As the tide of the French revolution swept away the noble privileges many of high birth fled the country, some officers stayed despite the danger of the revolutionaries, including both Napoleon and Anne-Jean-Marie-Rene Savary, loyal to the state and sniffing advancement. Savary enlisted as a volunteer and was posted to the Armies of the Sambre and Meuse rivers and then the Rhine, his distinguished services led him to selected as an aide-de-camp of General Desaix who was known as a shrewd judge of characters both of men and of soldiers. It was in the sands of the desert during the Egyptian Campaign in 1798 that Savary met Napoleon he would serve faithfully for the next 17 years in the almost unbroken conflict that scarred Europe. He served admirably with his old commander Desaix during the Italian Campaign in 1800, after Desaix fell at the battle of Marengo Napoleon decided to take Savary into his confidence and appointed him head of his bodyguard. Promoted to General de Division in 1805 shortly before the Austerlitz campaign. Once again he displayed great gallantry and courage during the fighting, but Napoleon saw that his abilities were also of use away from the field, and started to use him as a diplomat upon who he could always rely. After further missions, particularly in intrigues in Spain, Savary was appointed Minister of Police in 1810, he discharged his duties with a zeal that would not have been out of place in the Spanish Inquisition but was at fault during the attempted coup d'etat of General Malet in 1812 whilst the Grande Armee was struggling through the snows of Russia. He served on as a faithful servant of Napoleon until the bitter end after Waterloo in 1815, and was considered dangerous enough to be refused permission to go the Elba with his former master. The First Volume includes his early years in the army, Egypt, the Italian campaign, treasons of Moreau and Pichegru, the 1805 Austerlitz Campaign and the Jena campaign 1806.
