
Arnout Hauben and cameraman Jasper start their adventure in Vrasene. There was tension there two centuries ago when the draws were announced for Napoleon's army. Joseph Abbeel's name is also drawn. Because he is very large, he ends up with the carabiniers on horseback. He is there with that elite unit when Napoleon invades Russia. His diary is the sobering account of an exhausting campaign. Because day after day it becomes clearer that the planned triumphal procession turns out completely differently. Arnout and Jasper leave Moscow through the snow. They follow the route of Napoleon's army that retreated defeated. They meet an old colonel with a special story, cross snow-covered battlefields, but warm up again with a warm Cossack welcome.
Arnout Hauben and cameraman Jasper start their adventure in Vrasene. There was tension there two centuries ago when the draws were announced for Napoleon's army. Joseph Abbeel's name is also drawn. Because he is very large, he ends up with the carabiniers on horseback. He is there with that elite unit when Napoleon invades Russia. His diary is the sobering account of an exhausting campaign. Because day after day it becomes clearer that the planned triumphal procession turns out completely differently. Arnout and Jasper leave Moscow through the snow. They follow the route of Napoleon's army that retreated defeated. They meet an old colonel with a special story, cross snow-covered battlefields, but warm up again with a warm Cossack welcome.

In the second episode, Arnout jumps into the saddle and travels on horseback through the Mongolian steppe. Along the way he experiences how difficult this journey must have been 750 years ago. This is also evident from the diary of Willem van Rubroek, a monk from French Flanders. At that time, the Mongolian Empire was in full ascendance and also threatened the borders of Europe. The French king orders William to travel to the Mongolian capital Karakorum with a letter for Mangoe Khan, the great leader of the Mongols. Willem was one of the first westerners to travel deep into the Mongolian empire.