Escape from Elba

“A lively account” of Napoleon’s first exile and his “escape, full of cunning and daring, accident and error” (The New York Times Book Review).

The year is 1814. The Allies have driven Napoleon’s once-mighty armies back to Paris. Trapped, forced to abdicate after two decades of triumphant rule, the emperor takes leave of his comrades-in-arms and sets sail for his new domain—the tiny, poverty-stricken, pestilential island of Elba.

Yet within ten months Napoleon will enter Paris once again, at the heels of the fleeing Bourbon king, flushed with victory and cheered by the masses. The Escape from Elba tells the heroic story of Napoleon’s exile and phoenix-like return. In this classic account, Norman MacKenzie chronicles this extraordinary year: the tense last hours of Napoleon’s empire, his humiliating exile, his midnight escape, and his whirlwind march over snowbound mountains to Grenoble where, in a dramatic confrontation with the French army, he became a reigning prince again.

Also described in vivid detail are Napoleon’s adventures as the head of Elba. He brought society, splendor, organization, and political intrigue to this run-down backwater—and displayed on this small stage the many sides of his charismatic leadership.

Includes illustrations