Book
With His Face to the Foe
First published 2001
With His Face to the Foe is Ian Knight’s biography of Napoléon Eugène Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte, the Prince Imperial and only son of Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie. It follows his childhood as heir to the Second French Empire, the family’s exile after the Franco-Prussian War, his military education in Britain and the political expectations that continued to surround him as the Bonapartist claimant.
The final part of the book examines his decision to accompany British forces in the Anglo-Zulu War and the reconnaissance patrol on which he was killed on 1 June 1879. Knight reconstructs the circumstances of his death and the controversy that followed, while showing why the loss of the young prince mattered far beyond Zululand. His death removed the most obvious dynastic focus of French Bonapartism.
Historical Periods
Genres
Historical people
More from this period
5 more top-rated novels about Anglo-Zulu War
Ranked by rating and voting volume; books already shown on this page are omitted.
Discover more
Authors similar to Ian Knight
Recommended from shared genres and periods.
Saul David
3 books
Julian Spilsbury
Lawrence James