Napoleon sees the first 'automaton' of his life in the castle of Baron von Kempelen in 1806, a 'chess automaton' that Kempelen constructed in 1776 for a special purpose. Napoleon cannot resist a game against this automaton and -- loses, loses like Frederick II of Prussia and his guest Voltaire decades before him. Only, Napoleon follows the story of the automaton and its secret is revealed to him -- the adventurous path of a man through half of Europe.
—FF dabei