Napoleon

Title: Napoleon

Author: Alan Forrest

Publisher: Quercus, 2012 (First published 2011)

ISBN: 9781780872506

Pages: 403

Every ruler covets power with glory, but very few go on to achieve it. The priorities of the ruler and the ruled are not in resonance in the normal course, which leads to resentment on the part of the populace towards extraction of taxes and tribute and exasperation on the king’s side at the stubbornness of the people to acquiesce in to his plans of aggrandizement. In the course of centuries, some rulers would be able to place their hands on the right nerves to excite and amass subjects under his standard and such leaders of men enter the national myth. Napoleon Bonaparte was one such emperor who shepherded the French armies to his battle tunes across the length and breadth of Europe for nearly two decades. He directed the French spirit to flow into the channels he had cut across established political traditions, eroding them in the long term. This book is an excellent biography of the French emperor from his birth to the internment of his ashes in Paris. Alan Forrest is Professor of Modern History and Director of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies at the University of York. He works on modern French history, especially the period of the French revolution and empire, and on the history of modern warfare.

A man with vaulting ambitions of his own must necessarily be a bit opportunistic. Nothing illuminates this better than Napoleon’s career. The author identifies this trait from very early on. The emperor was born in Corsica, an island off the French mainland in the Mediterranean Sea. The Italian Genoese ruled the island for a long time, but power was usurped by Corsican insurgents. Just a year before Napoleon was born France invaded and annexed it, forcing the Corsican rebels to go into exile. An underground resistance movement was afoot. A patriot would be expected to join the rebels, but Napoleon wisely opted to enroll in a French military school and join the artillery. Forrest neatly narrates the starting point of the future hero’s career by ditching his native island. On the other hand, his decision was good for himself and Corsica in the long run. Had he been part of the island’s army, the utmost he could have hoped for was the deliverance from captivity and be its ruler, out of sight and mind of the other European powers. As events turned out in the end, by sticking on to France and becoming a part of its destiny, Bonaparte’s star shone with meridian splendour for another three decades more.

Political upheavals hardly interrupt the lives and careers of the common masses. But collateral advantages can be reaped by a good number of them when revolutions take place around them. The book clearly summarizes the full scale debt of Napoleon for his rise to the French Revolution (1789); to its ideals of liberty and equality and the meritocracy that lay at its roots and the huge institutional changes it had wrought. The dyke of privileges and inheritances erected by the Old Regime to help the aristocracy were rudely torn down and a sea of ambitious commoners came rushing in. The nobility had had its monopoly repealed in the officer corps of the army and the royal administration. Revolution brought down barriers on the career path of Napoleon.

Forrest gives only a cursory glance of Napoleon’s early military adventures in Italy and Egypt, both of which couldn’t be termed as victories, even though the future emperor used all tricks and strategies in his arsenal to influence public opinion in his favour. We see the first stirrings of a media-savvy administrator in Napoleon’s dispatches from Egypt and Italy. The author includes a hearty description of the French legions’ maneuvers in the desert country, where the soldiers were accompanied by a sizeable contingent of archeologists, historians and scientists. The world owes these savants a great deal for unearthing the Rosetta stone, which handed down the key to deciphering hieroglyphs engraved on the tombs and other ancient remains like vases and boxes. France’s persistent weakness was its navy, when compared to the formidable British naval forces. Overseas ventures of Napoleon came to naught, as Haiti declared independence and inflicted a crushing defeat on the French navy sent to liberate the island.

The author has succinctly catalogued the ever so slight movements made by Napoleon to assume the royal mantle on his shoulders. The French Revolution’s lasting characteristic was its horrible and bloody extinction of the monarchy of the Bourbons. Napoleon wanted to reinstate monarchy by crowning himself as the emperor and enforce hereditary continuity to the throne. The clever measures followed are interesting to read. The crown lay at the end of numerous incremental steps, each of which provided space and time for the elite and public to get accustomed to it. Each step generated unease for the republicans, but they had to go along with the system which ended in Napoleon becoming the hereditary emperor of France.

Glowing tributes are paid by the author to catalog the victories of Napoleon in battle until he reached the zenith of glory in 1807. Unfortunately for the emperor, he didn’t have the supreme gift of the knowledge of when to stop. His armistices and peace treaties were just devices to gain time for preparation for the next assault. While technically at peace, he continued to form stratagems to take on Britain and Russia, his remaining rivals in Europe. He planned a commercial blockade of Britain, to bring to the knees its commercial empire which thrived on trade with the continent. This idea miserably failed as traders resorted to smuggling, while the brazen act stoking retaliation from the British Navy which ruled the seas. The emperor’s rash and opportunistic decision making, coupled with incessant warfare stretched the resources of the empire. It is estimated that a total of four million men were killed on all sides in the Napoleonic wars in Europe. This was too much for the smallest continent in the world. Military alliances against Napoleon became grander and more numerous. France inadvertently played into the hands of its enemies in the disastrous expedition to Moscow, to teach the tsar a lesson in submission. Napoleon’s army was decimated in the Russian winter, and the emperor abdicated and relegated to a small Mediterranean island named Elba. He made a swift return to emperorship at the head of an army of only 650 men, which waxed thick as it neared Paris. However, the allies were determined and defeated him in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and transported him for life to St. Helena, a small island in the South Atlantic. Reduced to virtual confinement he breathed his last, six years later, at the age of 52.

Napoleon cast a great burden on the people he ruled, both in terms of money and manpower. People resented his rule, especially after the reverses in wars became regular and ignominious. Forrest explains why – even in spite of all the adverse feelings – the emperor remained the favourite of the public. He brought in reforms in education, church and justice, which were long overdue in view of the Enlightenment. Birth was not a constraint on one’s ambition – in both ways, as talented aristocrats reentered service. Professionalism and good judgment were the key attributes for administrative appointment. He implemented a civil code which became the hallmark of French rule. Wherever the French went, the Code followed.

The last days of the emperor is touchingly narrated in the book, as also the flourishing of his myth in France and Europe after his death. Judging from history, Napoleon may be termed the last transnational hero produced by France. There is a school of thought among historians that Napoleon was slowly poisoned in St. Helena. This had its origins when scientists detected traces of arsenic in his hair kept as souvenir by his attendants during the last days. Forrest discounts this hypothesis with the argument that the level of arsenic in his hair may have accumulated by other natural means and presents stomach cancer as a plausible reason for his comparatively early death. However, the refutation is not very convincing as it is not accompanied by substantive proof. The book is written in an elegant and absorbing style. We can only see the barest glances of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Readers who have no knowledge of this before might find it difficult to follow the argument. Forrest is not at all keen in mentioning dates of events – even Waterloo is undated. The narration is totally centred on the person of Napoleon. History of France finds mention only when it is absolutely essential to elaborate some aspect of Napoleon’s decisions or career. The book is made more interesting with a good number of pictures. A large collection of detailed notes is included as well as a good index.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star