One of the greatest battlefield commanders ever, Napoleon Bonaparte, created an empire that stretched across the whole of Europe. But he was more than just a soldier, his legal reforms and social policies transformed and rationalised his nation and many are still in place today. He was also a historian and even wrote a romantic novella. This documentary tells the story of how a hot-tempered boy from Corsica rise from humble origins to become Emperor of the French, and how he was brought low, to die powerless and alone on a tiny island in the middle of the Atlantic.

Find out if Napoleon was just a power-crazed megalomaniac, the ultimate narcissist, or whether there a subtler side to the man who history holds responsible for twenty years of war and the loss of six million lives.

Finding Out More:
There are many books about Napoleon life and loves and about his military campaigns. I have added some of most interesting biographies to my Amazon store page if you are interested: https://www.amazon.com/shop/professorgraemeyorston

Academic References;
Just, W., and Morris, M. R. (2003). The Napoleon complex: why smaller males pick fights. Evolutionary Ecology, 17, 509-522.
Kozłowska, M. A., Talbot, D., and Jonason, P. K. (2023). The Napoleon complex, revisited: Those high on the Dark Triad traits are dissatisfied with their height and are short. Personality and Individual Differences, 203, 111990.
Parker, H. T. (1971). The formation of Napoleon's personality: An exploratory essay. French Historical Studies, 7(1), 6-26.
Parker, H. T. (1990). Why did Napoleon invade Russia? A study in motivation and the interrelations of personality and social structure. The Journal of Military History, 54(2), 131-146.
Tam, A. (2008). In the Mind of a Legend. ESSAI, 6(1), 48.

Copyright Disclaimer:
The primary purpose of this video is educational. I have tried to use material in the public domain or with Creative Commons Non-attribution licences wherever possible. Where attribution is required, I have listed this below. I believe that any copyright material used falls under the remit of Fair Use, but if any content owners would like to dispute this, I will not hesitate to immediately remove that content. It is not my intention to infringe on content ownership in any way. If you happen to find your art or images in the video, please let me know and I will be glad to credit you.

Images:
Wikimedia Commons
National Museum of the Bonaparte Residence in Corsica

Music:
Claude-Paul Taffanel: Wind Quintet in G minor – Andante. The Soni Ventorum Wind Quintet. CC2.0
Claude-Paul Taffanel: Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino. Alex Murray (flute) and Martha Goldstein (piano) CC2.0
Kai Engel: Oecumene Sleeps by CC4.0
MusicLFiles - The Lament Of The Warfields CC4.0
Misha Dioxin From the Arctic Circle - To the southern seas CC4.0
Anton Bruckner Symphony 3 Frankfurt Radio Symphony, Paavo Järvi (conductor) CC4.0
Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture Skidmore College Orchestra, Public domain
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No 6 Wilhelm Furtwängler - Berlin Philharmonic
Gustav Mahler Symphony No.4 in G major 3. Ruhevoll European Archive. Musopen Public Domain

Video produced by Graeme Yorston and Tom Yorston.