Transcript[]
Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim and Moby
Tim and Moby are in a museum viewing a painting of a man on a horse. There is a "no photos allowed" sign on the wall.
MOBY: Beep.
Tim looks at his museum's guide.
TIM: Um, that's Napoleon crossing the Alps.
MOBY: Beep.
Moby takes a flash photo of the painting with his camera. This gets the attention of a museum guard.
TIM: Let's...uh, let's go.
Tim and Moby walk up to a statue of Napoleon next to a cannon and ammunition. A plaque on the wall has information about Napoleon. Moby takes a flash photo of the statue with his camera.
MOBY: Beep!
TIM: Hey, what are you doing?
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: You can't just take photos in a museum! It's bad.
MOBY: Beep!
TIM: Aw, come on! Don't leave. This is fun, isn't it?
MOBY: Beep.
A letter is taped to the cannon. Tim reads from the typed letter.
TIM: Dear Tim and Moby, who was Napoleon? From, Cyril. Napoleon Bonaparte was the ruler of France from, uh, 1799 to 1814.
The plaque behind the Napoleon statue lists these dates.
TIM: He was one of the most brilliant military planners in history. The dude took over a huge chunk of Europe during his rule.
A map of Europe shows that Napoleon's rule expanded from France to include parts of modern-day Spain, Italy, Austria, Germany, and Switzerland.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: What? I, I can say "dude," can't I? He was born in 1769 on the French island of Corsica.
A map shows France and Corsica, off the southeast coast of France.
TIM: He attended military school and entered the French army at the age of 16.
An image shows young Napoleon at military school.
TIM: A few years later, in 1789, the French Revolution broke out.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Well, a revolution happens when people decide they want a change in their government and they don't pursue it by peaceful means.
An image shows a group of angry revolutionaries who are carrying weapons and a tattered French flag.
TIM: And in this case, the people of France decided to overthrow their King, Louis XVI, in pursuit of a more democratic government.
MOBY: Beep.
An image shows King Louis XVI.
TIM: Well, they, they put him and his wife, Marie Antionette, to death. Killing off the king did not bring peace and order.
An animation shows the blades of two guillotines dropping down, one for Louis the XVI and one for Marie Antoinette.
TIM: The years following the revolution were chaotic and violent. The revolutionaries fought amongst themselves, and royalists tried to bring a king back into power.
An image shows the two sides fighting with swords and spears.
TIM: Now, Napoleon supported the people's revolution and rose to the rank of brigadier general in the army. In 1795, he rose to nationwide fame when he led his forces to defeat an armed revolt in Paris. Napoleon famously proclaimed that he cleared the streets with "a whiff of grapeshot."
An image shows Napoleon on a horse while his men fire a cannon at opposing forces in Paris.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: No, no, actually grapeshot is a type of ammunition used in cannons back then.
An image shows a stack of grapeshot ammunition, a series of metal balls packed tightly together.
TIM: While his career was on the upswing, Napoleon married a well-connected woman named Josephine de Beauharnais in 1796.
An image shows Josephine de Beauharnais.
TIM: After that, he led the French army on campaigns through Italy, Austria, and parts of North Africa.
Arrows on a map of France and surrounding countries indicate French troops moving to Austria, Italy, and Egypt.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Well, it wasn't entirely unprovoked. When France executed its king and queen, European monarchs looked on in horror. They feared the democratic revolution would spread to their lands, and quickly moved against the new French government.
An image shows a monarch reading a publication called the "Prussian Post." The text reads: Head of State. There is a picture of a guillotine intended for the head of state.
TIM: This led to a series of wars between France and most of the major European powers. Napoleon's North African invasion was actually a move against Britain, which used Egypt as a trading route. Though he failed to bring Egypt under French control, Napoleon was greeted as a hero when he returned to Paris in 1799. He'd done all that conquering in Italy and Austria, after all.
An animation shows Napoleon riding his horse through Paris while people cheer and throw roses at him.
TIM: Napoleon used his popularity to overthrow the government. He had himself elected First Consul, which basically made him like a, like a president, only more powerful. And then he went one step further and put in place a new constitution that made him First Consul for life.
An image shows Napoleon and the constitution Tim describes.
TIM: He also instituted the Napoleonic Code, which put France under a single set of laws.
An image shows the Napoleonic Code.
TIM: In 1804, after someone tried to assassinate him, Napoleon decided to make France a monarchy again. Naturally, he was the emperor.
MOBY: Beep.
An image shows Napoleon as emperor.
TIM: Yeah, he started off supporting a democratic revolution, and he ended up making himself a monarch. And all the while, he continued adding territory to the empire.
Side-by-side images show the French revolutionaries and Napoleon as emperor.
TIM: The battles for control of these areas are collectively known as the Napoleonic Wars. By 1812, most of Western Europe was under French control.
A map shows France and areas of Western Europe that Napoleon was fighting to control.
TIM: But that same year, Napoleon went back on a treaty and invaded Russia. That proved to be a huge mistake.
The map shows an arrow pointing from French-controlled land to Russia and its capital city, Moscow.
TIM: He went in with close to 600,000 men and left with fewer than 40,000.
An image shows many French troops marching into Russia, one carrying a French flag, on a warm, sunny day. A contrasting image shows very few French soldiers leaving Russia, one carrying a torn French flag, on a cold, snowy day.
TIM: And the rest of Europe ganged up on him in a series of battles.
The map shows arrows from various European countries pointing toward France as the French territory shrinks.
TIM: He was forced to abdicate, or resign, in 1814.
An image shows an unhappy Napoleon giving his signed resignation to a French official.
TIM: Napoleon was sent to live on the island of Elba, off the coast of Italy.
The map of France and surrounding countries shows Elba, near Italy and Corsica.
TIM: But amazingly, he staged a comeback from there, re-forming his army and taking over France again in 1815.
The map shows an arrow pointing from Elba toward Paris, France.
An image shows Napoleon riding his horse through Paris as crowds cheer and throw roses at him.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Yeah, there's no stopping some people. He managed to hold power for 100 days before he was defeated for the final time at the Battle of Waterloo in Belgium.
The map shows a blue arrow for Napoleon's forces and two red arrows for his English and Prussian troops, pointing to Waterloo, Belgium. Waterloo is shown as an explosion, representing the battle.
TIM: He was exiled to the island of Saint Helena, a British colony in the Atlantic Ocean, where he died in 1821.
The map view expands to show Saint Helena. An arrow points to a small island that is in the Atlantic Ocean, far off of the coast of Africa.
TIM: Whew!
MOBY: Beep.
In the museum, Moby points to his right.
TIM: Oh yeah, that's Napoleon's bed.
Napoleon's bed is shown. Tim looks at his museum guide.
TIM: Well, one of his beds, I guess.
Moby takes a flash photo of the bed with his camera.
TIM: Moby?
<crash>
Moby jumps onto the bed and lies on it. His legs hang off of the bed.
TIM: People were a lot shorter in general back then.