"Napoleon:
Life After Death" by Edward Radzinsky, summary

This book is a historical novel, first published in 2002. The text is skillfully stylized as memoirs dictated by the deposed monarch to his secretary, Emmanuel de Las Cases, during his exile. The author offers a daring historical hoax about deliberate poisoning and the theory of a double. Documentary facts are seamlessly blended with fiction. The author paints a profound psychological portrait of a man who lost his crown but passionately desires to win the final battle for the minds of future generations.

The Return of Ashes and the Mysteries of Exile

The narrative begins with the reflections of the elderly Marquis de Las Cases in the autumn of 1832. Many years after the commander’s death, he rereads old diaries and learns incredible news. During the exhumation on Saint Helena, the body of the great exile was found completely untouched by decay. His faithful servant, Louis Marchand, delivers an old message from the deceased. The document states that the author always knew of the impending triumphant return of his remains to Paris. Las Cases suddenly realizes the truth. His capture and death on this lost island were a brilliantly orchestrated spectacle, the final act of a great tragedy.

The secretary’s thoughts return to the summer days of 1815. After the defeat at Waterloo, the deposed leader abandons plans to escape to America. He voluntarily surrenders to the British, boarding the frigate Bellerophon. The British government treacherously exiles the famous prisoner for life on a remote rocky island. His remaining retinue shares the harsh hardships of isolation. Generals Gourgaud, Bertrand, Count Montholon, the servant Marchand, and Las Cases himself settle in the damp Longwood House. The building, hastily rebuilt from a former barnyard, is infested with rats.

The Path to Unlimited Power

In the stuffy chambers of Longwood, the prisoner begins to dictate a story of past triumphs. Overcome by memories, he describes his Corsican youth. Born under the sign of the comet, the boy felt privileged from early childhood and devoured the biographies of ancient commanders. His military career began at the walls of Toulon. The young artillery captain devised a plan to suppress the English fleet from the cliffs of Aiguillette. He demonstrated rare tactical genius and unprecedented fearlessness under a hail of enemy cannonballs. Having received the high rank of general, he saved the Convention from a rioting royalist mob. Having married the Creole Josephine de Beauharnais, the commander set off to crush the Austrian forces in the Apennines.

The Italian campaign brings him his first resounding glory. Impoverished, ragged infantrymen swiftly cross the Alps. The soldiers idolize their leader, who personally runs under fire at the Arcole Bridge and takes the city of Lodi. Having conquered Italian lands, the commander plans a daring expedition to Egypt. At the walls of ancient Eastern citadels, he dreams of retracing the steps of Alexander the Great. Resistance from the fortress of Saint-Jean-d’Acre ruins these grandiose plans. Leaving his plague-ridden army in the Middle East, he secretly sails to France. The country is exhausted by the tyranny of speculators, and the weak Directory is mired in lawlessness.

The coup d’état of 18 Brumaire made him First Consul and the rightful savior of the nation from chaos. The new ruler enacted the Civil Code, considering this set of laws his most important historical legacy. He severely punished potential conspirators. The order for the arrest and execution of the Duke of Enghien was intended to strike terror into the supporters of the deposed Bourbons. Recognizing the political necessity of founding a new dynasty, the dictator assumed the title of emperor. In Notre Dame Cathedral, in the presence of the Pope, the monarch took the crown from the altar. He placed the golden crown on his own head, openly defying ancient traditions.

Triumph and fatal mistakes

Surrounding himself with intelligent but thoroughly duplicitous ministers — Joseph Fouché and Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand — the newly crowned sovereign redrew the map of Europe. Brilliant military successes at Austerlitz, Jena, and Friedland methodically crushed the regular armies of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. At Tilsit, Russian Tsar Alexander I was forced to embrace his former enemy and sign a peace treaty with them. The Empire reached the absolute zenith of its military and political might, harshly dictating laws across the continent.

Seeking to economically strangle England with a continental blockade, the ruler made his first fatal mistake. He overthrew the Spanish Bourbons and became embroiled in a grueling people’s war in the Pyrenees. To ensure the birth of a legitimate heir to the throne, the monarch tearfully divorced the barren Josephine. Soon after, he entered into a dynastic marriage with the daughter of the Austrian sovereign, Marie Louise. The young wife gave birth to a long-awaited son. In the summer of 1812, the armistice in Europe ended. A gigantic multinational army crossed the Neman River and invaded the Russian Empire.

Avoiding major battles on the western border, Russian commanders lure the enemy deep into the vast territory. They methodically leave behind villages burned to the ground. After the unprecedentedly brutal Battle of Borodino, French corps enter deserted Moscow unopposed. A massive fire immediately engulfs the ancient capital. After weeks of futile peace offers from the Russian autocrat, the invaders begin a difficult retreat along the devastated Smolensk road.

The brutal winter frosts and relentless raids of mounted Cossacks methodically mow down the Grand Army. Tens of thousands of frostbitten soldiers perish while crossing the icy Berezina River. Heavy supply trains laden with plundered Moscow trophies sink to the bottom. The commander-in-chief abandons the pitiful remnants of his demoralized troops to the care of the marshals. In a covered sleigh, he rushes to Paris to conduct an emergency recruitment drive and assemble fresh divisions to continue the fight.

The Fall of the Empire and the Hundred Days

The massive campaign of 1813 unfolds on the battlefields of Germany. In the bloody Battle of Leipzig, Saxon units defect to the anti-French coalition right on the battlefield. A premature explosion at a river crossing cuts off the French regiments’ escape route, turning the retreat into a complete disaster. The fighting inexorably shifts to France itself. Despite a series of brilliant maneuvers and tactical successes against the scattered allied forces, Paris capitulates to the enemy with the direct complicity of Talleyrand.

At the Palace of Fontainebleau, the closest marshals categorically refuse to lead their exhausted troops to storm the occupied capital. They openly rebel and force their leader, under severe pressure, to sign an act of absolute abdication. That same night, the deposed monarch takes arsenic and opium from a glass vial. The deadly poison has no effect, causing only severe physical suffering. In the morning, the leader bids farewell to his loyal Old Guard in the castle courtyard. He kisses the battle flag and departs for a humiliating Mediterranean exile.

Exiled to the tiny island of Elba, the energetic prisoner refuses to accept his fate. In the early spring of 1815, he secretly lands on the French coast with a handful of loyal guardsmen. The royal infantry regiments, sent by the Bourbons to suppress the armed rebellion, tearfully defect to their former idol. Without firing a shot, the returned monarch triumphantly marches into Paris. A new coalition of European powers refuses to recognize his authority as legitimate. The decisive battle at the village of Waterloo ends in the complete rout of the French forces due to a surprise flanking attack by the Prussian cavalry.

The Last Battle of Saint Helena

Las Cases’s tale returns once again to the grim realities of Saint Helena. Governor Hudson Lowe torments the noble captive with petty bureaucratic quibbles. The prisoner deliberately provokes scandals, brilliantly crafting the image of an innocent martyr for future generations. He is sincerely convinced that the British are planning to kill him. One day, a strange scene is discovered in the wine cellar. His faithful Corsican servant, Cipriani, secretly mixes an unknown liquid into wine brought from Algeria. The prisoner publicly declares that he ordered the strong drink to be diluted with water. Soon after, Cipriani himself dies suddenly of an illness with suspicious symptoms of poisoning.

In the spring of 1821, the exile’s health rapidly and irreversibly deteriorated. He suffered from unbearable stomach cramps, frequent vomiting, and fever. Before his physical death, he drew up a detailed will. In it, the dying man directly blamed the British oligarchy and its hired assassin for his demise. On May 5th, amidst the sound of a fading ocean storm, the former ruler of Europe drew his last breath. English doctors performed an official autopsy. They diagnosed cancer but categorically forbade toxicological testing for poisons. The deceased’s body was buried in an unmarked grave beneath weeping willows.

At the end of the manuscript, Las Cases returns to the Genevan autumn of 1832. The old man tensely discusses with his comrades the absurd rumors circulating throughout France. There are persistent legends that a double actually died on the rocky island. Baron d’Auttancourt categorically rejects these speculations, vehemently declaring, "What the hell of a double!" The friends try to find a rational truth. Was the slow arsenic poisoning a secret order from the prisoner himself, who wanted to escape undefeated and forever tarnish England’s reputation? The mystery of history remains unsolved, but the great legend created on the island continues to haunt humanity.