Napoleon Bonaparte spent his boyhood in military schools in France. He was a poor boy, and homesick, and he hated his classmates because they were French. The French had conquered his native Mediterranean island of Corsica during the year of his birth. He spent most of his spare time reading and studying in preparation for a military career.

When the French Revolution broke out, Napoleon rapidly rose to supreme power in France, and within a few years was the master of all the continent of Europe—an Emperor and the master of Emperors.

Yet after ten years as Emperor he fell as quickly as he had risen to power, and died when he was just over fifty, an exile on the remote island of St. Helena.

This is the exciting story of his rise and fall, his battles and adventures. How did he succeed in controlling the vast armies that he raised? How was he able to reign over his no less vast empire? What was he really like as a man and as an Emperor? With all his faults he was a military genius who wrote a dramatic chapter in the history of the modern world. This story explores the secret of his amazing success.

From the dust jacket