Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny

Napoleon #1

by Michael Broers

Written with great energy and authority―and using the newly available personal archives of Napoleon himself―the first volume of a majestic two-part biography of the great French emperor and conqueror. All previous lives of Napoleon have relied more on the memoirs of others than on his own uncensored words. This is the first life of Napoleon, in any language, that makes full use of his newly released personal correspondence compiled by the Napoléon Foundation in Paris. All previous lives of Napoleon have relied more on the memoirs of others than on his own uncensored words.

Michael Broers' biography draws on the thoughts of Napoleon himself as his incomparable life unfolded. It reveals a man of intense emotion, but also of iron self-discipline; of acute intelligence and immeasurable energy. Tracing his life from its dangerous Corsican roots, through his rejection of his early identity, and the dangerous military encounters of his early career, it tells the story of the sheer determination, ruthlessness, and careful calculation that won him the precarious mastery of Europe by 1807. After the epic battles of Austerlitz, Jena and Friedland, France was the dominant land power on the continent.

Here is the first biography of Napoleon in which this brilliant, violent leader is evoked to give the reader a full, dramatic, and all-encompassing portrait.
16 pages of color and B&W illustrations

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, France, War, Biography Memoir, European History

608 pages, Hardcover

First published March 4, 2014

About the author

Michael George Broers is the Professor of Western European History at the University of Oxford. He graduated with an MA from the University of St Andrews in 1978 and a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford in 1982.

Reviews

[Helga چـو ایـران نباشد تن من مـباد · Rating 4 out of 5]

He was a leader born, and there is no need to mythologize the fact.

This is the first of three volumes of Napoleon’s biography and covers the period from Napoleon’s birth and childhood in Corsica, including his family background, to 1805 before the Battle of Austerlitz.

[Sud666 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can not say enough good things about this book. unlike many history books, even though the subject matter ( Napoleonic Code, The Directory's Financial reorganization, etc) could reasonably be considered "dry" the author's writing style makes it flow like a novel. Well written, engaging and full of new information unearthed by the Napoleon Society this book makes use of source material directly from Napoleon himself. It uses previously unknown letters and diaries and gives a more accurate picture of this powerful man. Previous histories have often relied on third party descriptions or other nation's interpretations of Napoleon. The author is quite a talented historian and has the skill to put his words to paper where it is approachable to non-specialists and non-history majors as well as being full of information and details for history majors or buffs of the Napoleonic Period. Highly recommend this book for anyone who is interested in Napoleon and his impact not only on France but on all of Europe.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

For all of their variety in number, size, and detail, biographies of Napoleon Bonaparte can be grouped into three categories. The first are those, such as Patrice Gueniffey's Bonaparte: 1769-1802, which concentrate on Napoleon the person, analyzing his motivations, beliefs, and views. The second, which includes works like Andrew Roberts's Napoleon: A Life, focus more on his military career, detailing the battles and campaigns which were so critical to his success.

The final category are those which pivot on the political aspects of Napoleon's career. These are perhaps the least common of the three, yet they focus on what is the most important aspect of his life and legacy. This becomes clear in Michael Broers's book, the first of a projected three-volume biography of the emperor. In it he traces Napoleon's life from his early years in Corsica, through his time as an officer in the royalist and revolutionary French army, to his successes as a general and as an political leader. Broers sees Napoleon's time as conqueror and ruler of Italy as key both to his emergence as a prospective leader and to the development of his ideas of government. Though applied bluntly in Egypt, their legacy in Bomaparte's development of the French government during his years as First Consul and as emperor are made clear by the author, who details the manifold achievements which did so much to make modern France.

Not the least of Broers' achievements in this lucid and insightful work is his success in demonstrating how Napoleon's political skills and ability in managing people were at least as important as his military gifts. He succeeds in making the case for appreciating Napoleon as more than a successful general but as a ruler whose accomplishments were due to a multitude of factors. He leaves his readers eager for the continuation of the tale of Napoleon's life, particularly as the limits of his abilities emerged and why ultimately they proved inadequate to the perpetuation of his reign.

[Kaśyap · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first part of a new two volume biography of Napoleon. Broers draws extensively from both primary and secondary sources.

He starts this biography in Corsica with his family history and the material circumstances surrounding his childhood in Corsica. This is a necessary and important component. Gives a better perspective on the man and his role in the broad Socio-historical processes.

He goes on to chronicle his move to France and the circumstances surrounding it. His role in Robespierre’s reign of terror, where he first got the chance to showcase his military talents at the siege of Toulon. Later he managed to survive the end of Terror and got an important position in the Directory. His first Italian campaign which propelled him to fame (with the help of a lot of shameless self-propaganda, most of which were lies) has also given him a lot of experience in administration and diplomacy. The Egyptian campaign and the coup at the 18th Brumaire which took him to power in the Consulate and eventually to his coronation. This part stops with the events leading to the battle of Austerlitz.

Napoleon was a child of the revolution. Growing up in a Petite bourgeoisie family with little prospects, only the revolution has paved the way for his meteoric rise to power. But he never trusted either the masses or the reactionary royalists. He was obsessed with order, and it was the wealthy middle-class who formed the bedrock of his regime. In his own words there are three major factions in the French society,

“1. there are the friends of the former government; 2. The supporters of an independent if rather aristocratic constitution; 3. The supporters of a French constitution, or of pure democracy. I repress the first, support the second and restrain the third, because the party of the second is that of the rich landowners and priests who, in the final analysis, will win over the mass of the population, and it is essential to rally it around the French cause.”

Napoleon is frequently compared to Hitler and Stalin and understandably so. He was authoritarian and ruthless. He was self-serving and ambitious and never hesitated perpetrating acts of violence whenever necessary. His method of dealing with revolutionary and reactionary uprisings was by destroying whole villages. He gave his army free reign to rape and pillage at their will after a battle. He abandoned his army at Egypt and later sent 50,000 men to a disastrous campaign in Saint-Domingue. His handling of the naval war in 1804-1805 was a disaster and Broers calls it one of his most incompetent and disgraceful acts.
This is a biography that sympathises with Napoleon and casts him in a different light, but is still even-handed. Broers here tries hard to show that Napoleon was not just a blood thirsty dictator and a cynical manipulator. He tries to show how his policies and action are based on his idea of Ralliement and amalgame. He tries to show Napoleon as progressive in both military organisation and civil administration.

This is a wonderful biography that is extensively reasearched and provides a lot of insights and detail regarding the life of Napoleon Bonaparte.

[Brian Willis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This new, multi-volume biography of Napoleon (and he certainly was significant and monumental enough to deserve the expansive treatment of multiple books) uses the complete personal papers of the emperor for the first time. Ending on the precipice of war with the Third Alliance in 1805, the jumping point for some of Napoleon's greatest military triumphs, Broers gets us as deeply into the personality of Bonaparte as possible.

Over half of this first volume covers the years 1800-1805, when Napoleon's greatest civil reforms took place. Broers gets into all the details of the government reforms and the Napoleonic Code. What impressed me about this volume is that Broers traces Bonaparte's growth as a politician back to his conquests of Italy and Egypt, and identifies the lessons learned there that signified his future successes at seizing power in France. The French couldn't see it coming, but with Broers's lens, we can see that Napoleon had already gained the knowledge he needed to seize power as Consul for Life. Along with healthy doses of luck, Napoleon's shrewd knowledge of power led to his fulfillment of a gap in French politics: a moderate reformer who brought stability to France by returning to centralized monarchical rule while implementing the reforms of the Revolution as well as curbing its excesses. Near the end of the book, we also see how Napoleon built the Grande Armee that he would use to devastating effect for the next decade and how the powers of Europe underestimated him.

Neither too hagiographic nor too critical, Broers looks at Napoleon with a balanced approach. He gets praise for his genius where he deserves it as well as candid looks at his egotism in others. I loved Andrew Roberts's recent one volume approach, but Broers is certainly looking like it will be the authoritative version for decades to come.

[Peter Baran · Rating 5 out of 5]

After seeing Abel Gance's five hour silent Napoleon (in which Napoleon isn't even the ruler of France by the end) I realised I knew surprisingly little about his life. Most of what I know is gleaned from a Nelson jigsaw from when I was a kid (there were battles) and the usual broad caricatures from pop culture. So I had been looking for a good biography to explain how France went from Revolution to an emperor in fifteen years, and how it was such an outsider. Which Boers book does perfectly.

The first of a two part biography starts as a pretty standard chronological narrative, Broers has all of the papers and previous biographical works to use and is generous both in crediting legions of others works, but also clear when those biographies may have had political undertones. No apologist for Napoleon, what you get is a fascination for the man through each page, particularly in the books second half when Napoleon takes charge. At this point the book is less narrative, taking on areas such as the Civil Code, the army, his disastrous naval adventures as well as contextualising Europe at the time. Broers has an excellent prose style, and it is a real disappointment when you get to the end and the Eastern campaigns hasn't started yet. The second volume has the wars (good and bad), exile and more, which will be well worth waiting for.

[Mark Bachmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Napoleon Bonaparte is one of history's abiding geniuses and most fascinating personalities. He has therefore been one of its most studied characters too, and any biographer covering yet again the story of his life has to overcome skepticism about how much new there can possibly be to say about him. While I'm certainly no expert on the subject, I've read enough to recognize Michael Broers' new book as an exciting fresh contribution to our understanding of Napoleon. This fine volume provides only the first half of the story, covering Napoleon's improbable rise to power and ending around 1805 as he has crowned himself "Emperor of the French" and finished construction of his overwhelming military force. How Napoleon will put this grand machine to work and drive it tragically past its breaking point will be the subject of the as-yet unpublished second volume.

This is not a conventional timeline style of biography. The author assumes a basic knowledge of the dramatic tale and glosses over much of it as he focuses his text on explicating Napoleon's methods. It is, in my own experience, impossible not to admire Napoleon, even if one hates him for his ruthless ambition and the destruction he ultimately caused. Professor Broers rises to the level of objectivity here in the sense that he embraces both views of Napoleon and fleshes out the odd paradox of his doom being part and parcel with his genius. Without becoming overly dramatic about it, Broers paints his subject as the quintessential tragic hero.

One cannot understand Napoleon without knowing something about the social psychology of the French Revolution. Broers devotes considerable attention to this phenomenon and portrays the revolution as being essentially a social breakout engineered by France's talented professional and commercial classes, whose ambitions were being thwarted by its closed hereditary aristocracy. Napoleon embodied this very spirit. He himself was actually born into minor aristocracy, but on the backwater island of Corsica, and he came of age with the mindset of a frustrated outsider. His father too was a troubled spirit, who having gone to great lengths to prove his noble lineage, succeeded in getting the boy, at the tender age of nine, accepted into a course of aristocratic military education in France.

From this point forward, the wheels of Napoleon's destiny would turn rapidly, for the year was 1779, and France was on the cusp of a chaotic and violent upheaval. This was to be no "proletarian" revolution of type Marx and Engels would dream about later in the next century, but a bourgeois enterprise brutally managed by cabals of self-interested opportunists. Napoleon, perhaps the greatest opportunist of all time, was entering into his perfect milieu. He made the most of his military training but was shunned by military elitists because of his provincial roots and his lousy, accented French. One of the life-long keys to Napoleon's success, however, was his ability to fight his way unscathed through almost any adversity, then turn the experience to his advantage. He found himself relegated to the artillery service, generally considered a dead-end track for a military career, but he managed to excel there. Thanks to his gift for self-promotion, military superiors started taking notice, and he found patrons for himself.

When the Revolution got underway soon thereafter, he was well-positioned because the blundering new government badly needed military talent. France was surrounded by hostile neighbors eager to exploit the chaos, and the revolutionary leaders welcomed all the help they could muster for self-protection. Napoleon soon displayed ability beyond his years, and following the famous Siege of Toulon, at which he played a key role, he was at age 24 promoted to brigadier general. Already able to operate on different levels simultaneously, Napoleon cultivated political supporters even as he developed his military skills. He learned to work effectively with everyone from conservative former royalists to the murderous Robespierre brothers, taking from everyone what they had to offer irrespective of backgrounds or ideologies.

Soon he was sent to Italy, where the neophyte young soldier found himself suddenly in command of large troop formations as he confronted the Austrians, who were leading the coalition of nations then arrayed against France. Amazingly, he achieved victory and negotiated the peace treaty. So relieved was the "Directory", as France's revolutionary five-man governing committee was known, that they granted Napoleon virtual autonomy in consolidating the victory and establishing a reliable government in the sector of northern Italy he now controlled.

Professor Broers describes this experience in great detail because it represented a virtual dress rehearsal for what Napoleon would later achieve on a larger scale in France itself. Installing himself effectively as Head of State for his new "Cisalpine Republic", Napoleon negotiated borders, cultivated relationships with competing political factions, promoted talented administrators, and with Jeffersonian flair, chaired committees that produced a constitution for the tiny new nation. Napoleon was wrapping all this up by the time he was a mere twenty-eight years old.

Next, Napoleon was dispatched to Egypt, of all places, in what appears to have been a convoluted strategy aimed at disrupting the British trade empire. He traveled with his army and a sizable naval armada. Arriving with little understanding of the country and not much of a plan, he almost lost his poorly-provisioned army to hunger, thirst and heat prostration as soon as they disembarked onto the brutal Egyptian desert. He was facing the Mamelukes, a supposedly formidable caste of soldier-administrators who had been governing Egypt in alliance with the Ottoman sultans. The Mamelukes, however, had never before encountered European military tactics, and even in its debilitated state the French force easily defeated them and moved on to take control of Cairo.

Egypt brought out the worst in Napoleon, and his administration there seems to have been a comic-opera affair, epitomized by his posturing as a Muslim potentate while spouting megalomaniacal French revolutionary rhetoric. The opera was not to last long, however, because the British had been closely following Napoleon's movements. When he deemed the time ripe, the ace naval commander Lord Nelson appeared off Egypt's Mediterranean coast and proceeded to obliterate the French fleet, stranding Napoleon and his land forces. Knowing how to cut his losses, Napoleon turned over to his subordinates the thankless job of extracting themselves from Egypt, and he made his own private arrangements for a return to France.

Thanks to his flair for self-marketing and to the primitive state of international communications at the time, Napoleon was able to bury the true nature of his Egyptian fiasco and paint it as a triumph before the eyes of the French public. They had grown weary of the grim and bumbling Directory anyway, and were both receptive to charisma and eager for good news. He returned to a hero's welcome, and the stage was set for his rise to real political power.

Now determined to rid himself of impediments, he engineered a coup d'etat, which despite being a clumsy and risky affair, succeeded in deposing the Directory. With the history of ancient Rome very much on his mind, Napoleon orchestrated creation of a consular government, with himself as one of two elected executive consuls. Before long, however, the position of First Consul had been created, and then First Consul for Life. One could easily see where this was heading, and on December 2, 1804, Napoleon played out the last act of his Roman drama and became "Emperor of the French", literally placing the newly-created imperial crown on his own head. Napoleon never acknowledged any contradiction between this garish stunt and the republican principles he still espoused. In fact, he saw it as the culmination of the Revolution, which he declared to be now successfully concluded.

For me, one of the more remarkable aspects of Napoleon's career is that, for all his autocratic ways, he never attempted or seemingly wanted to impose any form of authoritarian control over French society. To the contrary, he stated once towards the end of his life that his proudest achievement was creation of the French legal code, which guaranteed civil liberties and the rule of law in France. As he had years before in his Cisalpine Republic, Napoleon personally chaired the committees that crafted this splendid body of law. Professor Broers again describes this process in some detail, and it is fascinating to observe the Great Autocrat encouraging diverse viewpoints and himself meekly bowing to superior arguments whenever it served the cause of a superior outcome. This laborious process resulted in what was indeed probably Napoleon's most enduring contribution to posterity.

Multitasking as always, he was simultaneously at work building his army. He instituted a comprehensive and brutal conscription, but once he had the men under his control, he cultivated their loyalty and established a professional esprit-de-corp that would soon turn them into the most effective land army in Europe. Napoleon had always viewed Britain as his ultimate enemy, and he left no doubt about his intended next move as he trained the army at massive camps on the English Channel. The necessary pre-condition for invasion would be naval superiority over the Channel, however, and naval operations would prove to be Napoleon's area of military incompetence. Still dogging his overconfident man, Lord Nelson put a permanent end to Napoleon's invasion hopes, and to his naval power, at Trafalgar in October of 1805.

This volume ends with Napoleon only 36 years old and still in command of his glorious land army, but with his fatal flaws on full display. As he turns his focus eastward again and contemplates his options, both the highest points and lowest points of his career lie ahead.

I had already known most of this astonishing story, but I had always found it somehow too much to believe. Professor Broers' insightful narrative has connected many of the lost dots for me, and everything now holds together better than before, making it to my mind even more remarkable.

I highly recommend this book and eagerly look forward to the concluding volume.

[Jolo G · Rating 5 out of 5]

It seems rather timely that I should find the energy to write a review on a book about Napoleon Bonaparte. Living in the current wave of nationalistic fervor and a kind of search for catharsis in the personage of a strong leader, I find myself in a rather dangerous spot, where all the liberal ideas born out of the Enlightenment, which I treasure, are now at odds with the times I live in. And the very legacy of the man whom I have always found to embody the Enlightenment itself, in its boldest and most daring form, seems to now overshadow those ideals.

Nevertheless I am without hesitation to say that there is more still to be discovered of the man as the years go by since his final defeat at Waterloo. It has been claimed that there are now more books (and counting) written of Napoleon than anyone else in the history of mankind, and for every generation, there is a version of the Man that fits the spirit of the times. In the first half of the 20th Century, historians have seen him to be the progenitor of modern tyranny, auguring the specter of Fascism and Stalinism that would symbolize the epoch that would define us hence. Seen through this prism, it is not surprising to find Napoleon’s name lumped together with the likes of Hitler and Stalin, or even Mao. These were men of vision who found in themselves through their ambition to have access to higher truths, entitling them to exterminate and shape humanity for a “greater good”. This is scarcely an accurate assessment of Napoleon himself, and it is ludicrously unfair. As David Chandler writes, “on the whole Napoleon was inspired by a noble dream, wholly dissimilar from Hitler's... Napoleon left great and lasting testimonies to his genius—in codes of law and national identities which survive to the present day.” Recent historiography shows this to be true, as new evidence sheds light into the muddied legacy of Napoleon, whom Andrew Roberts astutely calls “the Enlightenment on horseback”, and it is in these new efforts that we ought to find a truth in which we may be able to grasp the bigger picture.

It is not without reason that I should say that “Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny” is a misnomer of a title. As narrative histories go, Michael Broers style is that of history written like a novel. His research draws heavily from, and acknowledges, both first and second hand sources, the most prominent among them are the imperial correspondences—thousands of letters written by the Emperor himself, which are now being continuously published through the efforts of the Fondation Napoleon in Paris. From these he assiduously deconstructs the Myth from which the Man lays behind. Far from being fated to be what he would ultimately become, Napoleon, the little “Corsican Ogre” and “Thief of Europe” as the great Kings of that continent would later call him, would indeed trek the tenuous road to power through sheer force of will and determination. The Napoleonic Legend, actively cultivated by the Emperor and his followers, is slowly stripped bare to show a man deeply flawed yet also very lucky as well as very gifted. Born on the island of Corsica and of deep Italian roots, Napoleon was of a breed of people once thought of and dismissed as nothing but a culture of clannish divides, and indeed he was. The struggle of “the Two Corsicas”—delineated by a highland interior and the coastal regions from which he would grow up — would serve to shape Napoleon in his impressionable youth. Broers here paints us a picture of an insular culture that is in conflict with itself, and is imbibed with a tradition of vendettas and blood feuds from centuries of history. But far from being “the ogre” he is caricatured to be, Napoleon would prove to be a highly cultured European himself, indeed the most modern and forward thinking of the age, rivaling even Thomas Jefferson, perhaps his only intellectual match. Though himself once a Corsican Patriot, hating France for its imperialism and oppression which he perceived it inflicted upon his homeland, Napoleon would eventually turn his back on his country and embrace that colonial power through the forces that governed the French Revolution.

Napoleon was a man of the Revolution and of the Romantic and Enlightenment ideals that birthed it through Rousseau, Voltaire, Goethe and others. He found rebirth in its tumultuous events and the paths that were opened by its turbulent force fed his ambitions. His education at Brienne and later at the Ecole Militaire would lend to the flower of his intellect to bloom, as he engrossed himself in the study of history, philosophy and military tactics. He actively participated in Corsican politics in an effort to bring the island closer to the sphere of France and its new Republic. This would inevitably put him at odds with his hero, Pasquale Paoli, and he would later find himself and his family effectively banished from their homeland. It is at this point when Napoleon becomes truly French, albeit awkwardly. As if a blind man learning to see with his hands, Napoleon would learn to be French, and he was determined to do so. The Revolution provided him his chance, and at the Siege of Toulon in 1793, find his place of solace in the battlefields of Europe. As a hard line Jacobin revolutionary, Napoleon would nevertheless grow to despise the “uncouth mob” unchecked by any power and authority as they laid waste to the vestiges of the Ancien Regime. He would survive the vagaries of the Revolution, from the Reign of Terror to the Thermidorian Reaction that would lead to the fall of Robespierre and his associates at the Committee of Public Safety. And from the ruins of a tattered France, still embroiled in republican fervor against the monarchies of Europe who despised the Revolution and its dangerous liberal ideals, Napoleon would rise to the top, both by accident and design, as well as the miscalculation of others that would underestimate him.

A general at 24, and an emperor at 35, Napoleon’s exploits are as fascinating as the epic novels that they have since inspired, if not more so. From the Campaigns in Italy to the desert sands of Egypt and the Near East, Napoleon would learn his hardest lessons in life: that of state building in an age of warfare. Through his policy of “ralliement” (to rally) and “amalgame” (to co-opt), Napoleon would establish the Italian Republic, later the Kingdom of Italy, his personal fiefdom; a template for what would later become the First French Empire. And yet Broers emphasizes more so on what Napoleon did with the power he acquired through his career. From the Coup of 18th Brumaire, which overthrew the French Directory, itself the heir of the once powerful Committee of Public Safety, he would maneuver into the best position, and place himself as the First among a triumvirate of executive officials called the “Consulate”, and eventually concentrate power on himself. But far from the tyrant that many would claim him to be, Broers argues that:

“Every step Napoleon took in his public life was imbued with a sense of “the political”, which in hard reality meant extending his personal grip on power in order to turn that power into a creative force for reforming first France, and then Europe…”

It is not without tireless effort that Napoleon was able to reestablish order through the creation of French institutions that survive to this day, reforming education and culture, as well as codifying a set of Civil Laws that we now aptly call the Code Napoleon. Through his brother Joseph and the shadowy quisling Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, he brokered the Peace of Amien, which bought France time to reorder herself and her armed forces for the inevitable wars that would badger her until the fall of Napoleon himself. Hand in hand with these were the instruments of repression that would inspire later regimes, such as police surveillance and mass censorship, as well as the hated “blood tax” of conscription, which would ultimately rend from France her menfolk to litter across the battlefields of Europe.

Broers is harsh in his judgment of Josephine de Beauharnais, but not without reason. It is to the detriment of Napoleon that he would find love in a woman that could not love him back, nor reciprocate his needy approach to love. Her infidelities would change him from the Romantic idealist of Rousseau’s Émile, to the more cynical realist much more in keeping with his role as Emperor of the French. Nor is Broers any gentler towards the family dynamics that would lead to the sour relationship of the Bonaparte and the Beauharnais families that were only bound together through Napoleon and his love for Josephine and her children. It would later prove fatal to him when he gave away the crowns of Europe to his siblings, who would all be disappointing failures. Napoleon’s naval lacuna is also treated with contempt, for the waste he had wrought to his own navy, moving and ordering them around in maps as though they were units on land, taking no account of the differences between sea warfare and land warfare, considering them one and the same. Such ignorance on Napoleon’s part would eventually lead him to lose any chance at destroying his most intransigent of enemies, Great Britain, at the Battle of Trafalgar.

Nevertheless, such events are in the future, as Professor Broers finishes off his volume with the “Creation of a Masterpiece”, the Grande Armée. Broers argues that though the Code Napoleon would far outlive the Empire, it is the radical formation of the Grande Armée that is perhaps of greatest note in his career. As the heir to the French Revolution, Napoleon would create a staggering force of men and material that would make short work of the empires that surrounded him, toppling crowns left and right. But far from the elite collective force that we take for granted, the Grande Armée was but a product of “ralliament” and “amalgame” enforced through assimilation of a people and a vision. Napoleon’s tireless efforts to imbue the French people with a collective sense of duty and national identity that centered upon the idea of greatness though merit and perseverance, is inflamed by the meritocracy which he promoted throughout his reign. Therein lies the genius of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French People, who not but a decade before had executed a king and abolished hereditary privilege.

The book ends with that fateful march of one of the greatest land armies the world had ever seen, throwing itself into the dark, come what may. It is with apprehension that Napoleon looks towards the future, as he leads an untried and untested army of peasants, farmers and workers that have so far shaped the destiny of France. Before them lie the fields of Austerlitz, Napoleon’s—and indeed the Grande Armée’s—greatest triumph. Perhaps the title really isn’t a misnomer. Perhaps it is merely a condensation of that genius and single-mindedness that would lead towards Empire.

When asked about her extreme parsimony despite the vast fortunes lavished upon her by her new imperial brood, Letizia Bonaparte, Napoleon’s mother would say:

“Rings adorn fingers but they may fall off and the fingers remain.”

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the bigger, better Napoleon books I’ve read. I really liked how the author gave ongoing information about Napoleon’s relationship with a Josephine at any given point, rather than just treating her as a static person and then never mentioning her again.

[Peter S · Rating 5 out of 5]

Of the two full Napoleon biographies I have read (the other being Andrew Roberts'), this is my favorite. It covers the period from his birth to the midpoint of the Third Coalition (it goes through Trafalgar briefly, but does not get to Austerlitz).

The book really lets the reader get to know Napoleon, but not so much through psychic analysis as much as through selective use of memoirs, letters, and secondary sources. It reveals Napoleon's strengths (voracious reading, always seeking to self-improve, impeccable discipline, his ability to evolve and change), his weaknesses (his hubris that sometimes destroyed his self-discipline), his fraught familial relations (especially with his brothers and Josephine), his professional ambition (we all know about this), and his good luck (so many things went well for him). But most interesting was the way in which it contextualized everything about him. Clearly the central character throughout, the book can reasonably be seen as a biography of the the politics and chaos of French revolution and of the rivalry between Britain and France. Broers gives so much color into how Napoleon was truly a product of his time and how Napoleon's understanding of his generation in turn helped shape his decisions.

The most interesting parts of the book are:
-The battle of Lodi (first major victory)
-The Egyptian Campaign
-The Coup of 18 Brumaire (when Napoleon, his brother, Sieyes, and some others overthrew the directory and establish the Consulate)
-His creation of the Grand Armee
-His relationship with Josephine, Joseph, and Lucien

I really loved this book. However, I would only suggest reading it if you have some understanding of Napoleon's general career and the French revolution, because there is certainly some knowledge assumed.
5/5!

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Detailed, balanced & beautifully paced. Nothing else need be said. Highly recommended.

[Peter Spaulding · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a book about Napoleon, not the first of five volumes….

With books like this I’m usually happy if I can walk away with a nugget or two of some really precious historical insight/context. From this: Napoleon said, later on in life, that the Revolution was all that had made him who he was. Seems like a great little factoid/conversation starter.

Other than that, the book seemed weirdly sycophantic. I’m not one to poopoo some hero worship, even of dubious characters like Napoleon. But it seems like every horrendous detail would be quickly explained away by some weak and sometimes irrelevant factoid. His hatred for Josephine, while I’m sure on-par for the Napoleonist freaks of the world, was straight up hilarious to me.

[John Crenshaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Be aware that this is volume one of at least a two volume biography. Nowhere on the cover does it indicate the "first volume", and I purchased the book thinking it was a complete history. This book covers his early life up until the beginning of his European campaigns in 1805. The author is more interested in why Napoleon did what he did, and is a good read if you're looking for his motivation. I was looking for a little more of an overview, and felt a bit mislead when I realized this was not a complete history.

[David Irving · Rating 4 out of 5]

Looking forward to reading the next instalment!

[Cole · Rating 3 out of 5]

Unless you have a good understanding of the geopolitics of Europe in the 1780s-1805 this book is a little hard to follow.

[Joseph Ficklen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m fairly sure this was my second time listening to the audiobook. Very good. Author is more critical of Napoleon than Andrew Roberts’ bio. Looking forward to the next volume.

[Liam Ostermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read many books about Napoleon and his times since I was a teenager and this biography, or rather this first volume of what was planned as two but became three volumes, was a revelation. It is history, or new history of old established subjects, as it should be. The most revelatory aspect of the book is the author's use of Napoleon's newly published unexpurgated or censored correspondence. It is amazing to think that for so long historians have been using editions of the letters tailored to the needs of his ridiculous parvenu nephew Napoleon III!

Broers sees Napoleon's time as conqueror and ruler of Italy as the key to his emergence as a prospective leader and to the development of his ideas of government. Napoleon's development of the French government during his years as First Consul and as emperor are the basis of modern France.
Napoleon's rise to power was based on his political skills and ability to manage people and this was as important as his military gifts. He succeeds in making the case for appreciating Napoleon as more than a successful general.

Of course there is a lot more to this tale than legislation, politicking and law making. This was the time of his conquest of Italy, of the debacle in Egypt - none of it is missed out but by bringing forward those legislative elements it restores to the early Napoleon his real abilities to creatively govern.

It is wonderful and must get round to reading the subsequent volumes one day.

[Mervyn Whyte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Up until now I've read books on Napoleon by four writers: Robert Asprey, whose two-volume rise and fall I can't really remember; Adam Zamoyski, who produced what I thought was a rather snooty, patrician, account; Andrew Roberts, who focused mainly, but not exclusively, on the military side; and now this by Michael Broers. The Broers is probably the most comprehensive, especially when it comes to Napoleon the administrator. But because of the level of detail, and the fact that the story is to be spread over 3 volumes, it can sometimes feel like a slow read. Nevertheless, given that it has been written by an academic, it is perfectly comprehensible and easy to follow. So I will be continuing with volumes 2 and 3. But first a break so I can read something different.

[Windsor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meh. I think I've read too many biographies on Napoleon, or maybe too many in a row. Yep, that's defenitely the problem.....a geat book, just really exhausting when you've already read another 800 page bio on him.

[Ethan Santos-Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Since my previous reading of a Napoleon review, I now have two degrees and even studied a whole course on Napoleonic history alongside a dissertation on the Peninsular War. I am incredibly familiar with this subject and much more than I was a few years ago. Having also read multiple biographies as well, I can say that I am also familiar with what I enjoy from a biography.

This book is truly an excellent academic text in contextualising Napoleon in this period, from his family beginnings until 1805, and explores each important reform of France with great analysis. The issue is that this doesn't make for a compelling narrative. Broers himself says so in his introduction that non-narrative structure would be a disservice to Napoleon's life.

The first part of this book delivers on the narrative; we go through his life up until he becomes First Consul in 1800 and his victory at Marengo. Broers provides a refreshing perspective on Napoleon and even gives me new and unexpected insights. The distinction of Napoleon's family being upper-class coastal Corsicans, but not of the 'insular' mountainous sort, is particularly insightful and recontextualises everything in his life. It emphasises how much of an outsider Napoleon always was.

The second part is a thematic breakdown of the various reforms, diplomatic, and international developments between 1800 and immediately before the Ulm-Austerlitz campaign in 1805. This is where Broers, as an academic, shines. He perfectly summarises exactly what Napoleon does in the years, its effect, and how it will influence the years to come. Unfortunately, it abruptly halts the narrative. This is not inherently a bad thing, and I actually believe this section is a necessary 'evil' so that you can accurately assess Napoleon as First Consul and Emperor. Other biographies, such as by Andrew Roberts, etc. forgo this and fold these reforms into the narrative and will drastically shorten their place in the book. Without it, we miss much. With it, we break the narrative.

One other detraction is the lack of emphasis on battles. I believe Broers expertly provides analysis on practically everything except the campaigns and battles. To an extent, I understand why. If he did go in as much depth for this aspect, this book would certainly exceed 1000 pages. The first Italian campaign is serviceably done but is lacking. The Egypt and Syria campaigns are egregiously absent in any meaningful detail. Broers subsequently argues that these campaigns do not adequately show the military genius that Napoleon would eventually display in the Ulm-Austerlitz campaign and later. I disagree with this for multiple reasons, and I believe if Broers had paid this area as much attention as other topics, he would surely agree with me.

Lastly, this isn't necessarily a criticism, but more a warning. Broers certainly writes this expecting you to have knowledge of the period and relevant historiography. He will name-drop various figures and historians and won't even write their full name's. He will assume you know of these things and may be frustrating if this is a first introduction or is an unfamiliar subject. Conversely, if you are well-read on Napoleonic and French Revolutionary history, then this will be a wonderful extension to your reading.

It is maybe impossible to create a 5-star single volume biography on Napoleon. The first part of a trilogy is a harder to nail down. I immensely enjoyed this book, and the 4-star doesn't reflect on how important this work is. It perfectly sets up the whirlwind of late 1805. I am excited for Spirit of the Age.

[Logan Zwerneman · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Those who belong to the ages see their legacy shift with the tides of time… The lesson is not that superstition has weight, but that there is never any need to mythologize the life of Napoleon Bonaparte. The truth is more than enough to cope with.”

Contrary to other Napoleon biographies I’ve read, Broers really emphasizes the significance of the Peace of Amiens and the interlude ending with Archduke Charles’ invasion of Bavaria— he goes into the weeds of Napoleon’s political mastery in those years and provides the reader with a good grasp of how those “build up” years were absolutely essential to the triumphs of the following server Al years. In my experience, that was a unique emphasis and I thought it was helpful. Unlike many authors, Broers doesn’t strike me as overly Napoleophilic— he highlights terrible blunders (Saint Domingue, Egypt, all things Admiral Nelson), but uses them to contextualize that Napoleon’s unreal triumphs starting in the 3rd Coalition War were anything but certain.

While I would have liked to have read about how the diplomatic chess played in the years following the turn of the century laid the groundwork for the transformation of all of Europe the following century, I trust that’s to come in books II and III. The reason this is 4 stars instead of 5 is Broers hopped around between years in a really confusing way, especially between 1799 and 1804. I expect that won’t be the case in his writings on the more campaign-based sagas of Napoleon’s life.

Awesome book!!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Jim Bogue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume is the first in a trilogy on Napoleon, and thus includes background on his family and his life before becoming First Consul. Prof. Broers is a skilled researcher and writer who makes dry political maneuvers and battlefield tactics come alive. He is especially incisive in explaining the fragility of Napoleon’s position in the period just before and after his initial coup.
Broers then goes on to look at Napoleon’s reforms and innovations in the years up to his great campaigns in 1805 (which will form the beginning of his 2nd volume). He sees them as impelled by a mixture of pragmatism and principles.
For him Napoleon is a “child of the Revolution “, working to maintain, and rationalize, often to his own advantage, the gains achieved there.
As someone who was once a huge Napoleon fan, and has evolved (or devolved?) into a critic, this reader is unconvinced. Broers works hard to defend Napoleon, for example in the Concordat with the Catholic Church. Napoleon’s policy was, Broers argues, amalgame and ralliement. He was willing to employ former opponents. But only if they accepted his dominance. Is it surprising that so many abandoned him when his power tottered?
This is a very readable and informative book, as long as the author’s pro-Napoleon bias is accounted for.

[Dennis Hogan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny by Michael Broers written in 2017 and is Volume 1 with more to come. This is the first biography of Napoleon that employs personal correspondence compiled by the Napoleon Foundation in Paris. Somehow I have gotten thus far in life without reading a biography of Napoleon. This book covers his early life in Corsica until about 1804 Broers covers in details the highs and lows. He suffered terrible losses in his Egyptian campaign, but learned statecraft in governing Italy early in his career. I learned a key to his military success in the field was extensive troop training and building spirit de corps by rewarding soldiers for performance not on social class. He never mastered naval action and that cost him in battling England. If you are going to read one book about Napoleon, this is a good one.

[Alexei · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is truly monumental, not for the faint-hearted, with meticulous analysis of every Napoleon's move, both as a statesman and as a general. Clearly written by a well-qualified military historian. Changes my own opinion of Napoleon considerably. If you are looking mainly for some biographical gossip, this is definitely not the place. And I have finally understood what Austerlitz really meant and why it happened. It is rather sympathetic to the subject but not uncritical. This is just the first volume so I will leave a more detailed review for later. Will plow on.

[Mark Robertson · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book’s first surprise came early on, when Broers explained that this 500+ page book was just the first volume, a fact nowhere noted on the cover. I will not read the second volume. I felt that the author presupposed a knowledge of French history during and after the revolution that I don’t have. I also felt that he emphasized Napoleon’s thought processes well but that he didn’t give enough space to the actually history- what events happened in what order and who were the major players. Maybe if I knew more going in I’d feel differently, but I can’t recommend this book.

[Jasper Gardner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Broers has managed to make the life of one of the most interesting men who ever lived dry and bland. He represents him as a cold, rather autistic figure. In bureaucratic tones he goes into great detail about the milieu of the Napoleonic era, in some chapters largely drowning the subject in the background. It may be to some people’s taste, and it is not as polemic as Zamoyski’s, but when we are so spoilt for excellent books about Napoleon, this is not one I would reach for again.

[William Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A matchless biography of Napoleon from a young Cortiscan to Emperor on the brink of Austerlitz. Unlike other biographers like Andrew Roberts in Napoleon the Great, Broer's Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny provides a balanced and sharp analysis of not just Napoleonic conflicts but how French institutions changed under imperial reforms. A significant portion of Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny, expectably, focuses on Napoleon's military nature: his terrestrial genius hampered by his naval incompetence. Recommended reading for those desiring a workable understanding of Europe.

[Pedro Degiovanni · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic biography. Given Napoleon's hectic life, it's easy for biographers to get caught up in the rush of events. Broers does this for the first half of the book; he then stops, and gives a great overview of what Napoleon was fighting for, what he was trying to build, and what it meant for the people of the time. Highly recommended

[Helene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very detailed, but like other readers I was under the assumption this was a full account of Napoleon's life. The book finishes in 1805. Nevertheless, it makes a great read for history and Napoleon fans alike.

[Tom Like · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best current Napoleonic scholars, Broers champions his argument of 'amalgame' and 'ralliement' in soldier of destiny. An excellent book which takes both a macro and micro view of the early part of Napoleon's career and rise to power.