"Napoleon the Great?" Topic

A debate with Andrew Roberts, Adam Zamoyski and Jeremy Paxman.

"There is no immortality but the memory that is left in the minds of men.' – Napoleon Bonaparte

How should we remember Napoleon, the man of obscure Corsican birth who rose to become emperor of the French and briefly master of Europe?

As the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo approaches in 2015, Intelligence Squared brings 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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Amicalement
Armand

The answer to most of those, is 'yes', including the contradictory ones. But I do not think anyone could call him a 'non-entity.'

Thanks for this link Armand. I wish I'd have known about the debate itself earlier, as I would definitely have gone to that. I'm based near Cambridge, so a trip to London for something like that would be perfect.

I have three of Zamoyski's books: '1812' (amongst my absolute favourites on the topic, along with Paul Britten Austin's masterpiece), 'The Congress of Vienna', and 'Warsaw 1920', and I've heard Roberts talking abut Napoleon (and Wellington) on Melvyn Bragg's 'In Our Time' radio series, for the BBC. I've also got several Paxman books, and my wif and I have seen him giving a book talk. So the prospect of seeing all three under one roof debating a subject I'm obsessed with…

I always seem to find our about such things after they've happened! Oh well, never mind! Hopefully they'll put the debate online (it says they will) some time soon.

Cheers, Seb

A votre service mon ami Seb!

Amicalement
Armand