Napoleon: A Life Reviewed by Ruth Paget
Readers interested in the history that created modern France might enjoy the biography Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts (869 pages in Kindle version).
Napoleon fought 70 battles and won 63 Roberts writes. Despite losing the decisive battle at Waterloo, the values of the French Revolution had become entrenched among the citizens of France no matter who later led the nation.
Roberts enlivens the chronology of battles by writing about the generals who led them, many of whom later held positions of power when Napoleon declared himself emperor.
Roberts writes about Napoleon’s military genius strategy of breaking up a large army into smaller units that could:
-take advantage of terrain and microclimates
-take advantage of battle victories that could break enemy lines into smaller units
-transmit communications quicker than larger units to obtain strategic objectives.
I especially liked Roberts’ discussion of Napoleonic reforms that still exist in modern-day France such as:
-the Légion d’Honneur, which French citizens from all levels of society could obtain
-the Code Napoleon, the French legal code that France still uses as well as the state of Louisiana in the United States
-the Lycée Français, or French high school, that also operates overseas as exclusive private schools notably in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco
Roberts makes his biography of Napoleon read like a novel when he writes about Napoleon installing his relatives on thrones only to betray him and his mother who saves money in case relatives on thrones lose them so they have bread.
Americans interested in Napoleon’s family might be interested to learn that his brother Joseph, the King of Spain, emigrated to the United States and lived in Bordentown, New Jersey. (See my blog on Bordentown, New Jersey for information about this town.)
Napoleon: A Life by Andrew Roberts is a very readable biography about a turbulent time in French history that francophiles and military leaders alike might enjoy reading.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France
