The French Revolution in the 18th century saw the downfall of the French monarchy and the ascension of a prominent figure who played a major role in shaping modern European history. The abolishment of ...

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) is generally recognised as one of the most important figures in world history. He was a seemingly limitless character and his life and career have fascinated generations ...

This Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’ 1804 portrait of Napoleon shows him as a civilian officer instead of an invading hero. Musée des Beaux-Arts, Liège, France “Ah, if it were only to be done over ...

His invasion of Russia was a bad idea anyway, but two ruthless pathogens that ripped through Bonparte’s army probably didn’t ...

Recent DNA analysis has shed new light on the catastrophic retreat of Napoleon’s Grand Army from Russia in 1812. The study ...

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. AN AMBITIOUS scholarly biography of one of history's greatest, Napoleon Bonaparte, and a moving biography of two "historic nobodies", ...

As only French biographers can do, every conceivable motive and alternative scenario is presented at every stage in the astonishing rise of the subject from the petty and parvenu and rather ...

Andrew Roberts' big, meticulously researched and very readable Napoleon: A Life is aimed at the general reader, but will appeal particularly to those who already know the essentials of his story.

NAPOLEON: A Life, by Andrew Roberts. Viking, 926 pp. $45. "Ah, if it were only to be done over again!" sighed Napoleon Bonaparte about the Battle of Waterloo as he sailed into exile and imprisonment.

TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. About the Archive This is a digitized version of an article from The Times’s print archive, before the start of online ...