NAPOLEON

Broers continues his run of satisfying books on Napoleon.

The relentless fascination with Napoleon and his empire continues to generate books, mostly biographies, and this is another fine entry by Broers, a professor of Western European history at Oxford. Controlling land that stretched from Rome to the Baltic, Napoleon had defeated continental rivals and established friendly relations with Russia, and his forces were having some success suppressing the gruesome Spanish rebellion. Fruitless efforts to cut off British trade finally made a painful impression when he placed Atlantic ports under military rule to suppress smuggling. “Napoleon always wanted war during this period of relative peace,” writes Broers, “just not the one he got in 1812.” His plan to invade Britain—this time with a proper navy—was derailed when Czar Alexander “opened Russian ports to neutral shipping in December 1810” and fended off bullying efforts to bring him into line. By summer 1811, Napoleon was determined to invade Russia. At this point, the text still has 500 pages to go, but few readers will complain as the author describes Napoleon’s preparations from a sullen French nation exasperated by massive taxes, mourning massive casualties, and oppressed by another round of brutally efficient conscription. The titanic army that trundled into Russia in June 1812 began shrinking long before meeting the enemy, led by a ruler Napoleon had consistently underestimated. Fans of War and Peace will learn that Tolstoy and Broers share a modest admiration for Alexander and a lower opinion of the emperor, although, having read all Napoleon’s correspondence, Broers’ opinion is more nuanced. After a gripping account of the Russian debacle, the author recounts Napoleon’s return to Paris. Returning without much of an army left, he wrung another fighting force from his exhausted nation and won several victories before he was forced to abdicate and retire to Elba, from which he returned to power, lost at Waterloo, and ended his life in humiliating exile.

An outstanding addition to the groaning bookshelves on one of the world’s most recognizable leaders.