Napoleon and the Hundred Days

This was a crisp, evocative account of not only the hundred days mentioned on the cover, but the larger part of Napoleon's career. The author chose to use vivid language, pulling from the actual accounts and not being afraid to offer his own opinion on the people, events, and choices all along the way. The pictures created of even minorly influential actors in that period of history were fascinating enough to make me want to go search out biographies of half a dozen people who came up in the book. There are likely more precise, objective, carefully detailed histories out there: this one is worth reading for the sheer thrill of it, and especially for the deliciously colorful language the author used throughout. My only quibble with the entire book is that the editor chose to abstain from the use of the serial comma, which I found distracting in such complex sentences as came up in the writing. Aside from that, I couldn't more strongly recommend this book.

Coote's has written about more than just the hundred days between Napoleon leaving Elba and being taken to St.Helena. He begins with discussing the Congress of Vienna after Napoleon's disasterous Russian campaign leads to his overthrow in 1814. While the Leaders of the Sixth Coalition are deciding the fate of Europe at the Congress, Napoleon leaves Elba and returns to Paris. Coote's then gives a short summary of Napoleon's life from just after the Revolution to his leading the "Army of Italy" to his being named a General and then 'First Council' to 'Emperor' to his defeat and exile to Elba. He then describes Napoleon's time on Elba, where he still carries the title of Emperor, but only has the little sixteen by seven mile island to reign over with six hundred of the 'Old Guard'. Napoleon lands on the Italian Riviera where he begins his triumphant March on Paris promising he will not fire on any French soldier. As he closes in on Paris, King Louis XVIII flees once more across the Belgian border. The allies (made up of Britain and Prussia and some mixed Dutch-Belgian troops) under the Duke of Wellington and Price von Blucher mass their armies to intercept Napoleon before he can capture Brussels (and Louis). They end of meeting at the little town of Waterloo where Napoleon almost (but not quite) defeats them. The loss is exacerbated by Marshall Ney's inability to follow his orders to move to 'Quatre Bras' of of Marshall Grouchy to harass von Blucher after Blucher's loss at Ligny. Coote's gives a good detail story to Napoleon's conduct after Waterloo but very short shrift to Napoleon on St. Helena. All in all he does his best to tell the story of the 'Hundred Days' and to explain the machinations of most of the major players involved.

Napoleon's Hundred Days have been studied and restudied many times. Here was a man who had conquered Europe and forged an empire that rivaled any in history. Yet he had been defeated and what was left was the Emperor of Elba with a personal guard of six hundred men. Then, suddenly Napoleon was back. ==Thus began the Hundred Days. In this time Napoleon managed to put together an army. During this same time the allies under Wellington and Blucher were able to reconstitute an army capable of standing against Napoleon. The climax of the hundred days of course, was Waterloo. Here Napoleon's rebuilt army under many of it's old leaders met the Duke of Wellington in one of the classic battles of all time. Towards the end, the never defeated Imperial Guard was sent in. They too failed. This marks the end of the hundred days and Napoleon was not sent to an island in the med, but to a baren rock in the South Atlantic where he lived out his final six years. This is a supurb book, almost novel like in the way it is written.

This was one of the first books on Napoleon that I read. After reading this one, I can say that many more have followed, but they still have not dimmed my affection for this book. The title infers that the books deals with primarily the last so-called 100 days of Napoleon's reign after his first exile and culminating at Waterloo. The book, I am pleased to say deals with far more. It allows the reader a broader picture of what lead up to the 100 days, the campaign itself as well as what followed afterward. As a novice on Napoleon and the Napoleonic era, I found the book a delightful read and read it very quickly. I would recommend it to anyone with a curious interest in the subject matter. For those of a more learned and academic knowledge of the subject material, I would have to defer to other's opinons on the enjoyability of this book. As for me...I would reccomend it as the narrative flowed and made it an interesting and delightful read which catapulted me on to further reading on Napoleon and his times.

I really enjoyed this book, I felt Coote had got insight not just into Napoleon but into the strange and fluid structure of the allies in the lead up to Waterloo. The book opens with the Conference at Vienna in 1815 and the political and personal issues which plagued it. It then returns to Elba of 1814 and Napoleon himself and follows his life on Elba, the personal and professional ties he had made which made it possible for him to escape the island and build up an army with such enormous rapidity it surprised the whole of Europe I really liked the style of the book, The chapters were well marked, and each chapter included sub headings which made it simple to read through and to find a place when I wanted to confirm something previously There was nothing new as far as information went (or at least I think) but it read more than simply a rehash of previous books. It brought the information together in an insightful way and was an enjoyable read to boot.