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Copyright 2018 |Blue Sky Leadership Consulting | All rights reserved
Volume 5
Issue 4
•
Napoleon Andrew Roberts
Reviewed by Robert Schmidt
About the Author
Andrew Roberts is a British author who graduated with honors
from Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge and is presently a
visiting professor in the War Studies Department at Kings
College, London. He has written or edited 19 books which have
been translated in 22 languages and appears on radio and
television around the world.
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About the Book
There have been many books about Napoleon, but Andrew Roberts’ single-volume biography is the
first to make full use of the ongoing French publication of Napoleon’s 33,000 letters. Seemingly
leaving no stone unturned, Roberts begins in Corsica in 1769, pointing to Napoleon’s roots on that
island—and a resulting fascination with the Roman Empire—as an early indicator of what history
might hold for the boy. Napoleon’s upbringing—from his roots, to his penchant for holing up and
reading about classic wars, to his education in France, all seemed to point in one direction—and by
the time he was 24, he was a French general. Though he would be dead by fifty one, it was only the
beginning of what he would accomplish. Although Napoleon: A Life is 800 pages long, it is both
enjoyable and illuminating. Napoleon comes across as whip smart, well-studied, ambitious to a fault,
a little awkward, and perhaps most importantly, a man who could turn on the charm when he
needed to. Through his portrait, Roberts seems to be arguing two things: that Napoleon was far
more than just a complex soldier, and that his contributions to the world greatly surpassed those of
the evil dictators that some compare him to. “The historian, like the orator,” Roberts quotes
Napoleon as saying, “must persuade. He must convince.” I, for one, am convinced. A fascinating
read. –Chris Schluep
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• 1769- Birth, Tuesday, August 15, on island of Corsica.
• 1785- Graduated from Ecole Militare with the rank of second lieutenant in the artillery
• 1793- for his brilliant tactical command at the battle of Toulon he receives the rank of Brigadier general
• 1794- imprisoned under suspicion of being a supporter of Robespierre.
• 1795- He meets Josephine
• 1796- Napoleon is given the command of the French Army in Italy and begins the Italian campaign against Austria;
wins battles of Lodi & Arcole
• 1797- Wins battle of Rivoli and signs Treaty of Campo Formio; returns to Paris a hero
• 1798- Begins the Egyptian Campaign; Admiral Nelson and the British fleet destroy the French navy in the Battle of the
Nile; Napoleon’s army is cut off from supplies and communication
• 1799- receiving news or turmoil in France, Napoleon returns to Paris; through the Coup of Brumaire he overthrows
the Directory and is elected First Consul of the Consulate
• 1800- Battle of Marengo; escapes an assassination attempt
• 1801- Treaty of Luneville signed with Austria; Concordat of 1801
• 1802- Treaty of Amiens; Napoleon restructures the French educational system; Legion of Honour established; new
constitution adopted; Napoleon confirmed as First Consul for life.
• 1803- sells Louisiana territory to the US; Britain declares war on France; France invades Hanover
• 1804- introduction of the Civil Code (aka the Napoleonic Code); proclaimed Emperor by the Senate; crowns himself
Emperor in the company of the Pope
• 1805- Battles of Ulm, Trafalgar (Lord Nelson killed), Caldiero and Austerlitz (considered Napoleon’s greatest victory)
• 1806- Established the Confederation of the Rhine; the Holy Roman Empire is abolished; Prussia joins Russia and
Britain against France; Battles of Jena and Auerstadt; the Berlin Decree initiated the Continental System (against
Britain)
• 1807- Battles of Eylau & Friedland, Treaty of Tilsit between Russia and France signed; Napoleon and Spain divide
Portugal through a secret treaty
• 1808- Imperial University established; Spanish people rise up against France (Dos de Mayo Uprising); Napoleon’s
soldiers retaliate by brutally executing Spanish citizens (Goya’s painting ‘The Third of May 1808’); brother Joseph
crowned King of Spain; Peninsular War, Battle of Bailen
• 1809- Battle of Raszyn; Battle of Aspern-Essling (his first defeat in 10 years); Battle of Wagram (Austria loses territory
and must enforce the Continental System; Treaty of Schonbrunn; Napoleon divorces Josephine
• 1810- Napoleon marries Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma
• 1811- Napoleon II is born, named King of Rome
• 1812- Battles of Salamanca & Smolensk; Moscow evacuated, Battle of Borodino; Napoleon arrives in Moscow to find
it abandoned and on fire, the Grand Armee begins the ‘Great Retreat’ suffering great losses; crossing of the River
Berezina; Grand Armee expelled from Russia
• 1813- Battles of Luneburg, Lutzen, Bautzen, Haynau, Poischwitz, Vitoria, Danzig, Grossbeeren, Dresden, Katzbach,
Hagelberg, Kulm, San Marcial, Dennewitz, Gohrde, Altenberg, Wartenberg, Bidassoa, Lieberwplkwitz, Leipzig, Hanau,
Nivelle, Pamplona, Bornhvoved, Nive & Sehestedt
• 1814- Six Days Campaign; Battles of Garris, Orthez, Toulouse & Paris; Napoleon abdicates his throne to Louis XVIII;
Treaty of Fontainbleau; Napoleon is exiled to Elba, his wife and son take refuge in Vienna
• 1815-Napoleon escapes from Elba and begins the ‘100 Days’; Battle of Ligny; Battle of Waterloo; restoration of Louis
XVIII; Napoleon exiled to St. Helena
• 1821- Napoleon dies on St. Helena
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Overview
Napoleon Bonaparte was founder of modern France and one of the great conquerors of history. He came to power through a
military coup only six years after entering the country as a 24-year-old penniless political refugee. Although his conquests
ended in defeat and ignominious imprisonment, over the course of his short but eventful life he fought sixty battles and lost
only seven, a record envied by any general of any age.
His greatest and most long-lasting victories were not on the battlefield but rather, his institutions, which put an end to the
chaos of the French Revolution and cemented its guiding principle of equality before the law. Today, the Napoleonic Code
forms the basis for law in Europe and aspects of it have been adopted in forty countries spanning every continent besides
Antarctica. Even if Napoleon hadn’t been one of the greatest military geniuses of history, he would still be one of the giants of
modern history.
The leadership skills Napoleon employed to inspire his men have been adopted over the centuries, but never equaled except
perhaps by his great devotee, Winston Churchill. The fact that his army was willing to follow him even after the retreat from
Moscow, the battle of Leipzig, and the fall of Paris testifies to his capacity to make ordinary people feel they were capable of
doing extraordinary, history-making deeds.
He was a great lover of women. In addition to his wife Josephine, and later his second wife Marie Louise, he had at least 22
mistresses. Always the conqueror, numerous books have been written about the many women in his life including opera
singers, actresses and the wives of some of his most trusted soldiers. Many of the women in his life were equally unfaithful to
him, including Josephine during his Egyptian campaign.
All too often, biographies of Napoleon adopt the easy trope by which his deranged hubris- tied up with what has become
erroneously known as the “Napoleon Complex” (he was actually 5’-7” tall, the height of the average Frenchman of his day)-
inevitably led to his well-deserved downfall; the ancient comforting suggestion that such is the fate of all tyrants sooner or
later. “History is an argument without end”, says Pieter Geyl, believing every generation has to write its own biography of
Napoleon. Andrew Roberts’ interpretation is very different from other historians’. He believes that what brought the Emperor
down was not some deep-seated personality disorder but a combination of unforeseeable circumstances coupled with a
handful of significant miscalculations: something altogether more believable, human and fascinating.
Life-long Learner
Napoleon was a voracious reader and life-long learner. (P165) On his campaign to Egypt in 1798 he took with him 125 books
of history, geography, philosophy and Greek mythology in a specially constructed library including Captain Cook’s three
volume Voyages, Goethe’s Sorrows of Young Werther and books by Livy, Thucydides, Plutarch, Tacitus and of course, Julius
Caesar. He brought biographies, poetry, drama, a Bible and the Koran. He knew that his hero, Alexander the Great, had taken
learned men and philosophers on his campaigns to Egypt, Persia and India and he intended his expedition to be a cultural and
scientific event and not merely a war of conquest. To that end he took 167 geographers, botanists, chemists, antiquaries,
engineers, historians, printers, astronomers, zoologists, painters, musicians, sculptors, mathematicians, economists,
journalists and baloonists- the so-called Savants. They were not told where they were going, merely that the Republic needed
them and that their academic posts would be protected and stipends increased. Napoleon asked his Savants to give lectures
to his 2,200 officers during the voyage from Marseilles and encouraged them all to read, especially history and biographies.
While the Egyptian strategic and military campaign was technically a success, the greatest long-term achievements were
intellectual, cultural and artistic. The Savants had missed nothing. From Cairo, Thebes, Luxor, Karnak and Aswan there were
scale drawings of obelisks, sphinxes, hieroglyphics, cartouches, and pyramids, as well as mummified birds, dogs, cats and
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snakes. The Savants greatest discovery was the Rosetta Stone, a stele in three languages that allowed for the first insights into
ancient hieroglyphics.
“Fear and uncertainty accelerate the fall of empires: they are a thousand times more fatal than the dangers and losses of an ill-fated war.
Napoleon- December 1804 Leadership
I first became interested in Napoleon as a student of leaders and leadership. While he didn’t display the strength of moral
character of George Washington, another great military leader who became a statesman, his accomplishments are nothing
short of staggering. He had an easy way of connecting with his front-line soldiers that endeared them to follow him. Even on
the devastating retreat from Russia with the thermometer dropping to -30o C, his men were encouraged by the presence of
their General and Emperor. He convinced his followers they were taking part in an adventure, a pageant, an experiment and a
story whose shear splendor would draw the attention of posterity- that their lives mattered in the context of great events. He
was a brilliant lifelong learner with a fine sense of humor who was constantly joking to his family and entourage, even in the
most dire situations.
Fake News
While the cry of “fake news” has become mainstream in the past couple of years, there is nothing new or modern about it.
Part of holding his empire together while leading his troops into battle was sending home glorious reports of victories of the
Grand Armee and inflated casualties of its foes. Most of these reports were exaggerated to such a degree that the truth is
difficult to discern. This is amplified by the numerous biographies and memoirs which were written in the period before
copyright laws, when one could publish entirely fictitious memoirs supposedly written by living people such as Joseph
Bonaparte, Marshall Marmont and Napoleon’s foreign minister Armand da Caulaincourt, and their ostensible authors could
have no legal recourse to block publication.
Napoleon’s own memoir, Le Memorial de Sante-Helene, which was published in four volumes two years after his death,
became the greatest international bestseller of the nineteenth century, outselling such other classics as Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
His retelling of his own life certainly owed as much to fiction as to fact.
“Posterity would never have seen the measure of your spirit if had not seen it in misfortune.” Molé to Napoleon, March 1813
Downfall
Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812 led to his eventual abdication and imprisonment. Like several of
his other miscalculations, it was initiated due to his hatred of Britain and the knowledge that his supposed ally, Tsar Alexander
of Russia, was secretly trading with Britain in violation of their Treaty and the Continental System specifically designed to
isolate and cripple Britain’s economy.
In the summer of 1812, the Grand Armee set out from Poland on June 15th with a force of 450,000, later to be joined by the
second wave of 165,000, for a total of 615,000 troops which was larger than the entire population of Paris at the time. It was
a multi-national invasion force made up of French, Poles, Prussians and others, unlike any in the history of mankind to that
date. This was a force unlike his earlier campaigns, designed to catch and swiftly envelope the enemy. His force included
250,000 horses which required forage entirely beyond any system that could be put into place. Napoleon’s headquarters
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alone required 50 wagons pulled by 650 horses. This was to be a campaign utterly unlike any he had fought before, indeed
unlike any in history.
As Napoleon’s army advanced into Russia, the Tsar’s forces were retreating steadily, systematically destroying anything that
couldn’t be removed; crops, windmills, bridges, livestock, depots, fodder, shelter, grain- everything that could be of any use
whatsoever to the advancing French as either taken away or burned. With entire villages set ablaze by the retreating
Russians, the situation quickly became dire. With little fodder, an average of 1,000 horses were to die every day for the 175
days that the Grand Armee spent in Russia. A devastating new threat faced the soldiers- typhus fever. Heat, lack of water for
washing, troops packed together in large numbers at night, were all ideal conditions for spreading the disease. Within a
month of the start of the invasion Napoleon had lost one fifth of his central army group.
Only about 100,00 men entered a burning Moscow on September 15th, Napoleon installing himself at the Kremlin. No sooner
had the French entered the city and began to ransack it than they had to try to save it from being ransacked by its own
inhabitants. Prior to evacuating, the city’s governor destroyed all the city’s fire engines and sunk their fleet of fire boats. That
night the fires were so bright that it was possible to read in the Kremlin without the aid of lamps.
Winter came early in 1812 with the first flurries starting on October 13th . Since there was little food or supplies in the city,
Napoleon ordered Moscow to be evacuated 5 days later. He ordered the Kremlin to be blown up and General Mortier set the
charges but actually only the arsenal, one of the towers and Nikolsky Gate were destroyed, with the majority of the castle
remaining. When the Russian army discovered that the French were in retreat they began chasing them out of their country,
even as the weather deteriorated to -26o C. By the time the Grand Armee reached the 300 foot wide Berezina river on
November 21st, the temperature had plunged to -33o C and numbered around 50,000 men. A total of 524,000 men were lost
on the Russian campaign between July 9 and November 26, 1812; 40% due to military action and the remaining 60% from
disease, exposure, starvation and suicide.
Charles Joseph Minard’s famous 1869 graphic of the French Army losses:
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Copyright 2018 |Blue Sky Leadership Consulting | All rights reserved
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Actions
What thought, or idea had the biggest impact on you today?
What is one specific action you will take TODAY from what was discussed?
HOW will you implement this action?
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