It is 1806 and Napoleon is exultant over his spectacular victory at Austerlitz. Further triumphs on the battlefields of Jena and Wagram bring half of Europe - from Russia to Spain - under his command. The man in the grey overcoat creates kingdoms and places them in his family's charge. He subdues kings, conquers women and defies the Pope himself over the Continental Blockade.

Max Gallo re-creates the most thrilling and turbulent five years of the Little Corporal's reign. We follow Napoleon's relentless pursuit of power from the battlefield to the bedroom, from his traumatic divorce from Empress Josephine through to his remarriage to the young Austrian Archduchess, Marie Louise, and the birth of their son.