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<v Speaker 1>Hello, and welcome to Western civ Episode five hundred and seven.

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<v Speaker 1>France ascendant. By eighteen o six, Napoleon Bonaparte stood at

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<v Speaker 1>the height of his power. Europe bowed before him or

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<v Speaker 1>he had been rearranging it by his own hand into

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<v Speaker 1>new kingdoms, new alliances, and new destinies. From Paris, the

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<v Speaker 1>Emperor of the French presided over what he now called

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<v Speaker 1>a quote continental system of order end quote. But around

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<v Speaker 1>Europe the whispers were nothing short of Roman imperial domination.

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<v Speaker 1>The French revolutions ideals of liberty and equality had now

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<v Speaker 1>long since been transmuted into the language of empire. Napoleon

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<v Speaker 1>saw himself as a modern day Charlemagne, destined to unify

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<v Speaker 1>Europe under enlightened administration, guided by his genius, and if

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<v Speaker 1>he couldn't persuade them by the bayonets of his troops.

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<v Speaker 1>On March thirtieth, eighteen oh six, Napoleon demonstrated that his

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<v Speaker 1>family would be the dynasty of a new Europe. He

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<v Speaker 1>named his older brother Joseph Bonaparte, King of Naples, replacing

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<v Speaker 1>the Bourbon rulers who had fled to Sicily. He said, quote,

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<v Speaker 1>I desire that my brothers will learn to rule end quote,

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<v Speaker 1>though few doubted that it was Napoleon himself who would

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<v Speaker 1>continue to rule through them. Others of Napoleon's relatives were

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<v Speaker 1>equally rewarded. Luis Buonaparte was placed on the throne of Holland,

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<v Speaker 1>Caroline Bonaparte married the brilliant Marshal Jean Kim Murat, and

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<v Speaker 1>even the Emperor's stepson, Eugene de Bahnice, was made the

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<v Speaker 1>Viceroy of Italy. Indeed, it looked like the map of

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<v Speaker 1>Europe was being transformed into a Bonaparte family tree. By

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<v Speaker 1>July the twelfth, eighteen oh six, Napoleon's vision took on

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<v Speaker 1>an even grander form with the creation of the Confederation

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<v Speaker 1>of the Rhine, a federation of sixteen German states bound

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<v Speaker 1>by alliance to France and recognizing Napoleon as their quote

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<v Speaker 1>unquote protector. One by one, other states Saxony, Westphalia, Bavaria,

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<v Speaker 1>Wittenberg all joined. This act effectively shattered the old feudal

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<v Speaker 1>framework of Central Europe that had been existing since the

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<v Speaker 1>fall of the Roman Empire. Just a few weeks later,

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<v Speaker 1>on August the sixth, eighteen oh six, the Holy Roman

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<v Speaker 1>Empire that thousand year old relic of medieval Christendom was

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<v Speaker 1>finally informally abolished. The last Emperor, Francis the Second of Austria,

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<v Speaker 1>laid down the ancient crown and styled himself instead the

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<v Speaker 1>Emperor of Austria. Voltaire's old quip that the Holy Roman

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<v Speaker 1>Empire was neither holy nor Roman nor an empire had

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<v Speaker 1>actually finally come true. Europe had been reborn in Napoleon's

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<v Speaker 1>image at this point, but it was clear that not

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<v Speaker 1>everyone intended to live under it now. The Kingdom of Prussia,

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<v Speaker 1>long proud of its military tradition, had watched France's rise

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<v Speaker 1>with growing alarm. The victories over Austria and Russia at

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<v Speaker 1>Austerlitz in eighteen oh five had left Napoleon's power on

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<v Speaker 1>the continent basically unchecked. Prussian officers fumed. Their young Queen

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<v Speaker 1>Luis of Mekenberg Streichlitz urged King Frederick Wilhelm the Third

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<v Speaker 1>to stand up for Germany's honor, and so on September fifteenth,

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen oh six, Prussia joined Britain and Russia in a

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<v Speaker 1>new coalition against Napoleon. The Prussian army marched confidently westward,

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<v Speaker 1>remembering the days of Frederic the Great, but what they

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<v Speaker 1>met instead was a master of modern war. On October fourteenth,

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen oh six, two great battles were fought, both on

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<v Speaker 1>the same day, Jena and Auerstadt. These were both resounding

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<v Speaker 1>French victories. At Jena, Napoleon personally led ninety thousand men

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<v Speaker 1>against the main Prussian force. His troops fought with the

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<v Speaker 1>precision and speed that had become the hallmark of his

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<v Speaker 1>Grand army. March divided, fight united, he had said, and

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<v Speaker 1>his core system allowed him to do just that. Meanwhile,

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<v Speaker 1>to the north at Auerstad, Marshal Luis Nicolas, Devout, commanding

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<v Speaker 1>only twenty seven thousand men, encountered the main Prussian arms

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<v Speaker 1>under the Duke of Brunswick, nearly twice his size. In

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<v Speaker 1>one of the most astonishing defeats in military history, Devouts

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<v Speaker 1>courts utterly destroyed them, The Duke was mortally wounded, and

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<v Speaker 1>the Prussian army disintegrated in confusion. Within weeks, Napoleon's troops

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<v Speaker 1>marched triumphantly into Berlin, Prussia. Once the military terror of

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<v Speaker 1>Europe was shattered, but Napoleon was not satisfied with battlefield glory.

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<v Speaker 1>Britain remained the one power that refused to submit, its fleets,

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<v Speaker 1>ruling the seas, and its gold financing every Continental coalition.

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<v Speaker 1>Unable to invade the island after the Battle of Trafalgar,

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon instead turned to economic warfare. On November the twenty first,

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen o six, from the heart of conquered Berlin, he

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<v Speaker 1>issued the Berlin Decree, declaring that the British Isles were

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<v Speaker 1>now in a state of blockade. No European port under

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<v Speaker 1>French influence was legally allowed to trade with Great Britain.

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<v Speaker 1>It was the beginning of what would become known as

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<v Speaker 1>the Continental System. The Continental System was nothing more than

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<v Speaker 1>an attempt to strangle Britain's commerce and then force its

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<v Speaker 1>surrender through economic isolation. In theory, of course, it was

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<v Speaker 1>absolutely brilliant, but in practice the Continental System was just

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<v Speaker 1>about completely unenforceable. Smugglers thrived, British goods found their way

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<v Speaker 1>into Europe through neutral ports, and resentments spread among merchants

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<v Speaker 1>who suddenly found their livelihoods destroyed. But in eighteen oh

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<v Speaker 1>six Napoleon believed he was building a new economic order,

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<v Speaker 1>one that would make Europe self sufficient and forever free

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<v Speaker 1>from British influence. Now winter eventually came in a nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>oh seven, and with it the Russian army. Napoleon pursued

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<v Speaker 1>his remaining enemies across the snowy fields of Poland. The

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<v Speaker 1>campaign of eighteen oh seven was brutal and slow, fought

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<v Speaker 1>through mud, ice and exhaustion. On February the eighth, eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>oh seven, near the small East Prussian town of Elieu,

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<v Speaker 1>I'm not sure if I'm saying that right, the French

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<v Speaker 1>and Russian armies clashed in one of the bloodiest that

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<v Speaker 1>I've seen in most indecisive battles of all of the

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleonic Wars. Snow fell so thickly that soldiers could barely

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<v Speaker 1>see ten yards ahead. The dead and dying were frozen

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<v Speaker 1>in grotesque stillness by the morning light. Marshal Adureau was

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<v Speaker 1>nearly annihilated. Whole divisions were lost in the winter storm,

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<v Speaker 1>yet Napoleon refused to yield. The arrival of Marshal Ni's

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<v Speaker 1>corps late in the same day saved the French army

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<v Speaker 1>from total disaster. This is the most terrible of my battles,

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon confessed afterwards. But the French proved themselves worthy to

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<v Speaker 1>be invincible. End quote. Now. Months later, on June the fourteenth,

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen oh seven, he redeemed what was nothing less than

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<v Speaker 1>just a grim draw with a decisive victory at Friedland.

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<v Speaker 1>There his forces crushed the Russians under General ben Nizzen,

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<v Speaker 1>driving them back to the river. It was a triumph

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<v Speaker 1>reminiscent of Austerlitz, and it forced Czar Alexander the first

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<v Speaker 1>to the negotiating table. On June the twenty fifth, eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>oh seven, Napoleon and Alexander met dramatically on a raft

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<v Speaker 1>moored in the middle of the River Nimen between their

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<v Speaker 1>two armies. Why should we be enemies, Napoleon reportedly asked

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<v Speaker 1>the young Czar. Together, we can divide the world. The

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<v Speaker 1>Treaty of Tiltsit ended hostilities between France and Russia and

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<v Speaker 1>redrew the map of Europe. Once more. Prussia was humiliated,

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<v Speaker 1>losing half of its territory. Russia accepted Napoleon's continental system,

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<v Speaker 1>but in return, Napoleon acknowledged Russia's interests in Finland and

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<v Speaker 1>all the way to the east. The two emperors embraced

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<v Speaker 1>for the cameras of history, but honestly neither trusted the other.

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<v Speaker 1>For the moment Napoleon's mastery of Europe seemed defeat, with

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<v Speaker 1>only Britain remaining defiant, but this would be for a

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<v Speaker 1>moment at the most. Now, the Continental system did require

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<v Speaker 1>every European port to close its doors to British trade,

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<v Speaker 1>but one defiant country still refused, Portugal. The Portuguese royal

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<v Speaker 1>family had centuries old tides to Great Britain and relied

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<v Speaker 1>heavily on British trade, and so to deal with them,

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon turned to diplomacy cloaked in secrecy. On the twenty

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<v Speaker 1>seventh of October eighteen oh seven, he signed the Treaty

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<v Speaker 1>of Fontainebleau with Spain, agreeing to a plan to invade

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<v Speaker 1>in partition Poland. Spain would take the southern provinces, France

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<v Speaker 1>would take the north, and the Portuguese monarchy would be

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<v Speaker 1>driven overseas. But this agreement opened the door to something

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon couldn't foresee and couldn't control, the unraveling of his

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<v Speaker 1>empire from within. Now. While all this was going on,

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<v Speaker 1>while Napoleon reorganized Europe's governments, he also turned his mind

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<v Speaker 1>to education and science. On March seventeenth, eighteen oh eight,

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<v Speaker 1>he founded the Imperial University, a centralized institution to oversee

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<v Speaker 1>all higher learning in France. He wrote, it is not

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<v Speaker 1>enough to conquer, we must educate. The emperor saw himself

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<v Speaker 1>not just as a general, but as an architect of civilization.

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<v Speaker 1>Yet while all the universities were being founded that same spring,

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<v Speaker 1>his empire started to show signs of crack. The French

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<v Speaker 1>army had entered Spain ostensibly to enforce the Treaty of Fontainebleau,

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<v Speaker 1>but soon occupied the country outright. Napoleon's marshals began to

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<v Speaker 1>treat Spanish towns as conquered territory, and the Spanish court

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<v Speaker 1>fell into chaos. Napoleon bullied, as one contemporary put it,

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<v Speaker 1>the Spanish royal family into abdicating. He then placed his

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<v Speaker 1>brother Joseph Bonaparte, already the King of Naples, on the

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<v Speaker 1>throne of Spain, but this time the people refused to

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<v Speaker 1>accept a Bonaparte as their king. On May the second,

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen o eight, the citizens of Madrid rose up in

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<v Speaker 1>spontaneous revolt against the French occupiers. Armed with knives, stones,

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<v Speaker 1>and just simple fury, they attacked the French patrols wherever

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<v Speaker 1>they found them in the streets, the Dos de Mayo uprising,

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<v Speaker 1>as it became known, was very short, but it was furious. Women, priests,

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<v Speaker 1>and even some children had joined in the rebellion. It

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<v Speaker 1>was a sign of things to come, and in response,

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon's troops responded with ruthless violence. On the following day,

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<v Speaker 1>May the third, hundreds of Spanish civilians were executed in reprisal,

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<v Speaker 1>whether or not they had participated in the revolt. The

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<v Speaker 1>Spanish painter Goya later immortalized this horror in his masterpiece

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<v Speaker 1>The Third of May eighteen oh eight, a stark vision

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<v Speaker 1>of men facing the rifles of faceless soldiers lit by

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<v Speaker 1>a single candle of mercy that simply never came. But

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<v Speaker 1>this didn't end the revolt. In fact, it spread like

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<v Speaker 1>wildfire across the Iberian Peninsula. Entire provinces rose against French occupation.

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<v Speaker 1>Peasants ambushed convoys, priests, blessed insurgents, and local militias took

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<v Speaker 1>up arms in defense of their homeland. In July eighteen

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<v Speaker 1>oh eight, as Napoleon formally crowned Joseph Bonaparte, king of Spain,

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<v Speaker 1>the resistance had already turned into a full scale war.

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<v Speaker 1>Five French armies advanced into Spain and Portugal to enforce

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<v Speaker 1>the Emperor's will. But they found themselves not fighting regular

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<v Speaker 1>soldiers on a pitched battlefield, they found themselves fighting an

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<v Speaker 1>entire people. From July sixteenth to July the nineteenth, at

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<v Speaker 1>the Battle of Bailin, the impossible happened. A French army

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<v Speaker 1>under General DuPont surrendered to Spanish forces commanded by General Castillanos.

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<v Speaker 1>It was the first major defeat of a Napoleonic army

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<v Speaker 1>in open battle. The new shocked Europe. Across the continent.

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<v Speaker 1>Whispers spread that Napoleon could actually be beaten, that his

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<v Speaker 1>soldiers were not invincible, and that nations, maybe if they

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<v Speaker 1>stood together, could throw off the French yoke. By the

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<v Speaker 1>end of eighteen oh eight, Napoleon's empire was vast, that's true,

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<v Speaker 1>its armies seemingly unstoppable, its laws and institutions quickly spreading

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<v Speaker 1>from the Pyrenees all the way to the border with Russia.

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<v Speaker 1>But beneath that surface, it was clear that cracks were forming.

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<v Speaker 1>The Peninsular War, as we'll get into next time, would

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<v Speaker 1>drain France's strength for years to come. The alliance with

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<v Speaker 1>Russia is going to crumble into mistrust, and the continental

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<v Speaker 1>system will bankrupt allies much faster than it will hurt

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<v Speaker 1>Great Britain. The Emperor's grand design to unify Europe would

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<v Speaker 1>begin to unravel under the weight of a variety of contradictions.

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon's star in fact burned bright, but by eighteen oh

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<v Speaker 1>eight it was clear that its descent had already begun.

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<v Speaker 1>By the beginning of eighteen oh nine, Napoleon looked virtually unbeatable.

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<v Speaker 1>His empire stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Vistula River,

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<v Speaker 1>from the sands of southern Italy all the way to

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<v Speaker 1>the shores of the North Sea. Old dynasties that had

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<v Speaker 1>ruled Europe for centuries bowed before him. New kings, a

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<v Speaker 1>lot of them bonapartes, took their seats on thrones made

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<v Speaker 1>out of the remains of ancient regimes. But even at

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<v Speaker 1>this moment of what looked like total supremacy, there were

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<v Speaker 1>clear that there were cracks in the foundation of this empire.

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<v Speaker 1>Between eighteen o nine and eighteen eleven, Napoleon would experience,

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<v Speaker 1>in very rapid succession triumphs so dazzling that they seemed

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<v Speaker 1>to confirm his invincibility and reversals that were simultaneously seemingly

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<v Speaker 1>so small, so subtle, and so unmistakable, that the arc

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<v Speaker 1>of his power would quietly begin to descend. And this

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<v Speaker 1>is at the last part of this episode, the story

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<v Speaker 1>of those years, the last great expansion, the slow tightening

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<v Speaker 1>of the continental system, and the rising resistance movement of Europe.

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<v Speaker 1>So we get to begin by talking about Austria. Austria

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<v Speaker 1>had been humiliated in eighteen oh five at the Battle

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<v Speaker 1>of Austerlitz. It was dismantled effectively in eighteen oh six

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<v Speaker 1>and now completely overshadowed. But Emperor Francis and his advisors

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<v Speaker 1>weren't ready to simply disappear. By early eighteen oh nine,

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<v Speaker 1>they thought that they saw something a moment of French weakness.

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon was bogged down in Spain, his armies were dispersed

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<v Speaker 1>across Europe, and nationalism, still in its infancy, stirred both

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<v Speaker 1>inside and outside the Empire. And so in the autumn

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<v Speaker 1>of eighteen oh eight, Austrian diplomats began making the rounds

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<v Speaker 1>around Europe to test the waters for the idea of

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<v Speaker 1>a resistance movement, and on April tenth, eighteen o nine,

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<v Speaker 1>Austria decided to make a move. Archduke Charles led one

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<v Speaker 1>of the most professional armies on the continent across the

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<v Speaker 1>Inn River. Vienna once again was preparing for war, but Napoleon,

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<v Speaker 1>ever also the rapid strategist, sprang into motion. Within weeks

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<v Speaker 1>he was on the German frontier, gathering the Grand Army

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<v Speaker 1>like a general, rearranging lightning poltse. He struck the Austrians

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<v Speaker 1>at a place called Ekmux on April the twenty second.

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<v Speaker 1>The battle itself was chaotic, marked by swirling cavalry charges

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<v Speaker 1>and defensive squares holding like stone pillars as the storm

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<v Speaker 1>raged around them, but the French once again won decisively,

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<v Speaker 1>pushing Charles back towards Bohemia. By the eleventh of May,

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon was back in Vienna for the second time in

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<v Speaker 1>four years. Charles had not been beaten. He had actually

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<v Speaker 1>regrouped his army north of the Danube, daring Napoleon to cross,

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<v Speaker 1>and Napoleon accepted the dare and asper essing battle fought

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<v Speaker 1>between May the twenty first and made the twenty second.

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<v Speaker 1>In the year eighteen o nine, the Emperor finally faced

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<v Speaker 1>his first ever major defeat. French soldiers clung to the

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<v Speaker 1>villages of Aspern and Essling, while the Danube swollen devoured

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<v Speaker 1>the bridges that Napoleon had desperately needed. Charles's artillery, on

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<v Speaker 1>the other hand, thundered across the river banks. Marshall Lane's

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon's close friend, was mortally wounded. In the end, a

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<v Speaker 1>combination of bad timing in bad weather doomed the French

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<v Speaker 1>Army to its first ever tactical defeat for the first

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<v Speaker 1>time in his career. Napoleon had his power checked, and

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<v Speaker 1>he had been bloodied. But Napoleon did what he always did.

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<v Speaker 1>He returned. And so on July the fifth and sixth

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<v Speaker 1>that Wogram, these exact two armies collided again, this time

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<v Speaker 1>on a vast open plane, something ideally suited for Napoleonic

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<v Speaker 1>tactics and for the exact kind of situation that the

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<v Speaker 1>Grand Army and his Corps divisions were designed to fight on.

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<v Speaker 1>The heat shimmered. It was a hot July above the

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<v Speaker 1>wheat fields, and the itillery fire crashed so continuously that

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<v Speaker 1>afterwards veterans would write back that the earth itself buzzed.

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon unleashed a massive central assault late on the second Day,

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<v Speaker 1>which buckled the Austrian line and forced the Austrian army

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<v Speaker 1>into a retreat. It hadn't been a glorious victory, was

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<v Speaker 1>an austerlitz. It was a tactical victory, and the losses

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<v Speaker 1>on both sides were massive, but it was enough. It

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<v Speaker 1>forced the Austrians back to the table and they sued

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<v Speaker 1>for peace. The Treaty of Schoen, brought signed in October

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<v Speaker 1>of eighteen oh nine, punished Vienna harshly. Its territories were taken,

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<v Speaker 1>its armies reduced, and of course its pride had been broken.

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<v Speaker 1>Yet in those punitive terms of the treaty, this is

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<v Speaker 1>a lesson that we're going to learn a lot. In

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<v Speaker 1>the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, resentment was built in and

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<v Speaker 1>years later that resentment would return with terrible force. Now

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<v Speaker 1>there were other things going on, because in eighteen ten,

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon was forty years old and he had no legitimate heir.

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<v Speaker 1>His marriage to his wife, Josephine the Empress, once a

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<v Speaker 1>love story of revolutionary France, had now become unfortunately a

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<v Speaker 1>politically inconvenient bond. France needed a dynasty, and Napoleon needed

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<v Speaker 1>a son, and so on, A winter evening, he gathered

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<v Speaker 1>his family and announced what many suspected, he was going

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<v Speaker 1>to divorce his wife, Josephine. The official ceremony was stoic

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<v Speaker 1>Josephine reading a statement of consent through tears. Napoleon rigid

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<v Speaker 1>and impassive, but the emotional rupture was unmistakable. The letters

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<v Speaker 1>from the period, actually written in Napoleon's own hand, show

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<v Speaker 1>a man who is torn between affection for a wife

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<v Speaker 1>that he clearly loved and his ambition. It was the

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<v Speaker 1>latter that would win out, But the question was, then,

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<v Speaker 1>with a divorce done, what to do with the opening.

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<v Speaker 1>So he sought a marriage that would weld his empire

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<v Speaker 1>into European legitimacy, and he found it in the Habsburg dynasty,

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<v Speaker 1>the very family that he had repeatedly and recently defeated.

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<v Speaker 1>After only minor hesitation from Emperor Francis, Austria agreed to

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<v Speaker 1>give him his young daughter, the Archduchess Marie Luis, who

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<v Speaker 1>was just eighteen years old. The wedding in April of

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<v Speaker 1>eighteen ten marked what many see as this simpbolic apex

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<v Speaker 1>of Napoleon's power. The former artillery officer from Corsica had

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<v Speaker 1>now married into one of the oldest royal houses in Europe.

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<v Speaker 1>Paris celebrated in fountains of light, and diplomats whispered about

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<v Speaker 1>quote a new Carolingian Empire end quote. But not everybody agreed. Frankly,

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<v Speaker 1>for a lot of Europeans, this marriage was chilling at best.

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<v Speaker 1>It was a signal that Napoleon wanted to enmesh Europe,

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<v Speaker 1>not just in French administration, but in the French bloodline itself,

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<v Speaker 1>and this was an era where that still very much mattered,

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<v Speaker 1>and it didn't take long for the marriage to bear fruit.

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<v Speaker 1>On March the twentieth, eighteen eleven, in the Tuileries Palace,

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<v Speaker 1>a child Napoleon the second, the King of Rome, was born.

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<v Speaker 1>Canons fired exactly one hundred and one times. Crowds packed

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<v Speaker 1>the boulevards. The Emperor, holding his infant son, looked out

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<v Speaker 1>upon his adoring throngs, believing that his dynasty was in

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<v Speaker 1>fact secure, and politically that's true. The Empire had never

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<v Speaker 1>been larger. The Confederation of the Rhine stretched across Germany.

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<v Speaker 1>Italy was firmly under French control, The Dutch Kingdom was

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<v Speaker 1>effectively annexed. Much of Portugal had been resurrected in the

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<v Speaker 1>Duchy of Warsaw. Even Spain, though engulfed in rebellion, remained

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<v Speaker 1>legally under French occupation. And yet beneath the glittering surface,

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<v Speaker 1>there was something darker going on the continental system. Napoleon's

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<v Speaker 1>economic war against Great Britain was strangling European trade. Smugglers

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<v Speaker 1>had become folk heroes. Cities like Hamburg, once central to

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<v Speaker 1>European markets, withered. Even Napoleon's allies grew resentful of French

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<v Speaker 1>economic interference. And then there was Spain and Portugal. There

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<v Speaker 1>the Peninsular War dragged into its third, fourth and fifth year.

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<v Speaker 1>Guerrilla fighters kept ambushing French patrols. British troops under the

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<v Speaker 1>Duke of Wellington strengthened a foothold in the north. The

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<v Speaker 1>French marshals complained, newspapers mocked the Emperor's Spanish ulcer, and

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<v Speaker 1>the war consumed tens of thousands of men, and Russia

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<v Speaker 1>too was restless. Zara Alexander the First had grown weary

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<v Speaker 1>of the continental system, and he was suspicious of French

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<v Speaker 1>intentions to expand into Poland. Diplomats recorded coldness between the

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<v Speaker 1>two emperors. A quote unquote icy courtesy that foreshadowed the

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<v Speaker 1>war to come. Napoleon lean meanwhile, believed that time itself

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<v Speaker 1>was working against him. He saw around him only conspiracies

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<v Speaker 1>and hesitation, and so he began quietly and methodically to

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<v Speaker 1>do what he viewed as a necessary correction to his strategies,

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<v Speaker 1>a campaign that would fore Russia back into obedience. No

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<v Speaker 1>one knew it yet, but the path from the cradle

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<v Speaker 1>of the newborn air would lead directly to the snows

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<v Speaker 1>of eighteen twelve. Now, during eighteen eleven, Napoleon also reorganized

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<v Speaker 1>his empire with relentless energy. Taxation was expanded, censorship intensified,

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<v Speaker 1>military conscription dug deeper into the youth of Europe. French

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<v Speaker 1>administrators kept working on the French imperial machinery until it

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<v Speaker 1>was perfect and way too big. Everywhere. The Emperor wanted control, control, control,

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<v Speaker 1>and the Catholic Church felt this, perhaps most sharply, when

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<v Speaker 1>Pious the seventh refused to recognize Napoleon's territorial reorganizations in Italy.

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<v Speaker 1>The Emperor simply had him arrested and moved to France.

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<v Speaker 1>This hadn't happened, of course, since the Babylonian captivity of

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<v Speaker 1>the Late Middle Ages. Napoleon simply expected that the world

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<v Speaker 1>would adapt to his will, and for a time it did.

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<v Speaker 1>But reactions were starting to shift. Nobles in Vienna were

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<v Speaker 1>again talking about rebellion, Russian officers were growing concerned that

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<v Speaker 1>France was right on its doorstep, and British newspapers were

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<v Speaker 1>starting to predict the Empire's eventual collapse. Even in Paris,

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<v Speaker 1>there were some whispers that the emperor's reach was starting

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<v Speaker 1>to outgrow his grasp. Between eighteen oh nine and eighteen eleven,

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<v Speaker 1>Napoleon truly reached the peak of his authority. He had

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<v Speaker 1>married into the oldest monarchy in Europe, he crushed Austria again,

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<v Speaker 1>and he welcomed the birth of a son who seemed

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<v Speaker 1>to promise a century of Bonaparte rule. But these were

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<v Speaker 1>also the years from within which the Empire began to

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<v Speaker 1>hollow out. The war in Spain stretched like a wound

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<v Speaker 1>that couldn't close, The continental system alienated even in France's

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<v Speaker 1>closest allies. Russia started to drift away, and Napoleon's own

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<v Speaker 1>governing style grew harder, more brittle, and more dependent on

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<v Speaker 1>fear than loyalty, And we will return to this story,

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<v Speaker 1>but not next time. Next time we have to jump

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<v Speaker 1>back across the pond catch up with the United States,

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<v Speaker 1>because the United States is actually going to join briefly,

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<v Speaker 1>these Napoleonic Wars, and we have to set the stage

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<v Speaker 1>for that so quickly. We've got to jump back, talk

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<v Speaker 1>about Thomas Jefferson, and bring ourselves back up to speed.