The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 4 (of 4)
The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte. Vol. 4 (of 4)
The final volume of Sloane's monumental biography traces Napoleon's last stand against the combined forces of Europe. Having reached the pinnacle of imperial power, the Emperor faces a coalition of nations united by desperate nationalism and mutual fear. Sloane captures the military genius at war with impossible odds, the strategic brilliance that somehow extracted victory from defeat after defeat, and the psychological weight of an empire crumbling under its own ambition. The book details the 1813 campaigns, the formation of the coalition, and the inexorable march toward Leipzig and final Waterloo. This is military history at its most intimate: the fog of war, the calculus of battle, the human cost measured in hundreds of thousands of dead. For readers who want to understand how empires die and how one man held Europe in balance for a decade, this volume delivers the definitive account of Napoleon's last campaigns and the collapse of his grand vision.
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“The Corsican nobleman di Buonaparte was now entirely transformed into the French general Bonaparte. The process had been long and difficult: loyal Corsican; mercenary cosmopolitan, ready as an expert artillery officer for service in any land or under any banner; lastly, Frenchman, liberal, and revolutionary.””
— William Milligan Sloane
“The adroit man profits by everything, neglects nothing which can increase his chances; the less adroit, by sometimes disregarding a single chance, fails in everything.””
— William Milligan Sloane
“The newly rich lost their balance and their stolidity, becoming as giddy and frivolous and aggressive as the worst.””
— William Milligan Sloane
“By common consent the eminent man of the time was Napoleon Bonaparte, the revolution queller, the burgher sovereign, the imperial democrat, the supreme captain, the civil reformer, the victim of circumstances which his soaring ambition used but which his unrivaled prowess could not control. Gigantic in his proportions, and satanic in his fate, his was the most tragic figure on the stage of modern history. While the men of his own and the following generation were still alive, it was almost impossible that the truth should be known concerning his actions or his motives; and to fix his place in general history was even less feasible. What he wrote and said about himself was of course animated by a determination to appear in the best light; what others wrote and said has been biased by either devotion or hatred.””
— William Milligan Sloane
