Mémoires pour servir à l'Histoire de France sous Napoléon, Tome 2/2

In this freshly edited volume, a veteran of Napoleon’s army offers a vivid chronicle of the feverish diplomacy that followed the Italian campaigns of 1800. Through the eyes of the lieutenant‑general Count de Saint‑Julien and the French ministers who guided the First Consul, listeners hear the back‑and‑forth of secret letters, hurried envoys, and the fragile drafts of peace that hung over the battle‑scarred fields of Italy and Germany. The narrative captures the tension between the eagerness for a lasting settlement and the sudden reversals that forced France back onto the battlefield.

Gourgaud’s recounting blends precise military details – the march across the Mincio, the stand at Burg‑Eberach – with the political chess game that involved Austria, England and the fledgling French Republic. He conveys the personalities of the negotiators, the weight of imperial directives, and the constant uncertainty that coloured every council room. Listeners are drawn into a world where ink‑signed treaties could be undone in an instant, revealing the fragile balance of power at a pivotal moment in European history.