This panoramic volume tells the story of French art, culture and life from the 1770s to the 1820s: the first French voyages of discovery to Australia, the stormy period of social change with the outbreak of the French Revolution, and the rise to power of the young Napoleon Bonaparte and his wife Josephine.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a victim of French imperialism who became a ruthless emporer and an unstoppable general. Learn the story of this tyrant who crushed the French republic and became the mightiest emporor of all

France is embroiled in war with Austria as Napoleon races from victory at Castiglione into the ragged peaks of the Tyrol. His aim: defeat the cunning General Würmser and conquer the fortress stronghold of Mantua. But even while Napoleon pursues Würmser down the Brenta River Valley, Austrian forces are secretly gathering under General Alvinczy. They plan a daring offensive to drive the outnumbered French from Italy entirely. So begins a thrilling campaign that will span continents, from the snow-capped Alps to the swirling sands of Egypt. Pursuing his grand vision of strangling English trade by conquering Alexandria and Cairo, Napoleon must defeat both Ottoman forces and the unforgiving desert itself. Even a prowling British Navy led by admiral Lord Nelson cannot deter the ambitious Corsican from this vital strategic prize. This well-researched history analyses Napoleon’s audacious Italian and Egyptian operations. Can his Army of Italy withstand aggressive Austrian counterattacks in the mountainous Italian theatre? Will the harsh Egyptian frontier thwart Napoleon’s expanding ambitions and grand strategy? This scholarly appraisal provides authoritative perspectives on these pivotal early campaigns of Napoleon’s meteoric career.

Popular and scholarly history presents a one-dimensional image of Napoleon as an inveterate instigator of war who repeatedly sought large-scale military conquests. General Franceschi and Ben Weider dismantle this false conclusion in The Wars Against Napoleon, a brilliantly written and researched study that turns our understanding of the French emperor on its head. Avoiding the simplistic clichés and rudimentary caricatures many historians use when discussing Napoleon, Franceschi and Weider argue persuasively that the caricature of the megalomaniac conqueror who bled Europe white to satisfy his delirious ambitions and insatiable love for war is groundless. By carefully scrutinizing the facts of the period and scrupulously avoiding the sometimes confusing cause and effect of major historical events, they paint a compelling portrait of a fundamentally pacifist Napoleon, one completely at odds with modern scholarly thought. This rigorous intellectual presentation is based upon three principal themes. The first explains how an unavoidable belligerent situation existed after the French Revolution of 1789. The new France inherited by Napoleon was faced with the implacable hatred of reactionary European monarchies determined to restore the ancient regime. All-out war was therefore inevitable unless France renounced the modern world to which it had just painfully given birth. The second theme emphasizes Napoleon’s determined efforts (“bordering on an obsession,” argue the authors) to avoid this inevitable conflict. The political strategy of the Consulate and the Empire was based on the intangible principle of preventing or avoiding these wars, not on conquering territory. Finally, the authors examine, conflict by conflict, the evidence that Napoleon never declared war. As he later explained at Saint Helena, it was he who was always attacked—not the other way around. His adversaries pressured and even forced the Emperor to employ his unequalled military genius. After each of his memorable victories Napoleon offered concessions, often extravagant ones, to the defeated enemy for the sole purpose of avoiding another war. Lavishly illustrated, persuasively argued, and carefully illustrated with original maps and battle diagrams, The Wars Against Napoleon presents a courageous and uniquely accurate historical idea that will surely arouse vigorous debate within the international historical community.

In Paris and London, the crowds hailed him as the man who had conquered Napoleon, as the liberator of Europe, and as a benevolent, enlightened monarch. At home he came to be feared as a reactionary, oppressive autocrat in a country where millions of serfs were still treated as little more than personal property. A grandson of Catherine the Great, a conspirator in the assassination of his own father, and an idealistic and ineffective participant at the Congress of Vienna, Alexander was torn all his life between his liberal illusions and the hard realities of autocratic Russia. In a brilliant biography of one of the most unorthodox of Russia's tsars, Henri Troyat -- winner of the Prix Populiste and the coveted Prix Goncourt -- delivers a masterful portrait of Europe during a momentous period in its modern history. "[Troyat's] broad-brush narrative restores to center stage important personalities and their interplay in the politics of the era." -- James H. Billington, The New York Times Book Review "[A] briskly moving, richly illustrated, flesh-and-blood portrait." -- Publishers Weekly "Troyat's biography of Alexander ... turns out to be more enthralling than most of the novels I've read lately." -- Pamela Marsh, The Christian Science Monitor

80 full-color and archival illustrations. Here is a brilliant new interpreatation of Napoleon's epic tale. This richly illustrated volume sheds new light on one of the most written about figures in modern history and gives us a fascinating in-depth study of Napoleon's life and deeds. Though his reign was short and ended in bitter defeat, he forever changed European life. He dismantled the feudal world sybbolized by the Holy Roman Empire, abolished the Inquisition, and reformed civil law by establishing the Napoleonic Code. Never have subsequent events so convincingly proven the vanquished to be right. The vividly written and insightful text, enhanced by reproductions of historic paintings, illustrations of battle scenes, and replicas of authentic documents, make this volume a valuable addition to the library of layman and scholar alike.

“Reads like a novel. A fast-paced page-turner, it has everything: sex, wit, humor, and adventures. But it is an impressively researched and important story.” —David Fromkin, author of Europe’s Last Summer Vienna, 1814 is an evocative and brilliantly researched account of the most audacious and extravagant peace conference in modern European history. With the feared Napoleon Bonaparte presumably defeated and exiled to the small island of Elba, heads of some 216 states gathered in Vienna to begin piecing together the ruins of his toppled empire. Major questions loomed: What would be done with France? How were the newly liberated territories to be divided? What type of restitution would be offered to families of the deceased? But this unprecedented gathering of kings, dignitaries, and diplomatic leaders unfurled a seemingly endless stream of personal vendettas, long-simmering feuds, and romantic entanglements that threatened to undermine the crucial work at hand, even as their hard-fought policy decisions shaped the destiny of Europe and led to the longest sustained peace the continent would ever see. Beyond the diplomatic wrangling, however, the Congress of Vienna served as a backdrop for the most spectacular Vanity Fair of its time. Highlighted by such celebrated figures as the elegant but incredibly vain Prince Metternich of Austria, the unflappable and devious Prince Talleyrand of France, and the volatile Tsar Alexander of Russia, as well as appearances by Ludwig van Beethoven and Emilia Bigottini, the sheer star power of the Vienna congress outshone nearly everything else in the public eye. An early incarnation of the cult of celebrity, the congress devolved into a series of debauched parties that continually delayed the progress of peace, until word arrived that Napoleon had escaped, abruptly halting the revelry and shrouding the continent in panic once again. Vienna, 1814 beautifully illuminates the intricate social and political intrigue of this history-defining congress–a glorified party that seemingly valued frivolity over substance but nonetheless managed to drastically reconfigure Europe’s balance of power and usher in the modern age.