Bibliography of Napoleon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For his life and a basic reading list see Napoleon I of France.
Such list is far from exhaustive, a French specialist of Napoleon, Jean Tulard, estimating in 2014 that there are some 80,000 books written about him, a number which rises constantly.[1]
| External videos | |
|---|---|
 Presentation by Steven Englund on Napoleon: A Political Life, April 13, 2004, C-SPAN | |
| Booknotes interview with Alan Schom on Napoleon Bonaparte, October 26, 1997, C-SPAN |
- Asprey, Robert. The Rise of Napoleon Bonaparte and The Reign of Napoleon Bonaparte (2002); 2 vol., 1200pp; popular biography focusing on the military
- Thomas Hernault, Napoléon ou les vertus, Éd. La Simarre, Paris, 2025 ISBN 978-2365362245.
- Barnett, Corelli. Bonaparte (1978)
- Bell, David Avrom. Napoleon: A Concise Biography (2015)
- Broers, Michael. Napoleon: Soldier of Destiny (2014)
- Broers, Michael. Napoleon: The Spirit of the Age: 1805–1810 (2018)
- Broers, Michael. Napoleon: The Decline and Fall of an Empire: 1811–1821 (2022)
- Dwyer, Philip. Napoleon: The Path to Power (2008), to 1799
- Emsley, Clive. Napoleon 2003 142 pp, very succinct coverage of life, France and empire; little on warfare
- Cronin, Vincent. Napoleon (1971), favorable popular bio
- Dwyer, Philip. Napoleon: The Path to Power (2008), 672 pp; vol. 1 of major new biography, to 1799
- Ellis, Geoffry. Napoleon (1997)
- Englund, Steven. Napoleon: A Political Life (2004). 575 pages; the best (and most advanced) political biography; thin on military
- Falk, Avner. Napoleon Against Himself: A Psychobiography (2007) offers novel explanations for his many irrational, self-defeating, and self-destructive actions.
- Fisher, Herbert. Napoleon (1913) 256pp old classic online edition
- Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. Napoleon Bonaparte (2012)
- Fournier, August. Napoleon the First: A Biography (1903); 836 pages; excellent old biography online edition
- Herold, J. Christopher. The Age of Napoleon (1963) 480pp, popular history stressing empire and diplomacy
- Johnson, Paul. Napoleon: A Penguin Life (2002). 208 pp.
- Lefebvre, Georges: Napoleon, (2 vol. 1935; English translation 1969), influential French perspective
- Markham, Felix. Napoleon 1963. 304pp online edition
- McLynn, Frank. Napoleon: A Biography (2003) 752pp, stress on military
- Roberts, Andrew. Napoleon: A Life (2014)
- Rose, Tom Holland. The Life of Napoleon I: Including New Materials from the British Official Records, (2 vol. 1903), old but solid scholarship; online edition vol. 2
- Schom, Alan. Napoleon Bonaparte: A Life (1997), 944pp; argues Napoleon was a paranoiac psychopath
- Thompson, J. M. Napoleon Bonaparte: His Rise and Fall (1954)
- Tulard, Jean. Napoleon: The Myth of the Saviour (1985), influential French biography
- Woloch, Isser. Napoleon and His Collaborators: the making of a dictatorship (2001)
- Zamoyski, Adam. Napoleon: A Life (2018)
General reference
- Chandler, David. Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars (1993)
- Esposito, Vincent J. and John R. Elting, A Military History and Atlas of the Napoleonic Wars (1999); textbook; includes the West Point maps
- Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. ed. The Encyclopedia of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars: A Political, Social, and Military History (ABC-CLIO: 3 vol. 2006)
- Furet, François and Mona Ozouf, eds. A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution (1989), 1120pp; long essays by scholars; conservative perspective; stress on history of ideas
- Greiss, Thomas E. West Point Atlas for the Wars of Napoleon (1986) 70pp; all maps are online
- Nafziger, George F. Historical Dictionary of the Napoleonic Era. 2002. 353 pp.
- Nicholls, David. Napoleon: A Biographical Companion. 1999. 300 pp.
- Pope, Stephen. Dictionary of the Napoleonic Wars (2000). 572 pp.
- Smith, Digby. The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book (1998); 582pp; data on 2000+ individual battles, clashes, sieges, raids, capitulations, and naval engagements
Military studies
- Adkin, Mark. The Waterloo Companion: The Complete Guide to History's Most Famous Land Battle (2002) 448pp excerpt and text search
- Arnold, James R. Napoleon Conquers Austria: The 1809 Campaign for Vienna (1995). 247 pp. excerpt and text search
- Bell, David A. The First Total War: Napoleon's Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It (2008) excerpt and text search
- Chandler, David. The Campaigns of Napoleon: the Mind and Method of History's Greatest Soldier (1973), 1216 pp; experts call it the best military synthesis
- Cole, Juan. Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East (2007) excerpts and online search from Amazon.com
- Connelly, Owen. Blundering to Glory: Napoleon's Military Campaigns (2nd ed.; 2006) negative on Napoleon's skills
- Coote, Stephen. Napoleon and the Hundred Days (2005). 320 pp.
- Dodge, Theodore Ayrault. Napoleon; A History of the Art of War (1904), old classic online edition
- Duffy, Christopher. Austerlitz, 1805 (1999)
- Duffy, Christopher. Borodino and the War of 1812 (1999).
- Elting, John R. Swords Around a Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armée (1997), influential study
- Epstein, Robert M. Napoleon's Last Victory and the Emergence of Modern War (1994) on Austrian war of 1809
- Esdaile, Charles J. Napoleon's Wars: An International History, 1803–1815 (2008), 656pp excerpt and text search
- Esdaile, Charles J. The French Wars 1792–1815 (2001). 96pp online edition
- Fisher, Todd. The Napoleonic Wars (2001-4) 3 vol; 96pp, short, well-illustrated operational history excerpt and text search vol. 1; excerpt and text search vol. 2; excerpt and text search vol. 3
- Forrest, Alan. Napoleon's Men: The Soldiers of the Revolution and Empire. 2002. 248 pp.
- Fortescue, J. W. A history of the British army (19v 1899-1930) full text vol. 4 pt2: 1789–1801online edition vol. 6: 1807–1809; full text vol. 7: 1809–1810; full text vol. 8: 1810–1812; full text vol. 9: 1813–1814; full text vol. 10: 1814–1815
- Gates, David. The Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815 (1997) 304pp; attacks Connolly and says N's "brilliance as a military commander has rarely been equalled let alone surpassed"
- Gill, John. With Eagles to Glory: Napoleon and His German Allies in the 1809 Campaign (1992)
- Goetz, Robert. 1805: Austerlitz; Napoleon and the Destruction of the Third Coalition (2005). 368pp
- Griffith, Paddy. The Art of War of Revolutionary France 1789–1802, (1998); 304 pp; excerpt and text search
- Hamilton-Williams, David. Waterloo: New Perspectives; The Great Battle Reappraised (1994). 416 pp. excerpt and text search
- Herold, J. Christopher. Napoleon in Egypt (1962) online edition
- Kagan, Frederick W. "Russia's Wars with Napoleon: 1805–1815", in The Military History of Tsarist Russia, ed. Frederick W. Kagan and Robin Higham (2002), 106–22.
- Kagan, Frederick W. The End of the Old Order: Napoleon And Europe, 1801–1805 (2006) first of four promised volumes; covers the strengths and strategies of all the powers excerpt and text search
- Leggiere, Michael V. Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813. 2002. 384 pp. excerpt and text search
- Leggiere, Michael V. The Fall of Napoleon. Vol. 1: The Allied Invasion of France, 1813–1814 (2007) 690pp excerpt and text search
- Lieven, Dominic. "Russia and the Defeat of Napoleon (1812-14)". Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 2006 7(2): 283-308. ISSN 1531-023X Fulltext: in Project MUSE. Argues Alexander's successful strategy has been neglected
- Liaropoulos, Andrew N. "Revolutions in Warfare: Theoretical Paradigms and Historical Evidence—the Napoleonic and First World War Revolutions in Military Affairs". Journal of Military History 2006 70(2): 363–384. ISSN 0899-3718 Full text in Project MUSE.
- Lieven, Dominic. "Russia and the Defeat of Napoleon (1812–14)" Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History 7#2 (2006) 283-308 online in Project MUSE
- Luvaas, Jay. Napoleon on the Art of War (2001) 288 pp. A synthesis, arrangement, and translation of Napoleon's thinking. excerpt and text search
- Lynn, John A. The Bayonets of the Republic: Motivation and Tactics in the Army of Revolutionary France, 1791–94 (1984); influential analysis excerpt and text search
- Muir, Rory. Tactics and the Experience of Battle in the Age of Napoleon (2000), 466pp excerpt and text search
- Nofi, Albert A. The Waterloo Campaign, June 1815. 1993. 333pp online edition
- Nosworthy, Brent. With Musket, Cannon and Sword: Battle Tactics of Napoleon and His Enemies (1996). 528 pp.
- Paret, Peter. "Napoleon and the Revolution of War", in Paret, ed. Makers of Modern Strategy (1986)
- Pericoli, Ugo. 1815: The Armies at Waterloo (1973)
- Riley, J. P. "How Good Was Napoleon?" History Today, (July 2007) 57#7 10pp in EBSCO
- Riley, J. P. Napoleon and the World War of 1813: Lessons in Coalition Warfighting (2000). 480 pp
- Riley, Jonathon. Napoleon As a General: Command from the Battlefield to Grand Strategy (2007)
- Roberts, Andrew. Napoleon & Wellington: The Battle of Waterloo and the Great Commanders Who Fought It (2001)
- Rogers, H.C.B. Napoleon's Army (1974)
- Rothenberg, Gunther E. (2006), The Napoleonic Wars 240pp, well illustrated synthesis by leading scholar excerpt and text search
- Rothenberg, Gunther. The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon 1978
- Schneid, Frederick C. Napoleon's Italian Campaigns: 1805–1815 (2002); 229pp online edition
- Tarle, Eugene. Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812. 1942. online edition
Impact on France
- Bergeron, Louis. France under Napoleon (1981), French viewpoint
- Forrest, Alan. "Propaganda and the Legitimation of Power in Napoleonic France". French History, 2004 18(4): 426-445. ISSN 0269-1191 Fulltext: in OUP journals
- Furet, François. The French Revolution, 1770–1814 (1996), pp 211–65 on Napoleon
- Furet, François and Mona Ozouf, eds. A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution (1989), 1120pp; long essays by scholars; conservative perspective
- Goubert, Pierre. The Course of French History. 1991; French textbook; ch. 14 online edition
- Lyons, Martyn. Napoleon and the Legacy of the Revolution (1994)
- Paxton, John. Companion to the French Revolution (1987), hundreds of short entries.
- Scott, Samuel F. and Barry Rothaus. Historical Dictionary of the French Revolution, 1789-1799 (1984), short essays by scholars
- Sutherland, D.M.G. The French Revolution and Empire: The Quest for a Civic Order (2nd ed 2003), comprehensive survey
- Sutherland, D.M.G. France 1789–1815. Revolution and Counter-Revolution (2nd ed. 2003, 430pp) excerpts and online search from Amazon.com