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Curated playlist

People of the War of the First Coalition

  • NapoleonNapoleon crowned himself emperor with a replica of Charlemagne's crown. The pope had just anointed him.
  • Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount NelsonNelson put his telescope to his blind eye and said he could not see the order to retreat.
  • Francis II, Holy Roman EmperorOn August 6, 1806, Francis II ended the Holy Roman Empire with a single signed declaration. He was its last emperor.
  • William Pitt the YoungerWilliam Pitt the Younger became Britain's prime minister at 24, and critics predicted he would not last past Christmas.
  • Louis XVIOn the morning of his execution, Louis XVI asked, "Any news of La Pérouse?"
  • Maximilien RobespierreRobespierre was executed without trial in 1794 by the movement he had helped build.
  • Ferdinand I of the Two SiciliesFerdinand I of the Two Sicilies was raised on purpose to be an unfit king. His regent kept power that way.
  • Marie AntoinetteMarie Antoinette stepped on her executioner's shoe and apologized. Minutes later she was beheaded.
  • George IIIGeorge III was born on the 4th of June 1738 at Norfolk House in St James's Square, London, two months too early. Nobody expected the baby to live, so a bishop baptised him within hours, on the very day he was born. The infant nobody…
  • Marquis de LafayetteThe Marquis de Lafayette lies buried in Picpus Cemetery in Paris, beneath soil carried across the Atlantic from Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. He gathered that earth himself, intending it for his grave. Americans call him simply Lafayette.…
  • Karl Mack von LeiberichAn Austrian general surrendered 25,000 men to Napoleon at Ulm in October 1805. Karl Mack was later reinstated.
  • Charles IV of SpainNapoleon forced Charles IV of Spain and his son to abdicate at Bayonne in 1808.
  • Joachim MuratFacing a firing squad in 1815, Joachim Murat told his soldiers to aim at his heart. He had asked for a scented bath.
  • Jean-Baptiste KléberBritain refused Kléber's deal to send his army home from Egypt, so he attacked instead.
  • Michel NeyMarshal Michel Ney gave the order to fire at his own execution. Napoleon had called him "the bravest of the brave."

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