Napoleon

Michael Broers

• Publisher: Pegasus Books
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781643132334
• eBook ISBN: 9781681777252
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: French History
• Index: History

Like volume one of Michael Broers's magnificent biography, The Spirit of the Age is based on the new version of Napoleon's correspondence, made available by the Fondation Napoléon in Paris. It is the story of Napoleon's conquest of Europe—and that of his magnificent Grande Armée—as they sweep through the length and breadth of Europe. This narrative opens with Napoleon's as yet untested army making its way through the Bavarian Alps in the early winter of 1805 to fall upon the unsuspecting Austrians and Russians at Austerlitz. This was only the beginning of a series of spectacular victories over the Prussians and Russians over the next two years. The chronicle then follows the army into Spain, in 1808, the most ill-considered step in Napoleon's career as ruler, and then through the most daunting triumph of all, the final defeat of Austria at Wagram, in 1809, the bloodiest battle in European history up to that time.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Contents
• List of Maps
• List of Plates
• Preface
• 1. The Conquest of Europe I: The Humbling of the Habsburgs
• 2. The Conquest of Europe II: The Death of an Idol
• 3. The Conquest of Europe III: To the Edge of the World
• 4. Tilsit, July 1807: The Great Crossroads
• 5. Hubris: From Tilsit to the Spanish Rising
• 6. Hard Truths: From the Dos Mayo to the Austrian War
• 7. The Return of the Austrian Challenge
• 8. Sunderings I: Discarding the Past
• 9. Sunderings II: Discarding the Present
• 10. The Last Dawn
• Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Notes
• Index
• Also by Michael Broers
• Copyright