This powerful play deals with the aftermath of French Emperor Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Russia in 1812, and the subsequent victory of the allied forces arrayed against him in 1814--a defeat that forced Napoleon into exile on the island of Elba. From Elba he returned to France for "The Hundred Days" revival of his monarchy in 1815, before finally being exiled to the South Atlantic. In the hands of Dumas, the Emperor is perhaps his most vivid fictional creation--more interesting and powerful than D'Artagnan, Edmond Dantès, or any of his other characters. How close this portrait resembles the historical man is for historians to decide--but the play's battle scenes are magnificent, the dramatic tension as the allied net closes around Napoleon builds to an almost unbearable level, and the drama is, in the end, great entertainment!