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In the sixth and final part of this min-series we follow the remnants of Napoleons Grande Armée as they plod they plod their way, half-starved and half-frozen, back towards safety. But, up ahead, at a river called the Berezina, three Russian armies were converging from three different directions, and this time there would be no cautious shadowing. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Napoleon had sat in an empty, burned-out Moscow for weeks waiting for a response from Alexander. But the Russian emperor had stayed silent and so Bonaparte had decided it was time to head back west. What he didn't know is that his retreat would become one of the biggest military disasters of all time. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are going to see how and why Napoleon reached Moscow so easily  But, here's the question. Would he be able to do the second of the two things he wanted to do and force Alexander to the negotiating table and get him to surrender?  We’ll also be making short visits to Iberia and the Caucasus, and then for no other reason than I think it’s interesting and it puts things into context in terms of events happening on the global stage, we’ll cover a couple of slight diversions that had taken place over in the UK and the USA, which would involve an assasination and the start of yet another war. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions then you can send them across to me via good old-fashioned email - [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we follow the Grande Armée on the road to Moscow. However, in between Napoleon and Russia's ancient capital was the village of Borodino which Kutusov had occupied and this time it looked like the Russians were going to stand and fight. We'll also be taking a brief look at what was going on in Spain and the Caucasus and I offer my thoughts on why Napoleon was aiming for Moscow and not St Petersburg and what it was actually like to be an ordinairy soldier in a Napoleonic era army Please note that from now on, the 1812 mini series is going to become increasingly grim so perhaps best not to listen when little ears are around. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today’s episode will feature two main events - a long, muddled chase. Barclay De Tolly pulling back, Bagration trying to catch up with him, neither of them quite knowing where each other was and Napoleon's marshals trying to make sure that the two Russian armies never quite managed to meet up and combine forces And in August, almost 2 months after the invasion had started, we will have our first battle - well sort of. We also have a couple of other sideshows to keep an eye on, neither of which were at the forefront of either Napoleon’s or Alexander’s minds - the Iberian campaign and the continuing rumbling in the Caucasus. By the way if there is a medical term for the fear of saying the place-name' Smolensk", I've got it. If you want to get in touch it's - [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time around, we’ll be covering just the two things, the somewhat inevitable fall of Speransky and the events that would lead up to and include Napoleon’s full scale invasion of Russia in June 1812. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In Today's episode we'll be visiting a number of different locations. First, Iberia — because Napoleon's other war, the one being fought in Spain and Portugal, was quietly draining exactly the men, materiel and focus that would be ideally required in the east.  Then we’ll head east ourselves, to the Ottoman front and take a short detour into the Caucasus.  Next it’s back to St Petersburg, to watch Speransky's reform programme start to come apart at the seams.  And then finally, the main event — the actual mechanics of how France and Russia went from suspicious allies to open enemies over the course of 1811, and what both sides were doing about it. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we're going to look at what Tilsit actually meant first of all for Russia.  What it did to the domestic mood, what it meant economically, how it left a messy war with the Ottomans (yes, Russia nd Turkey were at it gain), hanging in mid-air We will also be covering what the reform minded civil servant Mikhail Speransky was quietly trying to do in the background. And then finally, we’ll examine the hairline cracks that were starting to appear with regard to the Franco-Russian relationship and how they started to impact upon the bigger European picture. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Napoleon continued to sweep all before him - on land. But at sea, it was a different story. Prussia decided to join the allied coalition, and imediately regreted it. Which meant that Alexander had no other choice but go to war with the French. But that would all, literrally end in tears and Napoleon and Alexander agreed to a treaty - which on paper looked advantageous to both but in hindsight, just papered over the cracks. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's 1804 and a new coalition was being formed (the 3rd) to try to and defeat Napoleon and the French. However, in the following year the French emperor would again show just why he was one of the greatest military figures of all time, Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Paul is dead, Alexander is the new Tsar and so today we're going to cover the first two to three years of his reign — roughly 1801 to 1803, where surely, things in Russia could only get better... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we are doing something slightly different. We are stepping off of the chronological conveyor belt — which has been moving at quite a clip lately — and we are going to take a breather and look at something I have perhaps neglected (well there is no 'perhaps' about it - I have). So for the next 35 or so minutes come with me on a journey through 18th Century Russian culture. The art, the architecture. the literature, the music - and let's see if we can work out whether any of it was actualy Russian. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the 23rd of March 1801 and in the Mikhailovsky Castle, just outside St Petersburg, something terrible is about to happen... Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today as the title suggests we're going to cover three main themes or subjects Firstly, Paul's support of Napoleon’s march on India.  Secondly, we are going to spend some time trying to get to know Paul’s eldest son and heir, Alexander, who was a fascinating and genuinely complicated young man, with good reason. And then we’ll finish things off by taking a look at some of the people around Paul who were starting to get seriously hacked-off with the Tsar himself and the direction that things in general were going. If you want get in touch with a question or a positive or negative comment then you can by sending me a mail at [email protected] and I will try to respond as soon as I can. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today is another of those episodes, where in th early stages anyway, Russia is not the primary focus and is somewhat on the periphery because the real action is happening elsewhere and much of that is being driven by events in France Having said that Paul, as you would probably expect, does manage to get involved and do some Paul-like things  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.