Adolphe Thiers kicks off his epic twenty-volume history right at the moment everything could have fallen apart. The French Revolution is over, but the country is a wreck—broke, divided, and surrounded by enemies. This first volume is all about the setup. It explains how the new government, the Directory, was failing spectacularly. Into this mess walks Napoleon Bonaparte, fresh from his military victories in Italy. Thiers follows him from a national hero to the mastermind behind the coup of 18 Brumaire, which made him First Consul and the real ruler of France.

Why You Should Read It

What makes this book special is the author's perspective. Thiers was a politician and a journalist who lived through the aftermath of Napoleon's rule. He writes with a clear purpose: to explain how order was rebuilt from chaos. You get a real sense of the political maneuvering and the high-stakes calculations. It’s less about battlefield glory here and more about the backroom deals and constitutional tinkering that laid the foundation for an empire. Reading Thiers is like getting a history lesson from a sharp, opinionated guide who was practically there.

Final Verdict

This is for the patient reader who loves deep dives into political history. It’s perfect if you've enjoyed biographies of Napoleon or books about revolutionary periods and want to go straight to a primary source from that era. Don't start here if you're looking for a quick, novel-like story of his wars. Do start here if you want to understand, in incredible detail, how a republic transforms itself into something else entirely, guided by one man's ambition. Think of it as the ultimate political origin story.