Napoleon’s journey from sublime to ridiculous
Adam Zamoyski’s magnificent new biography captures the man in full

"For the commander who caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of troops was also the ruler who forbade corporal punishment in his schools. The brilliant logistician who shod an army, and unrolled the roads that halved travel times across France, also had baffling practical blind spots. In Egypt his men—lacking water bottles—died of thirst. In Russia they were reduced to cutting meat from still-living horses, lest it freeze. A dazzlingly charismatic warrior in the field, at home Napoleon was considerably less stylish. At court he was gauche and ill at ease; as one visitor noted, he “picked his nose very much”..."

https://www.economist.com/books-and-arts/2018/11/03/napoleons-journey-from-sublime-to-ridiculous