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4 Episodes 2000 - 2000
Episode 1
Wed, Nov 8, 2000 60 mins
Part 1 of four follows the Corsican conquerer's rise "To Destiny" from Corsica---where he grew up hating France, the nation he would come to rule. The hour focuses on Napoleon's early military career, culminating in his victories in the Italian Alps in 1796. "They hadn't seen anything yet," says narrator David McCullough.
Episode 2
Wed, Nov 8, 2000 60 mins
"Mastering Luck" (Part 2) follows Napoleon from the Italian Alps to Egypt and back to Paris---and destiny---between 1796 and 1804. "The revolution is over. I am the revolution," Napoleon declared upon naming himself First Consul after his 1799 coup. But Napoleon was more than a warrior; he was also a splendid administrator---if no democrat. "He believed in government for the people," says historian Owen Connelly, "but not of the people."
Episode 3
Wed, Nov 15, 2000 60 mins
Part 3: Bonaparte reaches "The Summit of Greatness" in the three years after crowning himself emperor of France in 1804. "He is ambition in motion," says historian Jacques Jourquin. "He considered himself invincible." As seen in this hour, he was, just about, and he stretched his empire from the Atlantic to the Russian border. But "conquest alone made me what I am," he wrote. "And conquest alone can keep me there." David McCullough narrates.
Episode 4
Wed, Nov 15, 2000 60 mins
Conclusion. The beginning of "The End" for Bonaparte came with his inconclusive 1808 invasion of Spain. In 1812 disaster struck in Russia, and that was just the overture. "My star was fading," Napoleon conceded, and, indeed, all of Europe had turned on him. By 1814 he was in exile on the Mediterranean island of Elba, and he met his waterloo a year later in Belgium. (He died in 1821 in exile on the Atlantic island of St. Helena). David McCullough narrates.