Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military officer and ruler who rose during the French Revolution and became emperor of the French in 1804. His victories transformed the political map of Europe and spread institutions associated with revolutionary and Napoleonic France, while his wars imposed immense human and economic costs across the continent.
After seizing political power in the coup of 18 Brumaire, Napoleon reorganised administration, law and education and established the Civil Code. His empire reached its greatest extent after victories such as Austerlitz, but the Peninsular War and the disastrous invasion of Russia weakened it. Defeated and exiled in 1814, he returned for the Hundred Days before his final defeat at Waterloo in 1815 and exile to Saint Helena.
Adam Zamoyski’s 1812 reconstructs Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and the catastrophic retreat of the Grande Armée. Saul David’s All the King’s Men traces the development of the British soldier from the restoration of Charles II in 1660 to the defeat of Napoleon in 1815. Additional non-fiction treatment of Napoleon comes from Robert Harvey’s Bolivar, Saul David’s Great Military Commanders, Adam Zamoyski’s Holy Madness, Christopher Clark’s Iron Kingdom, and Robert Harvey’s Liberators.