We received the following press release. --RL NAPOLEON AND WELLINGTON by Andrew Roberts To be published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson in September What did the Emperor Napoleon really think about his great opponent and eventual nemesis, the Duke of Wellington? And were the emperor's feelings reciprocated by the duke? The two men never met or corresponded, and only ever fought one battle against one another, but that battle saved the freedom of Europe for a century. Yet for the previous seven years they talked and wrote about each other a great deal, as Wellington's victories in the Peninsular War, which Napoleon tried in vain to fight by proxy, helped to seal France's fate. After Waterloo they spoke and wrote about each other more and more in their battle to burnish their legends. Wellington saved Napoleon from the threat of summary execution after the battle, only to have Napoleon leave ten thousand francs to Wellington's would-be assassin in his will. Wellington's trophies of his victory over Napoleon including hiring the ex-Emperor's cook, sleeping with two of his mistresses, buying his sister Pauline's house for the British embassy in Paris, and building up a superb collection of Napoleona at Stratfield Saye and Apsley House. Wellington's oldest brother also married Napoleon's youngest brother's ex-sister-in-law. It has long been assumed by historians that, in the words of one: 'Whereas Napoleon consistently misunderstood and underestimated Wellington, Wellington was never in doubt about the genius of Napoleon.' Prize-winning historian Andrew Roberts profoundly disagrees, and, using hundreds of contemporary sources and other more circumstantial evidence, he presents a very different picture of the relationship between these two great military and political giants of the early 19th century. It is a fascinating study in the interaction between power and psychology, nostalgia and myth-making, military glory and professional rivalry. Pages: 416 Price £25 Size: Royal (234 x 156mm) 16 pages of colour and b & w illustrations ISBN: 029764079 GUEST SPEAKER: Andrew Roberts will be presenting a talk: NAPOLEON AND WATERLOO: Why Did Napoleon So Underate Wellington on the Morning of Waterloo? at the International Napoleonic Fair, Sunday 17th February 2002 at the Royal National Hotel, London. Back to 3rd Quarter 2001 List of News Items Back to Master List of News Items Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2001 by Coalition Web, Inc. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com