Napoleon: A Biography

Published by Pimlico 1998 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 Copyright© Frank McLynn 1997 Frank MeL ynn has asserted his right under the Copyright, ...

For Julie ...

CONTENTS Illustrations Vll Preface lX Chapter One I Chapter Two (^15) Chapter Three 31 Chapter Four 49 Chapter Five 70 Chapter S ...

Chapter Twenty-Seven Chapter Twenty-Eight Conclusion Sources Index ...

ILLUSTRATIONS First section Napoleon on the Bridge of Arcola by Gros, 1791 (Arenberg, Napoleon Museum/ AKG London) Maria Letizia ...

Joachim Murat, portrait by Gerard (Musee de Versailles/© RMN) Talleyrand (AKG London) Alexander I of Russia, portrait by von Kug ...

PREFACE This book does not purport to be a definitive biography of Napoleon. Indeed I wonder if such a thing is possible, short ...

Lawson, Colette Bowe and Professor Murray Pittock of Strathclyde University. But my greatest debt is to the three significant wo ...

CHAPTER ONE Napoleon Bonaparte was born at Ajaccio, Corsica, on 15 August 1769. Such a bald, even banal statement is necessary w ...

he emerged from his mother's womb a born warrior because she gave birth to him immediately after a hazardous 'flight in the heat ...

Buonapartes and the Ramolinos specialized in intermarriage with ancient families of Italian origin, so a dynastic match made sen ...

too long and whose face was too austere for a claim to real beauty to be advanced. It was true that she was petite (s'r"), with ...

economy based on vineyards and a primitive barter system meant there were few opportunities for generating a surplus, hence no p ...

Another admirer who actually visited Corsica and met Paoli was James Boswell, Dr Johnson's faithful companion and biographer. Bo ...

on the day of birth to carry out a perfunctory baptism, but sober history must be content to record that the formal baptism did ...

would square with the tradition, which seems solidly grounded, that Napoleon picked on Joseph, fought with him at every opportun ...

rather than remain under the French heel. Significantly, not only did Carlo not go with them but he immediately threw in his lot ...

Comte de Marbeuf. French rule in Corsica essentially came down to the military governor and a civil intendant supported by a doc ...

'she had eyes only for Carlo'. Such writers fly in the face of probability and reveal themselves as poor judges of human nature. ...

consciously in 'civilized' society. This is not so very strange when we consider the backward and primitive nature of eighteenth ...