“Some people are suited by their shortcomings, while others are not even suited by their virtues,” said the remarkable French moralist and thinker Duke Francois de La Rochefoucauld. This maxim could not be more suitable for generals. On no other field does the relativity of our moral assessments become so obvious as on the battlefield. We cannot admire the commander - and not think about why he performed great deeds and what price he paid to achieve his goals. In fact, any major commander is a tragic personality: hand in hand with his victories go death and destruction. And yet, there are undisputed geniuses of war, or more precisely, strategy, foresight and organization! After all, a great commander is a great crisis manager. And one of the most famous and unsurpassed among them is Napoleon I Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a French republican and emperor, an invincible military leader and statesman who laid the foundations of modern France and exported the Napoleonic Code at bayonets to the feudal states of the then Europe. His greatness is undeniable, but the inconsistency and tragedy are visible in the fact that his reform activities hurt the interests of too many national elites - who took up arms against him as a united front. Before this, Europe had united like this only once - to resist the invasion of Attila's hordes. But if the Huns brought ruin and chaos, then Napoleon - yes, by force - dragged Europe from the Middle Ages to the Modern Age! Nevertheless, as a commander, Napoleon was doomed from the very beginning. He won all his battles one by one, and the Coalition of those opposing him states lost them - but the reserves of small France and the war-ravaged occupied territories were incomparable with the human, economic and military resources of the rest of Europe - from Scotland to Greece and from Spain to Russia. Napoleon lost only two battles - and both times he lost his crown. The first time it was temporary, the second time it was forever. What was left to Europe as a legacy from the disgraced great man who was poisoned on a distant small island? Update! New laws, new political and economic orders, new methods of warfare. Thanks to him, Europe became the locomotive of history for at least two centuries. It was not the Great French Revolution, but Napoleon’s wars that turned the medieval fiefdom of kings into the Europe in which we have lived for the last 200 years. And that means Napoleon won his main battle! In this fascinating, detective-like book, he and his contemporaries - friends and enemies - tell about the life, exploits and crimes of the great commander. The electronic publication of the publication includes the full text of the paper book and a selected part of the illustrative material. And for true connoisseurs of gift editions, we offer a classic book. Like all publications in the “Great Commanders” series, the book is provided with detailed historical and biographical comments; The text is accompanied by hundreds of rare illustrations from Russian and foreign sources, many of which the modern reader will become familiar with for the first time. Excellent printing, original design, the best offset paper - all this makes the books of the “Great Commanders” gift series the best gift for a man for all occasions life.