet 486 00:36:56,800 --> 00:37:02,080 Speaker 1: goat also died. Dumas's knew doctor was kind enough, but 487 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:08,760 Speaker 1: Dumas still became half blind, half deaf and facial paralysis. 488 00:37:08,880 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: Remained scared and alone. He couldn't sleep and became weak, 489 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 1: later saying he suffered quote an abundant and continuous loss 490 00:37:20,200 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: of sperm, which maybe a euphemism or maybe just a 491 00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:29,160 Speaker 1: problem that he had. I don't know, but if there 492 00:37:29,280 --> 00:37:33,400 Speaker 1: was a conspiracy within the fortress, there was also definitely 493 00:37:33,440 --> 00:37:39,200 Speaker 1: a conspiracy without an underground society. Friends of the French 494 00:37:39,520 --> 00:37:43,480 Speaker 1: smuggled a medical textbook to Duma with the section on 495 00:37:43,680 --> 00:37:50,040 Speaker 1: poisonings underlined. This gesture of solidarity and the seeming confirmation 496 00:37:50,400 --> 00:37:55,359 Speaker 1: that he wasn't being crazy, bolstered his spirits. A few 497 00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:59,560 Speaker 1: nights later, the Friends of the French gave Duma another gift, 498 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:04,799 Speaker 1: lowering a package into his cell on a string. Inside 499 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:09,880 Speaker 1: the plain paper was bark containing the medicinal herb quinine 500 00:38:10,440 --> 00:38:13,960 Speaker 1: and possibly the best present you can give an imprisoned 501 00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:19,400 Speaker 1: frenchman a hunk of chocolate. Back in France, Dumas's wife, 502 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:23,400 Speaker 1: Marie Louise was trying to find out why her husband 503 00:38:23,760 --> 00:38:28,440 Speaker 1: had seemingly disappeared into thin air. Alex had written her 504 00:38:28,719 --> 00:38:31,839 Speaker 1: that he was about to head home. Then she got 505 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:37,080 Speaker 1: no more letters, and more importantly, no Alex. She wrote 506 00:38:37,200 --> 00:38:41,520 Speaker 1: to his fellow military leaders, the war ministry, and every 507 00:38:41,640 --> 00:38:45,160 Speaker 1: government official she could think of. Many of her pleas 508 00:38:45,320 --> 00:38:49,120 Speaker 1: got no response. When she did hear back, it was 509 00:38:49,200 --> 00:38:53,040 Speaker 1: with a cold, perfunctory we're looking into it and will 510 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:56,280 Speaker 1: let you know when we know. She had no income 511 00:38:56,440 --> 00:38:59,719 Speaker 1: and no idea when she would see the father of 512 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:03,719 Speaker 1: her child again. I imagine that she was going a 513 00:39:03,719 --> 00:39:08,160 Speaker 1: little crazy too. You would think that the French government 514 00:39:08,320 --> 00:39:11,560 Speaker 1: would be keen to get one of its most effective 515 00:39:11,680 --> 00:39:15,719 Speaker 1: generals back, but they were distracted by a series of 516 00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:22,040 Speaker 1: military defeats as other European nations formed an alliance against them. 517 00:39:22,400 --> 00:39:27,319 Speaker 1: All the progress Duma had made wiped away. Jews were 518 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:33,200 Speaker 1: back in ghettos, republics dismantled in weeks, and once again 519 00:39:33,440 --> 00:39:39,560 Speaker 1: in the chaos opportunity. Napoleon's brother Joseph had maneuvered his 520 00:39:39,680 --> 00:39:43,359 Speaker 1: way to the top of politics as President of the 521 00:39:43,440 --> 00:39:47,919 Speaker 1: Council of the Five hundred. The older Buonaparte returned from 522 00:39:47,960 --> 00:39:53,040 Speaker 1: the desert with tales only of his successes. Together, the 523 00:39:53,080 --> 00:39:57,880 Speaker 1: brothers conspired to stage a good old fashioned coups de'tat 524 00:39:59,040 --> 00:40:02,799 Speaker 1: how handy that an intimidating general who would certainly have 525 00:40:02,960 --> 00:40:07,319 Speaker 1: opposed such a maneuver, was safely tucked away in a 526 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:13,600 Speaker 1: Neapolitan fortress, out of sight, out of mind. Napoleon discovered 527 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:16,560 Speaker 1: that he didn't need Duma to fight his battles with 528 00:40:16,640 --> 00:40:20,359 Speaker 1: other countries, and in fact, he preferred to be the 529 00:40:20,400 --> 00:40:25,400 Speaker 1: only star in the sky. Napoleon used his absolute power 530 00:40:25,840 --> 00:40:29,840 Speaker 1: to achieve goals that Duma would have opposed. Even more 531 00:40:29,880 --> 00:40:35,480 Speaker 1: strongly than Napoleon's despotism. He began to roll back the 532 00:40:35,640 --> 00:40:41,440 Speaker 1: tide of emancipation. Once in power, Napoleon aligned himself with 533 00:40:41,600 --> 00:40:45,400 Speaker 1: pro slavery groups, and while he wouldn't instate the practice 534 00:40:45,480 --> 00:40:48,680 Speaker 1: at home, he passed laws with the goal of bringing 535 00:40:48,880 --> 00:40:52,759 Speaker 1: slavery back in the French colonies. In eighteen o two, 536 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,279 Speaker 1: he drew up a law stating quote beyond the Cape 537 00:40:56,360 --> 00:41:00,160 Speaker 1: of Good Hope, slavery would be continued in conformity with 538 00:41:00,239 --> 00:41:04,600 Speaker 1: the laws and regulations of before seventeen eighty nine, and 539 00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:08,320 Speaker 1: the trade of blacks on behalf of those above mentioned 540 00:41:08,360 --> 00:41:13,840 Speaker 1: colonies could begin again end quote self serving as ever, 541 00:41:14,239 --> 00:41:18,640 Speaker 1: Napoleon had previously used the threat of slavery to get 542 00:41:18,719 --> 00:41:22,520 Speaker 1: free blacks to fall in line under his rule. A 543 00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:26,960 Speaker 1: few years before he reinstated slavery, Napoleon had told the 544 00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:33,040 Speaker 1: people of Dumas's hometown, San do Ming quote remember brave Negroes, 545 00:41:33,120 --> 00:41:37,279 Speaker 1: that the French people alone recognize your liberty and your 546 00:41:37,360 --> 00:41:44,560 Speaker 1: equal rights. End quote. As Napoleon was crossing at the Alps, 547 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:48,720 Speaker 1: the same mountains that Duma had once climbed, Duma found 548 00:41:48,760 --> 00:41:52,840 Speaker 1: out that once again his captors in Naples were trying 549 00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:56,440 Speaker 1: to kill him. Why if that were true, didn't they 550 00:41:56,560 --> 00:42:00,080 Speaker 1: just slit his throat is not a question that he 551 00:42:00,120 --> 00:42:04,000 Speaker 1: seems to have ever addressed. But he was sure that 552 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:08,520 Speaker 1: his upcoming move to another fortress was secretly cover for 553 00:42:08,600 --> 00:42:12,359 Speaker 1: his murder. The night he was to be moved, the 554 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:16,000 Speaker 1: prison governor burst into the prison with a pack of 555 00:42:16,239 --> 00:42:21,040 Speaker 1: armed men. He told Duma and Mascort to pack their things. 556 00:42:21,520 --> 00:42:27,720 Speaker 1: Duma said no. The governor drew his sword. Duma was weak, 557 00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:31,640 Speaker 1: he was a prisoner, he was unarmed, he was outnumbered, 558 00:42:32,280 --> 00:42:36,320 Speaker 1: but he was still alex. Duma and he never backed 559 00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:40,920 Speaker 1: down from a fight. He brandished his walking stick and 560 00:42:41,160 --> 00:42:46,280 Speaker 1: drew himself up to his full height. Miraculously, it worked 561 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:52,440 Speaker 1: and the guards backed down, at least temporarily. He was 562 00:42:52,760 --> 00:42:56,719 Speaker 1: later moved to the other fortress, and news of his 563 00:42:56,880 --> 00:43:01,759 Speaker 1: standoff with the governor reached King Furdokand, who was appalled 564 00:43:01,840 --> 00:43:05,720 Speaker 1: at the insubordination and decreed that Duma and man's cork 565 00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:09,560 Speaker 1: would be kept in solitary confinement. But he gave that 566 00:43:09,760 --> 00:43:13,160 Speaker 1: order to a man named Biancei, who had a different 567 00:43:13,320 --> 00:43:16,520 Speaker 1: view of the events, and he found the walking stick 568 00:43:16,600 --> 00:43:20,880 Speaker 1: incident humorous and a little admirable, and he decided to 569 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:26,960 Speaker 1: disregard his Majesty's note. By the turn of the nineteenth century, 570 00:43:27,360 --> 00:43:30,800 Speaker 1: the nations of Europe were lining up to cut deals 571 00:43:30,880 --> 00:43:36,160 Speaker 1: with Emperor Napoleon. One of Napoleon's generals, Mara, who had 572 00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:39,399 Speaker 1: served alongside Duma and knew what had happened to him, 573 00:43:40,000 --> 00:43:45,400 Speaker 1: negotiated a release of all French prisoners into Naples surrender. 574 00:43:46,680 --> 00:43:52,440 Speaker 1: In June eighteen oh one, Duma finally came home. He'd 575 00:43:52,480 --> 00:43:56,600 Speaker 1: somehow held on to a couple souvenirs from Egypt, which 576 00:43:56,600 --> 00:43:59,760 Speaker 1: he gave to his daughter Amy, now eight years old. 577 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:04,960 Speaker 1: The reunion was joyous. Marie Louise was pregnant again in 578 00:44:05,000 --> 00:44:10,000 Speaker 1: a matter of months, But there were certain inescapable facts 579 00:44:10,080 --> 00:44:15,080 Speaker 1: that marred the homecoming. The first was Alex's health, which 580 00:44:15,120 --> 00:44:19,520 Speaker 1: would never fully recover. He was plagued by headaches and 581 00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:23,640 Speaker 1: tonightas in addition to the partial loss of vision and hearing. 582 00:44:24,480 --> 00:44:27,840 Speaker 1: And then there was the state of his family, bankrupt. 583 00:44:28,600 --> 00:44:31,680 Speaker 1: When he was well enough to ride again, Duma begged 584 00:44:31,800 --> 00:44:34,799 Speaker 1: to be given another command in the army. No one 585 00:44:34,840 --> 00:44:37,480 Speaker 1: would give him the time of day or even back 586 00:44:37,560 --> 00:44:40,319 Speaker 1: pay for all the time he'd been in prison. He 587 00:44:40,480 --> 00:44:44,200 Speaker 1: was promised half a million francs for his ordeal. He 588 00:44:44,200 --> 00:44:48,120 Speaker 1: would never see a penny of it. Finally, there was 589 00:44:48,200 --> 00:44:52,640 Speaker 1: what Napoleon had done to the country. A divided people 590 00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:56,919 Speaker 1: are more easily oppressed, and race was an easy enough 591 00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:03,239 Speaker 1: way to split everyone up, made interracial marriage illegal, and 592 00:45:03,440 --> 00:45:08,440 Speaker 1: expelled all non white people from his sham government. He 593 00:45:08,560 --> 00:45:13,080 Speaker 1: kicked the scholarship students out of the National Colonial Institute 594 00:45:13,440 --> 00:45:18,399 Speaker 1: and the school soon closed. All veterans of color were 595 00:45:18,440 --> 00:45:22,759 Speaker 1: banned from living in or around Paris. Duma had to 596 00:45:22,800 --> 00:45:27,439 Speaker 1: get special dispensation just to keep his house, but other 597 00:45:27,640 --> 00:45:30,000 Speaker 1: non white men who had served in the army were 598 00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:34,480 Speaker 1: not so lucky. But even if they were poor outcasts, 599 00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:39,160 Speaker 1: alex and Marie Louise had each other. They had their daughter, 600 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:44,560 Speaker 1: and in July eighteen oh two, their son, Alexander. Father 601 00:45:44,760 --> 00:45:48,120 Speaker 1: and son adored each other, and though they only had 602 00:45:48,160 --> 00:45:52,920 Speaker 1: a few years together, Alexander would retain core memories of 603 00:45:52,960 --> 00:45:57,880 Speaker 1: his father. Duma was diagnosed with stomach cancer in eighteen 604 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:01,680 Speaker 1: oh five and soon took to bed in constant pain. 605 00:46:02,600 --> 00:46:07,280 Speaker 1: He couldn't bear any noise or movement, but little Alexander 606 00:46:07,480 --> 00:46:11,319 Speaker 1: was allowed to visit alex Dumat died at the end 607 00:46:11,400 --> 00:46:15,680 Speaker 1: of February eighteen o six, though in some ways he 608 00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:19,759 Speaker 1: had been dead since Egypt, stripped of the freedom and 609 00:46:20,000 --> 00:46:24,600 Speaker 1: glory that had always defined him. But in another way, 610 00:46:25,200 --> 00:46:30,720 Speaker 1: perhaps Napoleon, in his indifference, did Duma one tiny favor 611 00:46:30,840 --> 00:46:34,000 Speaker 1: in keeping him out of the army during his final years. 612 00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:38,920 Speaker 1: In four decades, Duma had been a slave, an aristocrat, 613 00:46:39,080 --> 00:46:43,399 Speaker 1: a student, a commander, a hero, a prisoner. He had 614 00:46:43,440 --> 00:46:48,840 Speaker 1: seen every climate and many countries. Finally, after his release 615 00:46:48,880 --> 00:46:53,360 Speaker 1: from prison, because he wasn't granted command again, he finally 616 00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:58,760 Speaker 1: had time just to be a dad. After her husband died, 617 00:46:59,000 --> 00:47:02,719 Speaker 1: Marie Louise took a job in a tobacconist shop. While 618 00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:06,040 Speaker 1: she begged for the pension that she was rightfully owed 619 00:47:06,520 --> 00:47:11,240 Speaker 1: as a military widow, she'd never get it. She knew 620 00:47:11,400 --> 00:47:17,480 Speaker 1: very well why Napoleon hated her whole family. When one 621 00:47:17,560 --> 00:47:22,120 Speaker 1: general made the mistake of inquiring about the remaining dumases 622 00:47:22,160 --> 00:47:27,480 Speaker 1: to Napoleon, the Emperor apparently stamped his foot and yelled, quote, 623 00:47:27,840 --> 00:47:31,000 Speaker 1: I forbid you ever to speak to me of that man. 624 00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:36,839 Speaker 1: But fortune would have one more reversal. Yet Napoleon would 625 00:47:36,920 --> 00:47:41,200 Speaker 1: die in exile and be remembered as a despot. Marie 626 00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:45,480 Speaker 1: Louise would live long enough to see her son restore 627 00:47:45,600 --> 00:47:50,640 Speaker 1: the family to glory and fortune as a novelist. And 628 00:47:50,880 --> 00:47:55,600 Speaker 1: though racists in the literary community would seek to exclude 629 00:47:55,760 --> 00:47:58,520 Speaker 1: the author of the Count of Monte Cristo based on 630 00:47:58,640 --> 00:48:02,800 Speaker 1: his color, he never for a moment doubted his talent. 631 00:48:03,400 --> 00:48:17,920 Speaker 1: He was, after all, the son of Alex Duma. This 632 00:48:18,040 --> 00:48:21,759 Speaker 1: episode wouldn't have been possible without the incredible book by 633 00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:26,279 Speaker 1: Tom Rice, The Black Count, Glory, Revolution, Betrayal and the 634 00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:29,719 Speaker 1: Real Count of Monte Cristo and if you were interested 635 00:48:29,760 --> 00:48:33,080 Speaker 1: in this episode, you should absolutely pick up a copy 636 00:48:33,120 --> 00:48:37,719 Speaker 1: of that book because it's fascinating. That's our story of 637 00:48:38,120 --> 00:48:42,080 Speaker 1: Toma Alexander Duma and his rise in the military and 638 00:48:42,160 --> 00:48:45,799 Speaker 1: running a foul of Napoleon. But keep listening after a 639 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:49,440 Speaker 1: brief sponsor break to hear a little bit more about 640 00:48:49,480 --> 00:49:04,120 Speaker 1: the cultural legacy of the French in Egypt. Is the 641 00:49:04,160 --> 00:49:08,600 Speaker 1: pen Mightier than the Sword? In July seventeen ninety nine, 642 00:49:09,000 --> 00:49:14,799 Speaker 1: Napoleon's Egypt expedition made its most lasting contribution to society. 643 00:49:15,320 --> 00:49:18,839 Speaker 1: But it wasn't military men like Napoleon or Duma who 644 00:49:18,920 --> 00:49:23,760 Speaker 1: led the way. It was Pierre Francois Bouchard, an army 645 00:49:23,840 --> 00:49:28,640 Speaker 1: engineer and a member of Napoleon's Arts and Sciences Society, 646 00:49:29,120 --> 00:49:32,840 Speaker 1: who had been recruited not for his prowess on the battlefield, 647 00:49:33,200 --> 00:49:38,120 Speaker 1: but for his cultural and scientific knowledge. Napoleon had brought 648 00:49:38,200 --> 00:49:42,560 Speaker 1: along a delegation of what were called savants, like the 649 00:49:42,680 --> 00:49:45,719 Speaker 1: art experts he had brought to Italy to identify the 650 00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:50,600 Speaker 1: most valuable paintings. These savants were supposed to impress and 651 00:49:51,000 --> 00:49:56,080 Speaker 1: educate the locals with their technology and collect important cultural 652 00:49:56,200 --> 00:50:00,480 Speaker 1: artifacts to bring back to Paris. They also establish the 653 00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:06,239 Speaker 1: Egyptian Scientific Institute, which still exists today and which was 654 00:50:06,320 --> 00:50:10,440 Speaker 1: the oldest European building in Egypt until it was partially 655 00:50:10,480 --> 00:50:15,640 Speaker 1: destroyed in the Arab Spring. But on this afternoon, Bouchard 656 00:50:15,760 --> 00:50:19,040 Speaker 1: was supervising a group of workers as they tore down 657 00:50:19,160 --> 00:50:24,000 Speaker 1: a wall. While digging, his men encountered a rock too 658 00:50:24,120 --> 00:50:27,720 Speaker 1: heavy to move, and while a soldier might have simply 659 00:50:27,880 --> 00:50:33,600 Speaker 1: moved on, Bouchard took a closer look. It wasn't a boulder, 660 00:50:34,120 --> 00:50:38,920 Speaker 1: but a slab inscribed with hieroglyphics which no one on 661 00:50:39,000 --> 00:50:44,759 Speaker 1: earth could read, but also Greek, which Bouchard knew. And 662 00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:50,319 Speaker 1: what's more, part of the Greek texts explicitly stated that 663 00:50:50,480 --> 00:50:55,239 Speaker 1: its message was also written in hieroglyphics. In a very 664 00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:59,680 Speaker 1: real way, the discovery of what's now known as the 665 00:50:59,760 --> 00:51:05,279 Speaker 1: row Zetta Stone unlocked our understanding of ancient Egypt and 666 00:51:05,520 --> 00:51:09,240 Speaker 1: therefore the world. Is it too corny to say that 667 00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:14,760 Speaker 1: this text brought society closer together than any empire ever could. 668 00:51:15,719 --> 00:51:19,000 Speaker 1: The actual text of the stone, which now sits at 669 00:51:19,000 --> 00:51:22,319 Speaker 1: the British Museum, is about the king at the time 670 00:51:22,360 --> 00:51:26,680 Speaker 1: it was inscribed, Ptolemy the Fifth, and how he reduced 671 00:51:26,840 --> 00:51:31,960 Speaker 1: taxes and put down rebellions. Sounds like someone Duma and 672 00:51:32,239 --> 00:51:36,560 Speaker 1: Napoleon might have gotten along with or tried to kill. 673 00:51:37,280 --> 00:51:54,840 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's hard to tell with men like that. Noble 674 00:51:54,840 --> 00:51:59,280 Speaker 1: Blood is a production of iHeartRadio and Grimm and Mild 675 00:51:59,360 --> 00:52:03,719 Speaker 1: from Aaron. Noble Blood is created and hosted by me 676 00:52:03,960 --> 00:52:08,960 Speaker 1: Dana Schwartz, with additional writing and researching by Hannah Johnston, 677 00:52:09,280 --> 00:52:14,120 Speaker 1: Hannah Zwick, Mira Hayward, Courtney Sender, and Lori Goodman. The 678 00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:18,400 Speaker 1: show is edited and produced by Noemi Griffin and rima 679 00:52:18,560 --> 00:52:24,440 Speaker 1: Il Kahali, with supervising producer Josh Thain and executive producers 680 00:52:24,480 --> 00:52:29,279 Speaker 1: Aaron Manke, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. For more podcasts 681 00:52:29,320 --> 00:52:34,960 Speaker 1: from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever 682 00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:36,920 Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.