Napoleon: The End of Glory tells the story of the dramatic two years that led to Napoleon's abdication in April 1814. Though crucial to European history, they remain strangely neglected, lying between the two much better-known landmarks of the retreat from Moscow and the battle of Waterloo. Yet this short period saw both Napoleon's loss of his European empire, and of his control over France itself. In 1813 the massive battle of Leipzig - the bloodiest in modern history before the first day of the Somme - forced his armies back to the Rhine. The next year, after a brilliant campaign against overwhelming odds, Napoleon was forced to abdicate and exiled to Elba. He regained his throne the following year, for just a hundred days, in a doomed adventure whose defeat at Waterloo was predictable. The most fascinating - and least-known - aspect of these years is that at several key points Napoleon's enemies offered him peace terms that would have allowed him to keep his throne, if not his empire, a policy inspired by the brilliant and devious Austrian foreign minister Metternich. Napoleon: The End of Glory sheds fascinating new light on Napoleon, Metternich, and many other key figures and events in this dramatic period of European history, drawing on previously unused archives in France, Austria, and the Czech Republic. Through these it seeks to answer the most important question of all - why, instead of accepting a compromise, Napoleon chose to gamble on total victory at the risk of utter defeat?
Prologue 1: Napoleon and his empire, December 1812 2: Plots and alarms, 1812-1813 3: Russia, Austria and Napoleon, 1812-1813 4: War and diplomacy, spring 1813 5: Napoleon and Metternich 6: The congress of Prague 7: From Dresden to Leipzig 8: The battle of the nations 9: Natural frontiers 10: Challenge from within 11: The congress of Chatillon 12: The beginning of the end 13: Talleyrand 14: Abdication Epilogue: The hundred days Index Notes
Reviews for Napoleon: The End of Glory
an exciting story and it is one to which Munro Price has devoted himself with consummate skill Reviews in History well placed, clearly written and thoughtful Times Literary Supplement Price's book is well paced, cleanly written and thoughtful. John Bugg, The Times Literary Supplement Price has rewritten the history of the decline and fall of Napoleon in a highly original and wholly convincing manner. It is an enthralling story, brilliantly told. T. C. W. Blanning, Emeritus Professor of European History, University of Cambridge Price has unearthed a wealth of unpublished material that sheds a fascinating light on the motives of the principle players in this extraordinary drama... Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday
