1813 Alexander, Prussia and God Unite Artwork

Hanging with History

The first season focuses on the origins of the Industrial Revolution or the Great Enrichment, we go deep into history to gain enough background knowledge to actually understand the various theories of the origins of the Great Enrichment. Eventually we learn that we also need to know how the miracle was consolidated, as the many other close approaches to the Industrial Revolution failed.A kwirky style, but intellectually ambitious with the goal of understanding history well enough to understand the miracle that happened that one time. It's gonna be a long series.

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Hanging with History

1813 Alexander, Prussia and God Unite

October 29, 2025 • Harald Hansen • Season 1 • Episode 190

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Trying to recover from defeat in 1812, Napoleon had enormous obstacles to overcome. But these were NOT obvious at the time, surprisingly to us, most of the great and the good expected Napoleon to win in 1813.

Tsar Alexander had some very unusual motivations for a major head of state in the Europe of the time. These motivations, including the mysticisms of the day, are still fascinating. Swedenborg, Lavater, and Saint Martin all get a look.

And then there was a man of almost equal priggishness, Kaerl Heinrich Vom Stein, whose remarkable career and how he ties together Napoleon, Alexander and Frederick William and the new nationalism and new artistic and intellectual movements beginning to arise is worth a deep dive.

Stein urged the King of Prussia “Make use of the authority granted you by God to break the chains of your people. May its blood no longer be spent on behalf of the enemy of humanity!” But the king was more interested in getting a Bonapart bride for the Crown Prince.

The crusade against Napoleon, developed int a crusade for Legitimacy, against Usurpation, but even this early, the Allies could not help using the language of the Revolution and the tools of Napoleon.