1803 recap: Against the odds

Our recap episodes, which offer a synthesis of our 1792-1804 coverage one year at a time, have reached 1803 - a year in which peace between France and Britain collapses, and the cause of Haitian independence is finally realised. Chris Sloan talks presenter Alex Stevenson through specific key clips he's picked out from our old episodes grouped around four themes which, we argue, help frame the period and shape our understanding of it in a whole new way. We hope this will provide a helpful refresh for longstanding listeners - whilst at the same time offering an 'entry ramp' to the podcast for those who want to get up to speed relatively easily before we crash full-speed into the intensity of the Napoleonic Wars.

This episode covers a 12-month period in which, despite attack dogs and the death of Toussaint Louverture, the French are defeated on Saint-Domingue and Dessalines emerges as the leader to achieve independence for Haiti. This is the year which sees the Louisiana Purchase, an astonishing moment which turns the United States into a continental power overnight. And in Europe Britain declares war once again on France, setting up endless debates about whose fault the demise of the Peace of Amiens really was. Meanwhile the Swiss Confederation is created thanks to the signature of Napoleon Bonaparte - and in India an up and coming general called Arthur Wellesley achieves a striking victory at the Battle of Assaye which effectively ends the Second Anglo-Maratha War.

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