NAPOLEON SURRENDERS

by Gilbert Martineau ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 13, 1971

Martineau is ready to champion Bony through thick and thin in this fervent, Francophile hail and farewell to the mighty Emperor in which the author follows him through adversity and betrayal from the defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815 to August 8th when, having been refused ""hospitality"" by the British, he was transported aboard the Northumberland to St. Helena. The members of the Chamber who forced Napoleon's abdication following the Hundred Days (Martineau agrees with Napoleon's assessment that military defeat per se need not have meant the end) are treated simply as a pack of pusillanimous opportunists, rats leaving the sinking ship, and the nobility and unfailing courage of Bonaparte are contrasted throughout with the shifty guile of his generals and ministers, England presumably blemished her honor by treating Napoleon as a prisoner of war, rather than an august guest -- but then what can you expect from a nation of shopkeepers? For all that he is an impassioned partisan, Martineau's research is exemplary; he has even managed to publish for the first time Napoleon's bitter letter to the Prince Regent protesting his scurvy treatment. The ""lo! how the mighty have fallen!"" theme is executed with nice touches of irony as when Napoleon, sighting the English shore, reflects ""he was at last approaching -- but in slippers -- the land he had so often dreamed of treading underfoot as a conqueror."" Had the author been part of Napoleon's entourage following the fall from glory you cannot doubt that he would have accompanied his master to St. Helena -- indeed he is even now French Consul of that remote outpost, and denizen of Longwood, where Napoleon spent his last years. Vive l'Empereur!

Pub Date: Dec. 13, 1971

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1971

Categories: NONFICTION