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“Talleyrand was in a black mood. All that he had achieved over the past eighteen months had been destroyed: the bloodless and amiable return of the Bourbons in 1814 was being travestied by the vindictive and mean minded 2nd Restoration. The favorable conditions obtained for France by the Treaty of Paris in 1814 were to be revised and the equal status he had worked so hard to attain for her in Vienna was no more.”

That was Zamoyski on Talleyrand, not Duff Cooper. There is another reality, when you add the dimension of time. Over 3 years the terms against France lightened considerably. France’s financial infrastructure finally, finally, finally 3 times finally caught up the to greatness of the country., to its weight in the world. And after those 3 years, yeah France was a great power.

And once the Bourbon was overthrown in 1830, Soult began the process of creating a new overseas empire. And Europe finally got rid of that hive of scum and villainy, the slave taking corsairs of the Barbary Coast. It wasn’t just the triumph of civilization, however temporary over ancient horror slave states like the north African statelets. It was finally blocking the Russians from expanding in that area, which they were constantly proposing to do under the Christian duty to fight slavery and the other horrors of north Africa.

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There is a commonplace, dismissive, reductive argument you will hear all the time. That napoleon stood no chance. Even if he had triumphed on the field at Waterloo, as in some ways he really could have. The forces arrayed against him were so massive he had really no hope. A huge Austrian and German army was coming in from the Rhine, in addition to the British army with its line of communications through Brussels and the Prussians with their line of communications further east. And a truly massive Russian force was gathering at Wurzberg.

Napoleon was strategically outnumbered 5:1. He could triumph for a day, for a battle, for a campaign perhaps. But the advantages of the French army, high quality leadership, the elan of its men, were just not so marked as they had been in the past. His own genius and energy was more fitful now that he was older. There was really no hope of French military triumph.

So that’s the common historical analysis you will see everywhere, in everything 21st century, and it is not wrong. But step in a little closer and there are a number of fascinating elements. Like, who is really the Legitimate ruler in France?

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Last episode we looked at France, Scandinavia and Italy. Italy was particularly fascinating, but we were bare able to scratch the surface.

Now we look at Germany, contrasting Talleyrand's careful thought about France and Louis the 18th with Metternich and Hardenberg's lack of vision.

Finally, Castlereagh gives up his efforts to get the slave trade abolished and settles for a compromise. This allows him to deploy his super power, cold hard cash, to essentially buy Alexander's agreement on the Saxon Question. Tempers cool, the allies will stay together.

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Last episode we described how in Paris there was a party like atmosphere, the dreamy, giddy glow of it, how it sucked in the later arrivals. The immense joy they all wallowed in. Part of the peace settlement allowed France to keep all the looted art they had taken from all over Europe. And I’ve mentioned this before, but the allied leaders saw the Louvre for the first time. And were suitably impressed. They all believed that this was the appropriate way to do public art. Many in the allied delegations went to the Louvre daily.

But there were more difficult and thornier issues to settle in Vienna.

There were massive issues in Germany, Poland, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, and Latin America (would they stay independent, would they go back? could they go back?), the low countries and Switzerland and island colonies all over the world. And how were they going to decide these issues,

There was a mix of brutal great power politics for many decisions and high-minded principles used for most analysis. The interplay between these modes of operation would prove fascinating to later generations.

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The core of this entire messy situation was the evening of March 31st when Talleyrand and Tsar Alexander meet.

This moment that everyone could feel was decisive at the time, the Allies were all hyper aware of the importance of these few days, the core idea is that it did matter a great deal what the tsar thought and what he wanted. And there was one Frenchman he respected and trusted above all, and that was Talleyrand.

Alexander’s life experience and spiritual journey was leading him to a place where he would turn over the one big decision to Talleyrand. And Talleyrand had actually thought this question out deeply and thoroughly.

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But you already covered the French Revolution? Why bring up events from 25 years prior to the narrative?

Well, Actually, I’ve covered the French revolution twice. Once in the France the Enemy arc, covering the situation before ethe Revolution, and then in the French Revolution arc a couple years later. You might recall I did the agricultural revolution that way. 3 times rather than one deep eight-episode arc. And one episode there was about mood. The one where the people pushed off the land by enclosures and other efficiencies, have to change their lives, even when they do not want to.

And the modern farmer who gets $1 million in an eminent domain settlement, says I WAS a rich man yesterday.

The French revolution needs this treatment too. We covered the Great Fear, in both of the other arcs and we must do it again, and expand it to the Great Panic. In this third look we will sink into emotion, and for a time deprive ourselves of the false force of Reason, because that’s what happens in life sometimes.

Plus, much classical music and other music uses repetition in groups of three and I wrote a novel, Ghosts of the Multiverse, were all the most important things happened 3 times in some way and most happened twice.

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Elizabeth’s greatest domestic threat was the Puritans. Under Knox they quickly came to dominate Scotland. A Reindeer75 episode.
Elizabeth was obviously favored by god and this gave her an enormous advantage in what was understood to be a religious argument. We look into Calvinist ideas of salvation, what does it mean to be Elect and what were some of the weird things that Jesus said. Harald puts forward a notion that Calvinists bring atheism within the grasp of the mediocre, though Reindeer75 disputes the notion. A few of the radical Puritans overplay their hands and they are defeated, for a time. The fact that they make good use of their time is suggested as a factor in their eventual triumph in the 17th century. Conversations with Camie looks into the religious ideas of free will vs predestination.

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Grand Strategy in Elizabeth’s war with Spain. The Hawkins strategy turns out to be a winner. Spain has two more Armadas to throw at England. Their most successful effort was Spain’s attack on Brittany, while France is still divided by Civil War. “Paris is worth a mass”, says Henry of Navarre, wrapping up a long series of brutal civil wars. Elizabeth successfully intervenes in Brittainy as Martin Frobisher forces the Spanish to surrender. We consider the strategic import of Brest and cover the Spanish raids on Cornwall. Then we take a look at the final Spanish Armada, the attack on Ireland and its failures. Both these Spanish efforts fail in large part because their navy cannot support their land forces whenever the English fleet shows up. We assert that the institutional leads the Spanish and French have over the British work out to be a long term disadvantage. This theme is developed in Conversations with Camie, with the risk of falling for a tautology acknowledged.