Napoleon

June 15, 2015

Scholars, Francophiles, and lovers of military history will welcome this comprehensive yet highly readable narrative of the life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821). Volume 1 in a projected two-part series, this biography is the first in any language to make use of new archival material currently being compiled by the Foundation Napoleon in Paris. Historian Broers, the author of six other works on Napoleon and his era, including Europe Under Napoleon, traces the story of the famous conqueror from his Corscian boyhood to the emergence of the Third Coalition in 1806. While other biographies rely on perceptions of Napoleon left by his contemporaries, Broers takes a decidedly psychological slant, asking, for example, "Did success bring out latent aspects of his (Napoleon's) character, or did it engender new ones?" Broers presents his subject as a multifaceted character determined to rise in the world; self-disciplined, energetic, ambitious, optimistic, and ever alert to opportunities for advancement. The author also shows how Napoleon was haunted by the classical past and alternately guided by the ghosts of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Octavian/Augustus, portraying Napoleon as a "powerful creative force" in the life of Europe and as a man who "made the new language of liberty work." Rooted in the most recent secondary scholarship, the narrative is enriched with maps, images, and lithographs. VERDICT Highly recommended for general readers and scholars alike.--Marie M. Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., NJ

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2015
This first in a two-part biography does an excellent job of delineating the emotional and intellectual development of the Corsican general-turned-French emperor. English historian Broers (Western European History/Oxford Univ.; Napoleon's Other War: Bandits, Rebels and Their Pursuers in the Age of Revolutions, 2010, etc.) offers a wonderful sense of the genius-and man-who was so stunningly able to remake European boundaries and mores after the meltdown from the French Revolution. In this first volume, the author moves from Napoleon's idyllic years growing up in Corsica to his being chased out of the "cradle" with his mother and family for running afoul of the republicans in 1793. He eventually washed up on the shores of the Riviera and was able to make his career mark in the army with the siege of Toulon. The "politics of survival" dictated the years to follow, up to 1765, but Broers astutely points out that Napoleon was the last generation of supremely and classically well-read leaders (a group that includes Thomas Jefferson) and that his advance in the military, as well as within a heavily striated society, was largely the result of his diligent, ongoing efforts at self-improvement. Working from the "still emerging," unexpurgated correspondence (which reaches the year 1809) being compiled by the Fondation Napoleon in Paris, under the direction of distinguished French historian Thierry Lentz, the author offers some exciting character observations. Napoleon had an eye for catching talent-he adored and elevated his very worthy stepchildren, Hortense and Eugene-while tolerating the outrageous shenanigans of many members of his family. From his previous work, Broers is well-attuned to how Napoleon fashioned his conquest and administration of Italy: "amalgamation" and "rallying to the new regime." His proto-empire then allowed a swift and efficient system of wider reforms in France after the coup. Among the plethora of Napoleon biographies, this is immensely engaging for lay readers.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

September 15, 2015
Like Andrew Roberts' Napoleon (2014), this profile of a much-written-about historical celebrity justifies itself by a new source, an ongoing scholarly project to collect Napoleon's correspondence. Broers' first biographical tome (of a projected two) extends to 1805. Many historians, Broers included, give approving interpretation to Napoleon's reforms, which delivered what the French generally wanted: an end to the Revolution's political instability, preservation of its main social changes, and peace with France's foreign enemies. How Napoleon achieved these goals occupies detailed swaths of Broers' narrative; more interesting to most readers will be his description of Bonaparte's apprenticeships for power. In Corsica, Toulon, Italy, Egypt, and Paris, Napoleon made his military reputation and honed political skills that vaulted him to the top, making him the epitome, in Broers' view, of a generation of ambitious men. Attentive to Napoleon's private life, Broers also accents Napoleon's human qualities in a largely positive, though hardly uncritical, portrait. In volume 2, Broers will take up Napoleon's responsibility for the wars of 180515. A solid addition to the Napoleonic canon.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

August 10, 2015
Relying heavily on a newly released body of Napoleon Bonaparte’s personal correspondence, Oxford historian Broers (Napoleon’s Other War) brings Napoleon to the brink of mastery of Europe in this first of two projected volumes. Recognizing the “cynical and manipulative” elements of his subject’s character, Broers also emphasizes Napoleon’s “positive, optimistic mind.” A visionary with his feet on the ground, Napoleon absorbed and synthesized the era’s vibrant intellectual trends and translated them into systems. War, administration, justice, education—all still bear Napoleon’s stamp. He navigated the Revolution’s turbulent waters, becoming a general in the process. It was in Italy, however, that Napoleon first demonstrated the “verve and genius” that in these years informed his military, diplomatic, and political judgment. Broers remarks that Napoleon “lost his way” in Egypt, but recovered his equilibrium in the 1799 coup of 18 Brumaire, consolidating his position with iron self-discipline until the constitution of the year 10 (1802) opened the way for the administrative reforms that established the parameters of empire. The major unresolved issue remained: a conflict with Britain, which Broers aptly dubs “a dialogue of the deaf,” wherein each party saw the other as fundamentally committed to expansion and exploitation. That perspective underwrote the creation of the Grande Armée. Broer calls this motivated by “the realpolitik of survival,” a point he’ll have to prove in his next volume.

May 23, 2022
Oxford University historian Broers (Napoleon) delivers a granular history of Napoleon’s final decade. In 1811, the French ruler welcomed his first legitimate male heir, solidifying his hopes for establishing a European dynasty. From that high point, Boers meticulously tracks Napoleon’s decline as military missteps, an attempted coup, and deteriorating relationships with powerful allies, including his own father-in-law, Austrian emperor Francis I, sapped his power and influence and led to military defeat, abdication, and exile. Broers’s deep knowledge of the era is evident in his fine-grained recreations of such events as the breach birth of Napoleon II (a terrifying ordeal for the boy’s mother, Empress Marie-Louise), the burning of Moscow after Napoleon’s troops entered the city in 1812, and the Battle of Waterloo, but he makes little accommodation to readers not well versed in these events. Key players are referred to solely by last name, with few biographical or contextual details, and the narrative is dense with obscure military leaders, troop movements, and political intrigues. Still, those with the background and wherewithal to navigate Broers’s staccato prose will find a nuanced and insightful portrait of a once mighty ruler in decline. This impressive scholarly history is best suited for experts. Illus.

Starred review from April 1, 2022

With his ninth book about Napoleon Bonaparte, Broers (history, Oxford Univ.; The Napoleonic Empire in Italy) demonstrates the pleasures of methodical, detailed history. On December 10, 1810, Napoleon communicated to his senate: "A new order of things directs the universe." All seemed to be well in his new empire. He had a new wife and would soon have a son, while centralization and uniformity were being spread across his domains by the cadre of bureaucrats he'd groomed. Russia and France were at peace (though for how long?); Spain was a running sore, but enough troops should settle that. Napoleon was sure his Continental Blockade would bring enemy Britain (that "nation of shopkeepers," as he called them) to their knees. Then, in the summer of 1812, Napoleon entered Russia on a three-week expedition to snip off a piece of its western edge; five and a half months later, only 120,000 of the 450,000 Napoleonic troops left Russia alive. Broers analyzes this stunning defeat in Russia, with a particularly insightful comparison between Napoleon and Czar Alexander I. Broers is equally adept at narrating battles and teasing out the implications of events. VERDICT A masterful and unfailingly insightful examination of Napoleon's final years.--David Keymer

Copyright 2022 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2022
Broers continues his run of satisfying books on Napoleon. The relentless fascination with Napoleon and his empire continues to generate books, mostly biographies, and this is another fine entry by Broers, a professor of Western European history at Oxford. Controlling land that stretched from Rome to the Baltic, Napoleon had defeated continental rivals and established friendly relations with Russia, and his forces were having some success suppressing the gruesome Spanish rebellion. Fruitless efforts to cut off British trade finally made a painful impression when he placed Atlantic ports under military rule to suppress smuggling. "Napoleon always wanted war during this period of relative peace," writes Broers, "just not the one he got in 1812." His plan to invade Britain--this time with a proper navy--was derailed when Czar Alexander "opened Russian ports to neutral shipping in December 1810" and fended off bullying efforts to bring him into line. By summer 1811, Napoleon was determined to invade Russia. At this point, the text still has 500 pages to go, but few readers will complain as the author describes Napoleon's preparations from a sullen French nation exasperated by massive taxes, mourning massive casualties, and oppressed by another round of brutally efficient conscription. The titanic army that trundled into Russia in June 1812 began shrinking long before meeting the enemy, led by a ruler Napoleon had consistently underestimated. Fans of War and Peace will learn that Tolstoy and Broers share a modest admiration for Alexander and a lower opinion of the emperor, although, having read all Napoleon's correspondence, Broers' opinion is more nuanced. After a gripping account of the Russian debacle, the author recounts Napoleon's return to Paris. Returning without much of an army left, he wrung another fighting force from his exhausted nation and won several victories before he was forced to abdicate and retire to Elba, from which he returned to power, lost at Waterloo, and ended his life in humiliating exile. An outstanding addition to the groaning bookshelves on one of the world's most recognizable leaders.

COPYRIGHT(2022) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.