Napoleon Bonaparte could not have looked less like a leading man.
After carrying him into exile on Saint Helena in 1815, the captain of HMS Northumberland wrote that he ‘felt very much disappointed, as I believe everyone else did, in his appearance . . . he is fat, rather what we call pot-bellied . . . [with] thin, greasy-looking brown hair, and altogether a very nasty, priestlike-looking fellow.’
But looks can be deceptive. Napoleon wasn’t merely the greatest military commander of his age. He was one of the most compelling individuals in all world history.
More than two centuries after his death, the Emperor casts a mighty shadow. Parisian streets and stations are still named after his battles, while the Arc de Triomphe, built to celebrate his victory at Austerlitz, remains one of the great symbols of French patriotism.
Above all, this autumn sees the release of an epic blockbuster about his life and times, starring Joaquin Phoenix and made by the British director Ridley Scott,…