Recording: RUSI Siborne Lecture: Napoleon: Hollywood vs History

The second annual lecture celebrating the intellectual partnership between RUSI and the National Army Museum will explore depictions of the Battle of Waterloo and the wider Napoleonic Wars on the ‘big screen’. Following the release of Ridley Scott’s Napoleon last year, the panel of historians and experts will discuss what it takes to make a film about the Napoleonic era, and why the genre continues to capture the public imagination.

Professor Michael Broers, University of Oxford, talks about  his personal experience as a historical consultant on the film, alongside broader discussions about representations of Napoleon, the Napoleonic period, and the use of creative licence when telling histories.

RUSI was founded in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars and quickly built an impressive museum collection, including the famous model of Waterloo created by William Siborne. Since its establishment in 1960, the National Army Museum has shared RUSI's mission to connect the public with the UK’s military heritage. It now cares for many objects from the original RUSI collection.

Professor Michael Broers is Professor of Western European History at the University of Oxford. He is the author of several books about revolutionary and Napoleonic Europe, including a two-volume biography of Napoleon. He was a historical consultant on Ridley Scott’s film Napoleon.

Dr Matilda Greig is the National Army Museum’s Napoleonic historian. She has previously written about the autobiographies of Napoleon’s soldiers in her book Dead Men Telling Tales (Oxford University Press, 2021), and is currently co-editing a second book on how the memory of Napoleon has developed since his death through theatre, film, art and objects.

Dr Emma Butcher is the Senior Project Officer in Military Sciences at RUSI. Emma holds a PhD in English Literature and a Higher Education Fellowship. Her research focuses on the history of children in armed conflict between 1789–1970, as well as pre-20th century representations of war trauma.