Michel Kerautret: Documents diplomatiques du Consulat et de l’Empire. Tome 2 : Les grands traités de l’Empire (1804-1810) (Diplomatic documents from the Consulate and the Empire. Volume 2: Major Treaties of the Empire)

The coronation of Napoleon and the proclamation of the Empire heralded a new era in relations of Napoleonic France with the other European states. This work covers a key period in French foreign policy, at a point when Napoleon was indecisive regarding his alliances. Austria had been beaten at Austerlitz in 1805 and heavily sanctioned at the treaty of Pressburg. Prussia, meanwhile, had been crushed in the swift campaign of 1806, reduced to a ruined, occupied minor power. Russia had also been defeated, the following year, and Napoleon was now considering a division of Europe through the treaty of Tilsit. 1810 marked a great turning point: Napoleon married a Habsburg, thus forming a familial and political alliance with the great central power. The author provides a summary of the diplomatic situation surrounding each treaty, the negotiations and the ratifications.

Paris: Fondation Napoléon – Nouveau Monde Editions, 2004, Series Sources, 554 p. To order, click here: Nouveau Monde Editions.

This work is the second volume in a series of Diplomatic documents of the Consulate and the Empire; see also Volume 1: 1799-1804 and Volume 3: 1810-1815.