Napoleon Read online

  VIKING

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  Published by Viking Penguin, a member of Penguin Group (USA) LLC, 2014

  Copyright © 2014 by Andrew Roberts

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  First published in Great Britain by Allan Lane, an imprint of Penguin Books Ltd.

  Map and Bonaparte family tree illustrations by John Gilkes

  Other illustration credits appear here.

  eBook ISBN 978-0-698-17628-7

  Version_1

  To my siblings, Ashley Gurdon and Matthew and Eliot Roberts

  Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  List of Illustrations

  List of Maps

  Acknowledgements

  The Bonaparte Family Trees

  Introduction

  PART ONE

  Rise

  1Corsica

  2Revolution

  3Desire

  4Italy

  5Victory

  6Peace

  7Egypt

  8Acre

  9Brumaire

  PART TWO

  Mastery

  10Consul

  11Marengo

  12Lawgiver

  13Plots

  14Amiens

  15Coronation

  16Austerlitz

  17Jena

  18Blockades

  19Tilsit

  20Iberia

  21Wagram

  22Zenith

  PART THREE

  Denouement

  23Russia

  24Trapped

  25Retreat

  26Resilience

  27Leipzig

  28Defiance

  29Elba

  30Waterloo

  31St Helena

  Epilogue

  Photographs

  Notes

  Bibliography

  Index

  List of Illustrations

  Illustrations in the Text

  xlii–xliii Jacques-Louis David, sketches of Napoleon, 1797. Musee d’Art et d’Histoire, Palais Masséna, Nice. Photograph: Giraudon / Bridgeman Images

  204 Baron Dominique Vivant-Denon, title page of ‘The Description of Egypt’, 1809. Photograph: akg-images / Pietro Baguzzi

  632–3 Charles-Joseph Minard, Graph to illustrate the successive losses in men of the French army in the Russian Campaign of 1812–13, pub. 1869. Photograph: © Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris

  804 Sèvres Manufactory after Antoine Denis Chaudet, Bust of Emperor Napoleon I, 1806. Bibliothèque Marmottan, Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris. Photograph: Giraudon / Bridgeman Images

  Colour Plates

  1 Andrea Appiani the Elder, Napoleon I Bonaparte, 1796. Pinacoteca Ambrosiana, Milan. Photograph: De Agostini Picture Library / © Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana–Milano / Bridgeman Images

  2 Léonard-Alexis Daligé de Fontenay, The Casa Bonaparte in Ajaccio, 1849. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Jean Schormans

  3 Caricature of Paoli and Bonaparte, from the atlas of a student named Vagoudy, c. 1785. Photograph: Archives Nationales, Paris

  4 Louis-François Lejeune, The Battle of Lodi, c. 1804. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Daniel Arnaudet / Gérard Blot

  5 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon on the Bridge at Arcole, 1796. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

  6 Louis-François Lejeune, The Battle of the Pyramids, 1806. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

  7 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon visiting the wounded at Jaffa, 1804 (detail). Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Thierry Le Mage

  8 I. Helman and J. Duplessi-Bertaux after Charles Monnet, The Coup d’état of 18 Brumaire 1799, published 1800. Photograph © Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris

  9 François-Xavier Fabre, portrait of Lucien Bonaparte. Photograph: The Art Archive / Napoleonic Museum Rome / Gianni Dagli Orti

  10 Jean-Baptiste Wicar, portrait of Joseph Bonaparte, 1808. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Fontainebleau) / Gérard Blot

  11 Baron François Gérard, portrait of Marie-Laetitia Ramolino (detail), 1803. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Daniel Arnaudet / Jean Schormans

  12 Salomon-Guillaume Counis, portrait of Marie-Anne Elisa Bonaparte, 1813. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Gérard Blot

  13 Charles Howard Hodges, portrait of Louis Bonaparte (detail), 1809. Photograph: © Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

  14 Baron François Gérard, portrait of Hortense de Beauharnais. Private collection. Photograph: Bridgeman Images

  15 Robert Lefèvre, portrait of Pauline Bonaparte, 1806. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Droits réservés

  16 Baron François Gérard, portrait of Caroline Murat, 1800s. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Palais Fesch, Ajaccio. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais / Gérard Blot

  17 François Kinson, portrait of Jérôme Bonaparte and his wife Catarina of Württemberg. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Franck Raux

  18 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, portrait of the Empress Josephine, c. 1809. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Daniel Arnaudet / Gérard Blot

  19 Andrea Appiani the Elder, portrait of Eugène de Beauharnais, 1810. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Daniel Arnaudet / Jean Schormans

  20 Nécessaire of the Empress Josephine, made by Félix Remond. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Gérard Blot

  21 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, Napoleon as First Consul. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais / Gérard Blot

  22 French School, Allegory of the Concordat, 1802. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Photograph: Bridgeman Images

  23 Louis Charon after Poisson, Costume of a Member of the Institut de France, c. 1802–10. Private collection. Photograph: Archives Charmet / Bridgeman Images

  24 Jean-Baptiste Greuze, portrait of Jean-Jacques de Cambacérès. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais / Agence Bulloz

  25 Andrea Appiani the Elder, Louis-Charles-Antoine Desaix reading the order of General Bonaparte to two Egyptians. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

  26 Baron François Gérard, portrait of Jean Lannes. Private collection. Photograph: Giraudon / Bridgeman Images

  27 Henri-François Riesener (after), portrait of Jean-Baptiste Bessières, 1805. Photograph © Paris–Musée de l’Armée, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image musée de l’Armée

  28 Anne-Louis Girodet De Roussy-Trioson, portrait of Géraud Christophe Michel Duroc. Musée Bonnat,
Bayonne. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais / René-Gabriel Ojéda

  29 French School, caricature of William Pitt the Younger and King George III observing the French squadron, 1803. Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris. Photograph: Giraudon / Bridgeman Images

  30 Copy by Mudie of a Napoleonic medal celebrating the planned invasion of Britain, 1804. Photograph © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

  31 Jean-Baptiste Debret, The First Distribution of the Cross of the Légion d’Honneur, 14 July 1804, 1812. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Droits réservés

  32 Jacques-Louis David, study of Napoleon crowning himself Emperor, c. 1804–7. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Thierry Le Mage

  33 Baron François Gérard, The Battle of Austerlitz, 2 December 1805, 1808. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Droits réservés

  34 Pierre-Michel Alix after Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, portrait of Marshal Louis-Alexandre Berthier, 1798. Photograph © Paris–Musée de l’Armée, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Pascal Segrette

  35 Flavie Renault after Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, portrait of Marshal André Masséna, 1834. Photograph: © Paris–Musée de l’Armée, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / image musée de l’Armée

  36 Baron François Gérard, portrait of Marshal Michel Ney, c. 1805. Photograph: © Christie’s Images

  37 Louis Henri de Rudder, portrait of Marshal Jean-de-Dieu Soult (detail). Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Franck Raux

  38 Tito Marzocchi de Belluchi, portrait of Marshal Louis-Nicolas Davout (detail), 1852. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

  39 Raymond-Quinsac Monvoison, portrait of Nicolas-Charles Oudinot as he appeared in 1792. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Daniel Arnaudet / Jean Schormans

  40 Robert Lefèvre, portrait of Marshal Charles-Pierre-François Augereau (detail). Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Droits réservés

  41 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, portrait of Joachim Murat (detail). Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Jean-Gilles Berizzi

  42 Edme Bovinet after Jacques-François Swebach, The Battle of Jena, 14 October 1806. Photograph: JoJan

  43 George Dawe, portrait of Field Marshal Prince Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, c. 1816. The Wellington Museum, Apsley House, London. Photograph: Bridgeman Images

  44 W. Herbig, portrait of King Frederick William III of Prussia (detail). The Wellington Museum, Apsley House, London. Photograph: Bridgeman Images

  45 Jacques-Louis David, Napoleon I in Imperial Costume, 1805. Palais des Beaux-Arts, Lille. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais / Philipp Bernard

  46 Jean-Antoine-Siméon Fort, The Battle of Eylau, 8 February 1807. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Droits réservés

  47 Thomas Naudet, The Battle of Friedland, 1807, c. 1807–12. Photograph: Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library, Providence, RI

  48 Adolphe Roehn, The Meeting of Napoleon I and Tsar Alexander I at Tilsit, 25 June 1807. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Franck Raux

  49 Baron François Gérard, portrait of Tsar Alexander I, c. 1814. Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne. Photograph: akg-images / André Held

  50 Baron François Gérard, portrait of Désirée Clary. Photograph: Alexis Daflos. The Royal Court, Sweden

  51 Jean-Baptiste Isabey, portrait of Pauline Fourès. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Droits réservés

  52 Ferdinando Quaglia, portrait of Giuseppina Grassini. Photograph: De Agostini Picture Library / A. Dagli Orti / Bridgeman Images

  53 Pierre-Auguste Vafflard, portrait of Marguerite Weimer (Mademoiselle Georges), 1805. Photograph © Collections Comédie-Française / P. Lorette

  54 Jean-Baptiste Isabey, portrait of Countess Maria Walewska. Collection of the Patrimoine Comte Colonna-Walewski. Photograph Fine Art Images / Heritage Images / Scala, Florence

  55 Mayer & Pierson, Photograph of Comte Alexander Colonna-Walewski. Photograph: © Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt

  56 Pierre-Paul Prud’hon (attr.), Portrait of a Lady said to be Éléonore Denuelle de la Plaigne with her son, 1814. Private collection. Photograph © Christie’s Images / Bridgeman Images

  57 Jean-Baptiste Isabey, portrait of Anne Hippolyte Boutet Salvetat (Mademoiselle Mars), 1819. Photograph: © By kind permission of the Trustees of the Wallace Collection, London.

  58 Albine de Montholon. Photograph: Roger-Viollet / Topfoto

  59 Sèvres Manufactory, spindle vase owned by Madame Mère, depicting Napoleon crossing the Alps at the Great St Bernard pass, 1811. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Droits réservés

  60 François-Honoré-Georges Jacob-Desmalter, Bernard Poyet and Agustin-François-André Picot, the imperial throne of Napoleon for sittings of the Legislative Body, 1805. Photograph: © Les Arts Décoratifs, Paris / Jean Tholance. Tous droits réservés

  61 Henri Auguste, the Emperor’s Nef, 1804. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Fontainebleau) / Jean-Pierre Lagiewski

  62 French School, The Construction of the Vendôme Column, c. 1803–10. Musée National du Château de Malmaison, Rueil-Malmaison. Photograph: Giraudon / Bridgeman Images

  63 Henri Courvoisier-Voisin, The Palais de la Bourse, c. 1826. Musée de la Ville de Paris, Musée Carnavalet, Paris. Photograph: Giraudon / Bridgeman Images

  64 Claude François de Méneval. Photograph: Mary Evans Picture Library / Epic

  65 Lemercier, portrait of Baron Agathon-Jean-François Fain. Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. Photograph: Roger-Viollet / Topfoto

  66 Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, A heroic feat! With dead men!, illustration from The Disasters of War, pub. 1863. Photograph: Index / Bridgeman Images

  67 Adolphe Roehn, Bivouac of Napoleon on the battlefield at Wagram during the night of 5–6 July 1809 (detail). Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

  68 Baron Antoine-Jean Gros, The Meeting of Napoleon and Francis II after the Battle of Austerlitz, 4 December 1805 (detail). Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Daniel Arnaudet

  69 Sir Thomas Lawrence, portrait of Prince Clemens Metternich (detail), 1815. Royal Collection Trust © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, 2014. Photograph: Bridgeman Images

  70 Sir Thomas Lawrence, portrait of Carl Philip, Prince Schwarzenberg, 1819. The Royal Collection © 2014 Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Photograph: Bridgeman Images

  71 Baron François Gérard, portrait of the Empress Marie Louise, 1810. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée du Louvre) / Hervé Lewandowski

  72 Baron François Gérard, portrait of the King of Rome. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Fontainebleau) / Daniel Arnaudet / Jean Schormans

  73 Josef Lanzedelli the Elder, portrait of Adam Albert von Neipperg (detail), c. 1810. Photograph: © Stadtverwaltung, Schwaigern

  74 Antoine Charles Horace Vernet after Étienne-Alexandre Bardin, Uniforms of a line infantryman and second flagbearer, illustration from the Bardin Regulations. Photograph: © Paris–Musée de l’Armée, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Pascal Segrette

  75 Christian Johann Oldendorp, View of the Kremlin during the Burning of Moscow, September 1812. Photograph: De Agostini Picture Library / M. Seemuller / Bridgeman Images

  76 Faber du Faur, On the Road, Not Far From Pneva, 8 November 1812, illustration from Blätter aus meinem Portefeuille, im Laufe des Fel, c. 1830s. Photograph: Anne S. K. Brown Military Collection, Brown University Library, Providence, RI

  77 V. Adam (after), The Berezina Passage. Brown University Library, Providence, RI. Photograph: Bridgeman Images

  78 Pierre-Paul Prud’hon, portrait of Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Périgord (det
ail), 1817. Purchase, Mrs Charles Wrightsman Gift, in memory of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, 1994. Accession Number: 1994.190. © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

  79 French School, portrait of Joseph Fouché. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

  80 Studio of Baron François Gérard, portrait of Charles-Jean Bernadotte, 1811. Photograph © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

  81 Jean-Baptiste Paulin Guérin, portrait of Marshal Auguste de Marmont, 1834. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (Château de Versailles) / Gérard Blot

  82 Anon., Napoleon bidding adieux to his army, in the court of the castle of Fontainebleau, 20 April 1814. Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris. Photograph: Roger-Viollet / Topfoto

  83 George Cruikshank, The Flight of Bonaparte from the field of Waterloo Accompanied by his Guide, 1816. Private collection. Photograph: The Stapleton Collection / Bridgeman Images

  84 Count Louis-Joseph-Narcisse Marchand, View of Longwood (detail), 1820. Photograph: © RMN-Grand Palais (musée des châteaux de Malmaison et de Bois-Préau) / Gérard Blot

  85 Anon., portrait of Napoleon during his last weeks in St Helena. © Bodleian Library, Oxford (Curzon Atlantic a1 folio 19)

  86 Charles Joseph Hullmandel after Captain Frederick Marryat, Napoleon Bonaparte laid out after Death, 1821. Photograph: Wellcome Library, London

  List of Maps

  1.Napoleonic Paris

  2.Revolutionary and Napoleonic France

  3.Northern Italy, 1796–97

  4.Europe after the Peace of Campo Formio

  5.The Egyption and Syrian campaigns, 1798–99

  6.Northern Italy, 1796–1800

  7.The Battle of Marengo

  8.Germany before and after the Treaty of Lunéville

  9.Movement of the Grande Armée from the Channel coast to the Rhine

  10.From Ulm to Austerlitz

  11.The Battle of Austerlitz

  12.The Confederation of the Rhine, 1807

  13.Prussian and Polish campaigns, 1806–7

  14.The Jena campaign and battlefield, 1806

  15.The Battle of Eylau