Napoleon and the Hundred Days [Paperback]

Stephen Coote (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2007

Vienna, 1815: As the political leaders of Europe assemble to determine the fate of the continent after defeating Napoleon, the alarming news arrives that Napoleon has escaped captivity. Bonaparte had returned, and it would be just one hundred days before he met his enemies in a final, epic battle. In Napoleon and the Hundred Days, Stephen Coote vividly re-creates the rise and fall of Bonaparte's empire, and brings to life the characters who shaped it. With the eye of an historian and the dramatic style of a novelist, Coote describes how the path to war became inevitable and how, at the Battle of Waterloo, the fatigued but ever arrogant Napoleon met his match. This is a dazzling portrait of the legendary emperor, whose genius, courage, and tenacity won--and lost--him a vast empire.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This literary, almost novelistic treatment of the 100 days between Napoleon's escape from Elba and his capitulation after Waterloo uses the period as a lens through which to examine his character in general. By so doing, Coote (A Play of Passion: The Life of Sir Walter Raleigh) manages to give the reader a panoramic view of the emperor's life, not simply a focused study of the events of the Hundred Days. From Napoleon's unwillingness to concede the impossibility of even his most far-fetched plans to his megalomaniacal identification of Europe's destiny with his own, Coote illustrates the increasingly disastrous consequences of Bonaparte's temperament and character by comparing episodes of his return to power (such as the Additional Act, the Champs de Mai and the battle of Waterloo) to those of his initial rise (the Code Napoleon, the coronation in Notre Dame and the battle of the Bridge of Lodi). Throughout, Coote's prose is a delight, and his knack for description and characterization make men like Talleyrand, Fouché and Louis XVIII almost palpable (of Fouché, he writes, "dressed in plain black clothes amid all the brilliant decor and brighter uniforms of the palace and its courtiers, Fouché gave the uncomfortable impression of being a monk disguised in evening dress, of being something other than what he seemed"). Overall, this accessible work is reminiscent of the finest classical Roman histories and biographies. Although Coote's volume will be of great interest to those already familiar with Napoleonic history, he provides enough background information to make such familiarity unnecessary.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

A fittingly impetuous conclusion to his controversial impact on history, Napoleon's return to power in 1815--nullified by the Battle of Waterloo--was chronicled in Napoleon biographer Alan Schom's One Hundred Days (1993). Coote (Samuel Pepys, 2001) traverses the same terrain in a more popular, less scholarly manner, spicing a fast-moving story with pithy characterizations of the main figures involved. Napoleon's escape from exile and return to France with several hundred followers confronted officials of the shakily restored Bourbon regime, from local prefects to the ministers of Louis XVIII, with a decision about whether to turn coats or not. Coote smoothly dramatizes Napoleon's progress to Paris where, reenthroned as emperor, he politically posed as the liberal that the wars he previously conducted had prevented him from being. Singed by experience, the victors of 1814 rejected the new and improved Napoleon, declared him an outlaw, and mobilized. Sketching in attributes of Napoleon--charisma and egotism--that propelled the madcap adventure, Coote delivers a splendidly flowing rendition of the tragic affair. Gilbert Taylor
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1st DaCapo Press Pbk. Ed edition (January 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0306815079
• ISBN-13: 978-0306815072
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,358,683 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent background of lead up to Waterloo, November 21, 2005

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Napoleon and the Hundred Days (Hardcover)

I really enjoyed this book, I felt Coote had got insight not just into Napoleon but into the strange and fluid structure of the allies in the lead up to Waterloo.

The book opens with the Conference at Vienna in 1815 and the political and personal issues which plagued it. It then returns to Elba of 1814 and Napoleon himself and follows his life on Elba, the personal and professional ties he had made which made it possible for him to escape the island and build up an army with such enormous rapidity it surprised the whole of Europe

I really liked the style of the book, The chapters were well marked, and each chapter included sub headings which made it simple to read through and to find a place when I wanted to confirm something previously

There was nothing new as far as information went (or at least I think) but it read more than simply a rehash of previous books. It brought the information together in an insightful way and was an enjoyable read to boot.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More Than the Title Projects, January 13, 2006

By 

CE Durham (US) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Napoleon and the Hundred Days (Hardcover)

This was one of the first books on Napoleon that I read. After reading this one, I can say that many more have followed, but they still have not dimmed my affection for this book. The title infers that the books deals with primarily the last so-called 100 days of Napoleon's reign after his first exile and culminating at Waterloo. The book, I am pleased to say deals with far more.

It allows the reader a broader picture of what lead up to the 100 days, the campaign itself as well as what followed afterward. As a novice on Napoleon and the Napoleonic era, I found the book a delightful read and read it very quickly.

I would recommend it to anyone with a curious interest in the subject matter. For those of a more learned and academic knowledge of the subject material, I would have to defer to other's opinons on the enjoyability of this book. As for me...I would reccomend it as the narrative flowed and made it an interesting and delightful read which catapulted me on to further reading on Napoleon and his times.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More a summary of Napoleon as Emporer and then Loss at Waterloo, July 26, 2007

By 

Grey Wolffe "Zeb Kantrowitz" (North Waltham, MA United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Napoleon and the Hundred Days (Paperback)

Coote's has written about more than just the hundred days between Napoleon leaving Elba and being taken to St.Helena. He begins with discussing the Congress of Vienna after Napoleon's disasterous Russian campaign leads to his overthrow in 1814. While the Leaders of the Sixth Coalition are deciding the fate of Europe at the Congress, Napoleon leaves Elba and returns to Paris. Coote's then gives a short summary of Napoleon's life from just after the Revolution to his leading the "Army of Italy" to his being named a General and then 'First Council' to 'Emperor' to his defeat and exile to Elba.

He then describes Napoleon's time on Elba, where he still carries the title of Emperor, but only has the little sixteen by seven mile island to reign over with six hundred of the 'Old Guard'. Napoleon lands on the Italian Riviera where he begins his triumphant March on Paris promising he will not fire on any French soldier. As he closes in on Paris, King Louis XVIII flees once more across the Belgian border.

The allies (made up of Britain and Prussia and some mixed Dutch-Belgian troops) under the Duke of Wellington and Price von Blucher mass their armies to intercept Napoleon before he can capture Brussels (and Louis). They end of meeting at the little town of Waterloo where Napoleon almost (but not quite) defeats them. The loss is exacerbated by Marshall Ney's inability to follow his orders to move to 'Quatre Bras' of of Marshall Grouchy to harass von Blucher after Blucher's loss at Ligny.

Coote's gives a good detail story to Napoleon's conduct after Waterloo but very short shrift to Napoleon on St. Helena. All in all he does his best to tell the story of the 'Hundred Days' and to explain the machinations of most of the major players involved.