Description

Paris, Christmas Eve 1800. The fuse of an improvised bomb was lit, and the enormous explosion wreaked havoc. The target for this early act of terrorism was Napoleon Bonaparte, who had seized power the year before and become the enemy of republicans and royalists alike. The terrorists belonged to the royal faction and although they failed to kill Napoleon, their atrocity hurled political violence in a new and terrifying direction: toward a now familiar place where civilian casualties would be collateral damage and where bombs in packed streets would be the new agents of terror. This book follows the extremists as they prepare their plans, then the security services as they hunt down the perpetrators, baffled by the novelty of terrorism. Using first-hand accounts, trial transcripts and archival material, and with the drama of a detective story, Killing Napoleon recounts one of the great crimes of its era, a story still largely unknown in the English-speaking world, that was a powerful precursor to the terrorist threats we know today.