Napoleon
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- Pages
- 510
About this book
Corsica's struggle against French rule opens Emil Ludwig's account of Napoleon. His mother, Letizia, follows her husband through a mountain campaign before the birth of their second son. From these family beginnings, the biography follows Napoleon through military advancement and political power. A chronological table supplies dates for the campaigns, marriages and changes of government that frame his life, while the narrative gives individual scenes and exchanges room to unfold.
Family relationships become inseparable from the demands of empire. Louis abandons the Dutch throne after finding his brother's orders impossible to reconcile with his obligations to the Dutch people. Napoleon's response combines anger with concern, revealing a personal strain within the exercise of authority. Letters, arguments and judgments bring these tensions into view.
From the opening pages
A young woman is sitting in a tent. Wrapped in a shawl, she is suckling her baby, and listening to a distant rumbling and roaring. Are they still shooting, though night has fallen? Maybe it is only the sound of one of those autumn thunderstorms whose echoes reverberate from the mountains; or perhaps it is nothing more than the murmur from the surrounding forest of pines and evergreen oaks, where foxes and wild swine have their lairs. She looks like a gipsy, sitting there with her white breast half covered by the shawl, brooding within the murky tent, uncertain what the fate of the day may have been. Now she hears the sound of hoof-beats. Is it he? He promised to come; but it is a long way from the fighting line, and the mists are rising.
The flap of the tent is thrown open, letting in a breath of night air. A man enters. An officer in a coloured tunic and wearing a plumed head-dress; a slim fellow, nimble of movement; a young patrician, in the middle twenties. He greets the woman ardently. Springing to her feet, she gives the nursling to her maid. Wine is brought. Taking the kerchief from her head, she stands before him, showing chestnut ringlets astray on a smooth, white brow. An eager question is on her well-shaped lips. Add to the picture that she has a long chin, a sign of energy; that her aquiline nose is thrown into relief by the firelight; and that on her hip there gleams the dagger which in this mountain land she never lays aside. We see a lovely amazon, daughter of an ancient race, sprung from men of action and resolution. The woman’s forebears, like the man’s, have for centuries been leaders and warriors; first across the water in Italy, and then in this craggy island.
Contents
About the author
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- I Il nipotismo di RomaIl nipotismo di Roma
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Book facts
- Author
- Emil Ludwig
- Reading time
- About 17 hours
- Pages
- 510
- Language
- English
- Genre
- European History
- Formats
- PDF, EPUB, Read online