One Hundred Days: Napoleon's Road to Waterloo (Paperback)

by Alan Schom (Author)
Key Phrases: ist corps, journal des débats, cavalry corps, One Hundred Days, Quatre Bras, King Louis (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Alan Schom doesn't think very highly of Napoleon, but he nevertheless has written an engrossing account of the little Corsican's escape from Elba, return to power, and defeat at Waterloo. (This period actually lasted a bit longer than 100 days, but who's counting?) Bonaparte, in Schom's view, was a despot who placed nepotistic interests ahead of national ones. He was plainly not good for the country he ruled, according to the author. But his military skills were exceptional, and he may have carried off a victory on the Belgian fields if his underlings hadn't bungled their duties. Schom breaks no new historical ground with One Hundred Days, but he tells his tale well.

From Publishers Weekly
Schon ( Trafalgar ) writes of Napoleon's escape from Elba in February 1815 and his return "like a thunderbolt" to France. Rallying the nation behind him, he mustered his army and marched off to meet Wellington at Waterloo. Schon describes the extraordinary logistical feat carried out jointly by War Minister Louis Davout and Interior Minister Lazare Carnot while Napoleon himself concentrated on mobilizing the troops. Waterloo was a crushing defeat, to be sure, but Schon argues that Napoleon's basic plan of campaign was a good one. The main problem, he maintains, was that the senior army commanders (marshals Soult, Ney and Grouchy) either disobeyed Napoleon's orders or deliberately hindered their execution. No admirer of Bonaparte, Schon describes how, "in utter defiance of the facts," his reputation rebounded after his death and developed into the Napoleon myth. This is a first-class reconstruction of Napoleon's final campaign. Illustrations. Paperback rights to Oxford.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 1St Edition edition (May 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195081773
• ISBN-13: 978-0195081770
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #784,956 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Historical Page-Turner, January 8, 2001

By	J. Mullin (Plantation, FL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Schom is no great fan of Napolean, as his recent biography of the little Corsican demonstrates. However, I thought in reading this book that he provided a fairly even-handed, readable description of a fascinating period in European history. Most readers are familiar with the basic facts: In 1815, the deposed Napolean Bonaparte escaped from his island exile of Elba, and set sail for the shores of his beloved France. The king sent the army to recapture him, but upon encountering their former leader the troops rallied to his cause, and he ultimately marched into Belgium as the rest of Europe looked on in horror at this menace whom they thought was out of their hair forever. An alliance of troops, under the command of Lord Wellington, met up with Napolean on the great battlefield of Waterloo, leading to Bonaparte's final great defeat.

This book provides a very readable account of these 4 months, and effectively demonstrated how close Napolean actually was to pulling off one more great victory. He points out the damaging mistakes by Napolean's inferior generals, leading to his flank being disrupted by General Blucher at a crucial point in the battle. We all know how the story ends, and yet the story was oddly suspenseful in Schom's hands nonetheless. He also paints a very vivid, sometimes unflattering portrait of Napolean, who was not the same man who boldly grasped the crown from the Pope in Notre Dame and proclaimed himself Emperor over 10 years earlier. Napolean was physically weaker, had a slight drool, and lacked the dynamic force of his younger days during the final 100 day campaign.

All in all, while Schom's critical attitude towards Bonaparte has sometimes been open to attack, I thought this was a very entertaining historical narrative for the casual history buff like myself.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars 'One Hundred Days'-A book too far!, October 21, 1998

By A Customer

Alan Schom's book, while on the face of it an informative guide to the Waterloo Campaign, is at best misguided and at worst completely untrue. Although he paints an interesting view as to the relationships between Napoleon and his brothers many of his other comments are contradicted by all other books on the subject. He says in his passage on the trial of Marshal Ney that this was one of the most hated men in the army, and yet every other authority describes Ney as the darling of the men, described as the 'Bravest of the Brave'.His view that Napoleon was certain to be defeated is also seriously flawed. Both Austria and Russia were more concerned with neutralising each other than with fighting Napoleon. David Hamilton-Williams in his book 'The Fall Of Napoleon' has hard evidence that these countries would have made peace with Napoleon had he won Waterloo. This book is fatally flawed in that it seems unable to give any credit to anyone who rallied to Napoleon in the campaign which he so nearly won against all the odds.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Schom succinctly portrays the notables of Napoleonic France., March 5, 1999

By	[e-mail] (Duluth, MN) - See all my reviews

I attacked One Hundred Days like Wellington attacked the French. Unlike a biography I read of Boney years ago, Schom marvelously and succinctly described the background and characters of a constellation of lesser notables who surrounded the Emperor. In doing so he made understandable the mood of France as Napoleon made his spectacular come back attempt before bowing out of European history. This book filled an enormous gap in my understanding of France as a European power and as a nation at the beginning of the 19th century. My daughter could hardly have made a better choice of gifts for my birthday.