Rites of Peace: The Fall of Napoleon and the Congress of Vienna - Hardcover

This sequel to Zamoyski's fine Moscow 1812 (2004) shifts from military to diplomatic affairs surrounding the defeat of Napoleonic France and the disposal of its empire. Zamoyski narrates their course from 1813, when Russia's Alexander I decided to continue the war rather than settle with Napoleon, to 1815 and the latter's final Waterloo. The enigmatic personality of Alexander, a mystic, a self-regarding liberal, and a maladroit negotiator, joins Zamoyski's well-drawn portraits of the czar's chief interlocutors: Austria's Metternich, Prussia's Hardenberg, and Britain's Castlereagh. The intimacy of this cavalcade, which followed the allied armies into France, adjourned to London for a fête, and got down to brass tacks in the landmark Congress of Vienna, cues Zamoyski for the atmospheric details of travel, fashion, dances, and assignations. Zamoyski more centrally attends to the great power fundamentals of redrawing Europe's map as they played out in têtes-à-têtes among the principals and with France's crafty cynic Talleyrand. Underscoring the influence of personality on history, Zamoyski's fast-moving chronicle will enthrall the diplomacy audience. Taylor, Gilbert