Napoleon and Wellington

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the histories of Napoleon and the Duke of Wellington. On the morning of the battle of Waterloo Napoleon told his loyal lieutenants, “I tell you that Wellington is a bad general, that the English are bad troops and ce sera l’affaire d’un dejeuner”…in other words; ‘this, my friends, will be a picnic!’ But did Napoleon really have such little respect for the man who would be his nemesis, or when he dismissed the Iron Duke so lightly was he just trying to raise morale? There are some curious parallels between the two rivals, they were both born in the same year, 1769, both read the works of Caesar and chose Hannibal as their personal hero, both enjoyed the pleasures of two of the same mistresses, and they even ate the food of the same personal chef. Though Wellington bested Napoleon on the field of Waterloo in 1815, who was the greater general, who left the larger legacy and ultimately, who won?

→ Listen on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• Andrew Roberts 3 episodes
  Military historian
• Mike Broers 3 episodes
  University of Aberdeen
• Belinda Beaton No other episodes
  Department of History of Art, Oxford University

Related episodes

• Napoleon’s Hundred Days
  
  21 Apr, 2024 940 History of Europe
• Napoleon’s Retreat from Moscow
  
  19 Sep, 2019 940 History of Europe
• The Battle of Trafalgar
  
  2 Dec, 2021 900 History
• Hannibal
  
  11 Oct, 2012 930 History of the Ancient World
• The Congress of Vienna
  
  19 Oct, 2017 940 History of Europe
• The Art of War
  
  12 Jun, 2003 350 Public administration and military science
• The Siege of Orléans
  
  24 May, 2007 940 History of Europe
• New Wars
  
  13 Apr, 2000 350 Public administration and military science
• The Charge of the Light Brigade
  
  10 Jan, 2008 940 History of Europe
• The French Revolution’s Legacy
  
  14 Jun, 2001 940 History of Europe

Experimental. For more related episodes, visit the visual explorer.

---

Programme ID: p00547jy

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00547jy

Auto-category: 944.05092 (Napoleon and Wellington)

Hello (First sentence from this episode)

Hello. On the morning of the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon told his loyal lieutenants, I tell you that Wellington is a bad general, that the English are bad troops, and ce sera l'affaire d'un déjeuner.