The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte

Rating:
Summary: Asprey's "Rise" Left Me Flat
Review: As a veteran of World War II and the Korean War, United State Marine Corps Captain Robert Asprey unintentionally dons rose-colored glasses when examining the military career of Napoleon. Asprey attempts to portray Napoleon Bonaparte the man versus the anti-Christ or demi-god that other authors may have depicted.

Though Asprey reveals Napoleon to be a deeply flawed man, he glosses over much of the reasons on why the General condoned the Jacobin Massacre, the lootings the Army of Italy carried out, or the motivation behind the campaigns against the Turks, Egyptians and Syrians. The canned explanations regarding the campaigns, which was that Napoleon wanted to strike at the British Empire's purse, is not a sound enough reason to invest such a great amount of troops, money and time in Africa and Asia Minor.

Asprey did not pull any punches when discussing Admiral VerHuell's movements against Admiral Nelson and the Royal Navy. Neither Napoleon nor VerHuell had much confidence in their ability for maritime dominance, and Asprey brings this subject out into the light of day. As a Marine, the author probably sees this lack of confidence inexcusable, and impresses upon the reader the importance of having a well-rounded national force.

Each chapter follows a chronological order covering six-month spans starting from the dawn of Napoleon's military career to the victory at Austerlitz. This is an abrupt break for the reader, and we are left without a conclusion, summary or a teaser of what's to come in Asprey's next volume on Napoleon.

For the casually interested, The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte is a great start to understand this historical giant's life. For the seriously interested, this may not be the best book to find the answers behind this man's way of thinking.

Rating:
Summary: Generally good, but not a true biography
Review: Asprey, by and large, has done his homework for this book. It follows the course of Napoleon's military career from its beginning up to his great victory at Austerlitz in 1805. As far as its coverage of military events is concerned, this volume is excellent.

However, as a biography, this work has many limitations. Asprey claims his intention in writing this book was to present the full Napoleon; in this, the book fails. Perhaps the most obvious failure is the tiny amount of space given to Napoleon's childhood on Corsica (less than ten pages) and his time as a student (about the same). Even during the discussion of his adult years, Napoleon's personal life is discussed almost in passing, while his military career is covered in great detail. Napoleon's political contributions are covered in only slightly greater detail than his personal life. One almost gets the sense that Asprey doesn't want to bother with such things.

All in all, this book should be seen for what it is: a study of Napoleon's military career. It is not a biography in the sense that it does not do a good job describing the course of Napoleon's life.

For all that, this book contains useful information and it is certainly worth reading.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of what & where, not much why.
Review: Aspreys' book is an easily read chronology of Napoleon's life to 1805. It covers the Italian campaigns and Napoleon in Corsica well, but is less strong in the provision of background on France during the revolution. Asprey catalogs the events, but adds little insight or analysis.

Rating:
Summary: Asprey rises as top historian with The Rise of Napoleon
Review: Few historians could write this most impressive and thoroughly researched work about Napoleon Bonaparte. Written in a clear and insightful style, Asprey has mined sharp insights, shrewd observations, and new understanding of one of history's greatest (and most complex) leaders, from a gold mine thought long paid out. What readers should gain from this important biography, that is also a political-military-economic history, is that there are distinct doctrines for war, peace, and more importantly, intervention to impose the will of peace, law, and government upon nations which threaten another's security. Asprey accomplishes this by using a very well written and interesting story line that chronicles Napoleon's life in a manner used all too infrequently by other writers of historical lives. It is never dull, often revealing, and thoroughly fascinating. The reader finds the secrets of Napoleon's great abilities by understanding his childhood, his youth spent in bookstores, and his lust for reading and writing. Like Asprey's "War in the Shadows," this book will enlighten, infuriate, and hopefully inform a whole new generation of 21st century historians, members of the armed forces, and business leaders to understand that genius come from knowing, doing, and believing in one's innate abilities. Napoleon Bonaparte certainly understood his and Robert Asprey reveals all in this first of two volumes. The next volume, The Fall of Napoleon, will be eagerly anticipated.

Rating:
Summary: informative and interesting, just hard to get through
Review: Good job Asprey, I used this for my AP Euro Qtr project and it worked well. Although it was hard to draw a thesis from a biography, it came to me eventually. I'm a huge admirer of Napoleon and really enjoyed this tough but good book. I look forward to reading the second installment in the Napoleon chronology. ... thanx for a good read
NAPOLEON ROCKS!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A fine introductory biography on Napoleon
Review: I believed that many of the previous reviewers were probably misled into thinking that this biography was something gear toward a higher level. Upon reading this book, I discovered that this book is perfectly geared toward the casual reader and those just coming into the Napoleonic study. The book proves to be well researched in information, very easy to read and equally easy to understand. I basically regards this book as very good introductory biography on Napoleon up to the end of 1805.

To a veteran Napoleonic bluff, this book may not served your purpose outside of reading a relatively objective book on Napoleon's early career. As other reviewers wrote, the book tries to revealed Napoleon the man instead of the Napoleonic concept that often swirled around his life and accomplishments.

So if you are deep into Napoleonic, you can probably skip this this book and the next. If you are just getting into the subject matter, this book and the next would make an excellent introduction to Napoleon's life and career without overwhelming you with information overload.

Rating:
Summary: Napoleon for the 21st Century
Review: In what is perhaps the first full-length biography of Napoleon in English of the twenty-first century, Robert Asprey turns to the nineteenth century for his inspiration. Asprey, a former U.S. Marine captain, has previously written on military topics. The present volume covers Napoleon's life up to his stunning victory at Austerlitz. Primarily a military history, in spite of Asprey's apparent aspirations as revealed in his "Note to the Reader," Asprey glosses over lightly Napoleon's political achievements. The political changes wrought by Brumaire as quickly dealt with in one short chapter. The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte therefore does not replace other biographies of Napoleon, such as Vincent Cronin's, that gives more attention to the political and cultural aspects of Napoleon's life. Asprey points out Napoleon's egoism, his ambition, his quick temper, all of his faults, but does not dwell on them unduly. The events of Napoleon's life are given precedence over moralizing about or psychoanalyzing that life. Generally Asprey avoids trying to divine what Napoleon was thinking and instead tries to explain Napoleon's actions in the context of the times and of Napoleon's life.

Written in forty-eight short chapters, the book is based entirely on secondary sources, both in English and in French. Asprey relies largely on the classic work of historians of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries for his sources, though he does make extensive use of research done by modern historians in journals and in papers presented to the Consortium on Revolutionary Europe. And Asprey often lets Napoleon speak for himself through liberal use of the Emperor's voluminous correspondence. After a perhaps too brief an overview of Napoleon's life before 1789 -Napoleon's early years are dealt with in a mere 80 pages before his arrival at Toulon. Asprey jumps almost immediately into Napoleon's military career. The author presents a highly simplistic overview of the background dynamics of the French Revolution (which Asprey obviously abhors).

Asprey presents a fairly even-handed look at Napoleon's career, however. He does not excuse Napoleon's actions, but does not moralize over them either. At times I found the analysis somewhat superficial, especially when dealing with political matters. Another criticism is that the volume could use more maps. There are just seven maps included (the advertised maps of the end papers are missing) and those are all of whole theaters of war except for one small, not very detailed, map of the battlefield of Austerlitz. There are just 27 illustrations spread throughout the text, mainly portraits of personages mentioned -nine of which are of Napoleon's marshals. On the whole, these pictures don't add much to the book. Some minor errors have crept into the books, some of which could be editing errors. Another shortcoming of the book is that the index is only partially analytical. The prose is straightforward, factual and unadorned. It lacks the élan that the subject lends itself to and there are no literary flourishes or vivid descriptions of battles. I get no feeling of an "old soldier" writing of another old soldier as I do when reading Elting's books. Asprey deals with the battle of Marengo, for example, in a scant five pages.

Asprey has taken a fresh, if somewhat superficial, look at Napoleon's life. The book is factual and informative and can be recommended especially to those new to Napoleon and his life. It would make a fine companion to Vincent Cronin's Napoleon Bonaparte which, while laudatory, does give a much better picture of the non-military side of Napoleon's life. I look forward to the second volume.

Rating:
Summary: A Dull Read
Review: The story of Napoleon Bonaparte is one of the truly great stories of history and could be told well by virtually anyone. Robert Asprey is no exception. The tale and the book are both gripping and compelling. However, Asprey dallies a bit much on numbers of 'cannon' and 'biscut' and not enough time on the great historical ripples Napoleon caused, or the great aura and the great essence of one of the most influential and genius men history has seen. Also, there are surprisingly few anecdotes (the book written afterall by a former Marine captain) of Napoleon's actions which so endeared him to his men. Still, the book is a great read; those interested in Napoleon should enjoy it with no small degree of zeal. To get the slightest atom of feeling as though one is living in the mind of a great man like Napoleon is always wonderful beyond words.

Rating:
Summary: not great
Review: This book is the first of a two-volume biography of Napoleon wriotten by a former U.S. Marine Captain. It is cast in a straightforward chronological scheme and delivered in concise and easily readable chapters. Military history buffs especially will enjoy and find a wealth of details of individual campaigns from Toulon to Austerlitz (1805) which is where this first volume ends. There are also passages on Napoleon's personal life, including his boyhood and courtship of and marriage to Josephine Beauharmais. The heavy emphasis on military history and otherwise on personal life tends to overshadow discussion of the political context of Napoleon's career in post-recolutionary France and an emerging new European geopolitical order. Altogeher, a well-researched and documented volume.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book, but Not What I Was Looking For!
Review: This is a beautifully written, excellently researched book on Napoleon Bonaparte's rise to power, from the perspective of his military leadership. Although a great book, packed with military campaign detail, I was looking for more of a Biography of Napoleon's life. I suppose you can argue that his battles were his life, but I wanted more his life, and less battle detail! I still give this five great stars, it deserves it, but let you know that if you are looking for a standard biography and not a military history, this one isn't it. Well done, nonetheless.