Étienne Gérard, brigadier servant pendant les guerres napoléoniennes, est convaincu d'être à la fois le meilleur soldat et le meilleur amant que la terre ait jamais porté et il entend bien le prouver.
Au temps de la Révolution française, le parcours de deux paires de frères échangés à la naissance et provenant de milieux sociaux opposés va être amener à se croiser alors qu'une conspiration contre le roi prend de l'ampleur.
Elevé au rang de peintre fétiche de la cour du roi Charles IV d'Espagne, Francisco de Goya jouit d'une excellente réputation. S'il a foi dans l'Eglise et la royauté, Goya est aussi un patriote d'origine modeste, attaché au peuple. Homme de contradictions, il nourrit une passion dévorante pour la duchesse Alba, tout en désapprouvant sa morgue aristocratique. Goya traduit ces états d'âme dans des oeuvres singulières, qui paraîtront plus tard d'une grande modernité. A mesure qu'avance son «apprentissage» politique, ses toiles perdent leurs couleurs chatoyantes pour aborder un univers plus sombre et plus radical, jusqu'à s'attirer les foudres du Grand Inquisiteur...
After his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo and surrender to the British Empire, Napoleon Bonaparte is delivered into exile and imprisonment on St. Helena, setting the scene for a psychological character study of the fallen Emperor and those upon the island with him as he rakes over the ashes of his career. After a failed escape attempt, the British Government offers him a chance for a return to limited power in France once again as a buffer against instability there, however on the point of departure he is afflicted by the symptoms of stomach cancer and the offer is in consequence withdrawn, leaving him entrapped on the island and exiting history's stage.
In 1792 during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, a secret league of brave Englishmen are rescuing French aristocrats from the guillotine. The leader of this secret society is a mysterious English nobleman known only as the Scarlet Pimpernel, whose signature sign is a humble wayside flower. In society he hides his identity by posing as the wealthy but foppish and seemingly empty-headed Sir Percy Blakeney (Anthony Andrews). After rescuing the Count de Beaulieu and his family, Percy is introduced to the beautiful French actress Marguerite St. Just (Jane Seymour) through her brother, Armand (Malcolm Jamieson), whom he rescued from an attack. Percy is attracted to Marguerite, but she is in a relationship with Paul Chauvelin (Ian McKellen), an agent of Maximilien Robespierre. Due to the Scarlet Pimpernel's past successes, Chauvelin is assigned to discover his identity and capture him.
Paris, février 1817, trois ans après la chute de l'Empire, l'avoué Derville reçoit la visite d'un vieillard misérablement vêtu. Il assure être le colonel Chabert, laissé pour mort, à la bataille d'Eylau en 1807. Il avait alors contribué à la victoire en conduisant une charge de cavalerie devenue célèbre.
A dashing French Army officer, capitaine Jacques de Keroual de Saint-Yves, is captured by the British during the Napoleonic Wars and sent to a Scottish prison camp. There he falls for a local girl, befriends the commanding officer, and discovers a surprising secret about his long-lost grandfather.
In 1812, on the eve of the decisive battle of Borodino, a French secret agent steals a battle plan of the Russian troops. This fact is known to General Kutuzov, thanks to a young nobleman named Alexey Tarusov. Tarusov joins a regiment of Russian lancers, and finds new friends and together they have many adventures...
Nearing the end of the 18th century, Napoleon's vast army is sailing towards the Irish coast. The national poet and freedom fighter who goes by the name of "The O'Flynn" is traveling back to the castle where he was born, when he encounters a coach being robbed by rogues. The leader of the outlaws is a man named Hendrigg. The robbery fails thanks to O'Flynn's efforts. He offers the passenger, Lady Benedetta, to come with him and take refuge in his castle.
Filles d'un bourgeois marseillais, Julie et Désirée Clary sont courtisées par les frères Joseph et Napoléon Bonaparte. Joseph épouse Julie et Napoléon se fiance à Désirée. Quand Napoléon rompt ses fiançailles en épousant Joséphine de Beauharnais, Désirée, rongée de chagrin, se console en convolant avec le général Bernadotte.