Napoleon

The erstwhile emperor continues to attract biographers and readers alike. Laura O’Brien assesses recent work on his life and legacy. 

Revolutionary soldier or tyrannical emperor? The question is as pertinent now as when Napoleon Bonaparte died in exile on remote Saint Helena in 1821. 

The power and perils of reconstructing the music of Napoleon's time.

How Napoleon bestrode Europe, playing a deadly serious ‘game of thrones’.

French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was a hero to Beethoven, inspiring a revolutionary symphony. But disillusionment was soon to follow.

A key stage in the Italian campaigns began on 14 January 1797.

In April 2002, Robert Knecht wrote an article about his quest to find Napoleonic treasure. Now, suspecting the letter which prompted it might be a hoax, he revisits the evidence.

How far did Napoleon’s Corsican childhood and his father’s role in the island’s brief period of autonomy influence his later life?

Though attention this year has been focused on the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, the decisive blows that defeated Napoleon were landed at sea, says James Davey. 

Andrew Roberts is both entertained and stimulated by Felix Markham’s 1963 article on Napoleon, which made judicious use of what correspondence was then available.