Napoleon could have had few biographers more dedicated to their subject. Not only has Roberts worked his way through Napoleon's 33,000 extant letters but he also walked the ground of 53 of Napoleon's 60 battlefields. One wonders what the missing seven did to deserve his neglect! What is more, he made the long and still arduous journey to St Helena. In Napoleon's day, his residence at Longwood had infestations of termites, rats, midges, mosquitoes and cockroaches. Today, Roberts tells us, the last three still remain.
The result of these labours is a richly detailed and sure-footed reappraisal of the man, his achievements — and failures — and the extraordinary times in which he lived. As might be imagined, it is largely Napoleon's military campaigns that take centre stage. Apart from the vivid descriptions of many flanks turned and cavalry charges repulsed, we learn that, by the end of Napoleon's reign, battles were lasting longer (two to three days), that armies were much larger (often more than half a million men) and that casualty rates were much higher (at Waterloo reaching 45 per cent of combatants). The latter was largely due to the huge increase in the number of cannon deployed.
Some of these campaigns were particularly brutal. Thousands of the defenders of Jaffa were massacred in cold blood. In Spain, where the French army suffered more than a quarter of a million casualties, captured banditti were summarily hanged. After the long retreat from Moscow, many units were down to 5 per cent of their original strength: only 2,000 of 51,000 Imperial Guards remained. But winning battles could also be good business. France made a profit of 50 million francs from its victory at Austerlitz.
Military victory also invariably meant constitutional and administrative reform for the defeated. If this was true of Italy, where Napoleon established the Cisalpine Republic in 1797, and Spain, where he ratified the first written constitution of the Spanish-speaking world, it was also true of little Malta. As Roberts recounts, in his six days on the island Napoleon abolished slavery, all titles of nobility and the arms of the Order of the Knights. He reformed taxation, the judiciary, the navy, policing arrangements and the administrative structure. As if this was not enough in less than a week, Napoleon also dissolved the monasteries, introduced street lighting and paving, freed all political prisoners, and reformed the hospitals. Jews were allowed to build a hitherto banned synagogue.
The result of these labours is a richly detailed and sure-footed reappraisal of the man, his achievements — and failures — and the extraordinary times in which he lived. As might be imagined, it is largely Napoleon's military campaigns that take centre stage. Apart from the vivid descriptions of many flanks turned and cavalry charges repulsed, we learn that, by the end of Napoleon's reign, battles were lasting longer (two to three days), that armies were much larger (often more than half a million men) and that casualty rates were much higher (at Waterloo reaching 45 per cent of combatants). The latter was largely due to the huge increase in the number of cannon deployed.
Some of these campaigns were particularly brutal. Thousands of the defenders of Jaffa were massacred in cold blood. In Spain, where the French army suffered more than a quarter of a million casualties, captured banditti were summarily hanged. After the long retreat from Moscow, many units were down to 5 per cent of their original strength: only 2,000 of 51,000 Imperial Guards remained. But winning battles could also be good business. France made a profit of 50 million francs from its victory at Austerlitz.
Military victory also invariably meant constitutional and administrative reform for the defeated. If this was true of Italy, where Napoleon established the Cisalpine Republic in 1797, and Spain, where he ratified the first written constitution of the Spanish-speaking world, it was also true of little Malta. As Roberts recounts, in his six days on the island Napoleon abolished slavery, all titles of nobility and the arms of the Order of the Knights. He reformed taxation, the judiciary, the navy, policing arrangements and the administrative structure. As if this was not enough in less than a week, Napoleon also dissolved the monasteries, introduced street lighting and paving, freed all political prisoners, and reformed the hospitals. Jews were allowed to build a hitherto banned synagogue.
Like this article? Share, save or print using the icons below:
