Chronological note. Arcadia takes place in the same room during two different time periods: 1809-1812, and “the present” day. The plot has characters from the contemporary era trying to learn about the historical characters, and the two time periods are set before the viewer for comparison and contrast.
The Napoleonic Wars (1792-1815). The Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts between the French and most of the other European powers. The French troops intended at first to defend and spread the republican ideals of the French Revolution (1789), but the war soon turned into French conquest for its own sake. By 1809, when the earlier part of Arcadia is mainly set, the French Empire under Napoleon controlled nearly all of Europe, including Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Prussia, and most of Italy. This left Britain essentially alone to oppose France.
Napoleon was eventually brought down by his own vast ambitions. In 1813 a new coalition of European powers finally managed to raise an army greater than Napoleon’s, and they began to liberate nations one by one. In 1814, this coalition invaded France, reaching Paris in March.
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