Terrible Exile

Terrible Exile PDF Author: Brian Unwin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857717332
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
At its height, the Napoleonic Empire spanned much of mainland Europe. Feted and feared by millions of citizens, Napoleon was the most powerful and famous man of his age. But following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo the future of the one-time Emperor of France seemed irredeemably bleak. How did the brilliant tactician cope with being at the mercy of his captors? How did he react to a life in exile on St Helena - and how did the other inhabitants of that isolated and impregnable island respond to his presence there? And what tactics did he develop to preserve his legacy in such drastically reduced circumstances? Tracing events from the dramatic defeat at Waterloo to his death six years later, this is the first modern comprehensive account of the last phase of Napoleon's life. Drawing on many previously overlooked journals and letters, Brian Unwin has pieced together a remarkably vivid account of Napoleon's final years which also offers fresh insights into the character of this giant of European history. Through his initial flight from the battlefield and his journey into exile on St Helena, Napoleon refused to accept that he would not be allowed to return to somewhere in Europe or even America. He railed against every aspect of his imprisonment and conspired to make life as difficult as possible for his unfortunate jailer, Hudson Lowe, whose impossible situation is sympathetically described here. Confined with him in the damp and confined Longwood House, life was also uncomfortable for those loyal companions who chose to journey with him into exile. Unsurprisingly for such a man of action, Napoleon bitterly resented being under constant supervision when he ventured outside his house and suffered acutely from boredom as much as from his physical ailments. Contrary to the strict wishes of the English he refused to accept any diminution in his status: 'Je ne suis pas le General Bonaparte, je suis L'Empereur Napoleon.' But gradually Napoleon came to think less about escape and more about how he would be remembered by future generations, spending hour after hour dictating the story of his campaigns to Count Las Cases, the companion who had travelled with him chiefly to act as his amanuensis. Terrible Exile brilliantly evokes the claustrophobic atmosphere of life on St Helena, offering a colourful and original history of the period as well as a persuasive psychological portrait of a great man in reduced circumstances. It will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in Napoleonic history and is an important addition to our understanding of the subject.

Terrible Exile

Terrible Exile PDF Author: Brian Unwin
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857717332
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

Get Book Here

Book Description
At its height, the Napoleonic Empire spanned much of mainland Europe. Feted and feared by millions of citizens, Napoleon was the most powerful and famous man of his age. But following his defeat at the Battle of Waterloo the future of the one-time Emperor of France seemed irredeemably bleak. How did the brilliant tactician cope with being at the mercy of his captors? How did he react to a life in exile on St Helena - and how did the other inhabitants of that isolated and impregnable island respond to his presence there? And what tactics did he develop to preserve his legacy in such drastically reduced circumstances? Tracing events from the dramatic defeat at Waterloo to his death six years later, this is the first modern comprehensive account of the last phase of Napoleon's life. Drawing on many previously overlooked journals and letters, Brian Unwin has pieced together a remarkably vivid account of Napoleon's final years which also offers fresh insights into the character of this giant of European history. Through his initial flight from the battlefield and his journey into exile on St Helena, Napoleon refused to accept that he would not be allowed to return to somewhere in Europe or even America. He railed against every aspect of his imprisonment and conspired to make life as difficult as possible for his unfortunate jailer, Hudson Lowe, whose impossible situation is sympathetically described here. Confined with him in the damp and confined Longwood House, life was also uncomfortable for those loyal companions who chose to journey with him into exile. Unsurprisingly for such a man of action, Napoleon bitterly resented being under constant supervision when he ventured outside his house and suffered acutely from boredom as much as from his physical ailments. Contrary to the strict wishes of the English he refused to accept any diminution in his status: 'Je ne suis pas le General Bonaparte, je suis L'Empereur Napoleon.' But gradually Napoleon came to think less about escape and more about how he would be remembered by future generations, spending hour after hour dictating the story of his campaigns to Count Las Cases, the companion who had travelled with him chiefly to act as his amanuensis. Terrible Exile brilliantly evokes the claustrophobic atmosphere of life on St Helena, offering a colourful and original history of the period as well as a persuasive psychological portrait of a great man in reduced circumstances. It will be essential reading for anyone with an interest in Napoleonic history and is an important addition to our understanding of the subject.

Napoleon on St Helena

Napoleon on St Helena PDF Author: Mabel Brookes
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781781551714
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 256

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Book Description
Napoleon surrendered to the British in July 1815, and wished to be allowed free passage to America. This was denied, and he was incarcerated on the rocky island of St Helena. Here the fallen Emperor was humiliated by an over-bearing Governor, until released by death from stomach cancer in 1821. This human study is a sympathetic account of his imprisonment.

The Last Days of Napoleon

The Last Days of Napoleon PDF Author: François Antonmarchi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 436

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Book Description


Finding Napoleon

Finding Napoleon PDF Author: Margaret Rodenberg
Publisher: She Writes Press
ISBN: 9781647420161
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
“Rodenberg inventively uses Bonaparte’s own unfinished novel to tell the story of the despot’s rise to power, which she juxtaposes against the story of his last love affair. Told creatively and with excellent research!” —Stephanie Dray, New York Times and USA Today best-selling author of America's First Daughter and The Women of Chateau Lafayette “Beautiful and poignant.” —Allison Pataki, New York Times best-selling author of The Queen’s Fortune With its delightful adaptation of Napoleon Bonaparte’s real attempt to write romantic fiction, Finding Napoleon: A Novel offers a fresh take on Europe’s most powerful man after he’s lost everything—except his last love. A forgotten woman of history—the audacious Countess Albine—helps narrate their tale of intrigue, desire, and betrayal. After the defeated Emperor Napoleon goes into exile on tiny St. Helena Island in the remote South Atlantic, he and his lover, Albine de Montholon, plot to escape and rescue his young son. Banding together enslaved Africans, British sympathizers, a Jewish merchant, a Corsican rogue, and French followers, they confront British opposition—as well as treachery within their own ranks—with sometimes subtle, sometimes bold, but always desperate action. Amid his passions and intrigues, Napoleon finishes his real novel Clisson that he started writing as a young man. Now it's a father's message to the young son whom his enemies took from him, but how can they get it to the boy? When Napoleon and Albine break faith with one another, ambition and Albine’s husband threaten their reconciliation. To succeed, Napoleon must learn whom to trust. To survive, Albine must decide whom to betray. This elegant, richly researched novel reveals the Napoleon history conceals and the Countess Albine history has forgotten.

Napoleon in Exile; or, a voice from St. Helena

Napoleon in Exile; or, a voice from St. Helena PDF Author: Barry Edward O'Meara
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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Book Description


Napoleon & Betsy

Napoleon & Betsy PDF Author: Lucia Elizabeth Abell
Publisher: Fonthill Media
ISBN: 1781551359
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
The story of Napoleon and Betsy Balcombe is an unusual and fascinating tale. A fallen Emperor who once controlled most of Europe makes friends with an impudent, pretty and spirited young English girl, just about the celebrate her thirteenth birthday. Betsy produced a book full of interest, but notwithstanding that the book wanders backwards and forward chronologically, the general tenor of the relationship between this young girl and Napoleon is beyond question, and it was of an unusual and extremely friendly nature. Napoleon's fall from an unprecedented position of power to humiliating confinement must have been an impossible burden to have lived with, and yet, despite this - or possibly because of it - Napoleon befriended this child and held genuine affection for her. Despite the naivety, the warmth of the friendship between the ex-emperor and little 'Mees' Balcombe shines through, and her text is well-worth providing in this new edition. Napoleon was at the Briars for eight weeks, but the family were very close to the community at Longwood, some two miles further up hill and inland, and visited weekly, sometimes more often. It was here, as Betsy matured and grew more responsible, that the friendship developed, to the extent that she assisted Napoleon with his attempts at English. She was daring as well as impudent and with an irrepressible sense of humour she unlocked the inner child in Napoleon that led to the famous friendship. He found her boldness amusing and occasionally alarming. It must have been a welcome diversion from his darker thoughts.

Napoleon and St Helena

Napoleon and St Helena PDF Author: Johannes Willms
Publisher: Haus Pub.
ISBN: 9781906598877
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This fascinating travelogue of the little known, though infamous island was praised by the NYBR on hardback publication.

Napoleon and Doctor Verling on St Helena

Napoleon and Doctor Verling on St Helena PDF Author: J. David Markham
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1781596492
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Many books have been written about St Helena and its most famous resident, the exiled Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The episode has been so intensively researched that it is rare for a fresh, unpublished account to come to light. Yet Dr James Verling's St Helena journal is just such a source. Verling was based on St Helena during Napoleon's imprisonment and he was even appointed as Napoleon's official physician. Throughout his stay, this young doctor kept a vivid diary of his experiences. Through Verling's eyes we get a fresh view of daily life on the island and of the suspicion-filled society that grew up around Napoleon during his last years.

Napoleon's Doctor

Napoleon's Doctor PDF Author: Dr. Hubert O'Connor
Publisher: The O'Brien Press Ltd
ISBN: 1847179746
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
A fascinating glimpse into the mind of Napoleon in exile – his opinions on love and war, his reflections on the most important events of his life – by one of his closest confidantes In 1815, the young Dublin doctor Barry O'Meara accepted the opportunity of a lifetime to look after Napoleon Bonaparte in his banishment on St Helena. In one of the most isolated places on earth, doctor and patient became intimate friends. The core of Napoleon's Doctor is the diary O'Meara kept, at Napoleon's suggestion, while on St Helena. He records in lively detail many hours of Napoleon's conversation, ranging from his views on class, religion and slavery to his love for Josephine and why Waterloo was lost. Napoleon was only fifty-one when he died on St Helena. This book ends with a detailed solution to a mystery that has plagued historians: was he poisoned by his British jailers?

Betsy and the Emperor

Betsy and the Emperor PDF Author: Anne Whitehead
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
ISBN: 1760112933
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 482

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Book Description
After Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, he was sent into exile on Saint Helena. He became an 'eagle in a cage', reduced from the most powerful figure in Europe to a prisoner on a rock in the South Atlantic. But the fallen emperor was charmed by the pretty teenage daughter of a local merchant, Betsy Balcombe. Anne Whitehead brings to life Napoleon's last years on Saint Helena, revealing the central role of the Balcombe family. She also lays to rest two centuries of speculation about Betsy's relationship with Napoleon. After Napoleon's death, Betsy travelled to Australia in 1823 with her father, who was appointed the first Colonial Treasurer of New South Wales. When the family lost their fortune, she returned to London and published a memoir that made her a celebrity. With her extraordinary connections to royalty and high society, Betsy Balcombe led a life worthy of a Regency romance, but she was always fighting for her independence. This new account reveals Napoleon at his most vulnerable, human and reflective, and a woman caught in some of the most dramatic events of her time. 'Anne Whitehead deftly weaves a lively, poignant tale of Napoleon's last years on St Helena and the precocious teenager whose impudent charm briefly enlivened his exile. Her indefatigable pursuit of a tantalising archival trail takes her readers from St Helena to England, Scotland, France and New South Wales, uncovering a life curiously shadowed by its early brush with fame.' - Professor Penny Russell, University of Sydney