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Napoleon

Andrew Roberts, 2014

How a minor Corsican noble rose through the Revolution to rule most of Europe, remade French law and government, and lost it all in Russia and at Waterloo.

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32 parts, about 51 minutes to read.

Why read it

  • See how his lasting legacy was institutional, from the legal code to bodies that still work, more than any battle
  • Compare his own account from exile with the record, and learn which famous quotations and claims were embellished or invented
  • Follow his fall through unforeseeable circumstances and real miscalculations, from the Continental System and Spain to Russia and Waterloo

Who it is for

  • Readers who know the legend but not the record
  • Students of the French Revolution and its aftermath
  • Readers studying how strategy and statecraft go wrong

What the summary covers

  1. Introduction2 min
  2. Corsica2 min
  3. Revolution2 min
  4. Desire1 min
  5. Italy2 min
  6. Victory1 min
  7. Peace1 min
  8. Egypt and Acre2 min
  9. Brumaire2 min
  10. Consul1 min
  11. Marengo2 min
  12. Lawgiver1 min
  13. Plots1 min
  14. Amiens1 min
  15. Coronation2 min
  16. Austerlitz2 min
  17. Jena2 min
  18. Blockades2 min
  19. Tilsit2 min
  20. Iberia2 min
  21. Wagram1 min
  22. Zenith1 min
  23. Russia1 min
  24. Trapped2 min
  25. Retreat3 min
  26. Resilience2 min
  27. Leipzig1 min
  28. Defiance1 min
  29. Elba1 min
  30. Waterloo2 min
  31. St Helena2 min
  32. Epilogue1 min

Recommended by

  • Jay WinikBestselling author of April 1865
    With his customary flair and keen historical eye, Andrew Roberts has delivered the goods again. This is the best one volume biography of Napoleon in English for the last four decades.
  • Simon Sebag MontefioreHistorian and author
    Truly a Napoleonic triumph of a book, elegantly written, epic in scale, novelistic in detail, irresistibly galloping with the momentum of a cavalry charge, as comfortable on the battlefield as in the bedroom.
  • Max HastingsHistorian and author
    I would recommend his book to anyone seeking an accessible chronicle, rich in anecdote, of Napoleon’s fantastic story.
  • Philip ZieglerHistorian and biographer
    Roberts in his Napoleon achieves the near impossible by writing on this extravagantly well-covered subject with a freshness and excitement that makes readers think they have stumbled on something entirely new.
  • John BewHistorian
    Andrew Roberts’s Napoleon is a brilliant example of ‘great man’ history, brimming with personality and the high-octane Bonapartist spirit.
  • Dan JonesHistorian and journalist
    A huge, rich, deep, witty, humane and unapologetically admiring biography that is a pleasure to read.

About the author

  • Andrew RobertsBritish historian and journalist, Hoover Institution visiting research fellow
    • He was born in Hammersmith, London, on 13 January 1963.
    • He read modern history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, graduating with a first class BA and going on to a PhD in modern history.
    • He began his career as an investment banker at the London merchant bank Robert Fleming & Co., where he worked from 1985 to 1988.
    • He published his first historical book in 1991.
    • His 2009 book The Storm of War won the British Army Military Book of the Year Award for 2010 and reached number 2 on The Sunday Times bestseller list.
    • His prizes include the Wolfson History Prize, and he writes often for The Wall Street Journal.
    • He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2001.
    • He was a trustee of the National Portrait Gallery in London from 2013 to 2021.

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