The Podcast of the Lotus Eaters - December 07, 2025


PREVIEW： Epochs #240 ｜ Talleyrand： Part II with Apostolic Majesty


Episode Stats

Length

20 minutes

Words per Minute

153.71436

Word Count

3,110

Sentence Count

167

Hate Speech Sentences

17


Summary

In this episode, we take a look at the life and career of Talaran, Napoleon Bonaparte's first foreign minister, and the man who helped bring him to power. Talaran was a man of many talents, but one of his greatest gifts was his ability to make a name for himself as one of the most brilliant men of the French Revolution.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 But no, it is interesting how loved Talaran was by the women's
00:00:28.400 considering he was supposed to have been, well, some accounts are worse than others,
00:00:33.860 but he wasn't ugly in the face, but he limped and he was deformed or crippled in some way.
00:00:41.940 He was very vain. He limped, but he was excessively vain.
00:00:45.520 He would spend hours every morning on his toilet.
00:00:52.860 He would have people, you know, coiff his hair.
00:00:55.500 You know, he would wear these lavish outfits.
00:01:00.120 He only ate, you know, for all of his splendour and opulence,
00:01:03.420 he only ate a meal a day in order to ensure that he was always trim.
00:01:08.020 So he did put a huge amount of work into his appearance,
00:01:11.880 as much as can be expected for a man who was lame, as Talaran was.
00:01:16.880 And like I said, Talaran gave this new regime an air of respectability,
00:01:21.900 even though in many ways Talaran was completely discredited.
00:01:25.660 And the issue with the directory government is everything that I've already basically outlined.
00:01:29.200 It was a regime that kept a certain clique in power and it satisfied no one.
00:01:32.880 And Talaran was well aware of this.
00:01:34.740 And this is where Napoleon finally comes into the picture.
00:01:37.840 Talaran, to his credit...
00:01:39.100 No, the Napoleon himself.
00:01:42.720 Okay.
00:01:44.000 Napoleon Bonaparte, in credit again to Talaran,
00:01:47.920 was recognised very early on by Talaran as being, you know, a man of incredible potential.
00:01:53.860 He was writing to Napoleon as he was fighting his campaign, Napoleon in Italy.
00:01:58.620 And when Napoleon came back from Italy, he was the one setting him up as this great man of intellect and politics,
00:02:06.900 not just this great general.
00:02:09.120 Talaran gets him enrolled in the Institute of France.
00:02:12.380 He's elected as a member of the sciences.
00:02:15.040 He becomes a great advocate for archaeology.
00:02:18.400 And one of this, one of the principles he advocates for is maybe we need to explore Egypt for scientific reasons.
00:02:26.480 I was going to say, so, after Napoleon's very, very first...
00:02:32.380 Major campaign.
00:02:33.560 ...campaign in Italy.
00:02:36.200 What the...
00:02:36.880 So...
00:02:38.480 Okay.
00:02:39.380 So...
00:02:40.840 But Napoleon had already been sort of around for a bit before that, right?
00:02:45.540 I mean...
00:02:45.900 Yes.
00:02:46.280 Like the Toulon thing is already a couple of years ago.
00:02:49.520 Yes.
00:02:49.800 Napoleon had put down a rebellion in Paris against the monarchists in 1795,
00:02:54.920 which gave him that generalship in Italy, essentially.
00:03:01.080 Is it straight after then?
00:03:02.420 Almost straight after that?
00:03:04.000 A year after, roughly.
00:03:05.060 Okay.
00:03:05.360 Okay.
00:03:05.620 All right.
00:03:05.940 So it's not that long.
00:03:06.920 Okay.
00:03:07.740 So certainly then Talaran is on the Napoleon train quite early on.
00:03:12.540 It's the same time where Talaran becomes foreign minister, effectively.
00:03:15.900 Okay.
00:03:16.100 It's around the same time, 1795, 1796.
00:03:19.240 They both enter into the ranks of their sort of directory, upper echelons around the same time.
00:03:25.380 So by the time Napoleon becomes first consul...
00:03:28.260 I'm jumping ahead a little bit here.
00:03:29.240 We can go back again.
00:03:30.100 But just...
00:03:31.240 By the time Napoleon becomes first consul, certainly by the time he becomes emperor,
00:03:35.240 I guess it's a no-brainer for him at that point to keep Talaran on as the foreign minister.
00:03:46.220 It's not like he picks Talaran...
00:03:49.240 Certainly doesn't pick him out of obscurity.
00:03:51.460 He doesn't pick him to be his new foreign minister.
00:03:54.240 Talaran's already the foreign minister par excellence already,
00:03:59.720 and Napoleon just keeps him in the role.
00:04:01.760 I think it's less that Talaran is kept in by Napoleon,
00:04:06.420 but the fact that the two make a formidable team together,
00:04:09.900 and Talaran is instrumental in the coup that brings Napoleon to power.
00:04:14.460 Like I said, the whole point of him being presented to the Institute of France
00:04:18.700 was to elevate his political and intellectual esteem among Parisian society.
00:04:25.340 But he also believes that in 1796,
00:04:27.600 it's too early to allow for Napoleon to come into power.
00:04:33.300 And so the Egyptian expedition is one of these rare events
00:04:36.280 where Napoleon really carries along Talaran rather than the other way around.
00:04:41.100 It is in Egypt that Talaran has these incredible flights of fantasy
00:04:45.640 where Napoleon will conquer the Lavande,
00:04:48.340 he'll conquer Anatolia,
00:04:49.900 he'll arrive in Constantinople,
00:04:51.640 and Talaran will be there to greet him in Constantinople,
00:04:55.380 the new emperor of the East.
00:04:57.660 And indeed, if there's a principle, again,
00:04:59.840 that's commonly elucidated by Talaran,
00:05:02.240 he wants the Ottoman Empire to be destroyed and partitioned.
00:05:04.980 He has no time for the Ottoman Empire and its continued existence.
00:05:09.280 But he's looking at older presidents.
00:05:11.540 So, for example,
00:05:12.780 the Prince de Choiselle,
00:05:14.400 who was a minister under Louis XV,
00:05:17.620 thought about taking over Egypt to offset for the loss of Canada in the 1760s,
00:05:24.460 it had been a theory actually advocated by Gottfried Leibniz
00:05:27.800 around the time of Louis XIV
00:05:29.320 that France's destiny lay in the conquest of Egypt.
00:05:33.100 So it was well established and very familiar,
00:05:35.440 that plan, the Talaran.
00:05:37.020 So there's actually an aspect of culpability,
00:05:39.900 you can say,
00:05:40.400 and disaster as to whether it was Talaran's idea
00:05:43.360 or whether it was Napoleon's idea.
00:05:45.280 What it can be said, though,
00:05:47.200 is that Talaran achieved his primary objective through it,
00:05:50.380 not the conquest of Egypt,
00:05:51.600 but the elevation of Napoleon to superhero status.
00:05:54.880 So Napoleon was there at the point he needed him
00:05:57.620 to become that strong man that Talaran could stand behind in the future.
00:06:02.040 But that in itself is quite,
00:06:03.520 I've always thought, quite a remarkable piece of spin.
00:06:06.440 Because, yeah,
00:06:07.160 Napoleon returned to France after the Egypt exhibition
00:06:09.640 as this glorious victor-in-chief type person.
00:06:13.660 But anyone that looks at the details
00:06:15.940 is it was quite a debacle, really.
00:06:19.080 So, yeah, I mean, you're right,
00:06:20.340 Talaran gets his wish,
00:06:21.880 if that was ultimately his wish,
00:06:23.320 he gets that.
00:06:24.580 But it actually was a spin.
00:06:28.540 Oh, absolutely, it was a spin.
00:06:30.240 Like he loses the Battle of the Nile.
00:06:31.580 That's disastrous.
00:06:33.240 Apart from everything else that happened.
00:06:35.000 Just that.
00:06:36.880 Absolutely disastrous for France.
00:06:39.380 In fairness, that wasn't Napoleon's fault,
00:06:41.600 because it wasn't an admiral.
00:06:43.380 But it happens under his watch.
00:06:44.840 It happens on his grand expedition, though.
00:06:49.340 Just quickly before we go on,
00:06:51.100 I do think it's very interesting
00:06:52.380 that the idea that France should go to Egypt
00:06:56.120 and conquer Egypt
00:06:57.460 was not some crazy fancy
00:06:59.560 born out of thin air
00:07:01.560 by a Talaran or Napoleon.
00:07:02.940 It was already a concept,
00:07:07.460 an idea that had been floating around
00:07:08.700 for a while.
00:07:10.380 And the French never abandoned it.
00:07:12.000 Who was responsible for the construction
00:07:13.840 of the Suez Canal?
00:07:15.160 Right, yeah.
00:07:16.380 On Napoleon III.
00:07:18.340 Yeah, who finds and translates
00:07:20.060 the Rosetta Stone, you know.
00:07:21.840 Yeah, all sorts of things.
00:07:22.820 Yeah.
00:07:23.220 Yeah, it's fascinating stuff.
00:07:24.660 But so Talaran gets his wish
00:07:29.400 that Napoleon returns
00:07:30.520 as this hero figure now,
00:07:33.340 despite the details
00:07:35.120 of what actually happened out there.
00:07:37.960 Those pesky details,
00:07:39.000 we won't worry about.
00:07:40.500 Yeah.
00:07:41.360 So Napoleon comes back
00:07:42.720 and, as you say,
00:07:46.300 Talaran's right at the heart
00:07:47.660 of Brumière, right?
00:07:50.400 He's right at the heart of
00:07:51.660 the directorate.
00:07:57.680 Well, he's not a director himself.
00:07:59.900 The thing about Talaran is that...
00:08:00.960 No, no, but Napoleon is.
00:08:02.740 No, he's not even a director
00:08:04.300 at this point.
00:08:04.800 He's just a general.
00:08:06.820 Talaran is interested, essentially,
00:08:10.440 in being a grey eminence
00:08:12.460 behind whoever really is in power.
00:08:15.060 There are a couple of, again,
00:08:16.860 interesting things that show
00:08:18.540 to what extent Talaran is willing
00:08:20.640 to back the main power
00:08:22.300 so long as it doesn't look like
00:08:24.100 it's going to be toppled.
00:08:25.380 So, for example,
00:08:26.080 there is a counter-coup in Fructidor
00:08:28.480 which basically shuts the royalists
00:08:31.100 out of ever coming into power.
00:08:33.040 And you can say that, again,
00:08:33.920 this is a great betrayal of Talaran
00:08:35.620 for the royalist cause
00:08:36.600 he will later attach himself to.
00:08:38.580 But, to me, it's always consistent.
00:08:40.720 He believes that the royalists,
00:08:42.140 if they come in now,
00:08:43.340 they'll lose their powers.
00:08:44.880 It's better to stand
00:08:45.800 with a stronger party.
00:08:47.420 And it's the same with Napoleon.
00:08:48.620 He believes that Paul Barras
00:08:50.360 is irredeemably corrupt
00:08:51.720 and the regime is coming to an end.
00:08:53.560 So the great cultivated figure
00:08:55.220 of Napoleon Bonaparte
00:08:57.040 will only be natural.
00:08:58.540 But I also need to make sure
00:09:00.280 that this isn't a strict military coup.
00:09:02.340 It can't be perceived
00:09:03.360 to be a strict military coup.
00:09:05.300 And there is this other
00:09:06.280 very prominent figure
00:09:07.720 called the Abbé Sears,
00:09:08.980 who I've already mentioned,
00:09:10.080 the author of the Third Estate,
00:09:12.040 who is this very ambitious,
00:09:13.620 vain, and cowardly man.
00:09:14.980 And when asked about
00:09:16.700 what were your achievements
00:09:18.540 during the revolution,
00:09:19.680 oh, I survived.
00:09:21.820 That was his great achievement.
00:09:24.160 But this is a man who fancies
00:09:25.760 that he can take France now.
00:09:28.060 And Talaran beefs up his ego
00:09:30.480 and says, yes, of course.
00:09:31.980 Completely aware of the fact
00:09:33.100 that the real power
00:09:34.020 will be Napoleon in this situation.
00:09:36.240 And they get in another stooge
00:09:38.300 in the form of Roger Decaux.
00:09:39.500 And there's this wonderful assessment
00:09:42.660 where all the directors
00:09:44.440 live in the same building in Paris,
00:09:46.720 the Palais de Luxembourg.
00:09:48.420 And so two of the future consuls
00:09:52.040 of France are directors
00:09:53.400 and they're conspiring
00:09:55.100 while the other three are asleep
00:09:56.460 in the same building.
00:09:58.120 And Talaran comes in
00:09:59.180 and then Barras happens
00:10:01.120 upon the conspiracy.
00:10:03.200 And so Talaran invites him in
00:10:04.580 and says, you can join.
00:10:06.700 You can join our conspiracy.
00:10:07.880 You'll be more powerful after it.
00:10:10.280 So it's remarkable, again,
00:10:12.300 the duplicity involved
00:10:14.620 in someone like Talaran
00:10:15.740 in order to put Napoleon
00:10:17.620 in that position of power.
00:10:19.800 And of course,
00:10:20.500 the coup de brumet nearly fails,
00:10:22.840 as you know,
00:10:23.480 is actually Lucien Bonaparte
00:10:24.860 who you've mentioned.
00:10:25.720 I was just going to say,
00:10:26.420 he plays a key, key role
00:10:27.800 in everything, doesn't he?
00:10:28.520 Lucien Bonaparte.
00:10:29.500 Yes, who play a more important role.
00:10:31.660 Is he one of the directors?
00:10:33.440 He is the president
00:10:34.660 of the Council of the 500.
00:10:36.000 Kind of like the American Speaker
00:10:38.600 of the House of Representatives.
00:10:40.180 So it's much more
00:10:40.720 than the English Speaker
00:10:41.660 of the House.
00:10:42.780 So he's quite an important player,
00:10:44.060 Lucien Bonaparte.
00:10:44.880 Very important player.
00:10:46.580 Yes.
00:10:47.260 And during the coup,
00:10:49.480 the rump of the Parliament
00:10:51.080 vote through a new constitution
00:10:52.460 and Napoleon is made
00:10:53.580 Consul of France.
00:10:54.860 He will later remove
00:10:55.820 Sieres and Roger du Coeur.
00:10:56.880 So there's three consuls.
00:10:59.420 And to replace him
00:11:00.340 with Camber Sieres
00:11:02.360 and the,
00:11:03.100 I forget,
00:11:03.800 the third consul
00:11:04.540 to be perfectly honest.
00:11:06.100 Well, no wonder.
00:11:06.760 So they're complete stooges.
00:11:08.200 They are.
00:11:08.860 Well, Camber Sieres
00:11:09.700 is quite an important figure
00:11:10.860 because he's the main author
00:11:12.320 behind the code Napoleon.
00:11:14.100 But it's that Napoleon
00:11:15.380 is the absolute...
00:11:18.120 Yes.
00:11:18.540 Napoleon is in power
00:11:19.380 at this point.
00:11:20.260 He's autocrat
00:11:21.200 or king in all but name
00:11:22.240 by that stage.
00:11:23.560 Well,
00:11:24.280 one of,
00:11:24.960 one of Talleyrand's
00:11:27.320 expressed goals,
00:11:29.420 why I believe
00:11:30.240 Talleyrand broke
00:11:31.300 with Napoleon
00:11:31.900 is that Talleyrand
00:11:33.700 saw Napoleon
00:11:34.780 as a conqueror
00:11:35.660 and he wanted Napoleon
00:11:37.300 to be transformed
00:11:38.320 from a conqueror
00:11:39.240 into a king.
00:11:40.860 And he didn't achieve that.
00:11:43.580 Napoleon was always
00:11:44.360 a conqueror.
00:11:45.340 Napoleon could only
00:11:46.180 consummate his political project
00:11:47.920 through future conquests
00:11:49.180 and he was undone
00:11:50.340 by a counter-conquest.
00:11:52.100 So he wanted
00:11:53.200 to tame
00:11:54.120 Napoleon Bonaparte.
00:11:56.100 He wanted to be
00:11:56.600 an asset to him
00:11:57.460 and a great advisor
00:11:58.240 to him and he failed.
00:11:59.520 Because when Napoleon
00:12:00.680 came to power
00:12:01.380 in 1799
00:12:02.640 after Marengo
00:12:03.780 he was presented
00:12:05.000 as the bringer of peace.
00:12:06.840 France at that point
00:12:07.580 had been at war
00:12:08.380 with virtually every country
00:12:09.480 in Europe
00:12:09.760 for nearly eight years.
00:12:11.280 And so Napoleon
00:12:12.600 was the great peacemaker
00:12:13.840 and Talleyrand
00:12:15.200 was going to be
00:12:15.920 the one inaugurating
00:12:17.140 all of these treaties
00:12:18.060 with the European powers.
00:12:19.600 He negotiates
00:12:20.260 an alliance
00:12:20.700 with Spain
00:12:21.300 he makes peace
00:12:22.400 with Britain
00:12:22.900 he makes a peace
00:12:24.460 with Austria
00:12:25.040 he officiates
00:12:26.140 over the mediatisations
00:12:27.260 which brings France
00:12:29.620 a new territory.
00:12:32.700 So France
00:12:33.280 is simultaneously
00:12:34.000 more powerful
00:12:35.040 than it ever has been
00:12:36.040 in terms of its borders
00:12:37.160 than before
00:12:37.960 and France
00:12:39.020 is at peace
00:12:39.540 with most of its neighbours
00:12:40.500 including Britain.
00:12:42.520 And so Talleyrand
00:12:43.760 and this is the work
00:12:44.900 of Talleyrand
00:12:45.360 and Talleyrand
00:12:46.620 looks at the state
00:12:47.460 of affairs
00:12:47.980 and says
00:12:49.120 my hope here
00:12:50.460 is to ensure
00:12:51.560 that Europe
00:12:52.020 will forgive us
00:12:52.980 France's good fortune.
00:12:55.380 And indeed
00:12:55.740 he goes on from there
00:12:58.960 to say that
00:13:00.200 France
00:13:00.940 should no longer
00:13:01.760 aspire
00:13:02.280 to be a European
00:13:04.100 hegemonic power
00:13:05.500 the primus
00:13:06.700 into Paris
00:13:07.240 of all the nations
00:13:08.440 of Europe.
00:13:09.400 France should abandon that.
00:13:10.780 And this is what I mean
00:13:11.540 when I say
00:13:12.020 that he is actually
00:13:12.820 a time capsule
00:13:13.720 from an earlier era
00:13:15.120 because it was
00:13:16.100 the 18th century
00:13:16.940 that was really
00:13:17.960 the time
00:13:18.500 of the great
00:13:19.000 balance of power
00:13:19.740 concept
00:13:20.360 being ushered in.
00:13:21.960 Before then
00:13:22.620 you had
00:13:23.060 religious factors
00:13:24.640 motivating foreign policy
00:13:25.980 but in the 18th century
00:13:27.020 it was about
00:13:27.380 the preservation
00:13:27.900 of the European peace
00:13:29.320 and ensuring
00:13:30.240 that one prince
00:13:31.020 isn't too powerful
00:13:31.840 of the others.
00:13:32.800 The coalitions
00:13:33.400 against Louis XIV
00:13:34.720 were really
00:13:35.220 the beginning of this.
00:13:36.660 But France
00:13:37.220 during the reign
00:13:38.580 of Louis XVI
00:13:39.260 becomes a great advocate
00:13:42.000 for the balance of power
00:13:42.960 it supports the Ottomans
00:13:44.640 against the Austrians
00:13:45.700 it supports the Poles
00:13:47.260 against the Russians
00:13:48.140 and the Prussians
00:13:48.960 for that exact reason
00:13:50.320 and indeed
00:13:51.180 I believe the fact
00:13:51.920 that Talleyrand
00:13:52.480 is such a great advocate
00:13:53.600 for Polish independence
00:13:54.660 is actually a hangover
00:13:56.060 from that earlier period
00:13:57.740 in French history
00:13:58.620 where in the 1770s
00:14:00.580 they were advocating
00:14:01.440 for Poland
00:14:01.980 as a European necessity.
00:14:03.880 Indeed
00:14:04.140 as Talleyrand
00:14:04.700 thought of Austria
00:14:05.400 as a European necessity
00:14:06.680 all these powers
00:14:08.060 need to be held
00:14:08.740 in relatively balanced
00:14:10.060 contention
00:14:10.660 to ensure
00:14:11.240 there aren't
00:14:11.580 any future wars
00:14:12.460 can you think of that
00:14:14.720 in Napoleon
00:14:15.300 as being compatible?
00:14:17.200 The fact that
00:14:18.300 Talleyrand
00:14:18.880 sincerely believed that
00:14:20.020 and would continue
00:14:20.740 to believe that
00:14:21.400 for his entire life
00:14:22.600 and moreover
00:14:23.980 he would admonish
00:14:25.720 those who believe
00:14:27.160 that France
00:14:27.580 should be a great power
00:14:28.600 believing it only served
00:14:30.440 the vanity
00:14:31.280 of the present ruler
00:14:32.460 which of course
00:14:33.580 was actually written
00:14:34.280 before Napoleon
00:14:35.120 this was written
00:14:35.860 when he was ambassador
00:14:36.800 to Britain
00:14:37.360 in 1793
00:14:38.700 1792 sorry
00:14:40.860 a whole bunch
00:14:41.460 of things
00:14:41.880 to mention there
00:14:44.140 so once Napoleon
00:14:45.700 becomes the first consul
00:14:47.200 Talleyrand
00:14:49.620 is his top diplomat
00:14:53.800 he's the equivalent
00:14:55.080 of a foreign secretary
00:14:56.120 right
00:14:56.680 and so
00:14:59.240 and so
00:15:00.840 as you say
00:15:01.420 he's responsible
00:15:02.080 for
00:15:02.700 I mean if you could
00:15:04.140 pause the Napoleonic
00:15:05.740 program
00:15:06.320 at that point
00:15:08.360 I think we sort of
00:15:09.720 said something similar
00:15:10.380 to this didn't we
00:15:10.900 when we talked about
00:15:11.480 Napoleon last time
00:15:12.220 you were here
00:15:12.540 there was a certain
00:15:13.920 point around then
00:15:14.620 after Marengo
00:15:15.480 if Napoleon
00:15:17.120 could have stopped
00:15:17.920 trying to conquer
00:15:20.300 everyone and everything
00:15:21.260 at every turn
00:15:21.980 that would have been
00:15:23.000 a great time
00:15:23.800 to do that
00:15:26.320 well like
00:15:27.140 Talleyrand himself
00:15:28.060 said
00:15:28.520 enabled Europe
00:15:29.500 to forgive us
00:15:30.120 our good fortune
00:15:30.880 in hindsight
00:15:32.220 that would have been
00:15:33.680 the sort of
00:15:34.740 for France
00:15:35.560 would have been
00:15:36.260 the optimal thing
00:15:37.100 to do
00:15:37.560 but as we all know
00:15:39.140 Napoleon couldn't
00:15:40.540 leave well enough
00:15:41.200 alone
00:15:41.460 the Corsican monster
00:15:42.400 couldn't stop himself
00:15:45.060 didn't want to
00:15:45.960 and you can sort of
00:15:47.940 say
00:15:48.040 not that I'm making
00:15:48.560 excuses for him
00:15:49.320 but you can
00:15:49.780 also see why
00:15:50.920 he believed in
00:15:52.260 his own star
00:15:52.940 he thought
00:15:54.140 I win battles
00:15:55.180 that's what I do
00:15:55.820 I'm good at that
00:15:56.820 I'm good at it
00:15:57.880 let me cook
00:15:58.780 I think for Napoleon
00:16:00.000 that even though
00:16:01.500 he had already
00:16:02.120 destroyed the prospect
00:16:03.720 of peace
00:16:04.160 that came slightly
00:16:04.940 later
00:16:05.340 and I think it's
00:16:05.960 also important
00:16:06.460 to understand
00:16:07.080 Talleyrand's
00:16:08.280 more nefarious role
00:16:09.400 within the consulate
00:16:10.840 there are two things
00:16:12.800 you can point to
00:16:13.580 Napoleon
00:16:14.600 was actually so
00:16:15.860 enamoured with the
00:16:16.680 spirit of reconciliation
00:16:17.660 with the monarchists
00:16:18.940 in France
00:16:19.600 that there was a
00:16:20.920 prospect of the
00:16:21.880 monarchs actually
00:16:23.540 coming back to
00:16:24.200 France
00:16:24.540 he wanted the
00:16:25.520 Bourbons and the
00:16:26.380 Emigres to come
00:16:27.300 back in order to
00:16:29.500 normalise them
00:16:30.600 within France
00:16:31.440 and Talleyrand is
00:16:32.300 the one saying
00:16:32.920 no they can't be
00:16:34.380 allowed to come
00:16:34.860 back the minute
00:16:35.440 they're allowed to
00:16:36.040 come back they
00:16:36.660 will take your
00:16:37.360 throne from you
00:16:38.040 and there's also
00:16:40.160 this question about
00:16:41.220 Talleyrand's
00:16:42.120 culpability in the
00:16:43.000 murder of the
00:16:43.600 Duc d'Anguin
00:16:44.240 which is one of
00:16:47.040 the leading
00:16:47.500 factors for the
00:16:48.780 war of the
00:16:49.200 third coalition
00:16:49.880 but also in
00:16:51.420 the Jacobites in
00:16:52.500 France supporting
00:16:53.380 Napoleon becoming
00:16:54.300 emperor of the
00:16:54.940 French
00:16:55.320 there are two
00:16:56.840 ways of looking
00:16:57.420 at it
00:16:57.760 one is that
00:16:59.480 Coulancourt is
00:17:01.540 supported tacitly
00:17:03.240 by Talleyrand
00:17:04.420 to go off and
00:17:06.340 capture the Duke
00:17:07.020 of Anguille and
00:17:07.540 then execute him
00:17:08.240 for treason
00:17:08.820 and this would
00:17:10.860 basically shore up
00:17:11.900 Napoleon's position
00:17:12.900 after a wave of
00:17:14.780 conspiracies and
00:17:16.320 assassination attempts
00:17:17.220 against Napoleon
00:17:18.020 which enables him to
00:17:19.380 justify giving more
00:17:20.540 and more power to
00:17:21.360 himself basically
00:17:22.320 so in that sense you
00:17:23.960 can say Talleyrand is
00:17:25.180 like he was with the
00:17:26.380 previous regimes
00:17:27.300 he is prepared to go
00:17:29.140 further than perhaps
00:17:30.720 is justified to ensure
00:17:32.380 that the opposition is
00:17:33.420 crushed to secure the
00:17:35.000 confidence of any
00:17:35.940 present regime and he's
00:17:37.300 no different with
00:17:38.240 Napoleon
00:17:38.620 the great contrast
00:17:40.600 to that is that
00:17:42.300 when the Duke
00:17:43.120 d'Anguille was
00:17:43.880 finally executed
00:17:44.940 he said it was
00:17:47.360 worse than a crime
00:17:48.540 it was an error
00:17:49.640 so this could be a
00:17:52.340 moment of remorse
00:17:53.260 or it could be a
00:17:53.940 moment like we saw
00:17:54.900 with the nationalization
00:17:55.980 of church property
00:17:56.920 where Talleyrand may
00:17:58.320 have advocated a more
00:17:59.480 moderate scenario
00:18:00.700 which ultimately
00:18:01.820 ended up going far
00:18:03.120 far too extreme
00:18:04.640 compared to whatever
00:18:06.080 he imagined which
00:18:07.040 ended in the
00:18:07.500 execution
00:18:07.940 and the vilification
00:18:08.980 of Napoleon
00:18:09.660 by most of
00:18:10.240 Europe's monarchies
00:18:12.120 right
00:18:13.960 so again
00:18:15.300 if you were a
00:18:16.220 detractor
00:18:17.100 of Talleyrand
00:18:18.100 you can point
00:18:19.840 to
00:18:20.280 some things
00:18:21.980 that he was
00:18:23.300 responsible for
00:18:24.260 as being
00:18:25.560 an error
00:18:26.400 to put it
00:18:27.700 in a certain way
00:18:29.320 that
00:18:30.320 that he wasn't
00:18:33.360 far from perfect
00:18:35.160 or it's not like
00:18:36.120 he never made
00:18:37.280 mistakes
00:18:37.580 or put it another
00:18:38.340 way
00:18:38.580 that even if
00:18:39.380 you're a
00:18:40.000 fan of Talleyrand
00:18:41.740 you still must
00:18:42.740 admit that
00:18:43.520 some things
00:18:44.600 along the way
00:18:45.460 were cynical
00:18:46.700 let's say that
00:18:47.900 maybe
00:18:48.200 or
00:18:48.780 I don't
00:18:49.840 I don't think
00:18:50.340 Talleyrand
00:18:50.880 has any
00:18:51.840 hagiographers
00:18:52.480 out there
00:18:53.040 to be perfectly
00:18:53.600 honest
00:18:54.140 I suppose
00:18:54.680 not
00:18:55.020 I suppose
00:18:55.880 not many
00:18:56.440 I'm kind
00:18:58.940 of a fan
00:18:59.520 as much as
00:19:00.040 an Englishman
00:19:00.880 could be
00:19:01.440 again far from
00:19:02.540 a hagiographer
00:19:04.240 but
00:19:04.580 I think I'm drawn
00:19:05.480 to a person
00:19:06.680 of consummate
00:19:08.140 cynicism
00:19:08.660 and sarcasm
00:19:09.460 to be perfectly
00:19:10.000 honest
00:19:10.140 yeah right
00:19:10.580 yeah me too
00:19:11.080 I find him
00:19:11.580 very interesting
00:19:12.420 right he's more
00:19:13.720 interesting than
00:19:14.580 Castle Ray
00:19:15.420 to me
00:19:16.540 or any
00:19:17.100 diplomat really
00:19:18.580 yeah yeah
00:19:19.360 more interesting
00:19:20.160 than Metalish
00:19:20.880 or something
00:19:21.320 yeah so
00:19:23.440 yeah because
00:19:24.720 he's funny
00:19:25.860 witty
00:19:26.480 or just
00:19:27.060 interesting
00:19:27.600 or like
00:19:28.480 he did
00:19:28.800 he made
00:19:29.160 that decision
00:19:29.820 really he made
00:19:31.260 that decision
00:19:31.820 like that okay
00:19:32.500 it's weird
00:19:33.300 that's interesting
00:19:34.040 why would you
00:19:34.620 you know that
00:19:35.200 sort of thing
00:19:35.700 fascinated by people
00:19:36.940 in history like that
00:19:38.020 we hope you enjoyed
00:19:39.260 that video
00:19:39.720 and if you did
00:19:40.440 please head over
00:19:41.120 to lotusseaters.com
00:19:42.440 for the full
00:19:43.220 unabridged video
00:19:44.100 !
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00:20:02.820 I love you!
00:20:03.780 I love you!
00:20:07.780 I love you!
00:20:08.900 I love you!
00:20:10.660 I love you!
00:20:11.420 I love you!