The Next Empress of France: Napoleon vs the Romanovs, Part 1

Welcome back to the channel! This is part 1 of 2 in a story about the Russian empress(es) France never had. Between Josephine and Marie Louise of Austria, there was a time when Napoleon decided his best bet was to ally himself with Russia. What better way to strengthen that alliance than marrying one of the tsar's sisters after he divorced Josephine? For the Romanov family, an alliance with Napoleon was a deal with the devil. Was it really worth sacrificing one of their own? It's a question Tsar Alexander I and his mother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, had to ask themselves not once but twice. This is the story of a doomed alliance, of two emperors waging a cold war with smiles and lies. It’s the story of a family, bound together by a dark tragedy, haunted by a past that threatened to repeat itself. But most of all, it’s the story of a mother’s love for her daughters – and what happens when that love is put to the ultimate test. In this video - part 1 - we'll meet the powerful Romanov family: Catherine the Great, her son and heir Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, and his second wife, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna. Paul and Maria had 10 children, 9 of whom survived to adulthood, including five daughters. We'll find out what Catherine had planned for their futures, and the terrible tragedy that changed their family dynamic forever. From that moment on, the surviving Romanovs based every word and deed on their unbreakable promise to each other, forged in blood and shame. Until, that is, Napoleon Bonaparte forced them to question everything. Is a promise worth keeping when it threatens to destroy not only your family, but your throne and your entire country, too? Let's find out. #russianhistory #womeninhistory #napoleon #catherinethegreat Chapters -------- 00:00 Introduction 01:11 A Good Man Is Hard to Find 05:31 Fear & Loathing in St. Petersburg 10:03 The Promise 12:57 Apocalypse Now 17:58 You Should See Me in a Crown 23:04 Every Rose Has Its Thorn 28:51 Thank You 29:20 Credits 📚 Sources -------------- There are a lot! You can find them all here: https://girlinthetiara.com/the-next-e... Pronunciations ------------------- I did my best with the French and Russian pronunciations. A reeeaallly long time ago, I took four years of French in high school, so I'm more comfortable with French names than Russian ones. I apologize in advance for anything I got terribly wrong. FIND ME ONLINE ----------------------------- 💻 Check out the site: https://girlinthetiara.com/ ➕ Unlock bonus content with Patreon:   / girlinthetiara   📬 Join the mailing list (and get Grand Duchess Louise of Baden's meatloaf recipe): https://girlinthetiara.com/mailing-list/ 👑 ABOUT THE GIRL IN THE TIARA ---------------------------------------------------- I tell stories about fascinating royal women. Join me as I follow these women and their jewels across generations and countries, through wars and revolutions and — sometimes — into darkness and disappearance and destruction. This isn't the kind of history your professor lectured about. Instead, think of this as conversational history, like a mash-up of Drunk History and The Crown. My goal is to tell these stories with humor and heart and a boatload of compassion for these amazing royal women. 👧🏻 ABOUT ME ------------------- I never intended to start a channel or a website about tiaras and royal history. But a midlife crisis forced me to re-examine my life. I gave up fiction writing after self-publishing 9 of the 10 books I'd written and earning next to nothing. Instead of the misery of marketing books, I turned to my first love...royal history. So here I am, a 40-something burnout, trying to start over by recapturing her love of history, royal women, and their jewels.