Napoleon [Paperback]

I have three main criticisms:

1. His conclusions on some of the great men who surrounded Napoleon - Ney, Tallyrand and Bernadotte to name three - are forthright and damning. There's no doubt in Mclynn's mind that they were either incompetent, treacherous or both, and no evidence is presented to support them. I was left feeling slightly sorry for these characters!

2. The great battles of Austerlitz and Jena have no diagrams to show the dispositions, and those for Borodino and Waterloo are confusing. The text mentions place names that aren't on the maps, and the maps have features and generals that are ommited from the text. As key moments in Napoleon's career, I would have appreciated a better understanding, using graphics, of the strategies and tactics employed.

3. The Sources section does not show evidence of primary research at the battlefields or cities, although maybe the author assumes this need not be mentioned. Consequently, the descriptions are a little lacking in colour, and too dependant on reviewing the reports of others, without the spark that first hand obervation can give.

I certainly learnt things about Napoleon that I wouldn't have learnt elsewhere, but it's left me slightly annoyed that, in order to get a more complete and less opinioned picture, I have had to check out some of McLynn's assertions myself.

Although there are some dissapointing elements to this biography, it is probably the best and most up-to-date version of Napoleon's life up till now.

To illustrate every aspect of Napoleon's life to the satisfaction of every reader must be well nigh impossible but McLynn's Napoleon will leave the reader coming back for more.

Napoleon's first success was designing the strategy that regained the port of Toulon from the English. He went on to beat the Italians in a long campaign in Italy. Following a disastrous expedition to Egypt he returned and was able to make himself dictator of France, initially as First Consul and then later as Emperor. As emperor he initially brought peace to France and developed a set of laws known as the Code Napoleon which were important in shaping the development of law in all of Europe.

Napoleon's detractors have focused on his cronyism. He made his various family members kings of such places as Spain, Southern Italy and the Netherlands. Further he had a penchant for war and after an initial period of peace France was soon at war with all of Europe.

Frank McLynn tells the well-told story well. He brings to its telling two new things. The first involves the Russian campaign. In 1812 Napoleon had defeated most of Europe. Russia held out against him. He raised an army of over half a million men and marched to Moscow. At Borodino an inconclusive and bloody battle was fought which left the Russian Army bloodied but intact. With the onset of winter Napoleon did not know what to do. He occupied Moscow but when the Czar refused to negotiate he saw no way of ending the conflict. He then started a long retreat back to Germany. His army was destroyed and all of the countries of Europe rose up against him and he was defeated. McLynn is able to demonstrate that up till now there has been an understanding that it was the weather which defeated Napoleon. He is able to show that the Russian campaign was a disaster from the start. The army that invaded Russia was to large to be supported from the country and by the time it reached Borodino sickness and desertion had led it to lose two thirds of its strength. Most of the retreat from Moscow was in fact in reasonable weather. The reason for the failure of the campaign were bad planning and a failure to think through the logistic problems. The book in fact slightly downgrades Napoleon's military reputation. The second point raised by the book is to confirm that Napoleon was murdered on St Helena by the use of poison. There is some speculation about who did it.

In all a readable book about a man who was an important symbol to romantics in the nineteenth century but whose fame and importance is no in decline.