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Napoleon and Napoleon Era: Through his Correspondence NAPOLEON had completed schooling in 1782 at the age of 14 and graduated from the Military Academy as a sub-lieutenant of Artillery in 1785. We do not have his school mark-sheet but his teacher is on record saying that "the youngster is made of granite but there is a volcano inside". And how prophetic was that assessment as Napoleon not only adroitly steered through the intrigues and purges of the French Revolution but in fact rose to the command of the Army of the Interior in October 1795, with just ten years of military service, and inflicted military defeat on Italy by the end of 1797!
The book begins with the letter dated March 28, 1785, within days of Napoleon in the uniform of a commissioned officer. At the graduation ceremony, Napoleon is believed to have remarked as quoted by Ludwig, "Only the sword-belt belongs to France, the edge is my own." That is typical, audacious Napolean who has no doubt that he can and will shape destiny to his won designs. After all, it was not for nothing that he devoted his school days to study and absorb Plutarh, Aristotal, Homer, Voltaire, Rossoue, etc. Little wonder that this letter is a masterpiece of command over language and maturity of expression in conveying his assurance of love and comfort to his mother who was grieving the loss of her husband. And aptly, the last letter chosen is dated June 19, 1815, after Waterloo. But whose Waterloo? Certainly not Napoleon’s, as he begins the letter with daring optimism to his elder brother King Joseph: "All is not lost ... when I reassemble my force ... ready at once to bring against the enemy ... but people must help me ... there is still time to retrieve the situation." What an incredible display of self-confidence for mankind to emulate in the face of adversity! And what of the letters in between? Well, about 20 give glimpses of Napoleon the General, another 30 of the consummate statesman-diplomat, about a dozen of the connoisseur of arts and culture and over a dozen on higher education outlining the scope of the syllabus for Humanities (history, mathematics, logic and criticism in particular) in such precision that it would leave the most celebrated intellectuals of the world, simply speechless by the extant and depth of Napoleon’s vision. I have read the book from cover to cover and enjoyed the experience but an average reader may not find it engaging and the research scholar may not have enough to bite into. But then who and what can measure a truly born genius, perhaps of all ages, such as was Napoleon. It would be most appropriate to quote Goethe (not in the book) to sum up the enigma that was Napoleon: "On Judgement Day, before Gods throne, There stood at last Napoleon, The Devil had his list-begun Of crime the Bonaparte had done. When God the Father, or God the Son Cut Satan short, before Gods throne! "Dont bore us all to death with reading A German professorial pleading! If you are bold enough to face him In your Kingdom you may
place him".
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Every
author has an object and the audience (readers) in mind. In the
instant case, the compilers of the book leave it to each reader to
make out what he will of the book. Perhaps the most wholesome and
popularly acknowledged biography of Napolean is that by Emil Ludwig.
And going by its text, Napolean wrote/dictated "18,000
letters". Now to have picked 147 from those colossal outpourings
of a genius, to compose this book, is itself a challenging
achievement.