Intelligence Squared

The Sunday Debate: Napoleon the Great? With Andrew Roberts, Adam Zamoyski and Jeremy Paxman

Aug 1, 2021

Join distinguished historians Andrew Roberts, known for his works on Napoleonic history, and Adam Zamoyski, best-selling author on the French Revolution, as they dive deep into the legacy of Napoleon Bonaparte. They debate whether he was a military genius or a blundering tyrant. Their conversation touches on Napoleon's achievements in reforming France, his significant military losses, and the complexities of assessing his influence on modern European governance and nationalism, revealing the contradictions in how history remembers him.

01:05:03

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Episode guests

Adam Zamoyski

Andrew Roberts

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Episode notes

Intro

1min

Napoleon: Greatness vs. Tyranny

31min

Examining Napoleon's Military Legacy

3min

Debating the Legacy: Science, Governance, and Recognition

3min

Napoleon: A Complex Legacy

22min

The Enlightenment on Horseback: A Defense of Progress

2min

Debate Outcomes and Investment Insights

2min

How should we remember Napoleon, the man of obscure Corsican birth who rose to become emperor of the French and briefly master of Europe? In 2014, as the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo approached, Intelligence Squared brought together two of Britain’s finest historians to debate how we should assess Napoleon’s life and legacy. Was he a military genius and father of the French state, or a blundering nonentity who created his own enduring myth? Was his goal of uniting the European continent under a common political system the forerunner of the modern ‘European dream’? Or was he an incompetent despot, a warning from history of the dangers of overarching grand plans?

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