The Reign Of Napoleon Bonaparte [Hardcover]

Robert Asprey (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2, 2001

In The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte, the second and final volume of Robert Asprey's cradle-to-grave biography, the author expands upon the encompassing portrayal of Napoleon-child, man, general, lover, husband, king, emperor, father, conqueror, statesman, and, finally, prisoner-that he developed in volume one. Asprey gives us more of the personality and passion that marks this swift-moving, intensely dramatic saga.In The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, Asprey showed us that Napoleon was not the father of chaos but rather an heir to chaos. In this sequel, we see Napoleon struggling to deal with that chaos. We peer over Napoleon's shoulder as he solidifies his growing empire through a series of dynastic marriages, military victories, and shrewd diplomatic manipulations. We watch Napoleon lose control of his empire, plot his return from Elba, rally peasants in his march on Paris, and endure defeat at Waterloo and exile to St. Helena. The concluding installment to this exciting, reckless thrill ride shows Napoleon as he was-not saint, not sinner, but a man dedicated to and ultimately devoured by his vision of himself, his empire, and his world.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Between the years 1805 and 1815, the armies of Napoleon Bonaparte conquered most of continental Europe, establishing their leader, if but briefly, as "a new Charlemagne." In the second part of his two volumes on the life of the emperor, military historian Robert Asprey examines the armies' triumphs and eventual defeat, following in their footsteps from Spain to Russia, and on to Waterloo.

Bonaparte, Asprey writes, aspired to forge and lead a united, peaceful Europe, a quest that required much blood to be shed. A former U.S. marine officer, Asprey is a reliable commentator on matters of battlefield strategy and tactics, and his book's greatest strength is his power to invoke the feel of bloody engagements, which include the Battle of Borodino, where more than 40,000 Russians fell in a single day (cut down, he notes, by the more than 2 million rounds that French muskets fired); Wagram, where French forces managed to eke out victory over their Austrian foes despite a series of costly blunders; Corunna, where the French forces, having marched 15 and more miles a day, proved "that there have probably been no tougher soldiers in the world"; and the decisive action at Waterloo, where French, Belgian, German, and English armies clashed amid thunderstorms and confusion to an end that was anything but inevitable.

Other books do a better job of treating Napoleon as a political being, but Asprey's is one of the better recent books on Napoleon as general, and students of military history will learn much from his account. --Gregory McNamee

From Publishers Weekly

This accessible, fast-moving narrative of Napoleon's regime from 1803, a sequel to The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, encompasses the period from the aftermath of Austerlitz (1805) to its subject's lonely death on the island of St. Helena (1821). Basing his account heavily on the emperor's correspondence, Asprey is often empathetic: he understands Napoleon's determination to sink Britannia's arrogant ruling of the waves. But as a former U.S. Marine captain, he is always aware of the tension between rhetoric and battlefield reality: the irony is palpable when, after the gruesome battle of Friedland, Napoleon orders Te Deums to be sung throughout the empire. The author has as sharp an eye for the common foot soldiers who fought and died in the great "adventures" in Poland, Spain and Russia as he does for their Great Leader. Climbing the fierce December slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama, north and west of Madrid, French troops encountered a blizzard so strong that they needed to dismount and link arms. Days later, three veteran grenadiers blew their brains out, traumatized by the march and the fear of capture by the English. Asprey is particularly adept at describing the unexpected guerrilla movement that arose in occupied Spain, the result of Napoleon's complacent attempt to wage "a conventional war in an unconventional environment against unconventional people." As the author readily admits, the Great Leader was, after all, increasingly delusional, and the experience in Spain was a foretaste of the scorched Russian earth, the Cossack raids and the harrowing retreat from Moscow, when, in Asprey's words, "the human had become the animal." Illus. and maps.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 580 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; First Edition edition (October 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465004814
• ISBN-13: 978-0465004812
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #551,088 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #8 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( B ) > Bonaparte, Napoleon

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fair, balanced, thorough, and entertaining life of Napoleon, December 4, 2001

By 

"fbazar" (Sydney, Australia (a US ex-pat)) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Reign Of Napoleon Bonaparte (Hardcover)

As an avid history buff I've searched over the years for a really good modern, readable and fair biography of Napoleon. I had big hopes with a number of "high profile" works in the past few years, but I found so many of them were written by English authors who were none too objective and went so far as to compare Napoleon to Hitler (e.g. Alistair Horne's terribly biased "How Far From Austerlitz" and even more biased work by Alan Schom). That comparison is simply ridiculous -- no one talks today of "Hitler-Kulture," he left no legacy but murder and madness. Napoleon on the other hand left numerous infrastrucural improvements, the 'Code Napoleon' judicial system largely still in use not just in France but in dozens of countries worldwide, the list goes on. He didn't simply "grab for power" as many would have you believe, it was the French Revolution and because of his immense popularity throughout France he was -invited- to be Consul in an effort to end the chaos and Terrors. All this and more is nicely characterized in Mr. Asprey's work. As the author makes so clear, much of what is commonly known about Napoleon is taken out of context, "history written by the victors" as it were -- of course the English demonize Napoleon, and he hated them just the same, but in the book you find that it was not Napoleon who started one war after another in Europe but in fact it was usually the English as the "bad guy," bankrolling and instigating 7, yes SEVEN, coalitions against Napoleon, all but the last of which they lost (and consequently lost so much of Europe). I was drawn to this biography of Napoleon because I had previously read the author's Frederick the Great biography, which I counted as the second-best biography I've ever read (after Robert K. Massey's Pulitzer-winning Peter the Great). He did not disappoint -- this is a truly great work, sure there are probably some areas here and there one might like to know more about, one reviewer here called his treatment "superficial," but again, let's be fair, Napoloeon's life is vast, Mr. Asprey gives two very full action-packed volumes for a terrific overview. I agree with another reviewer here, take this one plus the Vincent Cronin and you have a pretty darn good feel for Napoleon and his times.

35 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Napoleon's Leadership Really Tells Us, October 28, 2001

By 

David Bradford (Merritt Island, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Reign Of Napoleon Bonaparte (Hardcover)

Update: Robert Asprey died January 26, 2009. He left a major portion of his estate to New College of Florida. I knew him, wrote for and with him, and called him my mentor for over 35 years.

For those who read history with an eye for understanding the human traits that so enrage or encourage us all, reading the second book of Asprey's work on Napoleon reminds us what the elusive term "leadership" really is. For those who were taught that leadership is "not a personal or individual thing but rather a relationship and a process whereby people influence one another concerning real changes they intend for the organization or a society" this latest book should serve as a wake-up call. Leadership in Napoleon's time (and today?) is a personal and individual thing. Once again Asprey has meticulously researched a side of Napoleon vis a vis his leadership roles as simultaneous imperial administrator and military commander, with such incredible insight that the reader is forced to rethink all that he or she thought about this incredibly complex man. Most telling, and most prescient of all the chapters, are the end ones describing how the many nation entities of the European continent, along with England, waged incessant battle until Napoleon was doomed to failure. States Asprey, "Why did (Napoleon) persist in his discredited strategy (moving ahead without reinforcement/resupply)? The short answer is because he did not believe that it 'was' discredited. We are dealing here with disparate and complex factors working on a strange amalgam of past and present caught in the fearful coils of the arrogance of ingnorance, trapped in his belief of enemy impotence and cowardice, failing to recognize that his once omnipotent and beautiful army had weakened and withered into halting old age, that the political elixir which he had brewed to save Europe from itself had turned poisonously bitter and impotent...That was the real key to his disjointed actions and spurious decisions and it is at once terribly sad, yet in another sense strangely noble --- a defeated man refusing to accept defeat." And contributing to Napoleon's defeat (and education) was the war he was forced to contend with in Spain against terrorists and guerrillas. Those forces wore Napoleon's army and lessening resources down, weakening them to the point they could not be used in future battles. Napoleon loathed terrorism and guerilla tactics, but in the end, was forced to use them to wear down opposition forces. Asprey makes nearly two hundred years of history as relevant as if it had happened on 9/11/01. It is now up to the greatest military and economic power on Earth to deal with disparate and complex factors and not get caught in the fearful coils of the arrogance of ignorance. Asprey reminds our leadership how and why.

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Flawed, March 15, 2002

By 

Anaxagoras (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Reign Of Napoleon Bonaparte (Hardcover)

The second volume of Asprey's biography of Napoleon makes the same error of the first one: he focuses entirely on Napoleon's military career while virtually ignoring every other aspect of the man's life. Asprey has billed his book as an attempt to see the whole Napoleon, but in this he fails. Napoleon's personal life, his domestic policies in France, his philosophy, are passed over with scarely a mention.

Furthermore, even in covering Napoleon's military career, Asprey falls short. The section on the crossing of the Danube River during the 1809 Austrian Campaign, one of the most fascinating events in Napoleon's career, is covered in a confusing and slipslod manner, leaving the reader utterly at a loss to what actually happened. The Battle of Dresden, a massive engagement which lasted two days and was Napoleon's last major victory, is mentioned only in passing, without even a full sentence devoted to it. Overall, the writing gives the impression of an author in a hurry to meet a deadline, unable to carefully edit and correct his work.

This work fails in its stated purpose to present a full view of Napoleon's life, its writing style is somewhat sloppy and overall the book fails to impress.