Classic Durant. Exhaustively detailed, delightfully opinionated. ( )

Before reading this volume I thought Napoleon had a sterling reputation. When I was finished I thought he was overrated. He was charming, extremely intelligent, organized and over ambitious.

Most of the good Napoleon accomplished is tarnished with blood of the dead. ( )

Tedious reading, too much detail that doesn't matter. Just around in time--you need to know the history before reading this or it doesn’t make sense ( )

Classic Durant. Exhaustively detailed, delightfully opinionated. Read it in pieces and if you're feeling a bit sleepy, don't even bother. ( )

if you have space for only one book on Napoleon, or the history of Europe during his lifetime, this is it. It's a thick book, but it has an immense amount to say.
This book demonstrates the power of chronology over the historical mind, because in the late 1920's, following his very successful "A History of Philosophy", Will Durant though t he'd write a book on Napoleon. Well, it became obvious that he'd have to start somewhat earlier than Napoleon if he wanted to explain Bonaparte, and thus the eleven volume "Story of Civilization" was begun. This is the last volume, published fifty years after the original idea forced its way to the surface. And you can't get a better survey of the history of Europe and the Middle east than this series. There's a notable quote in every paragraph, and thousands of insights on many topics. Excluding the very disappointing first Volume, that no one should bother with, every book is definitive between it's parameters. In a sense, this book is the Encyclopedia of Western Civilization. There are a lot of second hand sets floating around, get one. ( )

Possibly the greatest volume in the entire set! ( )

The finale ( )

A History of European Civilization from 1789 to 1815 Russia
in 1780 had 24 million inhabitants, France 25 million, Norway 700,000, Paris was
the largest city in Europe, 650,000 inhabitants.

Napoleon I

Born in Corsica 1769,parents of minor noble Italian ancestry, successful campaigns against the First and Second Coalitions, 1799, he staged a coup d'état proclaimed him emperor after 5 years,so that engaged in a series of conflicts over European power,1812 marked up never fully recovered, also at Leipzig; the Sixth Coalition,(1813–1814), a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Spain and some of German Teutons States. 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia to force (Emperor Alexander I) The Grande Armée, consisting of as many as 650,000 men .In 1813, the Sixth Coalition defeated his forces at Leipzig

Coalition invaded France, Napoleon to abdicate and exiled him to the island of Elba, but a year later, he escaped Elba and returned to power. Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 Napoleon was defeated by combined armies of the Seventh Coalition, an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke of Wellington with a Prussian army that was the end for Napoleon's rule. Last six years of his life in the island of Saint Helena,scientists have since conjectured he was poisoned with arsenic. ( )

Daniel Davy 7122012