Latest / Story Of The World- A Simple History For Boys And Girls / 44 - Story Of The World- A Simple History For Boys And Girls by Elizabeth O'Neill

Transcript

44 - Story Of The World- A Simple History For Boys And Girls by Elizabeth O'Neill · Story Of The World- A Simple History For Boys And Girls

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter forty four of the Story of the World, A
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Simple History for Boys and Girls. This is a LibriVox recording.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. Read
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: by T. R. Love of Pleasant Hill, California. The Story
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: of the World, A Simple History for Boys and Girls
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: by Elizabeth O'Neill, chapter forty four, The Story of Napoleon.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: Napoleon Buonaparte was born of a good family in the
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: island of Corsica in the year seventeen sixty nine, the
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: year after Maria Antoinette was married to Louis the sixteenth
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: of France. Corsica had for many years been fighting for
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: its independence against Genoa, but had at last been sold
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: by that state to France. So Napoleon Buonaparte, though he
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: was Italian by birth, was a subject of the French king.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: When he was a boy, he was fond of playing
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: with a drum and sword, and his father made up
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: his mind that he should be a soldier. When he
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: was ten years old, he was sent to France to
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: be trained at schools for boys, intending to join the army,
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: and he became a lieutenant in an artillery regiment when
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: he was sixteen. When the revolution broke out, Napoleon, although
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: he had never been very fond of France because of
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: its conquest of Corsica, was filled with enthusiasm for it.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: Corsica sent representatives to the tier at Ta, and all
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the reforms which were made in France were carried out
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: in Corsica too. In the first years after the beginning
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: of the revolution, Napoleon Buonaparte lived quietly at lodgings at Auxon,
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: where his regiment was stationed, and did all he could
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: to educate his young brother Louis, who lived with him.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: Their father was by this time dead, and Napoleon was
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: looked upon as the head of his family, although he
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: was only the second son. The other officers in his
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: regiment were royalists, and Napoleon was very lonely, for he
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: could not mix freely with them. He had always been
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: fond of history, and he read now all he could find,
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: being especially fond of Julius Caesar's own account of his
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: wars in Gaul. He had to take his sister home
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: to Corsica when the convent at which she was a
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: pupil was broken up by the revolutionaries, as so many
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: convents and monasteries were, But it was not long before
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: all the Bonapartes had to leave Corsica for Paoli. The
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: chief man in the island turned against France after the
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: death of the king and joined himself with England to
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: fight against France. The Bonapartes went to France. Jolean had
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: a better chance of rising quickly as an officer because
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: the army was in great need of good officers through
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: the loss of so many Royalists. He first won great
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: praise for himself by the way in which he helped
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: in the attack on the Royalists at Toulon in seventeen
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: ninety three. They had let British and Spanish soldiers into
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: the town, and the Republicans were afraid that more and
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: more might come and that a great attack might be
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: made on France from this port. The first officers sent
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: against Toulon did very little good. One of them was
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: an artist who knew nothing about fighting. It was Napoleon
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: who pointed out the weak side of the town where
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: the attack could be made. The town was conquered, and
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: an English invasion of France by way of Toulon was
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: now impossible. After this, Napoleon helped a great deal in
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: fortifying places alone on the coast of France. He still
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: spent all his spare time in studying the science of war.
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: The help which he gave the Directory in putting down
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: the insurrection in Paris in seventeen ninety five made him great.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: He had fallen in love with Josephine du Bouarnay, the
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: widow of a French noble who had been executed during
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: the Revolution. Josephine was very lively and beautiful, and one
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: of the greatest women in France at the time. She
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: was a friend of Barras, the Chief Man and the Directory,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: and he persuaded her to marry Napoleon. She was six
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: years older than Napoleon and did not care much for
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: the thin, pale faced officer, but she at last agreed
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: to marry him, though she would not go with him.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: Two days after the marriage to Italy, where he had
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: got the command of the French army. The attack on
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: Italy was part of the war against Austria, to whom
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: most of the north of Italy belonged. Two other armies
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: were to march through Germany and attack Vienna. Napoleon was
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: only one of the generals of the Republic, but he
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: knew that he was the best soldier of his time,
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: and he had already made up his mind to imitate
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: Julius Caesar and to make himself dictator of France and
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: of as much of Europe as he could win. It
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: was a wonderful plan for this young Corsican officer even
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: to think of, and more wonderful still is the fact
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: that he nearly carried it out, and that for years
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: he kept all Europe struggling to overthrow his power. The
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: Emperor of Austria had the King of Sardinia to help
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: him in the north of Italy, but Napoleon always tried
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: to keep his enemy split up and prevented the army
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: of Piedmont, which was under the rule of the King
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: of Sardinia, from joining the Austrian army. And soon the
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: King of Sardinia made his peace with Napoleon, giving Piedmont
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: up to France. Napoleon then easily conquered the Austrians and
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: took the north of Italy. He made the people pay
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: him money, and he chose some of the most beautiful
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: of the art treasures of Italy to send back to France.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: Before this, Prussia and Spain had been frightened into making
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: peace with France, and Spain and Holland were even helping
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: that country at this time, but England was still the
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: greatest power on the sea, and victories were won over
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: both the Spanish and Dutch fleets. Now, in seventeen ninety
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: seven Austria made peace and agreed to give up the
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: north of Italy to France. The Great Lord Nelson England
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: was now left alone to fight the French. When Napoleon
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: got back to Paris, it was quite plain that he
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: could do just what he liked, but he did not
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: have himself made dictator yet. He pretended that he was
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: going to invade England, but he really intended to sail
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: to Egypt, conquer it and Syria, and from there perhaps
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: when both India and Europe. When Napoleon sailed off to
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: the east, part of the British fleet under Sir Horatio
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Nelson followed it. Nelson was soon to show himself the
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: greatest of English seamen. He was a small, delicate looking man,
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: but he was a splendid sailor and soldier, and had
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: been at sea since he was twelve years old. A
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: story is told of him that when he was still
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: a young midshipman, he was on a ship which sailed
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: into the ice bound seas near the North Pole. He
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: and another boy stole away one night to see if
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: they could find and shoot a bear. A fog came on,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: and the captain was very anxious when he knew that
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: the boys were missing. But when the fog melted away,
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: he saw them far off, ready to attack a bear.
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: The captain called to them to come back to the ship,
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: and the other boy did so, but Nelson cried out,
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: begging the captain to let him have just one blow
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: at the bear. But the captain had a shot fired,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: which frightened the bear away. When Nelson got back to
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: the ship, the captain scolded him, but he said sorrowfully,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: I wanted to kill the bear and take its skin
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: home to my father. Horatio Nelson never knew what it
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: was to be afraid. When the fleet under Nelson came
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: up with the French fleet, they were anchored in the
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: Bay of Abakir, close to the shore of Egypt. Napoleon
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: was already fighting on the land and winning Egypt from
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: the Mameluke. Nelson ordered five of his ships to sail
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: in between the French ships and the shore, for he said,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: where the French ships had room to swing, the English
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: had room to anchor. In this way, the French ships
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: were caught between two fires. The battle began at sunset
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: and went on all night. By morning, eleven of the
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: thirteen French ships had been destroyed or taken. The French
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: Admiral's flagship had blown up, and the admiral himself had
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: been killed. It was on this ship that the ten
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: year old boy Casabianca died, standing at his post on
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: the burning ship until his father should give him leave
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: to go. His father was already dead, though Casabianca did
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: not know it, and the brave boy died too. Nelson
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: was wounded in the forehead, but he had won the
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: Great Battle of the Nile. After this, no other fleet
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: had any chance against the English in the Mediterranean. Meanwhile,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: Napoleon went on from Egypt to Syria, which he meant
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: to win from Turkey, but he could not take Acre,
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: which the English officer Sir Sidney Smith helped to defend.
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: Then suddenly Napoleon slipped back to France in a fast
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: sailing ship. He was much needed there, for trouble was
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: threatening the Directors from all sides. Napoleon was greeted with
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: joy as the conqueror of Egypt. He was wise enough
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: not to say much about Syria. When Napoleon left France,
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: England was the only country at war with the Republic,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: but he came back to find that a new coalition
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: had now been formed against her. England, of course was
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: in it, for it was England from the first who
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: was most determined to resist the attacks of France on
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the lands of Europe. Russia and Austria were the other
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: chief members of the coalition. While Napoleon was away, the
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Directory had been in great need of money, and they
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: had actually sent an army to attack Rus where there
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: were a few Republicans. The old Pope, Pious the sixth
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: was a very good and gentleman, and Rome had been
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: quite happy under him, far happier than it was now
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: when the French turned it into a republic and then
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: took as much money and as many of its art
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: treasures as they could get. The people of Europe were
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: horrified to hear that the Pope had even been roughly
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: treated his staff dragged from his hand and his ring
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: from his finger. He was carried off to Siena and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: then to Valence in France, where he stayed till he died.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: The French soon made themselves hated in Rome. For the
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: same reason, they set up a united republican Switzerland, calling
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: it the Helvetian Republic. The Cantons, as a division of
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Switzerland were called, were each used to governing themselves and
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: did not want this new form of government. The Kingdom
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: of Naples, whose Queen Marie Caroline was the sister of
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: Marie Antoinette, was also turned into a republic, though here
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: very few of the people wished for this change. When
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: the coalition began to fight, the French were defeated in
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: North Italy by the great Russian general Suvaroff. Suvaroff was
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: a very wonderful general. He never dreamed of failure, and
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: when he had fought and won a battle, he always
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: still had strength to pursue the enemy as they fled.
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: His men took the same courage from him. His commands
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: before a battle were almost amusing, from the confident way
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: they would begin with such words as the hostile army
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: will be taken prisoners. The King and Queen of Naples
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: were given back their kingdom, and Nelson's fleet stood by
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: to defend them. In Switzerland, an Austrian officer led an
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: ostle and Russian army against the French, but could not
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: drive them out. Still, things were going very badly with
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: the French. When Napoleon got back from Egypt. The people
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: were quite tired of the directory the ab says a
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: priest who had been making constitutions ever since the revolution began,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: had another one ready. Now. The worst of paper constitutions,
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: that is, constitutions which are drawn up out of a
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: man's head without any experience of how they work, is
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: that they very seldom will work at all. This new
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: constitution of the year eight, as it was called for
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: now in France, the years were counted from the year one,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: the first year of the destruction of the monarchy and
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: the setting up of the republic, was carefully drawn up,
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: so that power was divided between many people, and nobody
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: had any real power at all. Thought it would be
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: a very good constitution. Indeed, with one change at the
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: head of all the other parts of the constitution. There
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: should be a first consul, and he should be Napoleon himself.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Napoleon had his great army behind him, ready to fight
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: for him to a man, and the French people had
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: no chance to say no, even if they had wished.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: But they were tired of disorder and were only too
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: glad to have a strong man to govern them. For
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: the First Consul was just as absolute as any king
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: of France had ever been. Four years afterwards he was
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: given the name of Emperor, but he was the all
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: powerful ruler of France from the moment he became First Consul.
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: At the end of the year seventeen ninety nine, the
• 14:51
  Speaker 1: few serfs who were still remaining in France at the
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: revolution became free. The property which had been taken from
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: the church given to other people was not given back,
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: but the churches which had not been given away were
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: Peace was made with the Pope and the Catholic religion
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: was made the religion of the state again, but the
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: priests were to be servants of the state and paid
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: by the government, as they are still in France to day.
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: So many changes which the revolution had made remained, but
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: there was no real democracy or self government, which was
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: what the Republicans had fought so hard for. Each district
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: in France was governed by men chosen by Napoleon, so
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: that he had the whole government of the country in
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: his hands, just as much as Lewis the fourteenth had had.
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: The people were not more free under Napoleon in many
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: ways than they had been before. The freedom of the press,
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: which the revolutionaries had given, by which any man could
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: publish any book he liked, now stopped. Every book had
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: to have the consent of people appointed by the Emperor. Then, too,
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: Napoleon could imprison or send any one out of the
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: country just as he liked. He had his spies everywhere
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: to watch the people and inform him if anyone was
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: dangerous to the government. As time went on, too, Napoleon
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: became more and more anxious to have a magnificent court.
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: The old nobles who were willing to come back were
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: gladly received, for Napoleon liked to have men with high
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: sounding names around him. The revolutionaries had said there should
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: be no new titles, but Napoleon loved to make men
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: dukes for their services to him, and a new nobility
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: grew up around him. His coronation with Josephine in eighteen
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: o four was a very gorgeous affair. Napoleon had pursued
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the new Pope Pious the seventh to go to Paris
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: for the coronation, but when the moment came, he preferred
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: to put the crown on his head himself. Napoleon was
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: dressed for the ceremony in a red velvet coat and
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: over it a purple robe of velvet trimmed with ermine,
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: while Josephine knelt beside him in white satin and diamonds.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Russia had by this time made peace with Napoleon, for
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: the Tsar Paul admired him very much, and had only
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: really been led to declare war against France because Napoleon
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: had attacked the Turks, and Russia thought that the western
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: countries of Europe should leave the East alone, and that
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: if any one one land from Turkey, it should be
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Russia herself. So now Napoleon had England and Austria to fight.
• 17:56
  Speaker 1: He knew that a large Austrian army was at the
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: foot of the Italian side of the Alps, near the
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: Mount Saint Bernard, a very difficult place, but he led
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: his men across. It was a very difficult march with
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: cannons and baggage, but Napoleon's soldiers could do almost anything.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: They fought the Austrians and won the Great Battle of
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: Marengo in Germany, another of Napoleon's generals won the Battle
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: of hohen Linden. And now Austria too made peace, leaving
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: Napoleon with all his conquests, and so once more England
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: was left to fight France alone. Russia had persuaded Sweden, Prussia,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and Denmark, all the countries with ships on the Baltic
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: to complain of the way in which England treated their ships.
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: England had forbidden ships of countries which were not at
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: war to carry things between countries which were at war,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: and other things which were quite right. For if England
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: had not forbidden these things, a country like Sweden could
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: have helped France very much against her without declaring war.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: But now these countries complained and England had to fight them.
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: A fleet was sent to Denmark under Nelson, but over
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: him was Sir Hyde Parker, who was not nearly so
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: fine a fighter or officer as Nelson. He sent messages
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: to the Danes, hoping to be able to make an
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: agreement without fighting. This made Nelson very impatient, but the
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Danes were obstinate, and so a great battle was fought
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: outside the harbor of the city of Copenhagen, the capital
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: of Denmark. It was a hard fight, and in the
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: middle of it, Sir hyde Parker, fearing that the English
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: could be defeated, put up a signal cease action. Nelson
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: did not see it at first, and when some one
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: told him of it, he put a telescope to his
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: blind eye, for he had lost one eye and an
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: arm too in battle some years before, and said, I
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: do not see the signal, and so went on fighting.
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: He was right, for the English won a great victory.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: The Danes promised to give up their fleet, and now
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Napoleon had no more hope of destroying England's power on
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the seas. Soon after the Sar Paul died and his
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: son Alexander became king. Though Alexander admired Napoleon too, he
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: was much under the influence of his mother and her friends,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: and he was persuaded to give up the friendship with France.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: So England had her way after all about the ships
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: of the countries which were not at war. Just at
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: this point, the younger Pitt, the son of the Great
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: Earl of Chatham gave up his position as head of
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: government in England. It was he who had been so
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: determined to fight the French, and Napoleon took advantage of
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: his absence to arrange a peace with England. A peace
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: was signed, but it did not last long. Napoleon never
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: meant it to. He hated England with a bitter hatred.
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: So far he had been able to conquer the old
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: fashioned armies of the European countries, but everywhere the English
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: had won by sea. These victories of the English were
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: partly owing to the fact that the English were a
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: real nation, while the feeling of nationality was not awake
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: yet in Europe, except perhaps in France itself. The armies
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: of Austria made war on Napoleon because their emperor told
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: them too, but they had no great interest in the battle.
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: Later on, when the peoples of Europe began to hate Napoleon,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: things were different. The younger pitt came back to power
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: in eighteen o four and immediately began to play another coalition.
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: But even before this Napoleon was building a great fleet
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: of flat bottomed boats in which he hoped to carry
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: soldiers across to England and conquer it. He knew that
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: England had no great army to meet his, but already
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: Englishmen everywhere were offering themselves as volunteers and drilling hard
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: so as to be able to fight the French when
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: they came. Napoleon ordered Spain, whose weak King Charles the
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: Fourth was entirely in his power, to build a fleet too.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: The French and Spanish fleets were to sail to the
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: West Indies, and Napoleon hoped that the greater part of
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: the British fleet would follow them. Then the remaining French
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: fleet would easily destroy the English fleet in the Channel
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: and land the army of England in England. But things
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: went wrong. The English fleet watched the others too well,
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: and the whole plan failed. Meanwhile, Pitt had got his
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: coalition when Russia and Austria joined him once more in
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: war against Napoleon. One thing which made the other countries
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: very angry was the way that Napoleon behaved when in
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: eighteen o four he found out a plot to kill
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: him and put the uncle of Louis the sixteenth on
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the French throne. This uncle, who was called Louis the
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: eighteenth by the Royalists was in England and Napoleon could
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: not get at him, but he ordered French soldiers to
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: arrest the Duc Deongillon, a young prince of the French
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: royal family who was living in one of the German states.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: Napoleon had no right to arrest a prisoner in any
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: other country. This was an insult in itself, but people
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: were still more horrified to hear that the young prince
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: had been shot by order of Napoleon, although he had
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: not had anything to do with the plot. The death
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: of Nelson in October eighteen o five, Napoleon, seeing that
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: he could not lend his army in England, sent it
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: across Europe to fight the Austrians in Bavaria. It won
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: a great victory at Ulm, but two days after Nelson
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: won another victory at sea, the Victory of Trafalgar. The
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: Battle of Trafalgar was fought off the Spanish coast near
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: the Cape of Trafalgar. The English under Nelson fought the
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: United fleets of France and Spain. The ships fought close
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: together in a terrible struggle, and the English almost completely
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: destroyed the enemy's fleets. At the beginning of the fight,
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: Nelson ordered the famous signal to be made to all
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: his ships. England expects every man to do his duty,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: but Nelson, at the head of his line of ships,
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: on his own ship the Victory, was wounded in the breast.
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: His coat was covered with metals, which he had refused
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: to take off when someone suggested that the enemy would
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: recognize him through them and shoot specially at him. But
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: as he was carried down below deck to die, he
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: covered them and his face with the handkerchief, lest his
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: men should see that he was dying and be discouraged.
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: Before he died, he knew that the victory had been won.
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: Almost His last words were thank God, I have done
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: my duty, and then he asked his friend Captain Hardy
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: to kiss him. We may still see Nelson's ship the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Victory at anchor outside Portsmouth Harbor. Very quaint, it seems
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: to us to day when we compare our own ironclad
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: man of war with this battleship of a hundred years ago.
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: In spite of Trafalgar, Napoleon seemed all powerful, for after
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: Ulm he won a very brilliant victory at Austerlitz, and
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: once more Austria and Russia made peace with him. At
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars, the leader of
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: the revolution had tried to set up republics all around France,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: but now Napoleon did away with the republics and turned
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: them into kingdoms, as he had really made France again.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: But they were not to be independent kingdoms. Most of
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: them were ruled by Napoleon's brothers or his generals, and
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: all of course had to do exactly what the Emperor
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: told them. All Napoleon really cared for now was victory
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: and power. He drove the king and Queen from Naples
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: and put his brother Joseph there as king of the
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: two Sicilies. Holland or the Batvian Republic now became a
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: kingdom again under his brother Louis. The Electorate of Hanover,
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: which belonged to the English king was taken and for
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: a time given to Prussia, but later, with some other
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: states joined to it, became the Kingdom of Westphalia, and
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: over this another brother, Jerome Buonaparte, reigned as king. Napoleon
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: had himself crowned King of North Italy. The smaller German
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: states he joined together under his protection and called them
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: the Confederation of the Rhine As. Though. To make all
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: these changes in Europe the more remarkable still, the Emperor
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: of Austria gave up his title of Holy Roman Emperor,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: which had been so carefully treasured and handed down through
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: the Middle Ages, and called himself for the future of
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: the hereditary Emperor of Austria. Napoleon would dearly have loved
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: the title of Roman Emperor for himself. All this Russia
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: and Austria had to agree to when the coalition broke
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: up in eighteen o six. Soon after this, William Pitt died.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: Charles James Fox, one of the greatest statesmen of the day,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: who had at first been enthusiastic about the French Revolution
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: because of its cry for freedom, now tried to make
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: peace with Napoleon too, but failed. Now, at last, the
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: King of Prussia, Frederic William the Third, declared War II
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: against Napoleon, but his army was completely defeated in the
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: Battle of Jena, and Napoleon marched to Berlin, the Prussian capital.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: Then Russia joined the army of Prussia, but both were defeated,
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: and Napoleon and Alexander of Russia met and made the
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: Peace of Tilsit. They met in a raft on the
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: middle of the river at Tilsit, Napoleon cleverly did all
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: he could to make the young Tsar admire him. When
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: he had done this, he flattered him by suggesting that
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: they too should divide Europe and Asia between them. Napoleon's
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: idea was that he himself should be Emperor of the West,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: by which he meant all Europe except Russia and Sweden,
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: while Alexander should be Emperor of the East and be
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: allowed to win power over Sweden and Turkey. The idea
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: pleased Alexander very much. For five years, Napoleon and Alexander
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: were friends. Napoleon's first idea after the Peace of Tilsit
• 29:39
  Speaker 1: was to try once more to ruin England. He forbade
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: every country in Europe to trade with Britain. As every
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: country in Europe depended very much on the things brought
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: to them in English ships, this would have been very difficult.
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: The countries of Europe still bought things brought in English
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: ships and had to pay more for them because of
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: the extra difficulties. Even Napoleon had to buy cloth for
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: his soldier's clothes from England. The two most faithful friends
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: which England had were Sweden and the little Kingdom of Portugal.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: Alexander of Russia was left to deal with Sweden. Alexander
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: attacked Sweden, whose brave King Gustavus the fourth was made
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: to abdicate because he would not give up his friendship
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: with England. His uncle was made king of Sweden, but
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: had to agree that one of Napoleon's generals should be
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: king after him. He had to give up Finland too,
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: which was now taken by Russia. While Napoleon made up
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: his mind to punish Portugal, he thought it would be
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: easy enough. He made up his mind to send a
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: French army into Spain, and he asked the chief officer
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: of the Spanish king to join a Spanish army. These
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: two armies poured into Portugal, and the royal family and
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: all the greatest men of Portugal took refuge in the fleet.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Some English ships came to protect them, and they sailed
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: off to Brazil. Meanwhile, there was much quarreling between the
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: King Charles the fourth of Spain, who was almost an imbecile,
• 31:21
  Speaker 1: and his son Ferdinand, who was not much better. Napoleon
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: asked them both to meet him at Bayonne and there,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: he threatened Ferdinand, who called himself already king of Spain
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: because his father had abdicated, that if he also did
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: not give up his claim to the throne in a
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: few hours, he should be treated as a rebel. So
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: Ferdinand gave up his rights to his father again. But
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: Charles the fourth had already sold his kingdom to Napoleon
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: for a palace in France and a pension. Then Napoleon
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: offered the crown of Spain to Louis, his brother, remarking
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: that the climate of Holland did not suit him. But
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: Louis refused, and it was then given to Joseph Buonaparte,
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: who gave up his kingdom of the Two Sicilies to
• 32:12
  Speaker 1: one of Napoleon's generals. Spain's struggle with Napoleon, but while
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: Napoleon had been busy making all these arrangements, he had
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: forgotten all about the Spanish people. It was a dreadful mistake.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: They were very angry, indeed, when they heard that their
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: country was being bought and sold in this way. National
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: feeling in Spain rose against Napoleon. The people were determined
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: to fight this conqueror and tyrant. Every peasant took up arms,
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: and though the armies of Spain were made up of
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: men who had not fought before, they soon showed themselves
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: able to fight the French armies on equal terms. The
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: Siege of Saragosa, the capital of Aragon, is among the
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: famous sieges of history. There were only a few hundred
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Spanish soldiers to hold its low brick wall against a
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: large French army, But women and children, and monks and nuns,
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: as well as the ordinary men of the city did
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: their part to help. The children carried the cartridges which
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: the nuns made. When the hospital where the wounded soldiers
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: lay was set on fire, the women carried the men
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: from their beds through the flames. At another place, an
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: army of eighteen thousand French had to surrender their arms
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: to an army of young Spanish soldiers, quite new to war.
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: The tale of these things spread through Europe. The English
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: sent armies to to help the Spaniards, and so began
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: the Peninsular War. In this war there fought on the
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: English side Sir Arthur Wellesley, who afterwards became famous as
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: the Duke of Wellington. He had already won gray victories
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: for England over the Natives of India, who had risen
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: against the English when Napoleon had sent them word that
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: he was coming to help them drive the English out
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: of India. Wellesley landed in Portugal in August eighteen o
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: eight and drove the French armies right out of that country.
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: This was a great gain, for now England had a
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: country from which she could attack Napoleon over land. Sir
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Arthur Wellesley was called back to England, but Sir John
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: Moore in the same winter, prevented Napoleon, who had now
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: come unexpectedly, from conquering the south. Sir John Moore had
• 34:43
  Speaker 1: to lead his men over the ridges of the hills
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: of Galicia to Koruna, where he expected English ships to
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: take his worn out soldiers back to England. It was
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: one of the greatest retreats of history. The hills were
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: covered with snow now and then the English had to
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: turn and fight the foremost of those following them. Napoleon
• 35:06
  Speaker 1: did not follow long, for he had to go back
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: to Germany, but one of his generals took his place.
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: At last. When they reached the coast, the English army
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: turned and fought one more great battle. They won, but
• 35:20
  Speaker 1: the noble Sir John Moore was killed. Every child knows
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: the poem which tells about his burial. Then Sir Arthur
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: Wellesley came back to Spain. For five years he fought
• 35:32
  Speaker 1: against the French generals there. The Spanish armies were not
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: much used to him, but the ordinary peasants and working
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: people helped him very much. He had to fight the
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: great battles himself, but wherever a few French soldiers were
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: met by peasants, they were attacked and killed, for the
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: Spaniards were now full of hate for the French, who
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: had tried to buy and sell their nation. During five years,
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: Napoleon had to leave two hundred fifty thousand soldiers to
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: fight in Spain while he himself was fighting in other places.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: He always thought that his officers there were fighting badly.
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: It was a long time before he understood what a
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: great soldier Wellesley was, though at last he said so.
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: The story tells us this Wellesley seems to be a man. Indeed,
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: he did not then know that this same Wellesley, as
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: Duke of Wellington, was to overthrow his power. At last.
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: The example of Spain filled the peoples of Europe with enthusiasm.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: Up to now there had not been any real national
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: feeling in any country of Europe except England. In the
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: East of Europe, as we have seen, districts were bought
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: and sold and handed about from one country to another.
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: But now things were different. The peoples in Europe began
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: to hate Napoleon, just as the people of Spain did.
• 37:01
  Speaker 1: The French Revolution itself, though it now seemed a failure,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: had spread new ideas of freedom among the peoples of Europe.
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: Napoleon himself, though he would have no government by the people,
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: which was what the leaders of the revolution had wanted,
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: made many reforms in the countries he conquered. Better laws
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: and justice were given in France, much better schools were
• 37:27
  Speaker 1: set up, and Napoleon tried to have even the poor
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: boys in the countries he conquered educated, though he thought
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: that education did not matter at all for girls. They
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: were best at home with their mothers. He thought he
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: was very old fashioned indeed on this subject. But perhaps
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: the greatest reform of all was the setting free of
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: many serfs in the East of Europe. With this freedom,
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: the peasants began to feel a hope and pride in
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: the countries to which they belonged. The defeat of the
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: Prussians at Jena made that people very angry, and a
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: great Prussian statesman named Stein now arose and made many
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: reforms in Prussia. The serfs were free, and every young
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: man was trained in the army. Many of these things
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: were what Napoleon himself had advised in other countries. But
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: when he found people doing these things for themselves, he
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: was afraid, for he knew that the love of freedom
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: would grow, and that the nations would rise against him.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: So he made the King of Prussia send Stein away,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: But he could not destroy the work he had begun.
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: A new love of freedom spread through all Germany, a
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: sort of excitement like that which had moved the men
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: of the Renaissance. New German poets like the great Geete
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: began to write, and the young men of Germany joined
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: themselves in secret clubs and societies, determined to drive the
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: hated foreigners out of their land. The little district of
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: Tyrol had belonged to Austria for four hundred years, but
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: now it had been given to the King of Bavaria.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: It rose in revolt. Tyroll is a country of mountains
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: where simple peasants lived but it was the peasants who
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: were now showing themselves so brave everywhere. They were led
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: by Andrew Hoffer, a village innkeeper, a tall man strong
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: as a giant. The peasants rose under him and won
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: their country back for a time, but they were defeated
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: later and Hoffer was shot. Meanwhile, Napoleon had defeated the
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: Austrians once more at the Battle of Wagram. The Emperor
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: of Austria was forced to make peace, and he was
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: forced to allow an Austrian princess, the Archduchess Marie Louise,
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: to marry Napoleon. The emper Ruis Josephine had not had
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: any children since her marriage with Napoleon, and he longed
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: above all things to have a son to hold his
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: empire after him. So now he deforced Josephine, in spite
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: of her begging him not to do so. She lived
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: quietly by herself after this, and the Emperor sometimes visited her.
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: He was full of joy when Marie Louise had a son,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: who is generally called the young Napoleon. He did not
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: know that while his son was still a little child,
• 40:34
  Speaker 1: he would lose the empire. He had meant to hand
• 40:37
  Speaker 1: on to him the fall of Napoleon. Napoleon seemed now
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: more powerful than ever. The English armies which were sent
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: to help in Europe were not sent to the right places.
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: For the second Lord Chatham, the son of the elder
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: Pitt and the brother of the younger, was not a
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: clever man, and it was he who had the arrange
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: of the war. But now at last the friendship between
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: Alexander of Russia and Napoleon came to an end. Alexander
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: would not help Napoleon to try to ruin the English trade,
• 41:12
  Speaker 1: and so Napoleon made up his mind to attack Russia itself.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: He led what he called his Grand Army, of half
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: a million of his best soldiers, trained now in many
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: years of war. Half of these were French, the rest
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: soldiers from the countries he had conquered. When he reached
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: Dresden with his army, Marie Louise and the Little King
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: of Rome, as the Baby was called, were with him.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: The Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia and other
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: kings were present to do him honor. It was for
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: the last time, and now Napoleon led his great army
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: into Russia. He was sure of victory, but he did
• 41:55
  Speaker 1: not know Russia. On he marched across the Vasque country,
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: but the heat was terrible, for in Russia the summers
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: are very hot and the winter's terribly cold. Many horses
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: died and many soldiers deserted it, and the Russian generals,
• 42:11
  Speaker 1: instead of fighting, led Napoleon on across the Vasque country.
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Winter was coming on, and Napoleon thought of staying where
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: he was till the spring, but he was impatient. He
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: must conquer Russia and take Moscow at once, and so
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: he pushed on. One battle there was, in which he
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: conquered the Russians, but lost thirty thousand men himself. A
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: week later, the Grand Army, or what was left of it,
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: reached Moscow. Food had run short, but now all hoped
• 42:46
  Speaker 1: to get as much as they wanted. Napoleon expected that
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: the Tsar would come to meet him and surrender himself
• 42:54
  Speaker 1: and the keys of the capital. But what was his
• 42:57
  Speaker 1: surprise when he reached the city to fire the streets empty.
• 43:02
  Speaker 1: There were no people, and worse still, there was no food. Indeed,
• 43:07
  Speaker 1: the city was breaking into flames, for the Russians had
• 43:10
  Speaker 1: preferred to burn their town rather than give it up
• 43:13
  Speaker 1: to Napoleon, and now there was nothing to do but
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: turn back, and marched across that dreary land, through the
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: terrible frost and snow west Again. A Russian army blocked
• 43:25
  Speaker 1: the way, and in another battle, thousands more men were lost.
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: There was nothing to eat but horse flesh, and the
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: soldiers clothes froze on them. Napoleon, in the gray overcoat
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: which he always wore, was pale and haggard, with anxiety.
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: All the way. The Russians attacked the outer parts of
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: the army without giving battle. At the river Beresina, the
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: bridge had been cut down and the Russians were waiting
• 43:54
  Speaker 1: at the other side. The French built a bridge and
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: struggled across the icy water, but the Russians attacked them,
• 44:02
  Speaker 1: and thousands were driven back into the river and drowned.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: Napoleon never showed any sign of weakness, but led the
• 44:10
  Speaker 1: remnant of his army on until at the town of
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: Vilna he heard bad news and at last left his
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: army and pushed on as fast as he could to Paris.
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: After this the army fell into disorder, and only a
• 44:26
  Speaker 1: few thousands of the half million men whom Napoleon had
• 44:30
  Speaker 1: led so proudly into Russia, crossed the River Niemen, and
• 44:35
  Speaker 1: left it again. At Paris. Napoleon said that things had
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: gone well, but that the cold of the winter had
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: caused losses in the army. But he could not deceive Europe.
• 44:48
  Speaker 1: The Prussian people now rose and forced the government to
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: declare war once more on Napoleon. Russia joined them, and
• 44:57
  Speaker 1: then Austria. The armies against Nunapoleon were more dangerous than
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: ever before, but he did not give up hope. He
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: was still able to get together an enormous army, and
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: he won one more victory at Dresden. But at the
• 45:12
  Speaker 1: Great Battle of the Nations at Leipzig, he was defeated
• 45:16
  Speaker 1: and driven across the Rhine. Even now, the countries of
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: Europe would have been glad to leave him France for himself,
• 45:24
  Speaker 1: but he would not agree, and so the armies followed
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: him into France. Even now he won brilliant victories, but
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: he could no longer keep his enemies divided and fight
• 45:35
  Speaker 1: them one by one, as he had so often and
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: so cleverly done before. His generals told him it was
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: madness to resist, and at last the great Emperor, who
• 45:47
  Speaker 1: had defied Europe so long had to confess that he
• 45:51
  Speaker 1: was beaten. At first, he offered to abdicate in favor
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: of his son, but none would agree to this. He
• 45:58
  Speaker 1: had to abdicate altogether. But even now the people of
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: Europe hardly dared to suggest that he should become as
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: other men. He was still to be called Emperor, but
• 46:11
  Speaker 1: he was to be kept quite safe on the little
• 46:14
  Speaker 1: island of Elba, which was to be the only land
• 46:18
  Speaker 1: left to him. There Napoleon went, and the brother of
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: Louis the sixteenth came to be the King of France
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: and was called Louis the eighteenth. A congress of representatives
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: of the five great countries of Europe, Russia, Prussia, Austria,
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: France and Great Britain met at Vienna. There were many
• 46:40
  Speaker 1: things to settle after the terrible confusion of the last
• 46:44
  Speaker 1: twenty five years, and the representatives soon began to quarrel. Meanwhile,
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: Napoleon was lonely in Elba, alone with thoughts which drove
• 46:55
  Speaker 1: him nearly mad of all he had lost and all
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: he had Nearly one Marie Louise had gone home to
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: Austria and taken her baby with her. She had refused
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: to follow her husband to the lonely island of Elba.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: Napoleon had joked as he looked down one day from
• 47:15
  Speaker 1: the top of the highest hill in Elba, saying, with
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: a smile, it must be confessed that my island is
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: very small. But at last he could bear it no longer.
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: He made up his mind to have one last try
• 47:29
  Speaker 1: for power. He had heard that the new king of France,
• 47:34
  Speaker 1: Louis the eighteenth, was not a man whom the French
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: would love or admire. He knew too, that his own
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: soldiers had loved him, and remembered how the men of
• 47:45
  Speaker 1: his Imperial guard had wept when he bade them good bye.
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: He would go to France and try to win it
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: back again. Soon news came to Vienna that Napoleon had
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: landed in France and was marching to Paris, and that
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: the French soldiers were trooping to his standard and Louis
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: the eighteenth had fled. The Congress broke up. Nothing could
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: be done until he was conquered again. Wellington, who had
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: driven the French right out of Spain in eighteen thirteen,
• 48:18
  Speaker 1: was the man to save Europe. For a hundred days,
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: Napoleon ruled at Paris, getting together once more an enormous army,
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: while Prussia and England and Austria and Russia did the same.
• 48:33
  Speaker 1: But Napoleon was the quickest, and he made up his
• 48:36
  Speaker 1: mind to attack the Prussians under their general Blucher in Belgium,
• 48:42
  Speaker 1: then the English under Wellington, before the two armies could
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: join together, and before the Russians and Austrians, who were
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: marching across Europe, should come up to them, he attacked
• 48:53
  Speaker 1: the Prussians at Ligny and defeated them. Blucher then drew
• 48:59
  Speaker 1: his army back towards wards Wavre, but Napoleon thought he
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: had gone to Namur. Napoleon sent some regiments toward Namur
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: to prevent Blucher joining the English. He then turned to
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: attack Wellington at a place called quadru Bras or the
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: Four Roads. Wellington had already fought with one of Napoleon's officers,
• 49:23
  Speaker 1: but neither side won, and now Wellington drew off towards Waterloo,
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: a plain near Brussels. Here Napoleon followed and attacked, and
• 49:34
  Speaker 1: on the eighteenth of June, the Great Battle of Waterloo
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: was fought. It was the first time that Napoleon and
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: Wellington had met to fight each other. The English army
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: was posted on a ridge of hills on the road below.
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: He left men to guard the farmhouse of La Haye Saint,
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: and still further to the right, more men to guard
• 49:58
  Speaker 1: the farm and castle at the French were drawn up
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: on a ridge at the other side of the valley.
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: Both generals were sure of victory. At half past eleven
• 50:10
  Speaker 1: in the morning the battle began. Napoleon's plan of battle
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: was to stagger the enemy's front with artillery, and then
• 50:18
  Speaker 1: before they had recovered, to send in bodies of cavalry
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: to break them up or ride them down, but he
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: could hardly do this with the two farms in the way.
• 50:30
  Speaker 1: The French therefore made many determined attacks on La Hay
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: Saint and Haugoumont, but could not take them. It was
• 50:39
  Speaker 1: a tremendous struggle and very equal, but at half past
• 50:43
  Speaker 1: four in the afternoon, Bluger, with his Prussians, tired after
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: a long march but fresh enough to fight, came up
• 50:51
  Speaker 1: and attacked the right of the French army. Soon after,
• 50:54
  Speaker 1: Wellington cried up guards and at them, and the fifteen
• 50:59
  Speaker 1: high undred English guards whom he had kept in reserve
• 51:03
  Speaker 1: till then dashed on to the French ranks. The line
• 51:07
  Speaker 1: broke and the French turned and fled. Only the Imperial
• 51:12
  Speaker 1: guards stood close round the Emperor. The British begged them
• 51:17
  Speaker 1: to surrender, for they hated to cut down such brave men.
• 51:21
  Speaker 1: The guard dies, but does not surrender, was the answer.
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: At last, Napoleon rode sadly from the field. He had
• 51:29
  Speaker 1: lost everything. True, twenty five thousand English and Prussians lay
• 51:35
  Speaker 1: dead on the field, and Wellington wept as the list
• 51:39
  Speaker 1: was read to him. But it was the end of
• 51:41
  Speaker 1: the great struggle, and Napoleon knew it. He tried to
• 51:45
  Speaker 1: get away in a ship to America, but the shores
• 51:48
  Speaker 1: of France were too closely watched. At last he gave
• 51:52
  Speaker 1: himself up to the officers on the battleship the Bellerophon,
• 51:56
  Speaker 1: which sailed to Plymouth. Meanwhile, it had been decided that
• 52:00
  Speaker 1: he should be sent to the island of Saint Helena,
• 52:03
  Speaker 1: half way between the coasts of Africa and South America.
• 52:07
  Speaker 1: There he would be safe. He lived there for six years,
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: with sentinels posted round his house and an English officer
• 52:16
  Speaker 1: visiting him every day to make sure that he was
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: still there. English battleships lay at anchor round the island
• 52:24
  Speaker 1: to make dub shore. For the most part, he was
• 52:27
  Speaker 1: calm and spent much of his time writing down his memoirs,
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: the story of his life as it seemed to him.
• 52:35
  Speaker 1: There is much that is true and much that is
• 52:38
  Speaker 1: false in his story. Near him were always the portraits
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: of Josephine, who died soon after Waterloo, and Marie Louise,
• 52:48
  Speaker 1: and his son, the young Napoleon, who was never to
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: be emperor after all. Napoleon was buried at Saint Helena,
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: but years afterward the French people were mem bring his greatness,
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: for he was, after all one of the greatest men
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: who had ever lived. Had his body carried to Paris
• 53:08
  Speaker 1: and buried there in a gorgeous tomb with a circle
• 53:11
  Speaker 1: of great marble figures looking down on the spot where
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: the body of the Emperor lies. End of Chapter forty four.