Napoleon: A Biography

Francis before he left Fontainebleau. 'I have decided,' Francis wrote, 'to propose that she should pass some months in the bosom ...

around his neck, containing a suicide pill - a tiny pouch of black taffeta containing a mixture of belladonna, white hellebore a ...

ha ving taken the phial without effect on 7 April, try again on the night of r2-r3 only to be visited, quite coincidentally, wit ...

he would not be seeing again. There is no reason to doubt that he reduced them to floods of tears by his sentimental oratory. Th ...

Whenever he encountered ordinary British serving personnel, espe­ cially naval officers, Napoleon always impressed them mightily ...

an island made prosperous by commerce, and an important stopping point fo r ships from the two Sicilies and the East, was wide o ...

Elba she followed him there and never ceased to urge him to return to the mainland to regain his throne. Pauline had written to ...

a day without loving you. I have not passed a night without clasping you in my arms ... No woman was ever loved with more devoti ...

and, in the declaration of St-Cloud on 2 May, repudiated constitutional monarchy and popular sovereignty. But in a Charter on 4 ...

were constantly threatened. Campbell wrote to Castlereagh: 'If pecuniary difficulties press on Napoleon much longer, I think he ...

secret convention against Russia and Prussia, whose ambitions they feared. France was supporting Austria against Prussia in its ...

Prussians, Russians and Austrians billeted on them were deeply resentful at the waste of their substance and the national humili ...

precipice, and so far only four recruits had come in: two soldiers from the garrison at Antibes, a policeman and a tanner from G ...

on ro March he was received rapturously by throngs of Lyonnais silk workers. Napoleon learned that I ,ouis XVJJJ's brother, the ...

to mobilize the Allied armies. In this way war was declared in less than an hour. Six days later Congress went to the limits of ...

CHAPTER TWENTY -SEVEN Before putting France on a war footing, Napoleon made a final, futile attempt to come to terms with the Al ...

abolished feudal titles, banished returned emigres and expropriated their land. But the response to these 'generous' measures di ...

only in evidence in the east, north and rural areas. Most of all, the reforms were misconceived because Napoleon's heart was not ...

the time he needed. On 8 April he ordered mobilization, but delayed conscription for another three weeks. By his old measures of ...

There were only two realistic options: either to preempt the Allies by defeating the Prussian and Anglo-Dutch armies before the ...