Why Did Napoleon Bonaparte Fail?
The 400,000-Man Ego Trip
📜 What Happened
Master of Europe, undefeated in his own mind, Napoleon marched the Grande Armée — over 600,000 men — into Russia against every advisor's warning. The Russians retreated, burned their own cities (including Moscow), and let winter fight for them. Roughly 100,000 combat deaths; the rest starved and froze on the retreat. Fewer than 100,000 returned. Europe smelled weakness; two years later: Elba.
☠️ The Fatal Mistake
Twenty years of victories convinced him the rules — logistics, winter, overextension — applied to other people.
🧠 The Lesson (Free for You)
Success is the greatest teacher of the wrong lessons. Every unbeaten streak ends the same way: against an opponent who doesn't fight on your terms. Russia didn't beat Napoleon; Napoleon's résumé did.
📕 The Antidote Book
After power, seduction, and war, Greene turns to the operating system underneath them all: human nature itself — the wiring evolution installed that runs us beneath awareness. The 18 laws map the forces: irrationality…
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