Tiểu sử Napoleon: A Biography tiếng anh

A

BIOGR APHY


•

'A brilliant biography which will surely become a classic life of
Napoleon.' Lawrence James, The Times
Napoleon Bonaparte's character and achievements have always divided
critics and commentators. In this compelling new biography Frank
McLynn draws on the most recent scholarship and throws a brilliant
light on this most paradoxical of men - as military leader, lover and
emperor.
Tracing

Napoleon's extraordinary

career, McLynn examines the

Promethean legend from the Corsican roots, through the years of the
French Revolution and the m i litary triumphs, to the coronation in 1804
and ultimate defeat and imprisonment. Napoleon the man emerges as an
even more fascinating character than previously imagined, and McLynn
brilliantly reveals the extent ro which he was both existential hero and
plaything of Fate; mathematician and mystic; intellectual giant and
moral pygmy; Great Man and deeply Aawed human being.
'One of the year's best biographies...A compelling portrait of one of
history's greatest figures.' Catherine Lockerbie, Scotsman
'McLynn writes with considerable verve: his pithy characterisations of
Napoleon's subordinates, the alternating chapters of narrative and

analysis, and dramatic set pieces...all these combine to make his
biography pleasurable and instructive to read.'
Brendan Simms, Evening Standard
'McLynn offers an admirably clear narrative, neither adulatOry nor
debunking. He acknowledges and displays the extraordinary tale and
does nor hide the pettiness.' Allan Massie, Daily Telegraph
'A robust, well-paced biography which pans confidently from the seven­
year-old child educated by Jesuits to the ruins of imperial grandeur and
death by slow arsenic poisoning on a bleak Sr Helena.'
Colin Cardwell, Scotland on Sunday

FIRST PAPERBACK PUBLICATION

jacket Painting: Napoleon at Borodino.

Courtesy of Proctor Jones

ISBN 0-7126-6247-2

Pimlico
Random House
20 Vauxhall Bridge Road
London SWI V 2SA
www.

9

ra ndom house.co. u

Biography/History

k

£12.50


The legend in the making: Bonaparte at the Bridge of Arcole, 1796


De vio us manipulative,
,

pessimistic: Madame Mere
(Maria Letizia Bonaparte)

The acme of lubricious beauty:
Pauline Bonaparte


Joseph,

Louis,

Napoleon's 'complex' elder brother

the reluctant accomplice

Lucien,

Jerome,

the enemy within

Napoleon's 'Benjamin'


The Christ-like Bonaparte heals the sick at Jaffa
in this hagiographic srudy by Gros

(Opposite page) Marengo, 1800: the first of many close-run affairs


J osephine Beauharnais,
Creole beauty and Empress

A secondHannibal but without the elephant:
Napoleon crosses the Alps by mule


Austerlitz: Napoleon's finest hour



The invasion scare, 1803-04:
an early vision of the Channel Tunnel

'

The First Consul becomes Emperor:
Napoleon's coronation, December 1804

Napoleon at his apogee:
the imperial apotheosis as seen by Ingres


Fouche:

Bernadotte:

the avatar of treachery and duplicity

Gascon windbag and mortal enemy

Murat:

Talleyrand:

a man of great courage but little brain

self-serving, Janus-faced spy and humbug


Alexander I of Russia:

Marie Walewska:

he wanted to be Napoleon

the only woman who truly loved him

-

Eylau, 1807: the bloodbath in the snow

-


apoleon as political simpleton: the marriage of Marie-Louise
The descent into barbarism: the first of the Spanish atrocities as seen by Goya


The killing fields of Russia: Borodino, August 1812

The decline and fall of the Grand Armee: the retreat from Moscow


Backs to the wall: the fighting retreat through northern France, 1814

•

f

• '

.

�
·

·

-::..

-...'t'
.
. .
'

•
'•

..

The

grognards:

'they grumble but they follow him always'


Hand-to-hand combat at LaHaye Sainte: Waterloo, 18 June 1815

The charge of the Scots Greys at Waterloo


I
I

�

The end of a dream: Napoleon at Fontainebleau, 1814


PIMLICO
325

NAPOLEON

Frank

McLynn

was

educated

at Wadham

College, Oxford, and the University of London.
He was Alistair Horne Research Fellow at St
Antony's College, Oxford, in 1987-88, and is
currendy Visiting Professor in the Department
of Literature at Strathclyde University. A full­
time wr iter, he is the author of biographies of
H.M. Stanley and Richard Burton, as well as
several books relating to the Jacobite movement,
including

Charles Edward

Stuart,

which

was

shordisted for the 1989 McVitie's Pr ize for
Scottish W r iter of the Year, and The Jacobite Army
in England, which won the 1985 Cheltenham

Pr ize for Literature. His most recent books are
Hearts cif Darkness: The European Exploration cif
Africa, Robert Louis Stevenson (both also available

from Pimlico), Fitzroy Maclean and Carl Gustav
]ung, which was shordisted for the 1997 NCR

Award.


NAPOLEON
A Biography

FRANK McLYNN

PIMLICO


Published by Pimlico 1998

4 6 8 10 9 7 5
Copyright© Frank McLynn 1997
Frank MeLynn has asserted his right
under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
to be identified as the author of this work
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way
of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise
circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form
of binding or cover other than that in which it is published
and without a similar condition including this condition
being imposed on the subsequent purchaser
First published in Great Britain by
Jonathan Cape Ltd 1997
Pimlico edition 1998
Pimlico
Random House, 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road,
London SW1V 2SA
Random House Australia (Pty) Limited
20 Alfred Street, Milsons Point, Sydney,
New South Wales 2061, Australia
Random House New Zealand Limited
18 Poland Road, Glenfield,
Auckland 10, New Zealand
Random House South Africa (Pty) Limited
Endulini, 5AJubilee Road, Parktown 2193, South Africa
Random House UK Limited Reg. No. 954009
A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-7126-6247-2
Papers used by Random House UK Limited are natural,

recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests.
The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental
regulations of the country of origin
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Mackays of Chatham PLC


For Julie


CONTENTS

Illustrations
Preface
Chapter One

Vll
lX
I

Chapter Two

15

Chapter Three

31

Chapter Four

49

Chapter Five

70

Chapter Six

83

Chapter Seven

107

Chapter Eight

135

Chapter Nine

167

Chapter Ten

202

Chapter Eleven

226

Chapter Twelve

241

Chapter Thirteen

263

Chapter Fourteen

292

Chapter Fifteen

321

Chapter Sixteen

351

Chapter Seventeen

381

Chapter Eighteen

409

Chapter Nineteen

425

Chapter Twenty

450

Chapter Twenty-One

4 64

Chapter Twenty-Two

495

Chapter Twenty-Three

524

Chapter Twenty-Four

544

Chapter Twenty-Five

57 4

Chapter Twenty-Six

590

Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Conclusion
Sources
Index


ILLUSTRATIONS

First section

Napoleon on the Bridge of Arcola by Gros, 179 1 (Arenberg, Napoleon
Museum/ AKG London)
Maria Letizia Bonaparte (Madame Mere), portrait by Gerard, 18 10
(Musee de Versailles/AKG London)
Pauline Borghese, sculpture by Canova, 1804-8 (Rome, Galleria Borghese/AKG London)
Joseph Bonaparte, portrait by Wicar (Musee de Versailles/© RMN)
Louis Bonaparte, portrait by Wicar (Musee de Versailles/© RMN)
Lucien Bonaparte, portrait by Lefevre (Musee de Malmaison/Giraudon)
Jerome Bonaparte, portrait by Kinson (Musee de Versailles/© RMN)
Napoleon with the sick of Jaffa by Gros, 1804 (Paris, Musee du Louvre/
AKG London)
The Empress Josephine, pastel drawing by Prud'hon (Mary Evans
Picture Library)
Napoleon crossing the Alps by Delaroche (Paris, Musee du Louvre/
AKG London)
The Battle of Marengo by Lejeune (Musee de Versailles/© RMN)
The Battle of Austerlitz by Gerard (Musee de Versailles/© RMN)
Napoleon's invasion plan of 1803 (Mary Evans Picture Library)

Napoleon crowning the Empress Josephine by David, 1806-7 (Paris
Musee du Louvre/ AKG London)
Second section

Napoleon on the throne, portrait by Ingres c. 18o6 (Paris, Musee de
l'Armee/AKG London)
Joseph Fouche, engraving of 18 10 (AKG London)
Bernadotte, portrait by Kinson (Musee de Versailles © RMN)