Napoleon: A Life

by Andrew Roberts

He was one of the most unrelenting micromanagers in history, but this obsession with details did not prevent him from radically transforming the physical, legal, political and cultural landscape of Europe.

Capacity to be "helicopter" per Shell

Napoleon represented the Enlightenment on horseback.

Enlightenment On horseback

He believed that one can control foreign lands only by winning over the population and sought accordingly to present himself in terms that would make him sympathetic to the locals, feigning sympathy for their religion as a means to an end.

Does this apply to acquisitions? Is Buffett's way of buying management wise? Would it apply to Protective?

Above all he hoped to modernize Europe.

Desire to modernize

Although the Terror had finished five years before he grabbed power, the Jacobins were a powerful force who could always return.

Do we need a Napoleon to vanquish the Jacobins?

‘We have done with the romance of the Revolution,’ he told an early meeting of his Conseil d’Etat, ‘we must now commence its history.’

Which Revolution? French Revolution, one presumes. so Napoleon agreed with doing away with the ancien regime. he wanted to modernize. but the romance of the revolution was different than its execution

Many of those who opposed him were forced to adopt aspects of his reforms in their own countries in order to defeat him.

History won. Humanity won. but Napoleon lost.

Colbertian protectionism

What is that?

He failed to appreciate that the Russian army had fundamentally changed and that Alexander I would stop at nothing to annihilate him.

One mistake : conditions changed. Compexity vs complicated? and also enmity : that drives effort

(Defeat had been, as it is so often in history, the mother of reform.)

so true. Systems theory of negative feedback loop

His acceptance of the revolutionary principles of equality before the law, rational government, meritocracy, efficiency and aggressive nationalism fit in well with this ethos but he had little interest in equality of outcome, human rights, freedom of the press or parliamentarianism, all of which, to his mind, did not.

interesting set of principles

Beyond that, it seemed to offer Corsica prospects of greater independence, and far better career opportunities for an ambitious young outsider without money or

without money nor connections

re-reading Caesar’s Gallic Wars,

book to read should also read an insurance accounting book and an insurance history book

He had assessed the situation at first hand and, like his father, aligned himself with what looked like the winning side.

politics

after her humiliation in America only a decade earlier.

Reminds me of the psychological research that relief of stress after being hit comes from hitting others

It meant that capable young men could advance through the ranks at unprecedented speed.

Benefit of attrition : new blood, allows for a new leader to emerge; if there is a new wave or new paradigm, it will be adopted more quickly losses: green, so foolish; possibility of mob rule and reign of terror

showed the Revolution remorselessly devouring its own children.

Interesting failure mechanism

Alexis de Tocqueville would write that states are never more vulnerable than when they attempt to reform themselves,

I wonder why. lack of focus in a hostile world? the world is like the “ghettoside ” per Leovy?

corruption widespread,

Why?

The very disparate nature of the rebellion’s political make-up made any central co-ordination impossible beyond establishing a date for action, which couldn’t be kept secret from

Widespread agreement can still lead to one faction takikng over?

‘The family will want for nothing,’

That is more of a motivating factor than i typically assume

It is a well-known historical phenomenon for a sexually permissive period to follow one of prolonged bloodletting: the ‘Roaring Twenties’ after the Great War and the licentiousness of Ancient Roman society after the Civil Wars are but two examples.

who knew?

that Napoleon radiated, his confidence, his obsessive demand for information, which was to be a feature throughout his life, and his love of his wife.

Summary Of his attributes

‘Without bread the soldier tends to an excess of violence’, he wrote, ‘that makes one blush for being a man.’

Reminds me of movie Captain Philips

Alexandre Berthier, a former engineer who had fought in the American War of Independence, was now Napoleon’s chief-of-staff, a position he was to retain until 1814. Berthier had fought well in the Argonne campaign in 1792 and in the Vendée over the next three years, and his brother had been in the Topographical Bureau with Napoleon. Napoleon was the first commander to employ a chief-of-staff in its modern sense, and he couldn’t have chosen a more efficient one. With a memory

Chief of Staff important

The French had moved significantly faster than their enemy, and he had employed a concentration of forces that reversed the numerical odds for just long enough to be decisive.

To beat numerical odds you can move fast and concentrate power. It helps to own a strong spot from which to attack

The Austrians wanted to retreat eastwards to protect Milan, and the Piedmontese westwards to protect their capital of Turin. Napoleon was able to exploit their differing strategic imperatives. In order to escape the river valley, both had to fall back to the fortified village of Dego, where on April 14 Napoleon won his third victory in three days. Austro-Piedmontese

Different incentives of coalition members

A victorious, hungry army pillages.

Animal spirits

‘The strength of the army,’ he stated, ‘like power in mechanics, is the product of multiplying the mass by the velocity.’

Scale and speed create power

Armies moved much faster at the end of the eighteenth century than at the beginning due to improved road surfaces

Military usage of technological adaptations

In a smart ploy, Napoleon insisted on a secret clause giving him the right to use the bridge over the River Po at Valenza, knowing the news would be leaked to the Austrians and that

Knew secrets would be leaked

said that these councils were only ever resorted to as ‘a cowardly proceeding’ intended to distribute blame.37

Long standing truth: committees often make decisions to distribute blame

‘Youth is almost indispensable in commanding an army,’ he told Beauregard, ‘so necessary are high spirits, daring, and pride to such a great task.’

interesting youth matters

Vaunting ambition can be a terrible thing, but if allied to great ability – a protean energy, grand purpose, the gift of oratory, near-perfect recall, superb timing, inspiring leadership – it can bring about extraordinary outcomes.

if offered to Gd

body to which he continued to pay proper rhetorical obedience but which he was increasingly coming to despise.

Politician

Remember Binasco; it brought me tranquillity in all of Italy, and spared shedding the blood of thousands. Nothing is more salutary than appropriately severe examples.’78 ‘If you make war,’ he would say to General d’Hédouville in December 1799, ‘wage it with energy and severity; it is the only means of making it shorter and consequently less deplorable for mankind.’

great point

Yet it also instilled in him a respect for the power of the Church as an institution, which he realized that he could not wholly oppose.

Dislike soneone but respect them

He also sent them a much-needed 2 million francs in gold.

Supply what others need to get power

Napoleon was capable of compartmentalizing his life, so that one set of concerns never spilled over into another – probably a necessary attribute for any great statesman, but one he possessed to an extraordinary degree.

Compartalization is important

‘There is but one step from triumph to downfall. I have seen, in the most significant of circumstances, that some little thing always decides great events.’

but it shows how deeply conscious he was of his public image.

She frequently caresses her husband,

Napoleon told them they could find food in the enemy camp.

Wow! Stern

‘It is astonishing what power words have over men,’ Napoleon said of the 32nd years later.

great reminder

‘If in eight minutes his division had not laid down its arms, I would not spare a man.’32 He

clever calm under fire

My soul is in tatters, but my conscience is at peace

My soul is in tatters but my conscience is at peace

That would not continue for ever.

Complexity Theory

Plays, songs, operatic arias, proclamations, festivals, ceremonies, symbols, standards, medals: Napoleon instinctively understood what soldiers wanted, and he gave it to them.

Tricia

Napoleon taught ordinary people that they could make history, and convinced his followers they were taking part in an adventure, a pageant, an experiment, an epic whose splendour would draw the attention of posterity for centuries to come.

Promote purpose

Napoleon learned many essential leadership lessons from Julius Caesar, especially his practice of admonishing troops he considered to have fallen below expectations, as at Rivoli in November 1796.

Must reprimand bad actions?