many societies during times of crisis or war have russia's had that and times america has had that at times i mean it's just republicans in empire now but he was one of my books i call him a republican emperor because yes he was an emperor and he but he is he took power based on his skills and by the way he took power based on the desires of the french people the french people and they probably cite overwhelmingly ratified him as emperor and i have never read any where the vote was rigged he was extremely popular and becoming emperor because you know france was under attack from from some of the other countries and europe ever since the days of the french revolution in england and some of the old regime was in europe were trying to force the french to accept the bourbon king back again. and france's economy was it was a basket case it was just completely in the tank the revolutionary government and

the director had been totally unsuccessful in taking care of it so they wanted a strong leader they got a strong leader within one year he had to fix the economy he reorganized and made more equitable the education system he formed the bank of france where ever he went he opened up the jewish ghettos and remove it was you you definitely are a fan of nevada as well but it's not a common thing about a lot of this comes from the serious study of a you have you got to realize i've read an awful lot about well i'm sure i'm sure will but still i'm going to ask you my next question because because we are more king these days that two hundred used since the historic russian campaign of the pope bonaparte to end here in this country the russians are convinced that first of all the code had lost this war definitely and that and that it was the russian campaign that actually was the beginning of the end of the pope. well you know i

was the emperor and it was the it was here that he's glory and arrogance actually and it's so is this a fact do you believe that really the russian campaign was the main cause of the put in the in the play to probably disagree with the word arrogance and we could talk about that all night but absolutely otherwise completely agree of course the russian campaign was the single biggest reason why the polling in the critical you say single biggest single ladies i mean there there were there were other factors there the confederation of the rhine which was the german confederation was beginning to lead to a sense of german unity and with that came believe that why do they need to be under the auspices of the french empire the spanish ulcer obviously was was another a military problem for for napoleon but there's no question about of the single biggest reason for the ultimate decline of the polian was the campaign of eight

hundred twelve he was he was a pretty clever kid and he was a smart politician so do you think today looking looking back at history that it was absolutely necessary for france to start this campaign or was it the adventure well. absolutely does a syria is a strong thing but nothing is ever absolutely necessary there's almost always a way you can you can try to find something you know afford to have an independent share at the eastern borders of from one part it wasn't a question of independence it was a question the continental system with alexander had agreed pearl xander first russia had agreed to participate in the continental system which was an economic blockade of great britain who was the main adversary napoleonic france. it wasn't working real well and it wasn't even working real well. and france and

alexander was under a great deal of pressure from his family and his nobles and business class too to say the heck with with with this and to reestablish legitimate trade with england there was already smuggling going on all across europe the continent system was working in some respects it was actually putting pressure on great britain but it was also putting pressure on the continental europe so it was becoming less popular than they could be. that said couldn't polian have somehow managed to work things out with alexander well he tried but he may have tried too late there were negotiations back and forth and it wasn't just the continental system it was also the dutch a warsaw that the russians were really really unhappy vet napoleon had created this this. duchy of warsaw which was then closely allied with france. both sides prepared for war it was this some makes this one should russia did.

all absolutely they both sides knew it was coming neither side wanted alexander did not want to war and he told the poland he would not take the first step now who knows if he ever would have the pollie and took. a chance that alexander could have attacked oh of course it was they could have crossed it would alexander made a very concerted effort he got into an alliance with with the sweden he finished up the issue with with turkey with the ottoman empire where there had been a conflict and he boba lies to his troops and he made certain demands on the poland he he demanded at one point that napoleon abolished the duchy of warsaw be turning his back on the poles who he had promised to to to to protect. both sides made demands that they ought to have known the other side wasn't going to be able to take but there was room for agreement alexander could have been a little more willing to give in and the polian could have been

a little more willing to give in and it might very well a worked out they had a pretty good personal relationship after till sit in heaven they actually did have a good relationship polian and eighty nine after he at the battle of wagner where he defeated the austrians was actually very generous to alexander who hadn't really been much help in that campaign even though they were allied but he gave us a significant chunk of territory to to. to russia two to alexander. and the final analysis on the poland just had to make the decision that he did he want to fight he wanted to fight on russian territory and not fight in poland our german says david markham president of the international napoleonic society spotlight will be back shortly we'll continue this interview in less than a minute so don't go with it.

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don't come. welcome back to spotlight i'm just a reminder that my guest on the show today is they mark am president of the international napoleonic society as we can see the code the napoleonic code it is written all of your ties is that it is something i thought that a point like. bunch of french stuff but but it does have a i do mean a volleyball you know and and ok the ring is an eighteen thirteen forty franc piece too so you know so is it authentic i think i think ok so we we've just started talking about the eight hundred twelve war of france which napoleon afford against against the russians now let's take a look at the history of the french invasion of russia back in eight hundred twelve here's this report from spotlights union they did neither. the

battle of the bloodiest in the napoleonic wars is recreated every year at its historic location with people having the chance to hear napoleon's cannon bones and smell of gunpowder the french on the invaded russia in june eight in twelve four in the polo and by then anon defeated military genius with almost all of europe on the his control that was a natural step and satiate in his imperialist to capital at first things went well for the french russians not ready for a major battle kept on retreating the battle which eventually changed the course a war happened on the seventh of september in the village of burden on the a moscow the russian troops were led by. two huge ami's question in the greatest battle up to that moment of the quarter of

a new and soldiers involved seventy thousand became casualties ever since but those of have been considered one of the most brilliant russian military leaders napoleon was so impressed by the russians he described them as invincible deserves our army had to retreat the battle left the french so devastated they could never recover their losses in poland and to more school seven days after the battle several things could spoil the joy for him at the time st petersburg and not moscow was russia's capital beside the moscow in the pool and it was abandoned and burned so was not to let the french get any supplies and the poland waited in vain for the russian tsar to capitulate the lack of supplies the coming of russian winter and the constant guerrilla warfare contributed to the eventual defeat of his army this triumphal arch in moscow which looks very much like the one in paris is the main symbol of russia's victory the war lost by the french quarter now when the poland's

reputation as an invincible military leader and it also reached. dramatically european politics at the time that was the beginning of the decline of french control of the country. david well i hope we both know a little bit more about the war now but the question that i don't think anybody knows the answer but me can give us a and did napoleon have a chance of winning the borg session and was there. oh absolutely once had the russians decided to give battle early on in the campaign which was what napoleon had anticipated that was normally the way that what they want you have and you know if it ever was that what interest it would the wars and i'm right that the wars of that's that period of time in history they wouldn't would by like taking territories they will most of them the one by armies by

a pretty compact armies you know was that major battle and that battle decided which king was what it might have been more than one battle but typically it was battles and one side wins and the other side loses and when the polian came across the name and river at eight hundred twelve he had what was probably the largest army in the history of the world up to that time numbers vary but it was somewhere around six hundred thousand roughly a third of which were french and the rest were his allies so it was too late they call it the grand army of the great army and has even gone as even this street and paris levy knew they were going down the legal amount of the measures three and you know so it had totally are but rossy own who were the two commanders of the russian forces in the west at that time given battle or had the polian not made some delays that allowed them to slip away then the polling almost certainly would do

what i think any russian historian would tell you that at that point the polian power was so overwhelming but on the field of battle but of course there the russians are not idiots they they are they know that and they and they even warned napoleon literally the tsar and others had warned polio we're not going to do that we're going to draw you into mother russia we're going to make you extend your lines of supply lose lose this elusive there that no radio is going to mean the line of command is there anything you're going to lose. some supplies you're going to have to leave men behind to guard your your lines of supply communication which means by the time you do end up fighting us you're not going to be six hundred thousand dollars unless you were even worse than today well you know yes yes absolutely absolutely all of the traffic in moscow wasn't this bad. at any rate so when they finally did fight at bora deano and the polling was right about

one thing there's no way that politically the emperor alexander could have allowed the ground are made the polian to take moscow without a fight because they couldn't surrender that city so to saw who was by then in command of the forces did pitch a battle at burra dado and by the normal ways of determining who wins and who loses . the the ground army won the russians lost and the russians lost because they had to retreat they had to leave the field the battle of the polling was left holding it and then he had an unimpeded way on and to moscow i should say it was well at least it was a draw but we had to treat because otherwise it would have lost his army because i say something close to i say the in the polling clearly won but that it didn't matter because because there was really nothing that was going to happen in his

favor ok he gets to moscow had moscow not been burned by the by the russians which was a very smart move in my opinion for them to do that he might have winter there got reinforcements it might have been ok but between being bloodied badly burra deano and then not really being able to effectively stay a while so i wouldn't know that russia wants or you know it is a major reason for that is aster however. what's not as well known is that the russian summer extremely hot actually caused a lot of casualties caused a lot of horses to die had a lot of men to die there was there were there were problems going in as well as going out but of course the images of the russian winter and the soldiers freezing and all this stuff. clothing i mean they didn't have one of clothes because napoleon never expected to go even to smolensk one and the worst case

smolensk would have been as far as he was going to go i have already said that it's in the opinion of many many historians he betrayed the the interest of the french revolution you don't agree to that but another thing about betrayal many people say especially the russians say that napoleon i mean this stories have betrayed no maori because because when the army started retreating napoleon. left the army and rushed rushed back to france did you think that was a betrayal knowing first of all it's not true that if he didn't leave when they started he didn't leave the army until they had crossed the barriers ina and were relatively safe on the other side of the bures even getting into poland at that point he had been gone long enough there had been uncovered a plot against him in france. and so at that point he and a few close advisors decided to to to leave the army where he was no longer really necessary i mean he he the army what was left of it was compact it was now forming

into a reasonable force it could continue moving moving west on its own he was needed in paris you have to remember he wasn't just a commanding general he was a commanding general alone and then took off yeah you could say he betrayed them but he was also the emperor of the french and he had to get back and run his country i looked such a big fan of the russians or alexander as the year of napoleon but still. do you think that it was these so responsibility from the po we have been. partly i mean the bloodshed of these napoleonic wars were the should it there was a collective guilt of the countries involved maybe including the russian empire i would say absolutely a collective guilt in fact i would say that probably it has less skill for most of them if you look at it if you if you look at the goal in the poll the poll when it was just because he won there was not a great way out of me because he gave his name to the whole epic most most serious historians call them the war of coalitions there was

a series of coalitions that each time that was a different set of countries. russia and france were allies for for a number of years. and they this goes back to the french revolution they couldn't stand to things they couldn't stand the french revolution had taken away the king's illegitimately is in there in their view and they couldn't stand this upstart bonaparte who had managed to come in and take over and become emperor a trying to be like them from their point of view and so you have a constant sort of coalitions being raised to try to force france to take back bourbon king and if you don't believe me look what happened anything fourteen eight hundred fifty that's exactly what they did they didn't say ok france you have this this terrible napoleon we beat him now you decide who you would like to have as your leader and what kind of government no you will take louis the eighteenth whether you like it or not it's an interesting thing like at that time all the

kings all the leaders of the major european countries they were good friends and usually reality was going to say they really related a lot of what they all went to war nowadays they all hate each other but they expect to. go against well i'm going to run many each other in half pace and then let me be good and good buddies and relatives of that war and you see david you seen the polian said conquest has a project aimed at creating a united to europe so does that mean we can compare it with today's european. the union which is led by france and germany from the way lots of people actually believe that napoleon was the forerunner of a unified europe that he was the first stage in the development of what became modern modern europe but it wasn't necessarily totally determined by what he was planning because as i said he did not start with the possible exception you could argue of eight hundred twelve where it was a kind of a question of who made the first move the other coalitions were moves against him

by various forces and then he wins and he ends up taking territory and he did have a vision at least he said when he was in exile st helena of a unified europe with with one system of weights and measures and so for that i was joking and one leader namely him you know which is fair enough he was not the only one who had that kind of hope thank you thank you very much for being with this was a thrill listening to you and i have just to remind you that my guest today was david more akin to president of the international on the podium in this time spotlight we'll be back with more three don't comment on what's going on and then pounce on aggression until then it's on t.v. and take your.

syria's rebels declare civilian airport thought their latest target and one that international flights are shooting straight anywhere near the country's two largest cities. turkey's push for a no fly zone over syria sends activists rallying as far away as germany both for and against the assad regime. actions are speak louder than words in the israel now as a country launches a massive war propaganda campaign along with emergency drills. lots of the sponsor getting attention for all the wrong reasons at the london paralympics and among disability it to boost the as a forum which they say humiliates them as a key backer of the games. when

live from moscow are you watching our team with me to bang with say first civilian airports in syria in a cross haze of the country's largest rebel group the free syrian army in a statement on his facebook page the group that said that the a pause in damascus and aleppo were hosting military wife says part of an alleged arms smuggling network for the government earlier this month the rebels were handed dozens of lethal u.s. made anti a missile launchers the delivery thought to have been carried out by the rebels western backers wired turkey to strong condemnation the editor of the independent website in syria tribunals says of the rebels tactics be on the pale. the rebels saying that they are attacking civilian airports now is just one more step in revealing that actual terrorist nature because it's against every law in the world to attack civilian airports for whatsoever reasons i'm actually surprised they are

still enjoying this support when the international community sees the rebels slaughtering people civilian people in the street and throwing them from their office and still support them this gives the wrong message to the rebels that whatever they do they will still enjoy this twisted support at the moment the free syrian army is not heavily armed well enough to win any battle against the syrian army the syrian official army just like what has been happening in the past months but it is definitely have really aren't enough to harm civilians and to endangered the lives of many syrian people. the syrian rebels a new thread to target a poor that isn't going down well with the international community including russia and moscow foreign minister sergey lavrov reiterated his stance that the path to peace doesn't lie in arming one faction or the other artes oksana boyko has the details. meanwhile russian foreign minister officials have already commented on this latest development the deputy foreign minister again not

a good deal of. rats like these is a direct result of the you responsible policy to arm syrian rebels in the mean time if you force russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov was talking to you. thank you once again reiterating that if international players are really interested in trying to board and to bloodshed that they should apply pressure on both sides of this conflict as it says it's your those demanding that could be just the government forces in syria while at the same time the urging the opposition continue fighting since this position is based on the feeling that these forces are ready to pay an extra price which will be a huge number of human lives to go abroad he also said that when it comes to goals international goals in syria russia has absolutely no disagreement with the west russia also wants to see syria free democratic stable state where the main disagreement lies on the means of achieving that goal and whether it could be done

through violence and armed with this international intervention or whether it could be done through diplomatic efforts and internal syrian dialogue. reason pushes for military intervention in syria via a no fly zone have mobilized both pro and anti assad crowds around the world in germany's financial capital of frankfurt about a thousand demonstrators have gathered demanding an end to foreign web mentally in the civil war our correspondent is at the ready. well here in frankfurt in the square in front of the opera house a crowd of around a thousand people have gathered to demonstrate against foreign military intervention in syria they have been waving the flag of the syrian government at the moment the supreme syrian flag also bearing signs with the face of president bashar al assad they've been shouting their slogans in favor of the president and his ba'ath party however there is a small number of and see assad's. protest is just over there now there were some

heated clashes earlier on between the two groups the police have now moved in to separate them but the vast majority of people as i say just around a thousand it is growing throughout the day as this protest continues here they are against foreign military intervention they are in favor of bashar al assad may have come out here today transferred to the boy started cleaning up. the young frog so we're here to expose the lies about syria to the being shown to the rest of the world the dead that are being shown were killed by terrorists and blamed on the son sponsored by nato the u.s. . also conditional and say up to date with how the story is developing by following peter's twitter stream.

he appears to be a wolf in sheep's clothing among those who finals at the london paralympics activists are angry that a firm accused of racking the lives of thousands of disabled people as trying to burnish his image by sponsoring the games laura smith reports on what exactly caused the outrage. the paralympics are the ultimate display of triumph over adversity a showcase for people who've overcome their disabilities and achieved something amazing but hanging over this event is a shadow cast by a major sponsor at oss it's the firm the government's paying to assess disabled people's ability to work but it's blamed for humiliating the vulnerable and forcing people off benefits as part of the country's austerity drive they are making money out.