Napoleon: The Decline and Fall of an Empire: 1811-1821

Great final volume on Napoleon.Most of the biographies I have read on Napoleon always spend some time talking about St Helen.Mr Broers doesn't.He did spend more time showing how Napoleon ended up there. Overall it's a very satisfying last volume.My only negative comment on that volume was that on page 229 he wrote that in French the battle of Borodino is known as the battle of Moscow.He used 2 letters to make his point: a letter sent by Napoleon to Maret (letter #31686 from Napoleon Correspondance) in the note 275.But that letter talks about "la bataille de la Moskova".Also he refereed to the letter to Clark on the 10 of September 1812 and it still says "la bataille de la Moskova" note 282 (letter #31706)"La Moskova" in French is not Moscow but the river that was behind Borodino known in English as Moskva river.The author was trying to make the point (awkwardly) that Napoleon gave that name to the battle to imply its closeness to the City. Yes that's true the battle was named after the river because that name was more evocative than Borodino and of course good for propaganda. But there is a difference between implying and saying.That's a minor error but then what I don't understand is when the author added that French historians are referring to that battle as the battle of Moscow. I don't know any French historian misrepresenting the battle and its position to Moscou.It wouldn't make any sens for any historian to say that the battle was in Moscow and then say that it took the 7 days to get to the city?

Product in great shape and timely delivery

I have read numerous books on napoleon and this trilogy is the best. Napoleon is disliked by the left and right. The left because he betrayed the revolution and the right because he beat them. This is brilliantly brought out in trilogy.

He passed in 1970 but I remember all the times he talked to me and my brothers about the Napoleonic Wars. These three volumes gave me depth to what my dad told us.

This is definitely a good read on a history stand point

Awesome biography!

The vendor who I had ordered this used book from was great. The writing itself was too bogged down with repetitive details to the point where I felt bludgeoned over the head. Page after page chapter after chapter of troop movements BUT...without a single map showing lines of attack and retreat. I've read many US Civil War books that had maps to support the text. I felt completely lost in the scope of this book and writing style which was all over the place. There were only a few battles which were compelling to read. I had to stop reading this 3/4 of the way through....I felt like one of Napoleon' s foot soldiers lost in the snow....just shoot me !

Interesting concept to treat the Russia campaign and Waterloo, Napoleon's two catastrophic defeats, in a single unified volume. It does lead one to wonder what would have happened if Napoleon had died with his Empire still intact. Would he have passed it to his generals, a la Alexander and Genghis Khan?

Great quality and delivery on time very 😊

This is an essential volume for all have enjoyed Broers’ previous instalments in this series and for anyone interested in a modern narrative history of the end of Napoleon’s reign from the build up to the invasion of Russia to the end on St Helena.However I cannot remember ever reading a book with as many obvious and appalling copy editing problems. I’d estimate at least one every 4 pages if not more frequent than that. From misspelled names (spelled correctly elsewhere, so not a choice on transliteration for example), to totally ungrammatical sentences, to sentences with more than one subject both referred to by the same pronoun, to misplaced punctuation that renders sense difficult to discern. Broers is fond of placing cliches in “quotes” and sometimes even does that while also adding in “to summon a phrase” or similar. A decent copy edit would remove these. There are also several excruciating modern cultural references that are very jarring given the subject matter.All of this is a pity because generally the prose is clear and good, and the scholarship excellent. This review is of the paperback US edition (Pegasus) so there’s no excuse for these errors not having been corrected. I wonder if this is why the final volume is delayed from Faber in the UK - maybe they will need to completely reset it?

This is the final volume on Napoleon’s it has to be said amazing life as Emperor. It has been apparently meticulously researched judging by the huge number of references at the end of every chapter. However it is sprinkled with errors,mainly chronological, an annoyance.Also in common with most books written on Napoleon there is no mention of the fact he suffered when stressed with epileptic seizures which at key points in his life did affect decisions. The prose style is rather sedentary, a fairly “heavy” read. I found it disappointing.