Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte left a written record extending beyond his political and military career. The Officer’s Manual Napoleon’s Maxims of War gathers strategic maxims associated with him. The 1862 Richmond edition reprinted G. C. D’Aguilar’s English translation and included a recommendation by Winfield Scott. Napoleon’s Letters to Josephine, 1796-1812 presents correspondence spanning campaigns, government and empire. Henry Foljambe Hall collected, translated and annotated the edition published by J. M. Dent in 1901. Born in Corsica in 1769, Napoleon trained as an artillery officer, rose during the French Revolution and governed France first as consul and then as emperor. Together, the maxims and letters preserve contrasting parts of his documentary legacy: compressed advice for officers alongside correspondence shaped by changing personal and public circumstances.