Napoleon: A Life

1109 Pages·2014·45.4 MB·English

by  Andrew Roberts

VIKING
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First published in Great Britain by Allan Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd.
Map and Bonaparte family tree illustrations by John Gilkes Other illustration credits appear here.
eBook ISBN 978-0-69817628-7
Version_1
To my siblings, Ashley Gurdon and Matthew and Eliot Roberts
Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
List of Illustrations
List of Maps
Acknowledgements
The Bonaparte Family Trees
Introduction
PART ONE
Rise
1 Corsica
2 Revolution
3 Desire
4 Italy
5 Victory
6 Peace
7 Egypt
8 Acre
9 Brumaire
PART TWO
Mastery
10 Consul
11 Marengo
12 Lawgiver
13 Plots
14 Amiens
15 Coronation
16 Austerlitz
17 Jena
18 Blockades
19 Tilsit
20 Iberia
21 Wagram
22 Zenith
PART THREE
Denouement
23 Russia
24 Trapped
25 Retreat
26 Resilience
27 Leipzig
28 Defiance
29 Elba
30 Waterloo
31 St Helena
Epilogue
Photographs
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
Illustrations in the Text xlii–xliii Jacques-Louis David, sketches of Napoleon,
1797. Musee d’Art et d’Histoire, Palais Masséna, Nice. Photograph: Giraudon /
Bridgeman Images 204 Baron Dominique Vivant-Denon, title page of ‘The
Description of Egypt’, 1809. Photograph: akg-images / Pietro Baguzzi 632–3
Charles-Joseph Minard, Graph to illustrate the successive losses in men of the
French army in the Russian Campaign of 1812–13, pub. 1869. Photograph: ©
Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris 804 Sèvres Manufactory after Antoine Denis
Chaudet, Bust of Emperor Napoleon I, 1806. Bibliothèque Marmottan,
Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris. Photograph: Giraudon / Bridgeman Images Colour
Plates
1 Andrea Appiani the Elder, Napoleon I Bonaparte, 1796. Pinacoteca
Ambrosiana, Milan. Photograph: De Agostini Picture Library / © Veneranda
Biblioteca Ambrosiana–Milano / Bridgeman Images 2 Léonard-Alexis
Daligé de Fontenay, The Casa Bonaparte in Ajaccio, 1849. Photograph: ©
RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) /
Jean Schormans 3 Caricature of Paoli and Bonaparte, from the atlas of a
student named Vagoudy, c. 1785. Photograph: Archives Nationales, Paris 4
Louis-François Lejeune, The Battle of Lodi, c. 1804. Photograph: © RMN-
Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) Daniel Arnaudet Gérard Blot 5 Baron
Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon on the Bridge at Arcole, 1796. Photograph: ©
RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot 6 Louis-François
Lejeune, The Battle of the Pyramids, 1806. Photograph: © RMN-Grand
Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot 7 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros,
Napoleon visiting the wounded at Jaffa, 1804 (detail). Photograph: © RMN-
Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Thierry Le Mage 8 I. Helman and J.
Duplessi-Bertaux after Charles Monnet, The Coup d’état of 18 Brumaire
1799, published 1800. Photograph © Bibliothèque Nationale de France,
Paris 9 François-Xavier Fabre, portrait of Lucien Bonaparte. Photograph:
The Art Archive / Napoleonic Museum Rome / Gianni Dagli Orti 10 Jean-
Baptiste Wicar, portrait of Joseph Bonaparte, 1808. Photograph: © RMN-
Grand Palais (Château de Fontainebleau) / Gérard Blot 11 Baron François
Gérard, portrait of Marie-Laetitia Ramolino (detail), 1803. Photograph ©
RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau)
Daniel Arnaudet Jean Schormans 12 Salomon-Guillaume Counis, portrait
of Marie-Anne Elisa Bonaparte, 1813. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais
(musée du Louvre) / Gérard Blot 13 Charles Howard Hodges, portrait of
Louis Bonaparte (detail), 1809. Photograph: © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam
14 Baron François Gérard, portrait of Hortense de Beauharnais. Private
collection. Photograph: Bridgeman Images 15 Robert Lefèvre, portrait of
Pauline Bonaparte, 1806. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de
Versailles) / Droits réservés 16 Baron François Gérard, portrait of Caroline
Murat, 1800s. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Palais Fesch, Ajaccio. Photograph ©
RMN-Grand Palais / Gérard Blot 17 François Kinson, portrait of Jérôme
Bonaparte and his wife Catarina of Württemberg. Photograph: © RMN-
Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Franck Raux 18 Baron Antoine-Jean
Gros, portrait of the Empress Josephine, c. 1809. Photograph: © RMN-
Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) Daniel
Arnaudet Gérard Blot 19 Andrea Appiani the Elder, portrait of Eugène de
Beauharnais, 1810. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux
de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) Daniel Arnaudet Jean Schormans 20
Nécessaire of the Empress Josephine, made by Félix Remond. Photograph:
© RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-
Préau) / Gérard Blot 21 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon as First
Consul. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais / Gérard Blot 22 French School,
Allegory of the Concordat, 1802. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Photograph:
Bridgeman Images 23 Louis Charon after Poisson, Costume of a Member of
the Institut de France, c. 1802–10. Private collection. Photograph: Archives
Charmet / Bridgeman Images 24 Jean-Baptiste Greuze, portrait of Jean-
Jacques de Cambacérès. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais / Agence Bulloz
25 Andrea Appiani the Elder, Louis-Charles-Antoine Desaix reading the
order of General Bonaparte to two Egyptians. Photograph: © RMN-Grand
Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot 26 Baron François Gérard,
portrait of Jean Lannes. Private collection. Photograph: Giraudon /
Bridgeman Images 27 Henri-François Riesener (after), portrait of Jean-
Baptiste Bessières, 1805. Photograph © Paris–Musée de l’Armée, Dist.
RMN-Grand Palais / image musée de l’Armée 28 Anne-Louis Girodet De
Roussy-Trioson, portrait of Géraud Christophe Michel Duroc. Musée
Bonnat, Bayonne. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais / René-Gabriel Ojéda
29 French School, caricature of William Pitt the Younger and King George
III observing the French squadron, 1803. Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée
Carnavalet, Paris. Photograph: Giraudon / Bridgeman Images 30 Copy by
Mudie of a Napoleonic medal celebrating the planned invasion of Britain,
1804. Photograph © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford 31 Jean-
Baptiste Debret, The First Distribution of the Cross of the Légion
d’Honneur, 14 July 1804, 1812. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (Château
de Versailles) / Droits réservés 32 Jacques-Louis David, study of Napoleon
crowning himself Emperor, c. 1804–7. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais
(musée du Louvre) / Thierry Le Mage 33 Baron François Gérard, The Battle
of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805, 1808. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais
(Château de Versailles) / Droits réservés 34 Pierre-Michel Alix after Baron
Antoine-Jean Gros, portrait of Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier, 1798.
Photograph © Paris–Musée de l’Armée, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Pascal
Segrette 35 Flavie Renault after Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, portrait of
Marshal André Masséna, 1834. Photograph: © Paris–Musée de l’Armée,
Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image musée de l’Armée 36 Baron François
Gérard, portrait of Marshal Michel Ney, c. 1805. Photograph: © Christie’s
Images 37 Louis Henri de Rudder, portrait of Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult
(detail). Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Franck
Raux 38 Tito Marzocchi de Belluchi, portrait of Marshal Louis-Nicolas
Davout (detail), 1852. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de
Versailles) / Gérard Blot 39 Raymond-Quinsac Monvoison, portrait of
Nicolas-Charles Oudinot as he appeared in 1792. Photograph: © RMN-
Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) Daniel Arnaudet Jean Schormans 40
Robert Lefèvre, portrait of Marshal Charles-Pierre-François Augereau
(detail). Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Droits
réservés 41 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, portrait of Joachim Murat (detail).
Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi
42 Edme Bovinet after Jacques-François Swebach, The Battle of Jena, 14
October 1806. Photograph: JoJan 43 George Dawe, portrait of Field
Marshal Prince Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, c. 1816. The Wellington
Museum, Apsley House, London. Photograph: Bridgeman Images 44 W.
Herbig, portrait of King Frederick William III of Prussia (detail). The
Wellington Museum, Apsley House, London. Photograph: Bridgeman