Napoleon

A lot has been written about Napoleone Buonaparte, or as history knows the colossus, Napoleon Bonaparte. In fact, many say that Bonaparte may be the second most written about figure in history after Jesus Christ – understandable for a man who has a whole era named after him, the Napoleonic era. Any comprehensive reading list on the great general and his era would run into hundreds of books, not to mention academic papers, that cover individual battles, campaigns, family life, the arts, legal reforms, military tactics, Egyptology, the nation-state, religion, foreign policy, his opponents, and so on. In order to keep this list short, I have resisted the temptation to add books about several key figures in the turbulent early 19^th century. Most of his marshals surely deserve a book on their own, as do some of Napoleon’s admirals. There are also many other important figures on the battlefield and in the ballrooms like Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, Horatio Nelson, Joséphine de Beauharnais, Arthur Wellesley, Klemens Wenzel von Metternich, Mikhail Kutuzov, Denis Davydov, and Louis-Alexandre Berthier.

This list is a mix of academic and coffee table books, a nice mix of facts, trivia, and argument. It is not purely about Napoleon but also a little about his era – I do not know how to separate the two given his imprint on close of the 18^th century and the bloody start of the 19^th. I should also confess that I am somewhat partial to Le Petit Caporal; to ensure a balance, I have included a few works that are clearly and unfairly against Napoleon along with a few that are effulgent towards him and most that are, on the whole, balanced. If you are only looking for a quick introduction, Ladybird has an audiobook by Lawrence du Garde Peach from 1968 that I used when I was four.

Adkins, Roy. Nelson’s Trafalgar: The Battle That Changed the World
Asprey, Robert. The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte
—. The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte
Barbero, Alessandro. The Battle: A New History of Waterloo
Bell, David. The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It
Bergeron, Louis. France Under Napoleon
Bertaud, Jean-Paul. The Army of the French Revolution: From Citizen-Soldiers to Instrument of Power
Beyle, Marie-Henri (Stendhal). The Red and the Black
Black, Jeremy. The Battle of Waterloo
—. The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon
Blanning, Timothy CW. The French Revolutionary Wars, 1787-1802
—. The Origins of the French Revolutionary Wars
Boime, Albert. Art in the Age of Bonapartism, 1800-1815
de Bourrienne, Louis Antoine Fauvelet. Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte
Broers, Michael. Europe Under Napoleon, 1799-1815
—. Napoleon’s Other War: Bandits, Rebels, and Their Pursuers in the Age of Revolution
Carlson, Marvin. The Theatre of the French Revolution
Caulaincourt, Armand Augustin Louis de. With Napoleon in Russia: The Memoirs of General de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza
Chalfont, Alun Arthur Gwynne Jones. Waterloo: Battle of Three Armies
Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon
—. Napoleon’s Marshals
Chrisawn, Margaret. The Emperor’s Friend: Marshal Jean Lannes
Connelly, Owen. Blundering to Glory: Napoleon’s Military Campaigns
Cronin, Vincent. Napoleon
Davydov, Denis. In Service of the Tsar Against Napoleon: The Memoirs of Denis Davydov, 1806-1814
Dawson, Anthony. Napoleonic Artillery
Duffy, Christopher. Austerlitz 1805
—. Borodino and the War of 1812
Dull, Jonathan. The Age of the Ship of the Line: The British and French Navies, 1650-1815
Dwyer, Philip. Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power
—. Napoleon: The Path to Power 1769–1799
—. Napoleon and Europe
Ellis, Geoffrey. The Napoleonic Empire
Elting, John. Swords Around A Throne: Napoleon’s Grande Armee
Englund, Steven. Napoleon: A Political Life
Epstein, Robert. Napoleon’s Last Victory and the Emergence of Modern War
Ermolov, Alexis. The Czar’s General: The Memoirs of a Russian General in the Napoleonic Wars
Esdaile, Charles. Napoleon’s Wars: An International History
—. Outpost of Empire: The Napoleonic Occupation of Andalucia, 1810-1812
—. The Peninsular War
Esdaile, Charles (ed). Popular Resistance in the French Wars: Patriots, Partisans, and Land Pirates
Falk, Avner. Napoleon Against Himself: A Psychobiography
Ferrero, Guglielmo. The Gamble: Bonaparte in Italy, 1796-1797
Finley, Milton. The Most Monstrous of Wars: The Napoleonic Guerrilla War in Southern Italy, 1806-1811
Fisher, Todd. The Napoleonic Wars: The Rise and Fall of an Empire
Franceschi, Michel. Wars Against Napoleon
Furet, Francois. The French Revolution, 1770-1814
—. Interpreting the French Revolution
—. Revolutionary France, 1770-1880
Gallaher, John. The Iron Marshal: A Biography of Louis N. Davout
Gates, David. The Spanish Ulcer: A History of the Peninsular War
Geyl, Peter. Napoleon: For and Against
Gill, John H. Thunder on the Danube: Napoleon’s Defeat of the Habsburgs (three volumes)
Goetz, Robert. 1805, Austerlitz: Napoleon and the Destruction of the Third Coalition
Gould, Cecil Hilton Monk. Trophy of Conquest: The Musée Napoléon and the Creation of the Louvre
Hamilton-Williams, David. Waterloo: New Perspectives: The Great Battle Reappraised
—. The Fall of Napoleon: The Final Betrayal
Herbert, Robert. David, Voltaire, Brutus and the French Revolution: An Essay in Art and Politics
Herold, J. Christopher. The Age of Napoleon
—. Bonaparte in Egypt
Hippler, Thomas. Citizens, Soldiers, and National Armies: Military Service in France and Germany, 1789-1830
Holtman, Robert. Napoleonic Propaganda
Horne, Alistair. The Age of Napoleon
—. How Far From Austerlitz? Napoleon 1805-1815
—. Napoleon: Master of Europe
Ilari, Virgilio, and Giancarlo Boeri. Le Due Sicile nelle Guerre Napoleoniche, 1800-1815
Johnson, Paul. Napoleon: A Life
Jones, Richard Benjamin. Napoleon: Man and Myth
Jorgensen, Christer. The Anglo-Swedish Alliance Against Napoleonic France
Junot, Laure. At the Court of Napoleon: Memoirs of the Duchesse d’Abrantes
Kagan, Frederick. The End of the Old Order: Napoleon and Europe, 1801-1805
King, David. Vienna, 1814: How the Conquerors of Napoleon Made Love, War, and Peace at the Congress of Vienna
Lefebvre, Georges. The Coming of the French Revolution
—. Napoleon 1: From 18 Brumaire to Tilsit 1799-07
Leggiere, Michael. The Fall of Napoleon: The Allied Invasion of France, 1813-1814
Lieven, Dominic. Russia Against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace
Ludwig, Emil. Napoleon
Lyons, Martyn. France Under the Directory
—. Napoleon Bonaparte and the Legacy of the French Revolution
Mahan, Alfred T. The Influence of Sea Power Upon the French Revolution and Empire
Markham, Felix. Napoleon
Martin, Marc. Les Origins de la Presse Militaire, 1770-1799
Mason, Laura. Singing the French Revolution: Popular Culture and Politics, 1789-1799
McCranie, Kevin. Admiral Lord Keith and the Naval War Against Napoleon
McLynn, Frank. Napoleon: A Biography
Mikaberidze, Alexander. The Battle of the Berezina: Napoleon’s Great Escape
—. The Battle of Borodino: Napoleon Against Kutuzov
Moiret, Joseph-Marie. The Memoirs of Napoleon’s Egyptian Expedition
Moon, Joshua. Wellington’s Two-Front War: The Peninsular Campaigns at Home and Abroad
Muir, Rory. Salamanca 1812
—. Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon
Noli, Bishop Fan Stylian. Beethoven and the French Revolution
Nosworthy, Brent. Battle Tactics of Napoleon and His Enemies
Palmer, Robert Roswell. Twelve Who Ruled: The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution
Parkinson, Roger. The Peninsular War
Pelet, Jean Jacques Germain. French Campaign in Portugal
Phipps, Ramsay Weston. The Armies of the First French Republic and the Rise of the Marshals of Napoleon I (five volumes)
Popkin, Jeremy. Revolutionary News: The Press in France, 1789-1799
Quimby, Robert. The Background of Napoleonic Warfare: The Theory of Military Tactics in Eighteenth Century France
Riehn, Richard. 1812: Napoleon’s Russian Campaign
Riley, Jonathon. Napoleon and the World War of 1813: Lessons in Coalition Warfighting
—. Napoleon as a General: From Battlefield to Grand Strategy
Roberts, Andrew. Napoleon and Wellington
Warren Roberts. Jacques-Louis David, Revolutionary Artist: Art, Politics, and the French Revolution
Robinson, Andrew. Cracking the Egyptian Code: The Revolutionary Life of Jean-Francois Champollion
Rodger, AB. The War of the Second Coalition, 1798-1802: A Strategic Commentary
Rothenberg, Gunther Erich. The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon
—. The Napoleonic Wars
Schechter, Ronald. Obstinate Hebrews: Representations of Jews in France, 1715-1815
Sherwig, John. Guineas and Gunpowder: British Foreign Aid in the War Against France, 1793-1815
Schmuel, Moreh. Napoleon In Egypt: Al-Jabarti’s Chronicle Of The French Occupation, 1798
Schom, Alan. One Hundred Days: Napoleon’s Road to Waterloo
—. Napoleon Bonaparte: A Life
Schneid, Frederick. Napoleon’s Conquest of Europe: The War of the Third Coalition
Schur, Nathan. Napoleon in the Holy Land
Schwarzfuchs, Simon. Napoleon, the Jews and the Sanhedrin
Scott, Samuel F. From Yorktown to Valmy: The Transformation of the French Army in an Age of Revolution
Ségur, Philippe-Paul de. Napoleon’s Expedition to Russia: The Memoirs of General de Ségur
Smith, Digby George. The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book: Actions and Losses in Personnel, Colours, Standards and Artillery, 1792-1815
Stuart, Andrea. The Rose of Martinique: A Life of Napoleon’s Josephine
Sugden, John. Nelson: A Dream of Glory, 1758-1797
Tombs, Isabelle. That Sweet Enemy: Britain and France – The History of a Love-Hate Relationship
Tone, John. The Fatal Knot: The Guerrilla War in Navarre and the Defeat of Napoleon in Spain
Tulard, Jean. Napoleon: The Myth of the Savior
Urban, Mark. The Man Who Broke Napoleon’s Codes: The Story of George Scovell
Walter, Jakob. The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier
Weider, Ben. Assassination at St. Helena Revisited
Weller, Jac. Wellington in India
—. Wellington in the Peninsula
Woolf, Stuart. Napoleon’s Integration of Europe
Zamoyski, Adam. Moscow 1812: Napoleon’s Fatal March
—. Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna