Alistair Horne - How Far From Austerlitz?: Napoleon 1805-1815

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Contents

2 September28 November 1805

28 November2 December 1805

2 December 1805

For Nancy

A St Helena Lullaby

How far is St Helena from a little child at play?

What makes you want to wander there with all the world between?

Oh, Mother, call your son again or else hell run away.

( No one thinks of winter when the grass is green! )

How far is St Helena from a fight in Paris Street?

I havent time to answer now the men are falling fast.

The guns begin to thunder, and the drums begin to beat.

( If you take the first step, you will take the last! )

How far is St Helena from the field of Austerlitz?

You couldnt hear me if I told so loud the cannon roar.

But not so far for people who are living by their wits.

( Gay go up means Gay go down the wide world oer! )

How far is St Helena from an Emperor of France?

I cannot see I cannot tell the Crowns they dazzle so.

The Kings sit down to dinner, and the Queens stand up to dance.

( After open weather you may look for snow! )

How far is St Helena from the Capes of Trafalgar?

A longish way a longish way with ten year more to run.

Its south across the water underneath a falling star.

( What you cannot finish you must leave undone! )

How far is St Helena from the Beresina ice?

An ill way a chill way the ice begins to crack.

But not so far for gentlemen who never took advice.

( When you cant go forward you must een come back! )

How far is St Helena from the field of Waterloo?

A near way a clear way the ship will take you soon.

A pleasant place for gentlemen with little left to do.

( Morning never tries you till the afternoon! )

How far from St Helena to the Gate of Heavens Grace?

That no one knows that no one knows and no one ever will.

But fold your hands across your heart and cover up your face.

And after all your trapesings, child, lie still!

Rudyard Kipling

List of Maps

The maps in this book, drawn by ML Design, have been based on those included in the authors earlier book Napoleon, Master of Europe 18051807, and due acknowledgement to the cartographer Peter White is made with thanks.

List of Illustrations

The author and publishers wish to record their thanks to the owners and copyright holders of the illustrations used in this book for permission to reproduce them.

Sources and photograph credits are set out in brackets after each illustration.

in the text

in the plate section

Napoleon at Fontainebleau, brooding after defeat in 1814 (Sothebys)

Josephine in 1797 (Mary Evans Picture Library)

Marie Walewska at Versailles, 1812 (LaurosGiraudon)

Fouch, a deceptively benevolent painting from Versailles, c. 1813 (LaurosGiraudon)

Talleyrand in 1828 (LaurosGiraudon)

The Arch Duchess Maria Louisa going to take her Nap (Private Collection/Bridgeman Art Library, London)

Triumph at Austerlitz, 1805 (Chteau de Versailles, France/Giraudon/Bridgeman Art Library, London)

Napoleon I receives Tsar Alexander I, Queen Louise and King Frederick William III of Prussia at Tilsit, 1807 (Muse de Versailles/E.T. Archive)

The Duke of Wellington in 1834 (Wallace Collection, London/Bridgeman Art Library, London)

Pitt the Younger (Rafael Valls Gallery, London/Bridgeman Art Library, London)

Blcher (Wellington Museum/E.T.Archive)

Kutuzov (State Historical Museum, Moscow/Bridgeman Art Library, London; Novosti/Bridgeman Art Library)

Wagram, 1809: Napoleons Passage of the Danube (Wellington Museum/E.T.Archive)

Waterloo, 1815. Marshal Ney rallying his troops with a broken sword (Private Collection/Bridgeman Art Library, London)

Chronology

Preface

My argument is that War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading. So I back Bonaparte for the reason that he will give pleasure to posterity.

Spirit Sinister from The Dynasts by Thomas Hardy, Act II , scene V

T HE YEARS 1996 AND 1997 mark the 200th anniversary of twenty-seven-year-old General Bonapartes first outstanding successes in the Italian Campaign against Austria. It was the campaign that launched his star into orbit in France. Nearly twenty years ago I wrote my earliest book on Napoleon and his wars, entitled Napoleon, Master of Europe, 18051807. It was what was known as a coffee-table book, heavily illustrated but with a relatively concise text, written at a time of debunking and revisionism. From Florence Nightingale and General Gordon to Montgomery and Churchill, from Alexander Hamilton to General Douglas MacArthur, reputations once unassailable had come under attack even the great Bonaparte. Approaching it, I hoped, with a fresh and open mind, I wondered, Did he deserve it? How did his reputation look, nearly two centuries later?