THE MYTHS OF THE GRANDE ARMÉE - The True History of the Imperial War

Shaped by the heroic narrative imposed by Napoleon and then by the cohort of memoirists of the Consulate and the Empire, the history of the " Grande " Armée rests on a number of legends that have become accepted truths for the public, relayed by a complaisant historiography.

Led by an invincible genius adored by his grognards, a temple of heroism and an embodiment of meritocracy — since every soldier carries a marshal's baton in his knapsack — it flies from victory to victory until its engulfment by " General Winter in Russia ", before delivering its last Homeric battles, among them the campaign of France and the glorious defeat at Waterloo, attributable at will to the negligence of Grouchy, the madness of Ney, betrayals, or the weather — rather than to the failings of its commander.

On the other side, the black legend — of English and royalist inspiration — imposed a handful of themes: Napoleon's repulsion towards any form of progress (was Fulton not proof of that?), his contempt for human life — the famous " million dead ", the impregnability of Albion, not to mention its overwhelming superiority at sea or in the handling of infantry in combat.

In order to restore the full truth, Thierry Lentz and Jean Lopez mobilised a commando of genuine specialists to scrutinise some twenty of the most celebrated of these claims, examining them in contributions as lively as they are rich in surprises and revelations. A salutary exercise that profoundly renews Napoleonic history.