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Title: The Reign of Napoleon
Author: Robert Asprey
Genre: Biography
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: Part II of Napoleon's life.
Thoughts: Talk about a tragic hero.
Other than breaking the conservation of time/place rule, Napoleon really embodies such a Greek tragic arc--a great man whose fundamental flaws bring him to greatness and then cause his fall. In Asprey's first book, we got the ascent. Despite several near misses, including attempts at Corsican insurrection that by all rights should have gotten him executed, his brilliance and arrogance bring him to the pinnacle of power. In this book, that brilliance and arrogance lead him to push to far, empoverishing much of Europe through his attempts to break the English dominion of the seas and picking fights where he cannot win in the end. Watching it all crumble, you can't help feeling sorry for the guy even as you're glad that something finally begins to check his hubris.
His last days on St. Helena are just pathetic. The indecision of the other European powers as to whether to treat him as a monarch or not were what led to the Hundred Days, and what makes his end so sad. They cannot stand to allow an upstart to make himself into royalty; and yet, since he is royalty of a sort, the other European royals cannot bring themselves to do the logical thing and just execute him. The farce of marooning him on random islands with a hollow shell of a court and wildly inconsistent rules and broken promises just emphasizes the weirdness of his position.
Anyway, reading both books is dense, and looong. But well written, entertaining, and very thorough. Asprey has a sly sense of humor that bleeds through in unexpected places. And while there is certainly more that can be said (entire books have been written about Waterloo, and the Congress of Vienna, and so on), these two works give an excellent foundation to understand the man and his times.
Author: Robert Asprey
Genre: Biography
Thingummies: 4
Synopsis: Part II of Napoleon's life.
Thoughts: Talk about a tragic hero.
Other than breaking the conservation of time/place rule, Napoleon really embodies such a Greek tragic arc--a great man whose fundamental flaws bring him to greatness and then cause his fall. In Asprey's first book, we got the ascent. Despite several near misses, including attempts at Corsican insurrection that by all rights should have gotten him executed, his brilliance and arrogance bring him to the pinnacle of power. In this book, that brilliance and arrogance lead him to push to far, empoverishing much of Europe through his attempts to break the English dominion of the seas and picking fights where he cannot win in the end. Watching it all crumble, you can't help feeling sorry for the guy even as you're glad that something finally begins to check his hubris.
His last days on St. Helena are just pathetic. The indecision of the other European powers as to whether to treat him as a monarch or not were what led to the Hundred Days, and what makes his end so sad. They cannot stand to allow an upstart to make himself into royalty; and yet, since he is royalty of a sort, the other European royals cannot bring themselves to do the logical thing and just execute him. The farce of marooning him on random islands with a hollow shell of a court and wildly inconsistent rules and broken promises just emphasizes the weirdness of his position.
Anyway, reading both books is dense, and looong. But well written, entertaining, and very thorough. Asprey has a sly sense of humor that bleeds through in unexpected places. And while there is certainly more that can be said (entire books have been written about Waterloo, and the Congress of Vienna, and so on), these two works give an excellent foundation to understand the man and his times.
