Napoleon and His Marshals Victory, Rivalry, Betrayal
, by Roberts, Andrew
- ISBN: 9781668085080 | 1668085089
- Cover: Hardcover
- Copyright: 11/10/2026
A masterful biographer with a gift for capturing flawed heroes in all their vitality and self-delusion, Andrew Roberts invites us into the lives, loves, victories and crushing defeats of Napoleon's most elite warriors.
In the midst of the age of revolution, as Europe’s monarchs combined forces in a bid to destroy France’s radical republican government, a young Corsican artillery officer blazed a path onto the world stage. Bold, decisive, seemingly without fear or scruples, Napoleon Bonaparte soon became indispensable. Some believe he saved the French Revolution; others, that he betrayed it.
On the day after he proclaimed himself emperor in May 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte appointed eighteen new marshals of the empire. Another eight were to follow. These were his most talented generals. He encouraged competition among them for titles, for wealth, but above all, for glory. One was a royalist who had helped the United States secure independence; others were smugglers, fencing masters, committed Jacobins determined to free France from Bourbon rule.
Unrivalled in his ability to read terrain, operating with a speed and tactical genius that would be studied for generations, Napoleon assembled the most formidable array of military talent ever found on a single battlefield. There were the brave Ney, the flamboyant Murat, the brilliant Masséna, the iron Davout and behind them all, the master of logistics Berthier. Only instead of creating a team of rivals, as Lincoln famously did, Napoleon made a nest of vipers.
Napoleon and his marshals seemed invincible as they went from victory to victory, forging an empire that rivaled Caesar’s. But as they accumulated wealth and titles, collaboration gave way to spite and recrimination, culminating in the bungled invasion of Spain and the catastrophic defeat in Russia. Napoleon had no patience for the bickering inefficiency of parliament. He established new laws and pioneered a new system of education, but he ruled autocratically and his defeat ushered in the return of autocratic absolutism. Was he a genius or a tyrant? From the vantage point of his marshals, the answer may be both.
A profound exploration of transformative leadership, Napoleon and His Marshals reveals how this uniquely gifted man, intoxicated by the myth of his own greatness, fatefully mistrusted those whose loyalty he most needed to survive.
In the midst of the age of revolution, as Europe’s monarchs combined forces in a bid to destroy France’s radical republican government, a young Corsican artillery officer blazed a path onto the world stage. Bold, decisive, seemingly without fear or scruples, Napoleon Bonaparte soon became indispensable. Some believe he saved the French Revolution; others, that he betrayed it.
On the day after he proclaimed himself emperor in May 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte appointed eighteen new marshals of the empire. Another eight were to follow. These were his most talented generals. He encouraged competition among them for titles, for wealth, but above all, for glory. One was a royalist who had helped the United States secure independence; others were smugglers, fencing masters, committed Jacobins determined to free France from Bourbon rule.
Unrivalled in his ability to read terrain, operating with a speed and tactical genius that would be studied for generations, Napoleon assembled the most formidable array of military talent ever found on a single battlefield. There were the brave Ney, the flamboyant Murat, the brilliant Masséna, the iron Davout and behind them all, the master of logistics Berthier. Only instead of creating a team of rivals, as Lincoln famously did, Napoleon made a nest of vipers.
Napoleon and his marshals seemed invincible as they went from victory to victory, forging an empire that rivaled Caesar’s. But as they accumulated wealth and titles, collaboration gave way to spite and recrimination, culminating in the bungled invasion of Spain and the catastrophic defeat in Russia. Napoleon had no patience for the bickering inefficiency of parliament. He established new laws and pioneered a new system of education, but he ruled autocratically and his defeat ushered in the return of autocratic absolutism. Was he a genius or a tyrant? From the vantage point of his marshals, the answer may be both.
A profound exploration of transformative leadership, Napoleon and His Marshals reveals how this uniquely gifted man, intoxicated by the myth of his own greatness, fatefully mistrusted those whose loyalty he most needed to survive.
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