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.
Author: François Antonmarchi
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 436
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Book Description
Author: Simon Leys
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1590178432
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 145
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Book Description
Napoleon Bonaparte escapes exile just before death in this quirky alternate history novel that reimagines the life of the great French emperor. “This comic tale of Napoleon’s imaginary yet all-too-human tribulations poses serious questions about the relationship of truth, history and imagination.” —The Wall Street Journal Napoleon has escaped from St. Helena, leaving a double behind him. Now disguised as the cabin hand Eugène Lenormand and enduring the mockery of the crew (Napoleon, they laughingly nickname the pudgy, hopelessly clumsy little man), he is on his way back to Europe, ready to make contact with the huge secret organization that will return him to power. But then the ship on which he sails is rerouted from Bordeaux to Antwerp. When Napoleon disembarks, he is on his own. He revisits the battlefield of Waterloo, now a tourist destination. He makes his way to Paris. Mistakes, misunderstandings, and mishaps conduct our puzzled hero deeper and deeper into the mystery of Napoleon. Adapted into Alan Taylor’s 2001 film The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Death of Napoleon is a smart alternative history for the Napoleon obsessed—as deep and compelling as it is quirky and fresh.
Author: J. David Markham
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 240
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Book Description
Examines the life of Napoleon after the Battle of Waterloo, his fall from power, and the politics surrounding his surrender.
Author: Patrick O'Brian
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393088510
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 318
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Book Description
"One of the best novelists since Jane Austen…The Hundred Days may be the best installment yet." —Philadelphia Inquirer Napoleon, escaped from Elba, pursues his enemies across Europe like a vengeful phoenix. If he can corner the British and Prussians before their Russian and Austrian allies arrive, his genius will lead the French armies to triumph at Waterloo. In the Balkans, preparing a thrust northwards into Central Europe to block the Russians and Austrians, a horde of Muslim mercenaries is gathering. They are inclined toward Napoleon because of his conversion to Islam during the Egyptian campaign, but they will not move without a shipment of gold ingots from Sheik Ibn Hazm which, according to British intelligence, is on its way via camel caravan to the coast of North Africa. It is this gold that Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin must at all costs intercept. The fate of Europe hinges on their desperate mission.
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
Author: Frederick Kagan
Publisher: Da Capo Press, Incorporated
ISBN: 9780306811371
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 816
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Book Description
Looks at the Corsican general's rise to power in France, the impact of his quest for conquest on the changing face of Europe, the seminal events of the period, and the lives of key personalities and their roles during this time.
Author: Joseph Roth
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 0811222799
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 183
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Book Description
Now in paperback, Napoleon’s return to the throne in Paris, as imagined by the incomparable Joseph Roth Joseph Roth paints a vivid portrait of Emperor Napoleon’s last grab at glory, the hundred days spanning his escape from Elba to his final defeat at Waterloo. This particularly poignant work, set in the first half of 1815 and largely in Paris, is told from two perspectives, that of Napoleon himself and that of the lowly, devoted palace laundress Angelica—an unlucky creature who deeply loves him. In The Hundred Days, Roth refracts the deep sorrow of their intertwined fates. Roth’s signature lyrical elegance and haunting atmospheric details sing in The Hundred Days. “There may be,” as James Wood has stated, “no modern writer more able to combine the novelistic and the poetic, to blend lusty, undamaged realism with sparkling powers of metaphor and simile.”
Author: Ben Weider
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 1583481508
Category : France
Languages : en
Pages : 302
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Book Description
The history books say that Napoleon died of natural causes. Napoleon himself, expiring at 51 after a lifetime of robust health, suspected otherwise and ordered a thorough autopsy. His suspicions were well-founded. So clever was the crime, however, that until recent developments in forensic science, it was impossible to prove a case of murder, let alone name the killer. Now, the authors of this fascinating book assert, it has been done-by a brilliant man whose 20-year inquest, a feat of detection, has produced one of history’s greatest surprises. What the critics say: "History at its most electrifying" - Newsweek "A nonfiction whodunit based on modern scientific technique" - New York Times "A spellbinding whodunit about one of history's greatest crimes" - History Book Club "Sensational ... as gripping as a detective novel yet scrupulously observant of historical fact" - Publishers Weekly "Thoroughly convincing... A major Odyssey in historical research" - Harold C. Deutsch, professor of military history, U.S. Army War College
Author: David Hamilton-Williams
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781860199851
Category : Betrayal
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
However great his military campaigns, how often he was victorious on the battlefield, Napoleon was destined to be deposed by political connivance and personal betrayal. This important study of the cause and effects of Napoleon's removal from power tracks his illustrious career through to his downfall and, while doing so, charts the clandestine diplomatic intrigue linking Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia in the quest for the Emperor's death.
