In 1811, Napoleon stood at his zenith" He had defeated all his continental rivals, come to an entente with Russia, and his blockade of Britain seemed, at long last, to be a success. But as Michael Broers recounts, in four years, it was gone, swept away by the tides of war against the most powerful alliance in European history. Making a fresh appraisal of a momentous decade, Broers pinpoints the turning points in Napoleon's fortunes, and considers how even in defeat the emperor shaped his legend.