Описание: Minister of Police Joseph Fouchй was universally distrusted, feared, and hated in his time, but was nevertheless considered indispensable. In Medusas Head, Rand Mirante recounts the chameleonic and astonishing career of Napoleons security chief, who created the modern police state and wielded immense power that threatened the other main organs of government. Fouchй was one of the most important, fascinating, and controversial figures of the French Revolution, the First Empire, and the Bourbon Restoration, and this biography captures and unravels the highlights of Fouchйs life, including his infamous roles as:
A priest-in-training who became a radical Jacobin and de-Christianizer
A regicide who cast a dramatic swing vote for Louis XVIs immediate execution
The grim and remorseless Butcher of Lyon
Mastermind of the conspiracy that sent Robespierre to the guillotine
The head of Napoleons police - privy to everyones secrets, shaping the media, deploying 10,000 informants in Paris alone, and securing funding from the Empires casinos and brothels
Cunning enabler of Napoleons 1799 coup, and subsequent repeated betrayer of the Emperor
Acting president after Waterloo and traitor to France
Louis XVIIIs Minister of Police, in spite of his responsibility for the death of the Kings brother
A wealthy but disgraced exile who met an unusual end in Trieste on the Adriatic
Medusas Head provides fresh insights and perspectives on this enormously influential and fearsome individual.
