The famous work of Professor A. P. Lewandowski about Charlemagne is not only the biography of the first emperor of the West, the founder of the Frankish Empire, but also the history of the formation of the medieval states of Western Europe: France, Germany, Italy. Charlemagne, despite his fame, - one of the most mysterious rulers of the Middle Ages, an era when questions of genealogy were decisive for the claimant to the throne: the exact time and place of birth of the future emperor still remain unknown. But we can definitely say that it was during the reign of Charlemagne that “Drang nach Ost” began, that hostile attack on the Slavs that the West continues to this day. During the reign of this emperor alone, more than 50 military campaigns were carried out, half of which he led himself. As a result of wars of conquest, Charlemagne created a huge empire stretching from Hungary to Spain. Built on violence against the peoples of Europe, the Frankish Empire did not last long, and after the death of Charlemagne (814) it fell into pieces. Acquaintance with the book by Professor Lewandowski gives an understanding that many geopolitical problems of our time were laid down in the era of the “dark ages” of Western civilization.