De Graaf’s Fighting Terror After Napoleon joins several recent scholarly studies that collectively transform our understanding of the new international order forged after Napoleon’s overthrow. Unlike most of the others, this one is written much from the perspective of current debates about matters relating to international co-operation and security. Such an approach is both a strength and a weakness. On the downside, it underplays the extent to which the main decision makers in this period—Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereagh), Klemens von Metternich, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, and Arthur Wellesley (Duke of Wellington)—were products of the Old Regime, shaped by traditions and values that were pre-Revolutionary. More positively, de Graaf makes a strong case for re-habilitating a period not generally associated with innovation.
This book makes a compelling case that Napoleon did Europe a great service by escaping from Elba in 1815. Through this act, he ensured himself a second even more resounding...