Napoleon and Wellington

A dual biography of the greatest opposing generals of their age who ultimately
became fixated on one another, by a bestselling historian.
'Thoroughly enjoyable, beautifully written and meticulously researched'
Observer

On the morning of the battle of Waterloo, the Emperor Napoleon declared that
the Duke of Wellington was a bad general, the British were bad soldiers and
that France could not fail to win an easy victory. Forever afterwards
historians have accused him of gross overconfidence, and massively
underestimating the calibre of the British commander opposed to him.

Andrew Roberts presents an original, highly revisionist view of the
relationship between the two greatest captains of their age. Napoleon, who was
born in the same year as Wellington - 1769 - fought Wellington by proxy years
earlier in the Peninsula War, praising his ruthlessness in private while
publicly deriding him as a mere 'sepoy general'.

In contrast, Wellington publicly lauded Napoleon, saying that his presence on
a battlefield was worth forty thousand men, but privately wrote long memoranda
lambasting Napoleon's campaigning techniques. Although Wellington saved
Napoleon from execution after Waterloo, Napoleon left money in his will to the
man who had tried to assassinate Wellington. Wellington in turn amassed a
series of Napoleonic trophies of his great victory, even sleeping with two of
the Emperor's mistresses.