Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand
by David Lawday
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He took on Napoleon with a set of weapons that seemed unsuited to the task- flattery, courtesy and an alarmingly straight face. And he won. Quite as much as the Duke of Wellington it was the club-footed genius of French diplomacy who defeated the greatest conqueror since Julius Caesar. This is the story of Prince Talleyrand, who attracts as much scorn as Napoleon wins glory. To his critics the arch-aristocrat who delivered France and all Europe from the Emperor's follies is the prince of show more vice - turncoat, hypocrite, liar, plotter, God-baiter and womanizer, and, to make matters worse, highly successful at them all.In this life of the master diplomat, David Lawday follows Talleyrand's remarkable career through the most turbulent age Europe has known - the mad leap from France's rotting ancient regime into the Revolution of 1789, Robespierre's Terror, Napoleon's epic wars and dramatic fall, and on through restored kings to more revolution. The performance by 'Old Talley', as a suspicious England called him, peaks in an extraordinarily perverse relationship with Napoleon which this book for the first time explores in intimate detail. Their bond had to be mutually faithless- Napoleon lived for war and conquest, Talleyrand for peace, comfort and the civilised French way of life.The richly flawed and abundantly gifted character laid bare by David Lawday is the man to whom diplomats continue to look today for the subtlest tricks of the negotiator's art. A good 150 years before a united Europe came into being, Talleyrand's actions laid the ground for it - as they have for a permanent peace now enduring for two centuries between France and her oldest enemy, Britain. show lessTags
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Educated at Oxford, David Lawday is a writer and journalist who spent twenty years as a correspondent for The Economist. The author of Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand, he now lives in Paris with his French wife.
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Napoleon's Master: A Life of Prince Talleyrand
- Alternate titles
- Talleyrand: Le maître de Napoléon
- Original publication date
- 2006
- People/Characters
- Talleyrand-Périgord, Prince Charles Maurice de; Napoleon Bonaparte; Metternich, Prince Clement Wenceslaus Lothaire von; Dorothea of Courland, Duchess of Dino (Dorothée de Courlande); Catherine, Princesse de Talleyrand
- Important events
- Congress of Vienna
- Dedication
- To Noëlle
- First words
- Prologue In mid-afternoon on the last Saturday in January, five Imperial dignitaries are gathered in the Emperor Napoleon's private salon at the Tuileries Palace, waiting for him to descend from his bedroom.
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Chapter 1 Talleyrand's parents were an unusual couple. - Quotations
- I attest that any system intended to bring liberty by open force to neighbouring nations can only make liberty hated and prevent its triumph. - Talleyrand
- Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)'Yes, that's it, that's exactly it!' he said. 'I want people to go on arguing for centuries over what I have been, what I have thought, what I have wanted.'
He never claimed they would love him. - Original language
- English UK
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, Biography & Memoir, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 944.05092 — History & geography History of Europe France and Monaco France First empire 1804-1815
- LCC
- DC255 .T3 .L39 — History of Europe, Asia, Africa and Oceania France – Andorra – Monaco History of France Modern, 1515- 19th century
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 99
- Popularity
- 327,176
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.85)
- Languages
- English, French
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 4
- ASINs
- 1
