The fascinating story of Napoleon Bonaparte, military genius and master of tactical warfare, his meteoric rise from an obscure officer to Commander of the Grand Army of France, Emperor and absolute monarch of half of Europe.

Napoleon, a brigadier general fighting for the Republic, came to the attention of the French government when he routed the 'invincible' British fleet at Toulon. If he could crush the Royalist uprising in France, they said, he would be made second in command of the Army. Driven by personal ambition, Napoleon accepted the offer. With "a whiff of grapeshot" he quelled the rioting mobs in the streets of Paris. The Little Corporal, born on the island of Corsica of poor peasant stock, became a hero overnight.

A grateful public voted him First Consul for life. In return he reorganized the economic structure of the nation, established the Bank of France, codified its laws in what later became known as the Napoleonic code, reopened churches and schools closed since the Revolution ten years before, and began planning the campaigns that were to bring to France her greatest glory and most shattering defeats.

Napoleon extended the borders of France across the whole of Europe. The oppressed peoples welcomed him as a liberator, while the people of France began to wonder if the victories abroad were worth the loss of freedom at home. The press was strictly censored, only official news was permitted to circulate. The prisons were full to overflowing, taxes were unbearable, and government finances could not support the cost of war and domination.  In need of money, Napoleon sold the Territory of Louisiana for a million dollars, doubling the domain of the United States.

The debacle of the Grand Army during the Russian campaign was an irreparable blow from which France never fully recovered, and Waterloo, which brought about Napoleon's downfall, has become a synonym for utter disaster.

An absorbing, thoroughly entertaining story that will give young people a better understanding of more recent events in world politics.

From the dust jacket