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(dramatic thud)
After the third and fourth Coalition wars,
Napoleon had decisively defeated all three
of his main rivals on the continent,
and he was now undoubtedly the master of Europe.
After the Battle of Friedland, his enemy sued for peace
and they all met on a raft on a river for negotiations.
They had been fighting for the past four years,
but now, Napoleon and Alexander surprisingly got
along like a house on fire.
They laughed together.
They chatted long into the night.
They kissed.
The two had a lot of mutual respect,
and Napoleon even told his wife
that "if Alexander were a woman,
I would make him my mistress."
(air whooshes)
Kind of a weird thing to say to your wife, Napoleon.
In the end, they came to an amicable agreement.
Russia would lose barely any land.
And in return, they'd joined France
against the UK and invade Sweden.
Win-win.
On the other hand, Frederick William III was sidelined
and Prussia lost an enormous amount
of territory to French client states.
Only the UK remained as the last major threat to Napoleon.
And they continued to be a big thorn in his side,
constantly funding his enemies
and using their powerful navy to wreak havoc
on French trade and overseas colonies.
But what could Napoleon do?
The British were safe across the channel.
Well, he said, "If I can't fight you with guns,
I'll fight you with money."
Earlier in 1806,
Napoleon had announced the Continental System,
a total shut off of the UK from continental trade.
No one in Europe was to trade with Britain,
and Napoleon hoped that by hitting their economy
he could force them to negotiate.
The British economy did take a hit,
and they responded in their typical fashion
by going to Copenhagen and blowing a bunch of stuff up.
But in general, the British managed to stay afloat
by simply increasing their trade
with other parts of the world.
Many neutral countries found themselves stuck
between a rock and a hard place
as the two European superpowers demanded
they ceased trade with the enemy.
Hey America, you better not trade with the French
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What? This is gonna wreck my economy!
I need to start saving money!
How the heck am I gonna start saving money?
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Now, where were we?
Oh yeah, making peace with the Russians,
a Continental Blockade, and blowing up Copenhagen.
Sick of being blown up
for doing almost nothing and under significant pressure
from Napoleon, the Danish officially sided with France.
But Napoleon's blockade had the biggest effect
on continental Europe,
who were now cut off from a major trading partner.
One that controlled the seas
and held a rich, growing empire.
And a lot of countries didn't fully comply.
Portugal, a traditional British ally, refused to take part.
No problem.
Napoleon sent an army and invaded.
But it wasn't just Portugal.
Many of Napoleon's allies were also suspect.
Your Majesty, it seems that Spain
isn't properly enforcing your blockade.
Spain? Why not?
Well, it appears, they've been trying to find a way out
of being your ally since they lost their fleet at Trafalgar.
What is with these people?
It's almost like everyone's only pretending to be my ally
because they know otherwise I'd beat them up.
Do I even have any real friends?
Are you my friend, Pierre?
Say yes or I'll slap you.
Napoleon had come to mistrust his ally to the south.
And in particular,
Napoleon thought the Spanish royal family
were an incompetent mess.
All right, Carlos, you've got to get it together.
How can I trust you when all you do is go hunting?
Meanwhile, you let this ambitious nobody
who dislikes me run the country.
And you seem to be the only person
in the universe who doesn't realize he's boinking your wife.
And what's worse...
Who the heck are you?
I'm the king's son.
I just overthrew my dad,
so, actually, now I'm the king.
You people are the biggest cluster
of shameless, narcissistic idiots
and all around just the worst people I've ever met.
Here, have a Kids' Choice Award.
French forces, many having conveniently already
entered Spain to invade Portugal,
occupied Spanish forts
and Napoleon invited the Spanish royals
to France to help mediate their differences.
(audience cheering)
All right, we're here with the royal family of Spain.
So, Fernando, you've been accused of plotting
against your father and vying for the Spanish throne.
(audience gasps)
What do you have to say for yourself?
Well, Napoleon...
That's great.
Well, I've got the test results right here.
- [Audience Member] All right!
- [Narrator] Fernando, in the case of the Spanish throne,
you are not the king.
- Ha ha! (audience laughing)
- [Narrator] And Carlos, you are also not the king.
(audience laughing) (air whooshes)
I'm the king.
(audience cheering)
Actually, Napoleon made his brother the king,
but for all intents and purposes, Spain was now his puppet.
He expected the Spanish people to be over the moon
at the removal of their unpopular royal family.
Imagine his surprise when it turned out
that people don't really like to be subjugated
by a foreign power, least of all one
who had previously attacked the Catholic church.
And so the people of Spain revolted.
Brutal fighting broke out as bands
of armed Spaniards ambushed French troops
across the kingdom and vicious atrocities were committed
on both sides.
In addition to fighting the regular Spanish
and Portuguese forces,
the French had to contend with tens of thousands
of guerrilla fighters throughout the Spanish countryside.
The British even took the opportunity
to land an army led by the future Duke of Wellington.
And now British forces were defeating French ones on land.
Napoleon briefly went to Spain in person,
and he did drive back the allied armies,
but before long, his attention was needed elsewhere.
The whole thing became a nightmare for the emperor.
He excelled at traditional warfare,
but this was something more akin to Napoleon's Vietnam.
The whole conflict would keep hundreds of thousands
of French soldiers and resources bogged down for years.
Napoleon was never able to break the will
of the Spanish people.
And this problem weakened his position in Europe.
(narrator humming)
Hey, Francis, wanna go to war with Napoleon again?
Oh, I don't know Britain.
He's already whomped me three times.
I'll give you a bazillion pounds.
Well, okay.
Seeing that Napoleon was now caught up in Spain,
and with some British funding, Austria decided maybe,
just maybe this time they'd have a chance.
So did they?
No.
Napoleon defeated them in just four months.
It was quick, but it wasn't exactly easy.
The Austrians had been watching Napoleon
and learning, and they had made some reforms,
while Napoleon, after years of war,
was increasingly having to rely
on inexperienced conscripts.
So this time the Austrians gave him a run for his money.
The Fifth Coalition saw some of the bloodiest battles
to date, including Napoleon's first major defeat.
And when he did finally defeat the Austrians
at the Battle of Wagram, it was a very costly victory.
Still, Napoleon had yet again kicked Francis' butt,
and as part of the peace terms,
Austria lost a bunch more land.
Not long after, however,
Napoleon and Francis came to another agreement.
It was decided that Napoleon
would marry Francis' young daughter.
But wait, doesn't Napoleon already have a wife?
Well, yes, he did.
Josephine and Napoleon had become quite fond of one another.
But now that Napoleon was playing the monarch game,
he needed a male heir
and his aging wife wasn't giving him one.
So it was out with the old and in with the new.
At least he didn't behead anyone.
For Austria, they felt that if Napoleon was going
to keep on winning,
they may as well be on his side.
So through the marriage,
Napoleon got an alliance with Austria
and a beautiful baby potato.
Between them failing blockade against Britain,
the ongoing war in Spain,
and now his recent struggles in Austria,
cracks in Napoleon's invincibility were beginning to show.
But still, look at this map.
So blue, so beautiful.
Even Sweden, after being pulverized by Russia,
overthrew their king,
and after an interesting chain of events,
ended up putting one of Napoleon's own marshals in charge.
Marshall Bernadotte took the name Karl Johan
and became crown prince of Sweden.
After agreeing to join Napoleon's Continental System,
for now, Sweden was team France.
Napoleon was on top of the world.
He had won an endless string of victories.
All he had to do now was sit back
and not make any major miscalculations
that could completely turn the tide of war.
So let's see what comes next.
(dramatic music) (air whooshes)
France's alliance with Russia was a terrifying prospect.
Together, the two could've been unstoppable,
but unfortunately, the alliance didn't last.
The Russians felt they weren't getting a fair deal.
Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw right
on their doorstep was a bit of an insult.
And then their economy began to tank
because of Napoleon's British blockade.
And eventually, they began to open up trade.
Your Majesty, it seems Alexander is no longer abiding
by the Continental System
and has begun trading with the British.
Alexander? But he kissed me.
He kissed you?
You wouldn't get it, Pierre.
No one would ever kiss you.
(narrator bawling)
The security of Napoleon's empire depended
on removing the British threat
and he wasn't happy with Russia's backdoor shenanigans.
And so in 1812, Napoleon decided to go to war.
He gathered together the most massive army
Europe had ever seen, made up of troops from every corner
of his empire, and he prepared to invade.
Okay, it looks like Napoleon's coming for us.
Generals, I need ideas.
We could stand and fight.
No that's stupid.
You're stupid.
We could run away.
You, you're a star.
You remember Napoleon's tactics relied
on astonishing speed to outmaneuver his enemy
and force a quick, decisive battle.
Well, I've got two words for you.
Scorched earth.
If his opponent retreated while scorching the earth,
his men couldn't live off the land.
And if his men couldn't live off the land,
he needed his supply trains.
And if he needed his supply trains,
he couldn't move quickly.
And if he couldn't move quickly,
he couldn't outmaneuver his enemy.
And if he couldn't outmaneuver his enemy,
I think you get the point.
Napoleon launched his invasion and hoped for a quick battle,
but all he could do was try to catch the retreating Russians
while moving deeper and deeper into hostile territory.
As he went, the horribly hot summer devastated his army.
His men died of heat, exhaustion, and disease.
Supplies began to run out and his men began to starve.
Many deserted, and still the Russians continued to retreat.
Numerous times, Napoleon considered turning back.
But that little voice in his head kept on telling him,
"Keep going, just a little further,
and don't worry.
You're definitely average height for the time."
He nearly caught the Russians at Smolensk,
but it was his birthday so he had a party instead.
When he finally reached Moscow,
he predicted the Russians wouldn't be willing
to give up such a historic and holy city without a fight.
And he was right.
The Russians finally turned to face him
for the single deadliest day of the Napoleonic Wars,
the Battle of Borodino.
The Russians fought valiantly.
And as he got older, Napoleon's battle tactics seemed
to become a little less refined
and a little more run straight at the enemy, try not to die.
He launched a full frontal assault at the Russian defenses.
And as a result, the death toll was colossal.
The Russians eventually decided to retreat,
leaving Moscow to fall into Napoleon's hands.
Quick, the French are taking the city.
Release all these prisoners immediately
and tell them to burn it to the ground.
Well, well, Jimmy the arsonist,
you are not gonna believe your luck.
Moscow went up in flames,
and as Napoleon entered,
it became very clear his army wouldn't be able
to stay there very long.
But he had just defeated the Russian army
and taken their most beloved city.
In his mind, he had won,
so he sent Tsar Alexander in St. Petersburg a letter.
Your Imperial Majesty, Napoleon requests your surrender.
How shall I respond?
You shan't, Dimitri.
Ever?
Ever.
But your majesty, it will be winter soon.
The French forces are stuck 500 miles
into Russian territory with dwindling supplies.
If we don't say anything, well, then they'll all die.
Oh!
After waiting for a response for about a month,
the first snow of winter began to fall,
and Napoleon sensed the catastrophe
that was about to unfold.
He decided their only choice now was to get out.
And that's when it happened.
It got cold, stupid cold.
His glorious invasion had just become a race for survival.
As the Russians realized the French were fleeing
for their lives, they began to close in
on their supply line.
Men froze to death, their horses as well.
There was starvation and disease.
The injured and dying could only be left
by the side of the road,
as it was too slow to try to carry them.
And all along the way,
the dreaded Russian Cossacks stalked
the bleeding French army,
and every now and then swept in for a quick attack.
Napoleon, fearing capture,
kept a vial of poison around his neck.
At one point, the Russian armies nearly trapped him
against the Berezina River,
but a little Napoleon cleverness gave him
the old Jeffrey juke, tricking them
into thinking he was going south,
and then escaping across rapidly-built pontoon bridges
to the north.
When the Russians realized where he was
and began to close in,
the French burned the bridges before everyone could cross.
Hundreds drowned and thousands were captured.
At this point, Napoleon got wind of plots
against him forming in Paris,
so he abandoned his men and went back to France.
The remaining French stragglers made it across the border.
It's been estimated over 600,000 men went into Russia.
Less than 100,000 returned.
Napoleon was now in a very precarious situation.
His army had just been obliterated,
and the other European leaders smelled blood.
Here was an opportunity to take advantage
of a weakened Napoleon, regain territory and influence,
and liberate Europe from his dirty French paws.
And so they began to turn.
Prussia soon broke their Alliance and switched sides,
while Austria declared neutrality.
Even Sweden, led by one of Napoleon's old marshals,
joined the allies, partly due to Napoleon's earlier invasion
of Swedish Pomerania.
The War of the Sixth Coalition had begun.
The Coalition forces had been reforming their armies
and they were now much better.
And the UK had also significantly amped
up its financial aid to its continental allies.
Their armies quickly advanced through Poland
and into Germany.
In Paris, Napoleon was understandably freaking out.
He needed to put together a new army fast,
and he called up over 100,000 new conscripts,
mostly teenagers.
He also put his factories into overdrive,
and he was like, "You, make more rifles!
You, build new cannons!
You, make more horses!"
I don't make horses.
Then who makes horses?
Horses make horses.
Explain how.
Well, when a daddy horse
and a mommy horse love each other very much...
Yes. Go on.
Well, then the daddy horse...
I'm sorry, Napoleon, you're 43,
I thought you'd know this stuff.
Don't touch me.
I'm gonna be sick.
As it turned out, Napoleon's lack of horses
would take the biggest toll on his army
since his tactics relied on speed,
maneuverability, and destruction.
When he took the fight to the allies in 1813,
he did defeat them and sent them running,
but lacking cavalry,
he was unable to effectively pursue and destroy.
He needed horses.
For the allies, being defeated in battle
by a man whose army was now full
of an experienced conscripts was concerning,
so both we're like, "Hold up, time out."
The allies were somewhat cornered,
and had Napoleon kept going,
it's possible he could've won.
But instead he agreed to a brief truce
with the Austrians mediating between the two sides.
When Austria demanded Napoleon make major concessions,
Napoleon told them to shove it.
Having had their terms rejected,
Austria felt now they were justified in saying,
"Well, we tried." and they joined the Coalition.
Okay everyone, look at us.
The boys are back together,
but Napoleon is still dangerous,
so we need a plan.
Any ideas?
Hmm.
Oh, I know! Ah, no forget it.
That's stupid.
Ah! Ah no, no, no, no.
I've got it!
When he approaches, we run away!
Genius. He's a genius.
The plan was as follows:
wherever Napoleon advanced,
whoever he advanced on would avoid battle,
allowing the others to sweep in from the sides
and attack the French marshals guarding his flanks.
Essentially, the plan was don't try to fight Napoleon.
And this plan worked tremendously.
The allies scored a number of victories
that saw Napoleon move back to the city of Leipzig,
where he would make one last major stand
as the allied armies converged in on him from all sides.
The stage was set for the biggest
and bloodiest battle of the Napoleonic Wars,
the Battle of Leipzig.
Almost half a million troops
from over a dozen nations stretched across the battlefield.
The French found themselves fighting
on all sides for four days
against the Austrians, Prussians, Swedes, and Russians.
It's no wonder this battle is also sometimes referred
to as the Battle of the Nations.
The French fought ferociously,
but ultimately, were no match for the coordinated efforts
of the Coalition.
At one point in the midst of battle,
Saxon troops allied with the French had a team huddle,
and we're like, "Hey guys.
I'm pretty sure the French are losing.
Let's switch sides."
And so they did.
When it became clear that Napoleon couldn't win,
he ordered a retreat across the only bridge over the river.
The allies swarmed into the city
and desperate fighting raged in the streets.
Okay corporal, after everyone has crossed the river,
I need you to blow up the bridge.
Okay? Not before everyone's crossed.
After. You got that?
Yes, Colonel. I'm not five, I can comprehend time.
Good.
Wait, did he say before or after?
Well, fortune favors the bold.
(bridge explodes)
The bridge was blown early
and 30,000 French troops were stranded and captured.
A disaster.
And with that, the dominoes were beginning
to come crashing down on Napoleon.
In the south, an army
under the British Duke of Wellington had been pushing
the French out of Spain for the past few years
and were now crossing into France.
Austrian armies had pushed into Italy,
while Napoleon's old, flamboyant cavalry commander,
Murat, who Napoleon had made King of Naples,
decided to switch sides.
German states, many resentful after years
under Napoleon's thumb, turned against him
and the Confederation of the Rhine collapsed.
Bernadotte invaded Denmark
and they were forced to join the Coalition,
while the Netherlands were liberated.
You'd think Napoleon might've seen the writing on the wall,
but he was Napoleon.
And so instead, he prepared to keep fighting.
As attitudes in Paris were already beginning
to turn against him,
he called up more conscripts to defend the exhausted nation.
As for the allies,
they weren't sure exactly what they were aiming for here.
A few peace offers were floated
that may have let Napoleon keep his position,
but the British kept throwing around even more money.
And eventually, they all agreed
that the ultimate aim was the deposition
of Napoleon entirely.
And so Napoleon embarked on one of his most famous campaigns
to defend the homeland.
He was completely outnumbered,
but the allied armies had split up and spread out.
His army was so small that he could move at lightning speed.
And he used this to his advantage.
In the famous Six Days' Campaign
against Prussian General Blucher,
he attacked from all directions
and defeated Blucher's forces four times,
only suffering a tenth of the casualties he inflicted.
Even with his back completely to the wall,
Napoleon was still Napoleon.
Then he turned south to take
on Schwarzenberg's Army of Bohemia
and enjoyed even more victories.
However, Napoleon's problem was
that he couldn't be everywhere at once.
And wherever he wasn't,
the allies continued to push towards Paris.
He made one last ditch attempt at moving in
behind the enemy lines and cutting off their communications,
but Paris was in disarray
and the people were sick of war.
One ambitious and slightly treacherous politician sent
the allied armies a letter basically saying,
"Hey guys, come on in."
And so they did.
The city's defenders surrendered,
and as the allied leaders entered Paris,
the people cheered them as bringers of peace.
Paris had fallen.
Quick, marshals, gather your men.
We're gonna launch an assault on Paris.
Where are my marshals?
They all left and told me to give you this note.
Napoleon's marshals had realized what he hadn't.
It was over.
And they insisted all that was left now,
for the good of France, was for him to abdicate.
And without the support of his army, Napoleon had no choice.
He hoped his son could take his place,
but it was decided instead
to restore the old Bourbon monarchy.
Old King Louis XVI's brother
would become the King of France.
It was almost like the French Revolution
had never even happened.
But what will we do with Napoleon?
We can't have a hyperactive, 44-year-old menace running
around reigniting revolutionary ideals
and plotting his return.
Well, why don't we send him, mm, I don't know, there.
The location chosen for Napoleon's exile
was the small island of Elba,
just off the coast of Italy.
Napoleon was to rule over the island
and even got to keep the title Emperor of Elba.
The allies must have been in stitches
when they came up with that.
When he learned what his fate was to be,
he drank the poison he'd been keeping around his neck,
but it had gone out of date.
So instead of a quick and painless death,
he got a painful stummy wummy instead.
Before he left France,
he addressed his oldest and closest guard one last time,
making an emotional speech
that ended with him kissing their flag,
and off he went to exile.
The deal that was given to him was actually quite generous.
His family were given titles,
he was to receive a state pension from France,
and he was able to receive many distinguished visitors,
all eager to come and meet the famed emperor.
And he ruled over Elba well,
improving infrastructure and introducing many legal
and social reforms aimed at improving life on the island.
Hey, Napoleon, just coming in
to check on how it's all going.
Holy smokes.
But it wasn't all good.
For one thing, he learned of the death
of his first wife Josephine and was deeply saddened.
He was forbidden from seeing his son
and current wife, and in Austria,
Emperor Francis had ordered a local count to seduce her
so she would forget about Napoleon.
Then, the new King Louis XVIII refused
to give Napoleon his agreed pension.
He was under constant threat of assassination
and there were even rumors that the allies were thinking
of relocating him somewhere even more remote.
But the biggest problem was
that Napoleon was once the master of Europe.
He had lived at three really life of adventure,
fame, and glory.
Now, he found himself on a tiny island
in the Mediterranean and he was bored.
Wouldn't it be nice if he could somehow return
to France and reclaim his throne?
Hey, Napoleon, wanna go back
to France and reclaim your throne?
I would, Pierre, but how?
Well, I was thinking we could just take this boat.
Will that work?
Surprisingly, yes.
Pierre, remember when I told you no one would ever kiss you?
Yes, sire.
Well, pucker up, boyo!
Yay!
When Napoleon left Elba,
it wasn't really the daring escape you might think.
He basically had kind of a leaving ceremony,
hopped on a ship, and sailed back to France.
He brought with him an army of about 1,000 men
and he began his journey to Paris.
However, in Paris, there was now a new king.
And at first, the people largely accepted him
because the last few years of war
under Napoleon had brought immense death
and economic suffering.
That's right!
The king is back, baby!
Divine right to rule!
Don't worry, everyone.
I know the economy is caput,
but I and my courtiers will withdraw into this palace
and we will definitely work as hard
as we can to fix everything.
(air whooshes) (crowd cheering)
(energetic music) - [Crowd] Huh?
(glass shatters)
(partiers laughing) - Oh yeah,
that's why we got rid of the king.
As the Bourbon monarchy began to look more
and more like a return to the past,
and the returning nobility seemed hell-bent
on regaining their lost privileges,
the people weren't too happy.
And so Napoleon hoped
that his glorious return would be met with jubilation.
In the end, the reaction was a little mixed,
but many were happy to see their old emperor.
Your Majesty, it seems that Napoleon is back
and marching this way with 1,000 men.
That guy? No problem.
I have hundreds of thousands of men.
Send them to arrest him.
Ugh, Your Majesty,
it seems the thousands of men we sent
to arrest Napoleon have all joined his side.
Well, I'm off to Belgium.
If you ever need a king again, be sure to let me know.
As Napoleon continued his journey,
the king had sent battalions of men to stop him,
but they largely comprised of Napoleon's old soldiers,
many unhappy with King Louis' military reforms.
And so when ordered to arrest him,
they simply couldn't do it.
In one famous incident, the troops began to cry out,
"Long live the emperor!"
When Napoleon reached Paris,
with King Louis having fled, he entered unopposed
to reclaim his throne.
Napoleon was back from the dead.
Okay, everyone.
Now that we've finally gotten rid of that guy,
let's try to make sure something
like this can never happen again.
(air whooshes)
What's that doing there?
Hey, fellow monarchs.
(all screaming)
I pooed my pants again! Ah!
This time Napoleon promised he would be
a mucho, mucho good boy and not start any wars,
but the allied leaders were having none of it.
They declared Napoleon an outlaw
and the illegitimate ruler of France.
Then, they declared war, not on France,
but on Napoleon himself.
And when you have multiple empires declaring war
on you as an individual,
that's how you know you're a very naughty boy.
The allied powers began making plans
to combine their forces and once again invade France.
The most immediate threat
to Napoleon were the British and Prussians hanging
out in nearby Belgium.
If Napoleon could knock them out quickly,
maybe he could force the allies to negotiate
and maybe he could hold on to his power.
Together, the two armies to the north outnumbered him,
so he made a plan to divide them
and take them on separately.
Historians debate how much of a chance Napoleon had here,
but this same strategy of dividing
and conquering had worked for him multiple times.
He marched north with 125,000 men and took on the allies
in a number of initial engagements,
defeating the Prussians
before turning to take on the British.
But to Napoleon's dismay, miscommunication and hesitation
among his marshals allowed both enemy armies
to retreat and crucially, rather than fleeing east,
the Prussians moved north where they could remain
in contact with the British.
Napoleon sent a force to hold off the Prussians
as he moved in on the British,
now holding a defensive position at Waterloo.
Prussian General Blucher sent word
that he would come to Wellington's aid
if he could just hold off the French for long enough.
Napoleon had to defeat Wellington
before the Prussian Army could arrive in force.
And it was close.
The British held the high ground
and a number of key defensive buildings
across the battlefield.
After waiting some hours he didn't have
for the ground to dry,
Napoleon sent men to assault the Hougoumont farm.
But the British-German garrison there held up.
French Marshall Ney launched a number
of miscalculated cavalry charges at the British lines.
The British formed defensive square formations,
and they tore the French cavalry to shreds,
while one guy chose the absolute worst time
to go on a bender.
The French did manage to capture a farmhouse directly
in front of the British line.
And from there, they unleashed artillery hellfire
on the British square formations.
And as Napoleon sent his Imperial Guard in
to finish the British off,
a nervous Wellington knew his lines were at breaking point.
But the Prussians had earlier begun to arrive,
and now they were arriving in large numbers.
And after the British held out
and sent the French Imperial Guard running,
the French lines panicked,
fearing they had been encircled, and they began to flee.
The Battle of Waterloo was an allied victory.
And with that, Napoleon's hopes
of returning to glory were vanquished.
He knew he was defeated.
He went to the British and said,
"Can I please have a house near London?"
And the British replied, "No."
Instead, to make sure Napoleon was put away once
and for all, they sent him to one of the most isolated
and remote places they could think of.
A tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean, Saint Helena.
Here, a deeply isolated
and depressed Emperor Napoleon
would live the remaining years of his life.
His house was a wooden bungalow,
not exactly on par with the Tuileries Palace.
Much to his frustration,
his captains referred to him as general,
rather than calling him emperor.
His mail was censored.
His visitors were vetted.
There was almost no way he could escape such
an isolated island, but just to be sure,
he was guarded by 2,000 British soldiers
and two ships that circled the island 24 hours a day.
He had once been the most powerful man alive,
and images of the victorious Napoleon depict
a strong leader, hand firmly in jacket.
Depictions of Napoleon on Saint Helena show
a disheveled, old man, hand firmly in pants.
He had lost everything.
And by the way, he was only 46.
So maybe it's about time you...
You know what?
You're doing all right kid.
Napoleon fought one last battle while on the island.
The battle for his reputation.
He spent hours writing his memoirs,
espousing his achievements, recording his greatness,
and turning himself and his story into a phenomenal legend.
And in this battle, he certainly succeeded.
His mark on history can not be denied.
After his defeat, the European monarchs had got
to work restoring Europe to its traditional balance
and reasserting their dominance.
But after Napoleon had spread the influence
of the French Revolution,
these returning monarchs would have
a difficult time regaining their absolute control.
France returned to the rule of the Bourbons,
but it would go on to stage another revolution,
and then another one.
Reaction to Napoleon's rule in places
like Germany and Italy propelled forward the ideas
and feelings of modern unity and nationalism,
and his "Napoleonic Code" still remains the basis
of law in various modern countries.
The modern world owes a lot to Napoleon's legacy.
He remains, statistically,
possibly the greatest military general in history
and his revolutionary military tactics
changed the face of warfare.
He was the last truly great leader to both lead his armies
in battle while retaining total political control
over a vast empire.
There's still hope for Joe Biden.
But the man remained somewhat of an enigma,
and we still aren't sure exactly what
to make of him in some regards.
Was he the champion of the French Revolution,
spreading equality wherever he went
or did betray it by making himself an absolute Monarch
and restricting certain liberties?
Was he an ambitious and aggressive conqueror hell-bent
on bringing Europe to its knees
or was he simply defending himself
against an aggressive Europe hell-bent
on reducing his power?
Some things will continue to be debated.
Napoleon died at the age of 51,
officially of stomach cancer,
but some believe he may have been poisoned.
The British buried him in a tin coffin
inside a mahogany coffin inside a lead coffin
inside another mahogany coffin.
I guess this time they wanted
to make sure he stayed where they put him.
In 1840, his remains were moved to Paris
where they now rest under the Dome of Les Invalides.
The man from humble origins, with huge ambition,
ruthless determination, immaculate skill on the battlefield,
and a hefty dose of luck who was determined to make his mark
on history did just that.
"There is no immortality," he said,
"but the memory that is left in the minds of men."
And in that sense, Napoleon knew he would live on forever.
Oh, and to reiterate,
he was definitely average height for the time.
(upbeat music)