Bernard Ireland’s popular and accessible account of the fall of Toulon brings to life a savage episode in European history. In the summer of 1793, French Royalists surrendered the great naval base at Toulon to the British, intending this to be the springboard for a full-scale counter-revolution. The story of Royalist dashed hopes, and the securing of the Revolution, is one of treason mixed with heroism, along with the rise of a young opportunist named Napoleon Bonaparte.