1803… April… May… June… Three months in which war once again breaks out between Britain and France… American negotiators worrying about Louisiana’s future get an unexpected offer from the First Consul… And on Saint-Domingue, General Jean-Jacques Dessalines unifies resistance to the struggling French expedition.This is episode 46 of the Napoleonic Quarterly - covering three months which sees the beginning of what will become known as the Napoleonic Wars.[04:25] - Headline developments[16:25] - Graeme Callister on the resumption of war between Britain and France[39:40] - Peter Kastor on the Louisiana Purchase[1:01:20] - Marlene Daut on the Arcahaie Agreement, the anti-French slide and progress towards Haitian independence on Saint-Domingue
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Exploring Napoleonic Malta (w/ Liam Gauci)
Liam Gauci, Senior Curator at the Malta Maritime Museum in Valletta, returns for another conversation about Maltese history, this time with the goal of planning a future visit by the Napoleonic Quarterly to the 'crossroads of the Mediterranean'.This episode is sponsored by Heritage Malta, whose support for the podcast is enormously appreciated. Liam's book Morte o Fortuna: Corsairs in Malta 1747-1798 is out now.
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What led to... the Louisiana Purchase? (w/Peter Kastor)
What led to the Louisiana Purchase, one of the most important territorial acquisitions in world history? Prof Peter Kastor of Washington University in Saint Louis describes the build-up all the way to the negotiations in Paris, which we'll cover off in our main episode on Q2-1803 (out Wednesday 2nd 2025).
We're very excited, after such a long time working on this concept, to bring you the pilot for our new approach to battle episodes. Given 1802-4 is relatively quiet in military history terms, we're going to use this period to work our way through some of the key battles of the 1796 campaign, beginning with Bonaparte's victory at Montenotte in April. Clemens Bemmann presents; Rick Schneid is our battlefield correspondent, reporting from Montenotte itself as the day develops; Graeme Callister is in the studio with Clemens as our French Army expert; and John (Jack) Gill is alongside him as our Austrian Army expert.The result is our attempt to present battles in a novel audio format, bringing an immediacy to the story. This remains a work in progress, of course - we'll keep improving it to make it even better, and please let us know if you have any feedback to help with this by dropping us a line to napoleonicquarterly [at] gmail.com.We'll aim to produce one of these every couple of months or so, so bear with us!Help us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly
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Episode 45: Q1-1803 - The dying peace
1800. January… February… March… Three fateful months for the Hapsburgs, for Austria, and for the patchwork of territories east of the Rhine… In Switzerland the French impose a revised settlement in a bid to end years of unrest… And in the interior of modern-day Sri Lanka the Kingdom of Kandy is ready and waiting for the British as the ill-fated redcoats make their advance… this is episode 45 of the Napoleonic Quarterly - covering three historic months for Switzerland and for Germany. [06:17] - headline developments[25:40] - Michael Rowe on the Imperial Recess, the Reichsdeputationhauptschluss and the dividing-up of Germany[51:40] - Biancamaria Fontana on the Act of Mediation and the re-establishing of cantonal government in Switzerland[1:13:30] - Josh Provan on the British offensive against the Sri Lankan Kingdom of KandyHelp us produce more episodes by supporting the Napoleonic Quarterly on Patreon: patreon.com/napoleonicquarterly
Taking the epic conflicts of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars three months at a time. Each episode features interviews with leading historians of the period - covering the campaigns, diplomacy and political dramas of an extraordinary 24 years.
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