Napoleon: The Spirit of the Age. Vol. 2: 1805–1810

Based on Napoleon Bonaparte's (1769–1821) own correspondence, the memoirs of contemporaries, and the latest scholarship, this second volume in a projected three-part series by Broers (Western European History, Oxford Univ.; Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny) focuses on the five-year period that saw the French conqueror and his empire at the apex of power. During these years, Napoleon succeeded in battles such as Austerlitz (1805) and Wagram (1809); detailed maps chart these campaigns. Broers also outlines the domestic, political, and personal machinations that accompanied these victories. The author further explains how Napoleon aimed to place the army at the center of French national consciousness, sought to upstage the Catholic Church, and was haunted by fears, if not paranoia, over the future of his family dynasty. The book ends with the events of 1810, a time of fragile international peace, when Napoleon divorced his first wife, empress Joséphine, and wed Austrian princess Marie Louise.