This important study of the cause and effects of Napoleon's removal from power tracks the significant events in his illustrious career through to his downfall and, while doing so, charts the clandestine diplomatic intrigues linking Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia in the quest for the Emperor's demise. Using substantial new research, David Hamilton-Williams questions many of the established views presented in Napoleonic literature to date. By disclosing hitherto secret terrorist organizations, uncovering the attempts to assassinate Napoleon, highlighting unbridled political duplicity, and demonstrating a host of previously misinterpreted signals and actions, he instigates a fresh assessment of the fall of Napoleon, new reasons to consider how much it was self-inflicted and how much it became inevitable given the combined forces - 'friend' as well as 'foe' - ranged against him. However great his military campaigns, how often he was victorious on the battlefield, Napoleon was destined to be deposed by political connivance and personal betrayal. This volume is the second of a trilogy by David Hamilton-Williams. In Waterloo: New Perspectives he shed new light on the greatest battle of all, causing historians to reappraise their opinions and revise their maps; in The Last Battles: Napoleon, Murat and the Italian Campaign he reviews the chequered partnership between the Emperor and the commander he made King of Naples.