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Carregando... Napoleon the Great (original: 2014; edição: 2014)de Andrew Roberts
Informações da ObraNapoleon: A Life de Andrew Roberts (2014)
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. I’ve had a passing interest in Napoleon since I was a young man, but only in the last handful of years has that interest developed into something more like an enthusiasm for learning about this charismatic leader, the French Revolution, and the various Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon Bonaparte lived an adventure filled and full life, even having died young at age 52. He was at once a brilliant tactician (having only lost 7 out of the 60 battles he was in), a superb statesman (introducing legislation and policies that would shape France for generations to come), and occasionally a monster. This book dives deep into his early years on Corsica, and tracks his meteoric rise through the ranks from a young Lieutenant to the Emperor of the Republic of France. It does a good job of providing a birds eye view of the major battles, and perhaps most importantly paints a vivid picture of the man - his habits, his likes and dislikes, and his demeanour. It talks about the card games he liked to play, the way he drank his coffee, his morning habits, and how long he slept. All of this helps paint a picture of the man. I could easily read this again and probably absorb just as much as I did the first time around, and I just might. Terrific book. A near-peasant upstart from a small Mediterranean island transforms himself into the emperor of nearly all of Europe, using not much more than gall and genius. Many have the former, but the latter is in rare supply. In combination, in the 18th and 19th centuries, they reshaped the world. Andrew Roberts does a superb job of keeping the reader engaged in the political and social machinations of Napoleon Bonaparte's time, and does so in a way that consistently maintains more sympathy for the man than many biographies have done, even while exposing the man's moral and military failings. His military failings were comparatively few, and Roberts makes the jumble of countries, principalities, duchies, and cultures Napoleon conquered clearly defined. The book not only serves as an exemplary biography of the man at its center, but as a valuable primer in a historical period the waves of which still wash our political shores. It is a fine and valuable work. sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
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Biography & Autobiography.
History.
Military.
Nonfiction.
HTML:The definitive biography of the great soldier-statesman by the New York Times bestselling author of The Storm of Warâ??winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography and the Grand Prix of the Fondation Napoleon
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)944.05092History and Geography Europe France and region France First empire 1804-1815Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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A very brief answer to my question (by page 240) is: Right time and place, and good luck. Napoleon was a wide reader. His Corsican/Italian/noble heritage served to provide him with a scholarship to a French military school but at the same time distance him from the distractions of the French boys who were his fellow students. Having specialised in artillery, he soon proved himself an able strategist and a brave and meticulous commander. Although only in his 20s, he rose rapidly, not just through ability but because many of the higher ranks had either left France or been weeded out in the Revolution because they came from the ruling class. His foreign military adventures kept him from the political intrigues in Paris that characterised the post-revolutionary Governments. At the outset, he was an able propagandist. As head of the army in Italy, his artfully constructed reports ensured that his victories captured the public imagination and the massive financial ‘contributions’ and cultural treasures sent back to France not only kept the post-revolutionary economy afloat, but conferred some immunity from criticism. These spoils of victory also ensured that the lot of both the common soldier and the common citizen was vastly improved under his leadership. He took care to foster an esprit de corps that not only gained him military successes but also loyalty. After returning from Egypt (not so successful) much of the Government had descended into corrupt incompetence. He was perceived by the people as a capable hero returning to save France. He then took the opportunity to fill a leadership vacuum during a bloodless political coup, where he conducted his own coup within a coup and become First Consul supported by a new Constitution that centralised power and sanctioned absolute control. Two years into his ten-year term, a motion by the Senate to increase his term by another ten years turned into being First Consul for life. This was overwhelmingly endorsed by the people in a plebiscite as was the notion, two years later that he should be crowned Emperor.
For most of his life Napoleon was both a skilled and extremely competent leader who surrounded himself with men of talent. He was a tireless and tenacious administrator. He was never afraid to ask questions that would reveal his ignorance and was known for his clarity, precision and ability to co-ordinate widely dispersed facts and opinions. His refrains when chairing meetings were, is this fair? and, is this useful? His civil achievements were the product of the rationalising universalism of the Enlightenment.
It’s remarkable that cartoons by greats such as James Gillray, that portrayed him as short (he was of average height) have endured to shape public perceptions of him to this day. Reports from those that worked closely with him, such as valets and servants, consistently praise his calm benevolence as an employer who was considerate and forgave errors in such a way as to inspire life-long loyalty to the extent that many of them wanted to follow him into exile.
More than half the book is about major battles: Marengo, Austerlitz, Eylau, Friedland, Wagram Borodino, Dresden, Leipzig and Waterloo. Here the book falls short. He does his best but it seems beyond Andrew Roberts’ capacity to bring the battles alive. Instead, all the shifts in troops, artillery and fortunes become too hastily drawn and convoluted to properly comprehend. I really wanted to feel present at these battles and understand how they could turn on trifles.
Napoleon’s decline is heart-wrenching. It’s a tribute to Roberts that I should feel so. This is a wonderful biography of an amazing man with a grand vision. Life is always short. Napoleon enlarges what we might think is possible. ( )