Fighting for Napoleon in Austria, Poland, Spain and the Alps Thomas Robert Bugeaud was the impoverished son of an aristocratic family which had narrowly escaped the guillotine of the Revolution. Necessity, rather than conviction, forced him reluctantly into the ranks of the Imperial Guard Grenadiers, where his position as a Velite put him on the fast track to higher rank. Bugeaud provides an interesting view of Napoleon's preparations for the invasion of Britain and recounts his experiences afloat in naval actions in the Channel. After Austerlitz and promotion he joins the Line Infantry as an officer. Poland and Pultusk brought battle and wounds. A transfer to Spain with the 116th Infantry flung Bugeaud headlong into the uprising of 1808 in Madrid and the bloody capture of Saragossa, followed by a war to the death with guerrillas until the retreat to France. The First Restoration brought colonelcy in the Bourbon army, but the 100 Days called Bugeaud back to the tricolour for fighting in the Alpine Campaign. From private to colonel in Napoleon's army-the early career of a man who would win his baton in the sands of North Africa.