This comprehensive dictionary provides a deep understanding of the life and times of Napoleon Bonaparte. With detailed entries on his life, his battles, and the political and social context of his era, this book is an essential resource for anyone interested in the history of France and Europe during the early 19th century. With clear and concise language, the author brings to life the drama and intrigue of one of the most fascinating periods in history. This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

On a cold December day in 1840 Parisians turned out in force to watch as Napoleon's coffin was solemnly borne down the Champs-Elysées on its final journey to the Invalides. The return of the Emperor's body from the island of St Helena, nearly twenty years after his death, was a moment they had eagerly awaited, though there were many who feared that the memories stirred would only further destabilize a country that had struggled for order and direction since 'the little corporal' was sent into exile after Waterloo. Alan Forrest tells the remarkable story of how the son of a Corsican attorney became the most powerful man in Europe, a man whose political legacy endured long after his lonely death many thousands of miles from France. Along the way, he cuts away the layers of myth and counter-myth that have grown up around Napoleon, a man who mixed history and legend promiscuously, and shows how he was as much a product of his times as he was their creator. The convulsive effect of the Revolution on French society, and the new meritocracy it ushered in, afforded men of this generation opportunities that were unimaginable under the Ancien Régime. Napoleon seized every chance that was offered him, making full use of his undoubted abilities and charismatic presence. But the Empire he created, stretching across most of the European continent, was not the work of one man. It was a collective enterprise that depended on the work and vision of thousands of administrators, army officers, jurists and educators, and The Age of Napoleon is as much their story as his. In a book that takes in everything from Napoleon's ill-fated expedition to Egypt to the festivals that punctuated the Imperial calendar, Alan Forrest draws on original research and recent scholarship to draw a fresh and compelling picture of one of the most dramatic periods in the history of Europe.

A comprehensive account of the life and enduring influence of the early 19th-century French emperor covers his rise to prominence, the ways his life reflected his time, and the lingering impact of his death on national stability.

Excerpt from A Dictionary of Napoleon and His Times The collection in dictionary form of the material, historical and personal, relating to the most significant and arresting figure of the modern world will certainly appear to those best qualified to judge to be a task of hopeless magnitude and complexity; and, indeed, the difficulties in the way of the perfect accomplishment of such a collection are almost insurmountable in view of the unexampled mass of literature, good, bad, and indifferent, which has grown up around the figure of Napoleon Bonaparte. Any attempt which aimed at complete inclusion of all the circumstances connected with that most marvellous life would be a failure unless it assumed the proportions of an encyclopaedia of very large size. No such claim is advanced on behalf of this work, the object of which is to present in popular yet exact form for ready reference a general survey of the Napoleonic period, both as regards its central luminary and the numerous satellites, scarcely less brilliant, who circled round him. Particulars of the personality of Napoleon and all that recent research has discovered with reference to the more obscure episodes in his career have been carefully examined and collated; the campaigns necessitated by his policy; the commercial, political, and artistic developments of his reign; biographical matter relating to his family from the earliest recorded member thereof down to its latest scions; the political circumstances of the various countries with which he had warlike or pacific relations; his habits and idiosyncrasies; the great leaders who served or failed him; his more private life; his relations with his secretaries and valets; the women he loved; and the contemporaries, laudatory, veracious, or scurrilous, who set down their reminiscences of him-all arc included in this work, which, if not encyclopaedic, may at least claim to be comprehensive. Many of the biographies are of considerable length, but the plan throughout has been to give extended treatment only to matters of interest and value, and severely to condense anything which does not approximate to that standard. The work has been written in a spirit which the author believes he is justified in claiming is absolutely without bias of any sort: but that is not to say that it is non-controversial. A work of reference should not lend itself too much to argument; but level acquiescence in the views advanced and in the deductions drawn by standard authorities where these do not square with personal conviction is characteristic of the compiler who attempts nothing further than the mere mechanical collection of materials upon which, as is too often the case, his disabilities prevent any direct comment or illustration. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."