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Imperial sunset: The fall of Napoleon, 1813-14
The decline of Napoleon is chronicled with a description of the engagements and battles that led to his defeat
300 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1968
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112 people want to read
About the author
R.F. Delderfield
89 books199 followersRonald Frederick Delderfield was a popular English novelist and dramatist, many of whose works have been adapted for television and are still widely read.
Several of Delderfield's historical novels and series involve young men who return from war and lead lives in England that allow the author to portray the sweep of English history and delve deeply into social history from the Edwardian era to the early 1960s.
From Wikipedia
Several of Delderfield's historical novels and series involve young men who return from war and lead lives in England that allow the author to portray the sweep of English history and delve deeply into social history from the Edwardian era to the early 1960s.
From Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 21, 2017
After reading the first historical account of The Retreat from Moscow, I could not resist this one. It was equally as good with Napoleon trying to reform his diminished and shattered army to stop the retribution of allied nations that were gathering to destroy his Grand dream for Europe, once and for all.
This is an incredible account of endurance of Napoleon's Grand Army. It is awesome and heartbreaking - even for the enemies of Napoleon's France. Some of the feats that the master of campaigns and his Marshals manage are mind boggling.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Napoleonic history.
C.A. Powell
The Last Days of Thunder Child
This is an incredible account of endurance of Napoleon's Grand Army. It is awesome and heartbreaking - even for the enemies of Napoleon's France. Some of the feats that the master of campaigns and his Marshals manage are mind boggling.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Napoleonic history.
C.A. Powell
The Last Days of Thunder Child
October 9, 2017
Surprising most of Europe by his ability to rebuild after the debacle of the Russian Campaign, Napoleon fought to keep his throne for two years. This book describes the efforts of both sides to win, and hopefully create peace. Delderfield does a good job describing what happened on the battlefield and behind the scenes. He even does it with a touch of humor at times.
I enjoyed the book although I didn't always agree with some of his conclusions.
I enjoyed the book although I didn't always agree with some of his conclusions.
February 15, 2012
RF Delderfield is my favorite historical fiction writer but this non-fiction work was a tough read. I mostly skimmed it as I could not keep track of places or names. What I did manage to absorb was interesting enough but I can't say that I will remember any of it. Someone who finds Napoleon interesting or who enjoys the history of Europe would probably like this book
December 7, 2018
Imperial Sunset is one of several histories written by R. F. Delderfield about Napoleon and the First Empire. I recently picked up a copy in search of some diversion and because this account of the 1813 and 1814 campaigns addresses a subject long neglected in my reading. I found Delderfield’s book suited to both purposes, but Imperial Sunset is not aimed at the academic or the serious scholar. In a number of ways it recalls an older even antiquarian tradition of historical chronicles, written with the flair of the novelist. The author presents a rather straightforward account brightened by his eye for the pageantry, grandeur, and the flavor of great events and great men. As an historian, Delderfield might be criticized for his display of partisanship, but as a chronicler his evident sympathy for Napoleon is less troublesome and, after all, the author makes no effort to pretend otherwise.
Imperial Sunset narrates the story of Napoleon’s 1813 and 1814 campaigns, seasoning the story with numerous anecdotes and details drawn from the many memoirs and other contemporary sources, reflecting French, British, Austrian, Prussian, and Russian experiences. Beginning with Napoleon’s efforts to rebuild his armies from the wreck and ruin of the Russian campaign, the story carries on through to the fall of Paris and Napoleon’s abdication. Delderfield recounts the major movements and actions of Napoleon and his opponents with broad strokes, touching upon the various diplomatic and political actions that marked this period. However, the emphasis is upon the major events and Delderfield does not attempt to trace the blow-by-blow events of either military or diplomatic battles, though he does display a penchant for obituary essays each time a major personage permanently leaves the stage.
The three maps included are consistent with this general offering of a broad overview. The first traces the movements and events of the two campaigns in Saxony and of the final 1814 campaign in France. These are very simple sketch maps showing only the most important battle sites, rivers, cities, and the movements of the principal armies. Unfortunately, this approach also renders the 1814 campaign in France very difficult to decipher. There are no maps of the individual battles and a reader really interested in closely following the movements of the armies might wish to supplement this work with a good atlas.
Regrettably, in approaching his material more as a chronicler than an historian, Delderfield shows uncritical acceptance in using anecdotes lifted from his sources. A striking example is his inclusion of Marbot’s tale of a near miss of historical proportions when he encounters the Russian Tsar and the King of Prussia and their party on the outskirts of Leipzig during the night of October 15, 1813 – before the latter two had arrived at the battlefield. He also displays a propensity for anachronistic references, presumably intended to render the story more accessible to the modern reader. But I found equally jarring his comparison of Wellington’s Peninsular Army to the 1914 British Expeditionary Force in Belgium and his unexplained assertion that the Treaty of Rome and the European Union was the product of the same dream that inspired Napoleon’s conquests. While colorful and even provocative, such unsubstantiated declarations merely distract the reader from the real reason for reading this book.
The author does not append a bibliography and he offers only a few footnotes collected at the end of the book which while perhaps of some interest seem rather idiosyncratically chosen as the subjects of notes. However, in the acknowledgements that constitute a preface to the main work, Delderfield identifies a number of his principle sources while declaring that as this work reflects his “forty years in the wilderness of the period” it is impossible to cite all of his references. The sources cited by name in this acknowledgement are grouped as memoirs, histories and commentaries, letters – and ‘fiction’. This latter group consists of several 19th Century novels about these campaigns written by MM Erckmann-Chatrian (a collaboration between Emile Erckmann 1822-1899 and Louis Alexandre Chatrian 1826-1890): History of a Conscript of 1813 and The Invasion of France 1814. (Erckmann-Chatrian also wrote a third novel entitled Waterloo.). The other sources cited by Delderfield are the various memoirs and collections of correspondence written or otherwise prepared by Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, the Comte Beugnot, M de Bourrienne, Carnot (written by his son), the Comte Chaptal, Chateaubriand, Baron de Jomini, Madame Junot, Surgeon General Larrey, Marshal Macdonald, Marshal Marmont, Baron de Méneval, Marshal Oudinot, Baron de Marbot, Captain Barrès, the Comte de Segur, Queen Hortense, Sir Robert Wilson, and Rifleman Kincaid. Of these, he appears to draw most frequently upon Marbot and Captain Barrès – as well as upon the novels already noted above. The historians and biographers Delderfield has relied upon include W.M. Sloane, Emil Ludwig, J.M. Thompson (Napoleon’s correspondence in translation), J.F.C. Fuller (Decisive Battles), J.B. Morton (Marshal Ney), James Kemble, Jean Savant, Margery Weiner, Sir Arthur Bryant, Michael Glover (Wellington’s Peninsular Victories), Michael Lewis, P.W. Sergeant, Carola Oman, Macdonell (Marshals of Napoleon), Jean Robiquet, and Napier (History of the War in the Peninsula).
The name of R.F. Delderfield is, I suspect, still better known in the United States for his works of fiction, especially his expansive novels about 19th Century Britain. These include To Serve Them All My Days, which became a 13-part series on public television in the early 1980s. But in addition to his works of fiction there are several histories, including Napoleon’s Marshals and Retreat from Moscow, and the biography Napoleon in Love. Born Ronald Franklin Delderfield in 1912, R.F. died in 1972. Before the Second World War, Delderfield worked as a newspaperman and a successful playwright. When the war began he enlisted in the RAF, but defective vision resulted in a series of postings to ground duties at bombing stations all across Britain. In 1943 he was commissioned and posted to the Air Ministry to write a series of weekly articles on the RAF war effort. With the Normandy invasion in 1944, his duties took him to the continent. There his interests took him to the Napoleonic battlefields and other venues including wherever possible the routes of march of France’s Grand Army. In later years he would become a historian, novelist, and screenwriter as well. He also accumulated a notable collection of Napoleonic militaria.
Imperial Sunset narrates the story of Napoleon’s 1813 and 1814 campaigns, seasoning the story with numerous anecdotes and details drawn from the many memoirs and other contemporary sources, reflecting French, British, Austrian, Prussian, and Russian experiences. Beginning with Napoleon’s efforts to rebuild his armies from the wreck and ruin of the Russian campaign, the story carries on through to the fall of Paris and Napoleon’s abdication. Delderfield recounts the major movements and actions of Napoleon and his opponents with broad strokes, touching upon the various diplomatic and political actions that marked this period. However, the emphasis is upon the major events and Delderfield does not attempt to trace the blow-by-blow events of either military or diplomatic battles, though he does display a penchant for obituary essays each time a major personage permanently leaves the stage.
The three maps included are consistent with this general offering of a broad overview. The first traces the movements and events of the two campaigns in Saxony and of the final 1814 campaign in France. These are very simple sketch maps showing only the most important battle sites, rivers, cities, and the movements of the principal armies. Unfortunately, this approach also renders the 1814 campaign in France very difficult to decipher. There are no maps of the individual battles and a reader really interested in closely following the movements of the armies might wish to supplement this work with a good atlas.
Regrettably, in approaching his material more as a chronicler than an historian, Delderfield shows uncritical acceptance in using anecdotes lifted from his sources. A striking example is his inclusion of Marbot’s tale of a near miss of historical proportions when he encounters the Russian Tsar and the King of Prussia and their party on the outskirts of Leipzig during the night of October 15, 1813 – before the latter two had arrived at the battlefield. He also displays a propensity for anachronistic references, presumably intended to render the story more accessible to the modern reader. But I found equally jarring his comparison of Wellington’s Peninsular Army to the 1914 British Expeditionary Force in Belgium and his unexplained assertion that the Treaty of Rome and the European Union was the product of the same dream that inspired Napoleon’s conquests. While colorful and even provocative, such unsubstantiated declarations merely distract the reader from the real reason for reading this book.
The author does not append a bibliography and he offers only a few footnotes collected at the end of the book which while perhaps of some interest seem rather idiosyncratically chosen as the subjects of notes. However, in the acknowledgements that constitute a preface to the main work, Delderfield identifies a number of his principle sources while declaring that as this work reflects his “forty years in the wilderness of the period” it is impossible to cite all of his references. The sources cited by name in this acknowledgement are grouped as memoirs, histories and commentaries, letters – and ‘fiction’. This latter group consists of several 19th Century novels about these campaigns written by MM Erckmann-Chatrian (a collaboration between Emile Erckmann 1822-1899 and Louis Alexandre Chatrian 1826-1890): History of a Conscript of 1813 and The Invasion of France 1814. (Erckmann-Chatrian also wrote a third novel entitled Waterloo.). The other sources cited by Delderfield are the various memoirs and collections of correspondence written or otherwise prepared by Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, the Comte Beugnot, M de Bourrienne, Carnot (written by his son), the Comte Chaptal, Chateaubriand, Baron de Jomini, Madame Junot, Surgeon General Larrey, Marshal Macdonald, Marshal Marmont, Baron de Méneval, Marshal Oudinot, Baron de Marbot, Captain Barrès, the Comte de Segur, Queen Hortense, Sir Robert Wilson, and Rifleman Kincaid. Of these, he appears to draw most frequently upon Marbot and Captain Barrès – as well as upon the novels already noted above. The historians and biographers Delderfield has relied upon include W.M. Sloane, Emil Ludwig, J.M. Thompson (Napoleon’s correspondence in translation), J.F.C. Fuller (Decisive Battles), J.B. Morton (Marshal Ney), James Kemble, Jean Savant, Margery Weiner, Sir Arthur Bryant, Michael Glover (Wellington’s Peninsular Victories), Michael Lewis, P.W. Sergeant, Carola Oman, Macdonell (Marshals of Napoleon), Jean Robiquet, and Napier (History of the War in the Peninsula).
The name of R.F. Delderfield is, I suspect, still better known in the United States for his works of fiction, especially his expansive novels about 19th Century Britain. These include To Serve Them All My Days, which became a 13-part series on public television in the early 1980s. But in addition to his works of fiction there are several histories, including Napoleon’s Marshals and Retreat from Moscow, and the biography Napoleon in Love. Born Ronald Franklin Delderfield in 1912, R.F. died in 1972. Before the Second World War, Delderfield worked as a newspaperman and a successful playwright. When the war began he enlisted in the RAF, but defective vision resulted in a series of postings to ground duties at bombing stations all across Britain. In 1943 he was commissioned and posted to the Air Ministry to write a series of weekly articles on the RAF war effort. With the Normandy invasion in 1944, his duties took him to the continent. There his interests took him to the Napoleonic battlefields and other venues including wherever possible the routes of march of France’s Grand Army. In later years he would become a historian, novelist, and screenwriter as well. He also accumulated a notable collection of Napoleonic militaria.
December 21, 2018
An enjoyable and informative read, thought challenge for me since my previous knowledge of Napoleon and his times was not that great. There are a lot of individuals who play important roles and it was easy to lose track of who was who, especially when everyone started switching sides back and forth! I like the author's style of writing, his clever analogies and sardonic comments.
January 1, 2022
Review forthcoming.
December 30, 2023
Playwright turned author and amateur historian R. F. Delderfield was very clearly something of a latter-day Bonapartist. I've read a number of his non-fiction books on the Napoleonic era. What is best about them, undoubtedly, is how readable and exciting they are.
Delderfield's skills as a writer of fiction and drama are very evident throughout. His credentials as a historian might perhaps be open to debate, and I have seen reviews criticising his favouring of excitement and atmosphere over scholarly exactitude. I must say, this doesn't bother me too much. There's plenty of other literature out there on Napoleonic subjects; one can do as Delderfield did, and read as much of it as possible and then make one's own mind up as to the 'facts'.
Of the three Delderfield Napoleonic history books that I have read so far, this is probably the best. The story starts with the aftermath of the retreat from Russia in 1812. Delderfield's literary abilities enable him to set up a series of very vivid opening tableux, of Cossacks on the Elbe, in 1813, and garrison towns throughout the empire with wavering and divided loyalties. He adroitly describes the Coalition powers moving westwards as the French retreat, their crumbling alliances and stranded fortress outposts draining Napoleon's resources, such that though he fights with great skill and verve, there's a kind of inevitability to his gradual downfall.
Delderfield draws on many contemporary accounts, making particular use of those by Marbot and Barrès. And he clearly admires Eugene, MacDonald and Caulaincourt, for their honesty and loyalty at a time when many, including such stalwarts as Ney and Murat were to eventually abandon the man who had helped raise them and so many others like them so high. The central story retains a resolutely central and western European theme, although Delderfield does continually refer to important developments in other theatres, such as Italy and Spain.
One of the reasons I like this more than the other two Delderfield Napoleonic books I've thus far read - and I love them all - is that both of the other two above-mentioned works are kinds of 'group portraits', describing numerous individuals and their relations with Napoleon in his varied conquests. This one has a more satisfyingly focussed central narrative thread, telling as it does a very interesting and exciting story.
It's intriguing that Delderfield, clearly a fan of Napoleon (but not an uncritical one), in covering the campaigns of this 'Great Captain' chose to write - at least in terms of his published historical works (and this observation is somewhat mitigated by the more extended coverage of his group portrait works) - only about the Russian campaign and its aftermath (he has a book about the the Russian campaign which I intend to read), rather than the glory days of his first 15 or so triumphant years.
Consequently, and given his obviously pro-Napoleonic stance, there's something elegiac in the tone of this work, a mood he brilliantly captures in much of his Napoleonic writing, but especially poignantly at the close of this particular book, when he describes the ageing veterans of the Grande Armée growing old under other more peaceful but less 'glorious' French regimes.
Thomas Hardy was another writer of fiction obsessed with Napoleonic history, and this book exemplifies what he was getting at when he said 'My argument is that War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading. So I back Bonaparte for the reason that he will give pleasure to posterity.' This book was difficult to put down, and was certainly a great pleasure to read.
Delderfield's skills as a writer of fiction and drama are very evident throughout. His credentials as a historian might perhaps be open to debate, and I have seen reviews criticising his favouring of excitement and atmosphere over scholarly exactitude. I must say, this doesn't bother me too much. There's plenty of other literature out there on Napoleonic subjects; one can do as Delderfield did, and read as much of it as possible and then make one's own mind up as to the 'facts'.
Of the three Delderfield Napoleonic history books that I have read so far, this is probably the best. The story starts with the aftermath of the retreat from Russia in 1812. Delderfield's literary abilities enable him to set up a series of very vivid opening tableux, of Cossacks on the Elbe, in 1813, and garrison towns throughout the empire with wavering and divided loyalties. He adroitly describes the Coalition powers moving westwards as the French retreat, their crumbling alliances and stranded fortress outposts draining Napoleon's resources, such that though he fights with great skill and verve, there's a kind of inevitability to his gradual downfall.
Delderfield draws on many contemporary accounts, making particular use of those by Marbot and Barrès. And he clearly admires Eugene, MacDonald and Caulaincourt, for their honesty and loyalty at a time when many, including such stalwarts as Ney and Murat were to eventually abandon the man who had helped raise them and so many others like them so high. The central story retains a resolutely central and western European theme, although Delderfield does continually refer to important developments in other theatres, such as Italy and Spain.
One of the reasons I like this more than the other two Delderfield Napoleonic books I've thus far read - and I love them all - is that both of the other two above-mentioned works are kinds of 'group portraits', describing numerous individuals and their relations with Napoleon in his varied conquests. This one has a more satisfyingly focussed central narrative thread, telling as it does a very interesting and exciting story.
It's intriguing that Delderfield, clearly a fan of Napoleon (but not an uncritical one), in covering the campaigns of this 'Great Captain' chose to write - at least in terms of his published historical works (and this observation is somewhat mitigated by the more extended coverage of his group portrait works) - only about the Russian campaign and its aftermath (he has a book about the the Russian campaign which I intend to read), rather than the glory days of his first 15 or so triumphant years.
Consequently, and given his obviously pro-Napoleonic stance, there's something elegiac in the tone of this work, a mood he brilliantly captures in much of his Napoleonic writing, but especially poignantly at the close of this particular book, when he describes the ageing veterans of the Grande Armée growing old under other more peaceful but less 'glorious' French regimes.
Thomas Hardy was another writer of fiction obsessed with Napoleonic history, and this book exemplifies what he was getting at when he said 'My argument is that War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading. So I back Bonaparte for the reason that he will give pleasure to posterity.' This book was difficult to put down, and was certainly a great pleasure to read.
July 8, 2015
RF Delderfelds account of the final years of Bonaparte's Empire. It was very readable and delightfully gossipy in much the same way as his March of the Twenty Six. It's always intriguing to read a book written by someone who disagrees with you on a fundamental level. Delderfeld is very much an advocate of Bonaparte and distributes praise or blame based on loyalty to him. He is also good at giving a sense of the social side of the Napoleonic Empire, though I'm skeptical of his analysis. Something I've noticed that when trying to get a series of events in history straight in my head is that it is often the lighter books that help me remember. I am much better at remembering a constructed narrative even if I think part of it is wrong. It is easier to account for a slanted narrative than to try and remember a series of events dispassionately recorded. The authors skill as a novelist is used to good effect.
Good light reading. Recommended.
Good light reading. Recommended.
March 26, 2022
A detailed and absorbing account of Napoleon after the Russian debacle and before the battle of Waterloo.Vivid and exciting with many pen portraits of his generals and opponents.There are a few sketch maps but I would have like more to follow the ups and downs of his constant campaigning.Not sure if it’s still in print but we’ll worth a read by those still interested in history who can find it.
February 3, 2021
5 stars
Concise and an easy read for those that are new to the story and will also fill in some gaps for the more experienced reader.
Concise and an easy read for those that are new to the story and will also fill in some gaps for the more experienced reader.
August 5, 2023
R.F. Delderfield is mostly known for fiction, but this book shows he was quite good at popular history as well (his fiction was mostly historical, so the two do go together).
In this case, he's looking at Napoleon from after the retreat from Russia to his first abdication. He starts (very effectively) with the experience of Hamburg in this period. As exaggerated reports of the vast Russian army swarming into Germany sweep Europe, disaffected areas enter a period of instability. Not fans of the Continental System, the leading citizens wanted out, and the local Cossack commander seemed to offer just that. But the number of actual Cossacks in the area was small, the cities of the Baltic coast weren't really willing to put up with the pillaging and requisitions needed to support them, and a brief moment of independence ends with Davout garrisoning Hamburg after about a month and a half.
Much of Europe went through the same emotional journey as Napoleon seemed entirely beaten at the end of 1812, but it would be another two years of desperate fighting before the true dissolution of Napoleon's empire would happen.
Overall, on this subject, I would recommend Lieven's Russia Against Napoleon, but it's not a replacement for this book. Imperial Sunset is a bit more focused, and more looks at the French side of what was happening, whereas Lieven's book naturally focuses on the Coalition side, and mostly Russia, so the two complement each other too. I'd give this book a slight edge in prose, though Delderfield doesn't do as good a job with helping you mentally juggle where everybody is, and where they're going. Either book is a good popular history that cover two years that often get left out of the Napoleonic myth.
In this case, he's looking at Napoleon from after the retreat from Russia to his first abdication. He starts (very effectively) with the experience of Hamburg in this period. As exaggerated reports of the vast Russian army swarming into Germany sweep Europe, disaffected areas enter a period of instability. Not fans of the Continental System, the leading citizens wanted out, and the local Cossack commander seemed to offer just that. But the number of actual Cossacks in the area was small, the cities of the Baltic coast weren't really willing to put up with the pillaging and requisitions needed to support them, and a brief moment of independence ends with Davout garrisoning Hamburg after about a month and a half.
Much of Europe went through the same emotional journey as Napoleon seemed entirely beaten at the end of 1812, but it would be another two years of desperate fighting before the true dissolution of Napoleon's empire would happen.
Overall, on this subject, I would recommend Lieven's Russia Against Napoleon, but it's not a replacement for this book. Imperial Sunset is a bit more focused, and more looks at the French side of what was happening, whereas Lieven's book naturally focuses on the Coalition side, and mostly Russia, so the two complement each other too. I'd give this book a slight edge in prose, though Delderfield doesn't do as good a job with helping you mentally juggle where everybody is, and where they're going. Either book is a good popular history that cover two years that often get left out of the Napoleonic myth.
February 26, 2015
Very detailed but very readable account of the couple of years where Napoleon's hold on power was gradually weakened by all the powers on Europe ganging up on him - the author makes no attempt to hide his sympathies with not the emperor but the values and change he personified and the effects and parallels with the future are well brought out..
Read
September 21, 2015Very informative, at least for me. I always thought Napoleon went into exile after his ignominious defeat and retreat from Russia. He still had armies intact and fought almost successfully against the Allies for several months until he went into his first exile over a year later.
October 20, 2015
A solid work
I really enjoyed this book; it covered an oft-overlooked period in history in a smooth descriptive style. Too often the period between the retreat from Moscow and Waterloo is overlooked.
I really enjoyed this book; it covered an oft-overlooked period in history in a smooth descriptive style. Too often the period between the retreat from Moscow and Waterloo is overlooked.
August 27, 2015
Increase knowledge of history
I now have a much better understanding of Napoleon and how is campaigning played a large part of shaping Europe.
I now have a much better understanding of Napoleon and how is campaigning played a large part of shaping Europe.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews