A magnificent and timely examination of an age of fear, subversion, suppression and espionage, Adam Zamoyski explores the attempts of the governments of Europe to police the world in a struggle against obscure forces, seemingly dedicated to the overthrow of civilisation. The advent of the French Revolution confirmed the worst fears of the rulers of Europe. They saw their states as storm-tossed vessels battered by terrible waves from every quarter and threatened by horrific monsters from the deep. Rulers' nerves were further unsettled by the voices of the Enlightenment, envisaging improvement only through a radical transformation of the future role of the monarchy and the Church. Napoleon's arrival on the European stage intensified these fears, and the changes he wrought across Europe fully justified them. Yet he also brought some comfort to those rulers who managed to survive: he had tamed the revolution in France and the hegemony he exercised over Europe was a guarantee against subversion. Once Napoleon was toppled, the monarchs of Europe took over this role for themselves. But their attempts to impose order were not only ineffectual, they weakened the very bases of that order. Their obsessive hunt for hidden conspiracy became self-fulfilling. Their use of force and repressive measures alienated the very classes whose support they needed. Reliance on standing armies only served to politicise the military and to give potential revolutionaries the opportunity to get their hands on a ready armed force. Their policies led to the wave of revolutions in 1848, but these fell short of the long-dreaded Armageddon and revealed the groundlessness of their fears. The masses wanted bread and improved working conditions, not the overthrow of the social order. Nevertheless, the sense of a great, undefined, subversive threat never went away and re-surfaced in the form of various supposed conspiracies to take over the world: it still lingers in many quarters today. Adam Zamoyski’s compelling history reveals how paranoia came to grip the minds of rulers and much of society, dictating policies that flew in the face of common sense, and continues to hold lessons for politicians.

Phantom Terror

‘Napoleon is an out-and-out masterpiece and a joy to read’ Sir Antony Beevor, author of StalingradA landmark new biography that presents the man behind the many myths. The first writer in English to go back to the original European sources, Adam Zamoyski’s portrait of Napoleon is historical biography at its finest. Napoleon inspires passionately held and often conflicting visions. Was he a god-like genius, Romantic avatar, megalomaniac monster, compulsive warmonger or just a nasty little dictator? While he displayed elements of these traits at certain times, Napoleon was none of these things. He was a man and, as Adam Zamoyski presents him in this landmark biography, a rather ordinary one at that. He exhibited some extraordinary qualities during some phases of his life but it is hard to credit genius to a general who presided over the worst (and self-inflicted) disaster in military history and who single-handedly destroyed the great enterprise he and others had toiled so hard to construct. A brilliant tactician, he was no strategist. But nor was Napoleon an evil monster. He could be selfish and violent but there is no evidence of him wishing to inflict suffering gratuitously. His motives were mostly praiseworthy and his ambition no greater than that of contemporaries such as Alexander I of Russia, Wellington, Nelson and many more. What made his ambition exceptional was the scope it was accorded by circumstance. Adam Zamoyski strips away the lacquer of prejudice and places Napoleon the man within the context of his times. In the 1790s, a young Napoleon entered a world at war, a bitter struggle for supremacy and survival with leaders motivated by a quest for power and by self-interest. He did not start this war but it dominated his life and continued, with one brief interruption, until his final defeat in 1815. Based on primary sources in many European languages, and beautifully illustrated with portraits done only from life, this magnificent book examines how Napoleone Buonaparte, the boy from Corsica, became ‘Napoleon’; how he achieved what he did, and how it came about that he undid it. It does not justify or condemn but seeks instead to understand Napoleon’s extraordinary trajectory.

Napoleon

A Spectator Best Book of the Year Trawling through a vast family archive and arcane sources in half a dozen languages, Adam Zamoyski has revealed the dramatic life of his great-great-great grandmother, an uneducated, vulnerable girl cast into a man’s world. Her aristocratic position enmeshed her in high politics and close encounters with Frederick the Great, Benjamin Franklin, Rousseau, Joseph II, Marie-Antoinette and Tsar Alexander I, and earned her the enmity of Catherine the Great. She lived through revolution and no less than five wars, in which her cherished homes were devastated, her possessions looted and her children scattered. Caught up in tempestuous love affairs which led her to nervous breakdown and the brink of suicide, exploited by her lovers, she remained undaunted and liberated herself through education. And, unusually for her time, she became a caring mother devoted to her children. She learned much by travelling extensively around Europe at a time of political and ideological change, and her observations, particularly on Georgian Britain, are remarkable. She gradually won the admiration of learned men and intellectual honours. She pioneered schooling for children of the poor and developed her own educational methods. Fascinated by the power of objects to kindle memories and arouse emotions, she was an avid collector of anything with a sensuous association and built two unique museums to act as teaching aids. This is a story of triumph over adversity and betrayal. It was not achieved by her looks: ‘I have never been beautiful, but I have sometimes been pretty,’ she wrote. It was achieved by force of character and resilience.

Izabela the Valiant

Mit seinen Napoleon-Büchern "1812“ und "1815“ ist Adam Zamoyski auch in Deutschland zum Bestsellerautor geworden. Nun erzählt der polnisch-britische Historiker, wie nach dem Ende Napoleons aus der Angst der Herrschenden vor Terror und Revolution eine paranoide Politik der Unterdrückung wird. Spannend wie immer schildert Zamoyski das Ringen zwischen den Kräften der Reaktion und der liberalen Bewegung. Und er lässt keinen Zweifel daran, auf wessen Seite er steht: Auf der Seite der Freiheit. Für die Herrschenden und Besitzenden waren die Jahre nach der Französischen Revolution und Napoleon ein Zeitalter höchster Besorgnis. Die gekrönten Häupter lebten in der permanenten Furcht vor erneuten Rebellionen und waren überzeugt davon, dass ihre Macht auf dem Spiel stand. So entstand eine Politik, die mit einem immer aufwendigeren System von Bespitzelung, Zensur und Repression gegen reale und imaginäre Feinde vorging. Doch das Resultat war anders, als es sich die Mächtigen erhofft hatten. Der Polizeistaat und eine verfehlte Politik brachten – damals wie heute - genau das hervor, was sie verhindern wollten.

Phantome des Terrors

Napoleons Feldzug in Russland war das vielleicht größte militärische Desaster aller Zeiten und eine menschliche Tragödie von beispiellosen Ausmaßen - das erste historische Beispiel eines totalen Krieges. 1812 ist das meisterhafte Epos über die Hybris eines Eroberers, den Wahnsinn des Krieges und einen der dramatischsten Wendepunkte der Weltgeschichte. Adam Zamoyski hat eine Vielzahl von Augenzeugenberichten in französischer, russischer, deutscher, polnischer und italienischer Sprache, oft erstmals, ausgewertet und eine unerhört lebendige, prägnant urteilende und brillant geschriebene histoire totale, ein "Krieg und Frieden" der Militärgeschichte, geschrieben. Das Ergebnis ist ein unvergessliches Buch, das Geschichte so hautnah erzählt, wie es nur wenigen Autoren gelingt. "Mitreißend... Ein brillantes Stück narrativer Historie, voll schillernd komponierter Einzelbeschreibungen, ein rundum faszinierender Bericht über eines der wahrscheinlich größten militärischen Desaster aller Zeiten ... Zamoyskis Darstellung des Feldzugs von 1812 ist ein Musterbeispiel an Eleganz und Klarheit." T.J. Binyan "Ein absolut bewundernswertes Buch." Antony Beevor

1812

Selten in der Geschichte gab es an einem Ort so viel Scharfsinn und Intrigen, so viel Gier, Bestechung, Spionage, Sex und Pracht wie auf dem Wiener Kongress. Während die mächtigsten Männer Europas neue Grenzlinien über die Karte des Kontinents ziehen und Entscheidungen von epochaler Tragweite treffen, wird auf dem großen Welttheater die menschliche Komödie aufgeführt. Doch dann kehrt Napoleon zurück… Nach dem grandiosen Bestseller „1812“ entfaltet Adam Zamoyski in „1815“ erneut ein fulminantes historisches Panorama. Mit seltener Erzählkunst führt er uns in das Zeitalter Napoleons, Metternichs und Talleyrands, als wäre es gestern gewesen.

1815

«Was für ein Roman war mein Leben», hat Napoleon einmal gesagt. Der Sohn aus einer armen Familie wird mit 26 Jahren General, kaum zehn Jahre später ist er Herr über Europa. Monarchen zittern vor ihm, die Völker bejubeln ihn als Herold einer Zeitenwende. Doch der korsische Komet verglüht so rasch, wie er aufgestiegen ist. Nach den gefeierten Bestsellern "1812" und "1815" legt Adam Zamoyski nun sein Meisterwerk vor - die Biographie des berühmtesten Feldherrn und Herrschers in der Geschichte Europas. Mit der souveränen Sachkenntnis einer jahrzehntelangen Beschäftigung entführt uns der geborene historische Erzähler Adam Zamoyski in eine Epoche, wie sie dramatischer nicht sein könnte. Er begreift Napoleon im Kontext der Aufklärung, schildert die Stationen dieses unglaublichen Lebens, illuminiert mit sicherer Hand Charaktere und Konstellationen. Aber zugleich versteht er es auf unnachahmliche Weise, den Leser zu unterhalten und die Geschichte mit Leben zu erfüllen. Sein «Napoleon» ist prallvoll mit Anekdoten und ein opulentes historisches Lesevergnügen voller Pointen und scharfsichtiger Beobachtungen.

Napoleão inspira visões apaixonadas e, muitas vezes, conflitantes. Seria ele um gênio divino, um monstro megalomaníaco, um guerreiro compulsivo ou apenas um pequeno ditador desagradável? Embora exibisse tais características em diversos momentos de sua trajetória, ele não era nada disso. Como Adam Zamoyski nos apresenta nessa biografia, Napoleão era um homem bastante comum. É difícil chamar de gênio o general que comandou o pior (e autoinfligido) desastre da história militar e que destruiu sozinho o grande império que ele e outros lutaram para conquistar. Não é a toa que Napoleão tornou-se uma figura histórica ambígua. Adam Zamoyski analisa seu personagem dentro do contexto da época. Na década de 1790, Napoleão entra em um mundo em guerra, com líderes em busca de poder pela supremacia de seus países e por interesses próprios. O francês não havia começado a guerra, mas ela viria a dominar a sua vida até a sua derradeira derrota, em 1815.

Napoleão

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