Napoleons Empire

The Napoleonic Empire played a crucial role in reshaping global landscapes and in realigning international power structures on a worldwide scale. When Napoleon died, the map of many areas had completely changed, making room for Russia's ascendency and Britain's rise to world power.

Traces Napoleon's rise to power, early mistakes, and military campaigns, while considering the emperor's darker side and the lengths to which he went to establish himself as a legitimate ruler.

An accomplished Oxford scholar delivers a dynamic new history covering the last chapter of the emperor's life—from his defeat in Russia and the drama of Waterloo to his final exile—as the world Napoleon has created begins to crumble around him. In 1811, Napoleon stood at his zenith. He had defeated all his continental rivals, come to an entente with Russia, and his blockade of Britain seemed, at long last, to be a success. The emperor had an heir on the way with his new wife, Marie-Louise, the young daughter of the Emperor of Austria. His personal life, too, was calm and secure for the first time in many years. It was a moment of unprecedented peace and hope, built on the foundations of emphatic military victories. But in less than two years, all of this was in peril. In four years, it was gone, swept away by the tides of war against the most powerful alliance in European history. The rest of his life was passed on a barren island. This is not a story any novelist could create; it is reality as epic. Napoleon: The Decline and Fall of an Empire traces this story through the dramatic narrative of the years 1811-1821 and explores the ever-bloodier conflicts, the disintegration and reforging of the bonds among the Bonaparte family, and the serpentine diplomacy that shaped the fate of Europe. At the heart of the story is Napoleon’s own sense of history, the tensions in his own character, and the shared vision of a family dynasty to rule Europe. Drawing on the remarkable resource of the new edition of Napoleon’s personal correspondence produced by the Fondation Napoleon in Paris, Michael Broers dynamic new history follows Napoleon’s thoughts and feelings, his hopes and ambitions, as he fought to preserve the world he had created. Much of this turns on his relationship with Tsar Alexander of Russia, in so many respects his alter ego, and eventual nemesis. His inability to understand this complex man, the only person with the power to destroy him, is key to tracing the roots of his disastrous decision to invade Russia—and his inability to face diplomatic and military reality thereafter. Even his defeat in Russia was not the end. The last years of the Napoleonic Empire reveal its innate strength, but it now faced hopeless odds. The last phase of the Napoleonic Wars saw the convergence of the most powerful of forces in European history to date: Russian manpower and British money. The sheer determination of Tsar Alexander and the British to bring Napoleon down is a story of compromise and sacrifice. The horrors and heroism of war are omnipresent in these years, from Lisbon to Moscow, in the life of the common solider. The core of this new book reveals how these men pushed Napoleon back from Moscow to St. Helena. Among this generation, there was no more remarkable persona than Napoleon. His defeat forged his myth—as well as his living tomb on St. Helena. The audacious enterprise of the 100 Days, reaching its crescendo at the Battle of Waterloo, marked the spectacular end of an unprecedented public life. From the ruins of a life—and an empire—came a new continent and a legend that haunts Europe still.

Having suffered a massive reversal of fortunes in Russia Napoleon found himself confronted, in Germany, by the combined forces of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. After the disaster of Leipzig Napoleon’s German allies fell away and he was forced to fall back, beyond the borders of France. Offered a negotiated peace on the basis of a return to the pre-1792 borders, Napoleon chose to continue to fight, trusting in his star. He was, however, desperate for troops and short of horses and cash. Cornered and threatened by three armies invading from the north, northeast, and east, every chance to stop the Allies had to be taken and there was desperate battle after desperate battle. Of all his campaigns, Napoleon’s 1814 campaign was one of his most brilliant. Eventually, after several terrible defeats, the Allies refused to engage him in battle when he confronted them. Instead they pushed their other two armies forward, slowly driving him back as he rushed to block the advance of the other armies on Paris. This strategy proved successful and eventually Napoleon was obliged to abdicate when his marshals refused to fight further.

Until now, there has been no study of the significant errors that Napoleon made himself which, though apparently trivial at the time, proved to be major factors in his downfall. Digby Smith tracks his rise to power, his stewardship of France from 1804–15, and his exile. He highlights his military mistakes, such as his unwillingness to appoint an effective overall supremo in the Iberian Peninsula, and the decision to invade Russia while the Spanish situation was spiralling out of control.

Napoleon's conquests were spectacular, but behind his wars, is an enduring legacy. A new generation of historians have re-evaluated the Napoleonic era and found that his real achievement was the creation of modern Europe as we know it.

Napoleon’s forces invaded Spain in 1808, but two years went by before they overran the southern region of Andalucía. Situated at the farthest frontier of Napoleon’s “outer empire,” Andalucía remained under French control only briefly—for two-and-a-half years—and never experienced the normal functions of French rule. In this groundbreaking examination of the Peninsular War, Charles J. Esdaile moves beyond traditional military history to examine the French occupation of Andalucía and the origins and results of the region’s complex and chaotic response. Disillusioned by the Spanish provisional government and largely unprotected, Andalucía scarcely fired a shot in its defense when Joseph Bonaparte’s army invaded the region in 1810. The subsequent French occupation, however, broke down in the face of multiple difficulties, the most important of which were geography and the continued presence in the region of substantial forces of regular troops. Drawing on British, French, and Spanish sources that are all but unknown, Esdaile describes the social, cultural, geographical, political, and military conditions that combined to make Andalucía particularly resistant to French rule. Esdaile’s study is a significant contribution to the new field sometimes known as occupation studies, which focuses on the ways a victorious army attempts to reconcile a conquered populace to the new political order. Combining military history with political and social history, Outpost of Empire delineates what we now call the cultural terrain of war. This is history that moves from battles between armies to battles for hearts and minds.

The year is 1806, and a new French Empire is rising from the shadow of the Reign of Terror. The citizens who shouted “Death to Kings” now chant “Vive l’Empereur!” for Napoleon, who is seeking to consolidate his power. While the peace and prosperity he promised is decadently enjoyed in Paris, fear spreads across Europe, and a new coalition has united against him. In Poland, Andre Valiere’s efforts to serve out his conscription and return home to his family are complicated when he finds himself lured into a plot to seize a hidden fortune. Containing enough riches to bestow glory and wealth upon whoever delivers it to Napoleon, this elusive cache soon draws other, more powerful forces, wishing to claim it. In Normandy, Sophie Valiere strives to manage the family estate in Andre’s absence, but her efforts are imperiled by an influx of refugees and their growing friction with the local farmers. Amidst the infighting that threatens to unleash chaos on the entire province, she is visited by an intriguing Count returning from exile. It isn’t long before this mysterious nobleman has his sights on a new prize. In Paris, retired republican lawyer and former revolutionary, Jean-luc St. Clair, finds himself returning to politics. As his fortunes grow so does his list of enemies, and the opulent streets prove just as dangerous as Napoleon’s battlefields. Inspired by the mysterious origins of the famed Rothschild’s fortune, the bloody battles of the Napoleonic wars, the notorious gangs of nineteenth century Naples, and the real-life mistress who charmed Napoleon into granting Poland a nation-state, Searchers in Winter sets a cast of unforgettable characters—against epic historical events—into thrilling motion from the opening pages. “Armchair time travelers who’ve wondered what it’s like to be embedded in Napoleon's Grande Armée will devour Owen Pataki’s Searchers in Winter.” —Juliet Grey: Author of the Marie Antoinette trilogy “From the very first page of Searchers in Winter, you know you're in the hands of a master storyteller. Owen Pataki brings Napoleon's era to such vivid life you will think you spent time with the people themselves. An utterly absorbing and completely fantastic read!” —Michelle Moran, international bestselling author of Madame Tussaud “Pataki’s keen attention to historical detail and devotion to his subject matter bring readers directly into the heart and grit of the Napoleonic wars. Searchers in Winter boldly plants two feet in the past and never flinches.” —Sarah McCoy, New York Times and international bestselling author of The Baker’s Daughter

Anders Engberg-Pedersen shows how the Napoleonic Wars inspired a new discourse on knowledge in the West. Soldiers returning from battle were forced to reconsider what it is possible to know and how decisions are made in a fog of imperfect knowledge. Chance no longer appeared exceptional but normative—a prism for understanding the modern world.