In World War II the British commonly compared Napoleon to Hitler, an
unjust comparison, but he has also been compared to Alexander the Great, with whom he shares qualities of youth, daring and unbridled ambition, to Julius Caesar, a soldier politician with a similar skill as a propagandist; and to Augustus, analogous to the founder of the Roman Empire. Like all these men Napoleon had grave faults. Like them all he was a man whose achievement was on an heroic scale.
This new biography will chart Napoleon's life, from Corsican boy-soldier to Emperor of the French and master of Europe. It will investigate the legend and acknowledge the legacy, which reshaped France, her system and laws, and the whole of Europe.
Corsican boy-soldier 1769-85 1
Failed revolutionary 1785-94 14
General Bonaparte 1795-9 30
The First Consul 1799-1804 57
Emperor of the French, master of Europe 1804-7 72
The Napoleonic system 1808-11 91
Decline and first fall 1812-14 107
The making of a legend 1815-21 124
Further Reading 158
Picture Sources 162