The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) redrew the map of Europe and the world. From the sun-scorched sands of Egypt to the frozen plains of Russia, Lucas and Luna trace the campaigns, coalitions, and catastrophes that toppled thrones and sparked modern nationalism. They examine Napoleon Bonaparte’s rise from Corsican outsider to Emperor of the French, his revolutionary military tactics, and his sweeping legal and administrative reforms, especially the Napoleonic Code. The show covers key battles—Austerlitz, Jena, Borodino, Waterloo—and the shifting alliances of the Third through Seventh Coalitions, featuring figures like Tsar Alexander I, the Duke of Wellington, and Archduke Charles. It explores the Continental System’s economic warfare, the Peninsular War’s guerrilla insurgency, and the disastrous invasion of Russia. Beyond the battlefield, Lucas and Luna debate Napoleon’s legacy: was he a liberator spreading Enlightenment ideals or a tyrant who caused millions of deaths? They consider the Congress of Vienna’s attempt to restore the old order, the birth of Latin American independence movements, and the enduring myth of the ‘Little Corporal.’ This podcast is for anyone who wants to understand how a single man’s ambition reshaped nations, inspired Romantic art, and planted the seeds of modern conflict.
