Napoleon, Michael Broers

“Show me a family of readers, and I will show you the people who move the world.”

-        Napoleon Bonaparte

This volume is about Napoleon’s conquest of Europe.  Michael Boers describes in detail the Grande Armee’s march across the length and breath of Europe.  It starts with his army making its way through the Bavarian Alps in the winter of 1805 where he crushes the Austrian and Russian armies at Austerlitz and ends with the final defeat of Austria at Wagram in 1809, the bloodiest battle in European history at that time.

These five years from 1805 to 1810 encompass the drama of Napoleon’s separation from Josephine and the challenges of ruling a pan-European empire.  It closes with his marriage to Marie-Louise, the daughter of his defeated enemy, the Emperor of Austria.

This is an enjoyable read and a deep look into the man Napoleon and his generals, it is full of drama, as Napoleon was quite the dramatic personality and it is a concise history of the events that unfolded as Napoleon forced his will on the entire European continent.