Nelson: From Hero of the Nile to Butcher of Naples | EP 1
1,700Love, scandal, and betrayal — how Nelson’s passion in Naples became his downfall.
The true story of Horatio Nelson, Emma Hamilton, and the blood-soaked city of 1798.
What happened when Admiral Horatio Nelson, hero of the Battle of the Nile, sailed into the seething, volcanic city of Naples in 1798?
Why would his meeting with the glamorous Lady Emma Hamilton change the course of his life — and reputation — forever?
And how did Nelson’s decision to back the doomed Neapolitan campaign to “liberate Italy” from Napoleon’s French forces become one of the most controversial moments of his career?
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Join Dominic Sandbrook and Tom Holland as they explore Nelson’s arrival in Naples, his fateful love affair with Emma Hamilton, the fall of the city, and the brutal reprisals that would haunt his legacy.
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00:00 — Intro
00:32 — Hive
02:00 — Naples
11:59 — King Ferdinand & Queen Maria Carolina
13:43 — The tinderbox
25:00 — Emma & Nelson
29:02 — The war goes onto land
34:36 — Vanguard
35:49 — Triumph and tragedy in Rome
39:40 — The plan to flee Naples
43:39 — Palermo: the refuge
47:00 — A dangerous liason
50:57 — Lord Keith: the chilly man from the Admiralty
57:01 — French-run Parthenopean Republic: Cardinal Ruffo fights back
59:59 — Naples surrounded
1:02:01 — The most controversial episode in Nelson's career
A Goalhanger Production
Video Editor: Harry Swan
Social Producer: Harry Balden
Assistant Producer: Aaliyah Akude
Producer: Tabby Syrett
Senior Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Exec Producer: Dom Johnson
Head of Video & Digital: Samuel Oakley