The Napoleonic ‘Dad’s Army’

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Author :
Publisher : Frontline Books
ISBN 13 : 1399037765
Total Pages : 270 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis The Napoleonic ‘Dad’s Army’ by : Paul L Dawson

Download or read book The Napoleonic ‘Dad’s Army’ written by Paul L Dawson and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2024-04-30 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the crisis year of 1792 when war against France was at its closest, a variety of societies and associations of ‘Loyal Britons’ were set up throughout Britain. Their aim was to organise patriotic, anti-French forces in defense of king and country, and to help maintain the established order. The need to provide an internal defense force resulted in the Volunteer Act of 1794. It witnessed the formation of hundreds of volunteer regiments on the upswell in loyalist sentiment following the disorder and instability witnessed across the Channel in Revolutionary France. By 1798, there were 118,000 volunteers but, faced with the possibility of a French invasion of Southern England, William Pitt’s government aimed to expand this number substantially. By 1804 there were an astonishing 380,000 volunteers under arms and the various Corps made up half to one third of all the home service forces. When we add in those volunteers who agreed to serve overseas, as garrison troops in India for example, the number grows to approximately 800,000 – meaning that around one in every five adult males participated in military activities. This amazing groundswell of patriotic fervour has seldom been investigated before. Using diaries and archive sources, this book seeks to explore the ‘Dad’s Army’ of the Napoleonic Wars. These men were far more than local bands of volunteers, they represented a militarisation of society not previously seen and which was repeated again when the world was thrown into war in the twentieth century.

The Napoleonic 'Dad's Army'

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Author :
Publisher : Frontline Books
ISBN 13 : 9781399037723
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (377 download)

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Book Synopsis The Napoleonic 'Dad's Army' by : PAUL L. DAWSON

Download or read book The Napoleonic 'Dad's Army' written by PAUL L. DAWSON and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2024-04-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the crisis year of 1792 when war against France was at its closest, a variety of societies and associations of 'Loyal Britons' were set up throughout Britain. Their aim was to organise patriotic, anti-French forces in defense of king and country, and to help maintain the established order. The need to provide an internal defense force resulted in the Volunteer Act of 1794. It witnessed the formation of hundreds of volunteer regiments on the upswell in loyalist sentiment following the disorder and instability witnessed across the Channel in Revolutionary France. By 1798, there were 118,000 volunteers but, faced with the possibility of a French invasion of Southern England, William Pitt's government aimed to expand this number substantially. By 1804 there were an astonishing 380,000 volunteers under arms and the various Corps made up half to one third of all the home service forces. When we add in those volunteers who agreed to serve overseas, as garrison troops in India for example, the number grows to approximately 800,000 - meaning that around one in every five adult males participated in military activities. This amazing groundswell of patriotic fervour has seldom been investigated before. Using diaries and archive sources, this book seeks to explore the 'Dad's Army' of the Napoleonic Wars. These men were far more than local bands of volunteers, they represented a militarisation of society not previously seen and which was repeated again when the world was thrown into war in the twentieth century.

Napoleon's Men

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Author :
Publisher : A&C Black
ISBN 13 : 1852855304
Total Pages : 277 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (528 download)

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Book Synopsis Napoleon's Men by : Alan Forrest

Download or read book Napoleon's Men written by Alan Forrest and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2006-08-15 with total page 277 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is an original piece of research into the Napoleonic wars from the perspective of the ordinary soldier, available in paperback for the first time. >

In Search of the Real Dad's Army

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Author :
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1844683869
Total Pages : 410 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (446 download)

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Book Synopsis In Search of the Real Dad's Army by : Stephen M. Cullen

Download or read book In Search of the Real Dad's Army written by Stephen M. Cullen and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2012-02-29 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fascinating examination of one of the best-known British forces of the Second World War . . . An efficient and increasingly professional military unit.” —History of War What was the Home Guard? Who were the men and women who served in it? And what can be said of their real role and significance once the popular myths have been stripped away? Despite the fame of the Home Guard—of Dad’s Army—the true story of this wartime organization tends to be neglected. The myths obscure the reality. Stephen Cullen’s aim in this thoroughgoing new study is to cut through the misunderstandings in order to reassess the Home Guard and its contribution to Britain’s war effort—and to deepen our understanding of the men and women who were members of it. He sets the Home Guard in the long historical context of domestic defense planning, then focuses on the preparations made before the outbreak of the Second World War. In detail he traces the changing role of the Home Guard during its wartime existence as it adapted to meet the multitude of challenges it faced—from civil defense and intelligence gathering to training for guerrilla warfare. “This enjoyable and well-illustrated book covers the ‘rags to riches’ story of the Home Guard from the 1940 volunteer in civilian clothing, armed with a keepsake from an earlier war, to the fully trained and equipped part-time soldier.” —The Armourer “An interesting and accurate account of a force that was in fact a well drilled, well organised and by wars end, a very professional fighting unit by the time of its stand down in 1944.” —WW2 Connection

Guibert

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Author :
Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806156929
Total Pages : 297 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Guibert by : Jonathan Abel

Download or read book Guibert written by Jonathan Abel and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2016-09-13 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If there was one man, other than Napoleon himself, who determined the course of the Napoleonic Wars, it was Jacques-Antoine-Hippolyte, comte de Guibert, the foremost military theorist in France from 1770 to his death in 1790. Taking in the full scope of the times, from the ideas of the Enlightenment to the passions of the French Revolution, Jonathan Abel’s Guibert is the first book in English to tell the remarkable story of the man who, through his pen and political activity, truly earned the title of Father of the Grande Armée. In his Essai général de tactique, published in 1771, Guibert set forth the definitive institutional doctrine for the French army of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. But unlike many other martial theorists, Guibert, who served in the French Ministry of War from 1775 to 1777 and again from 1787 to 1789, was able to put his ideas into practice. Drawing on a wealth of primary source documents—including Guibert’s own papers and the letters and memoirs of his friends and associates—Jonathan Abel re-creates the temper of an era of great turbulence and remarkable creativity. More than a military theorist, Guibert was very much a man of his day; he attended salons, wrote poetry and plays, and was inducted into the Académie française. A fiery figure, he rose and fell from power, lived and loved fiercely, and died swearing that he would “find justice.” In Abel’s account, Guibert does at last receive a measure of justice: a thorough, painstakingly documented picture of this complex man in the thick of extraordinary times, building the foundation for Napoleon's success between 1796 and 1807—and in significant ways, changing the course of European history.

Blundering to Glory

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Author :
Publisher : Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1442210095
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (422 download)

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Book Synopsis Blundering to Glory by : Owen Connelly

Download or read book Blundering to Glory written by Owen Connelly and published by Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. This book was released on 2006-06-02 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renowned for its accuracy, brevity, and readability, this book has long been the gold standard of concise histories of the Napoleonic Wars. Now in an updated and revised edition, it is unique in its portrayal of one of the world's great generals as a scrambler who never had a plan, strategic or tactical, that did not break down or change of necessity in the field. Distinguished historian Owen Connelly argues that Napoleon was the master of the broken play, so confident of his ability to improvise, cover his own mistakes, and capitalize on those of the enemy that he repeatedly plunged his armies into uncertain, seemingly desperate situations, only to emerge victorious as he "blundered" to glory. Beginning with a sketch of Napoleon's early life, the book progresses to his command of artillery at Toulon and the "whiff of grapeshot" in Paris that netted him control of the Army of Italy, where his incredible performance catapulted him to fame. The author vividly traces Napoleon's campaigns as a general of the French Revolution and emperor of the French, knowledgeably analyzing each battle's successes and failures. The author depicts Napoleon's "art of war" as a system of engaging the enemy, waiting for him to make a mistake, improvising a plan on the spot-and winning. Far from detracting from Bonaparte's reputation, his blunders rather made him a great general, a "natural" who depended on his intuition and ability to read battlefields and his enemy to win. Exploring this neglected aspect of Napoleon's battlefield genius, Connelly at the same time offers stirring and complete accounts of all the Napoleonic campaigns.

Napoleon's Infantry Handbook

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Author :
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1783462957
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (834 download)

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Book Synopsis Napoleon's Infantry Handbook by : Terry Crowdy

Download or read book Napoleon's Infantry Handbook written by Terry Crowdy and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-01-30 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If not a field marshal's baton, what did Napoleon's soldiers really carry in their backpacks? ??Napoleon's Infantry Handbook is an essential reference guide, filled with fascinating detail on the training, tactics, equipment, service and administration of Napoleon's infantry regiments. Based on contemporary training manuals, regulations and orders, Napoleon's Infantry Handbook details the everyday routines and practises which governed the imperial army up to the Battle of Waterloo and made it one of history's most formidable military machines. ??Through years of research, Terry Crowdy has amassed a huge wealth of information on every aspect of the infantryman's existence, from weapons drill and maintenance, uniform regulations, pay, diet, cooking regulations, hygiene and latrine digging, medical care, burial of the dead, how to apply for leave and so on. This remarkable book fills in the gaps left by campaign histories and even eyewitness memoirs, which often omit such details. This book doesn't merely recount what Napoleon's armies did, it explains how they did it. The result is a unique guide to the everyday life of Napoleon's infantry soldiers.

Napoleon's Army

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Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1473816572
Total Pages : 352 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (738 download)

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Book Synopsis Napoleon's Army by : H. C. B. Rogers

Download or read book Napoleon's Army written by H. C. B. Rogers and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1990-12-31 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many books have been written about Napoleon and his campaigns, but very little about the soldiers of his armies and of the organization and conditions under which they lived and served. In this classic study, now reissued in paperback, H.C.B. Rogers examines Napoleon's army in terms of its staff systems, its arms and its supporting services as it existed and changed during the long period that separated the battles of Valmy and Waterloo. This is not another history of Napoleon's campaigns. Apart from the brief narrative of the opening chapter designed to serve as an aide-memoire, military operations are only cited to illustrate organization, tactics, equipment and administration. The author seeks to show how, as Lord Wavell put it, Napoleon inspired 'a ragged, mutinous, half-starved army and made it fight as it did'.

Life in Napoleon's Army

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Author :
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1784380245
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (843 download)

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Book Synopsis Life in Napoleon's Army by : Philip Haythornthwaite

Download or read book Life in Napoleon's Army written by Philip Haythornthwaite and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1995-02-01 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Napoleonic Library is an outstanding collection of seminal works on the Napoleonic Wars. It features evocative contemporary memoirs and makes available once again the classic works on the subject by military historians.

To The Call of Bugles

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Publisher : McNidder & Grace
ISBN 13 : 0857162519
Total Pages : 265 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (571 download)

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Book Synopsis To The Call of Bugles by : Bill Openshaw

Download or read book To The Call of Bugles written by Bill Openshaw and published by McNidder & Grace. This book was released on 2023-08-03 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This highly readable illustrated biography on the Percy Tenantry Volunteers has been written with exclusive access to the current Duke of Northumberland's treasure trove of archive records. This book is for anyone interested in military history, especially Revolutionary and the Napoleonic war period, and for those looking at the local history of Northumberland, and especially Alnwick Castle. The history of Britain's conflict with France between 1793 and 1815 is well documented. Nevertheless, one aspect that has scant coverage, is that of the role of Volunteers. In 1798, afraid of impending invasion by France's all-conquering armies the British desperately needed to defend their shores. To The Call of Bugles reveals, for the first time, how among those who stood forward in Home Guard style military bodies, there was no finer example than that of the valiant Percy Tenantry Volunteers, created by the 2nd Duke of Northumberland, General Hugh Percy. This amateur body of men, 1,500 strong, consisting of cavalry, artillery and riflemen, was put together, trained, armed, dressed and operated by General Hugh Percy. This book provides stories from the original volunteers, an in-depth understanding of how such a corps was organised and reveals how they were fashioned into an elite and innovative fighting force.

Fighting for Napoleon

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Publisher : Grub Street Publishers
ISBN 13 : 1473878454
Total Pages : 197 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (738 download)

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Book Synopsis Fighting for Napoleon by : Bernard Wilkin

Download or read book Fighting for Napoleon written by Bernard Wilkin and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2015-11-30 with total page 197 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: True, first-hand accounts of combat and soldiering from the men who fought for Napoleon Bonparte and the First French Empire: “Fascinating stuff” (Stuart Asquith, author of Military Modelling). The French side of the Napoleonic Wars is often presented from a strategic point of view, or in terms of military organization and battlefield tactics, or through officers’ memoirs. Fighting for Napoleon:French Soldiers’ Letters, 1799–1815, based on more than sixteen hundred letters written by French soldiers of the Napoleonic armies, shares the perspectives and experiences of the lowest, ordinary ranks of the army who fought on the frontlines. Authors Bernard Wilkin and René Wilkin provide an informative read of common soldiers’ lives for military and cultural historians as well as a fascinating counterpoint to the memoirs of Cpt. Jean-Roch Coignet, Col. Marcellin de Marbot, or Sgt. Adrien Bourgogne. “A superb guide to the experience and motivation of military service that is based on a wide trawl of relevant letters . . . A first-rate work that is of much wider significance.” —Professor Jeremy Black, author of The Battle of Waterloo “Provides the reader with a good insight into the lives of ordinary French of the Napoleonic Wars . . . Direct accounts of campaigns and battle, recruitment and training, barrack life, the experience of captivity and being wounded are all here, based on letters written most by uneducated men to their immediate family . . . This really is fascinating stuff, and surely a ‘must’ for students of Napoleonic warfare.” —Stuart Asquith, author of Military Modelling: Guide to Solo Wargaming

Forging Napoleon's Grande ArmŽe

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Author :
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 081473748X
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (147 download)

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Book Synopsis Forging Napoleon's Grande ArmŽe by : Michael J. Hughes

Download or read book Forging Napoleon's Grande ArmŽe written by Michael J. Hughes and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2012-05-07 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The men who fought in Napoleon’s Grande Armée built a new empire that changed the world. Remarkably, the same men raised arms during the French Revolution for liberté, égalité, and fraternité. In just over a decade, these freedom fighters, who had once struggled to overthrow tyrants, rallied to the side of a man who wanted to dominate Europe. What was behind this drastic change of heart? In this ground-breaking study, Michael J. Hughes shows how Napoleonic military culture shaped the motivation of Napoleon’s soldiers. Relying on extensive archival research and blending cultural and military history, Hughes demonstrates that the Napoleonic regime incorporated elements from both the Old Regime and French Revolutionary military culture to craft a new military culture, characterized by loyalty to both Napoleon and the preservation of French hegemony in Europe. Underscoring this new, hybrid military culture were five sources of motivation: honor, patriotism, a martial and virile masculinity, devotion to Napoleon, and coercion. Forging Napoleon's Grande Armée vividly illustrates how this many-pronged culture gave Napoleon’s soldiers reasons to fight.

Armies of the Napoleonic Era

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Armies of the Napoleonic Era by : Otto von Pivka

Download or read book Armies of the Napoleonic Era written by Otto von Pivka and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Napoleon's Military Maxims

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Publisher : Greenhill Books
ISBN 13 : 180500011X
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (5 download)

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Book Synopsis Napoleon's Military Maxims by : David G Chandler

Download or read book Napoleon's Military Maxims written by David G Chandler and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2023-08-30 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic work is a distillation of the knowledge, intuition and wisdom of one of history’s greatest military commanders. Napoleon’s success was built upon practical experience combined with his own study of classical warfare and his natural grasp of the key principles of war. His thoughts and theories on the art of waging war are presented here in the form of accessible and readable maxims. This edition also features additional contextual commentary by historians David Chandler and Beatrice Heuser, which allows modern readers to compare Napoleon’s principles with the experience of war today.

Reminiscences of Army Life

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781331160311
Total Pages : 104 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (63 download)

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Book Synopsis Reminiscences of Army Life by : Adelbert J. Doisy de Villargenness

Download or read book Reminiscences of Army Life written by Adelbert J. Doisy de Villargenness and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-11 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Reminiscences of Army Life: Under Napoleon Bonaparte Some six or seven years since, my father, at the request of a member of his family, undertook to write down a few recollections of his former career while serving in the army under Napoleon. This work does not pretend to be a connected history of that period. As its title indicates, it is merely a series of reminiscences of events mostly within the experience of the writer; events which had impressed themselves more forcibly upon his mind than did other occurrences of equal or perhaps superior importance. At the time of writing these memoirs, the author was about eighty-four years of age, but his memory was unimpaired in regard to all matters relating to the early period of his life. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Napoleon's Grande Armée

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Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781703395402
Total Pages : 88 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (954 download)

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Book Synopsis Napoleon's Grande Armée by : Charles River Editors

Download or read book Napoleon's Grande Armée written by Charles River Editors and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-28 with total page 88 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes a bibliography for further reading Nearly 50 years after Napoleon met his Waterloo, generals across the West continued to study his tactics and engage their armies the same way armies fought during the Napoleonic Era. Despite advances in military technology and the advent of railroads for transportation, all of which made defensive warfare more effective, acclaimed military geniuses like Robert E. Lee used flank attacks and infantry charges against superior numbers in an effort to win decisive victories, and it would not be until World War I that concepts of modern warfare made the Napoleonic Era of the early 19th century outdated. For those questioning why generals continued using tactics from the Napoleonic Era even as technology changed the battlefield, the Battle of Austerlitz may provide the best answer. Napoleon is regarded as one of history's greatest generals, and Austerlitz was his greatest victory. In 1805, Britain, Austria, and Russia allied together to form the Third Coalition against the French, and the Third Coalition's forces consisted of armies from Austria and Russia, with Britain providing naval support as well as its financial powers. Napoleon had already defeated and mostly destroyed an Austrian army in October at Ulm before it could link up with the Russians, setting the stage for the Battle of Austerlitz to be the culmination of the war against the Third Coalition as a whole in early December. Despite the smashing victory at Ulm, Napoleon's French army would still be well outnumbered at Austerlitz by a joint Russo-Austrian army in a battle that would also come to be known as the Battle of Three Emperors. Napoleon's enemies would famously say he was worth 50,000 men in the field, but the simple truth is he wasn't able to dominate Europe on his own. In fact, the subordinates and soldiers underneath him participated in several of history's most famous battles and charted the course of Napoleon's rise and fall. The French army which became known as the Grande Armée existed for just 10 years, from 1805 - 1815, and the question of what it was about this army that allowed it to win so many notable victories and to survive defeats which would have destroyed lesser armies has fascinated historians and writers ever since. After all, in terms of equipment, weapons, and battlefield tactics, there was little to distinguish the Grande Armée from other European armies in the early 1800s, but in battles such as Austerlitz (1805), Jena-Auerstedt (1806) and Wagram (1809) it won stunning victories, often against numerically superior enemies. No single factor can account for these victories, which could be attributed to a combination of high morale, a truly egalitarian approach to promotion from the ranks, a radical army organization, and the inspired leadership of Napoleon, all of which combined to make the Grande Armée virtually unbeatable for the first few years of its existence. As noteworthy as those battles all were, Waterloo is the most famous battle in modern history if not all of history, and appropriately so. Gathering an army of 100,000 men, Napoleon marched into what is now Belgium, intent on driving his force between the advancing British army under the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian forces under Marshal Blucher. It was the kind of daring strategy that only Napoleon could pull off, as he had at places like Jena and Austerlitz. At Waterloo, however, it would end disastrously, as Napoleon's armies were unable to dislodge Wellington and unable to keep the Prussians from linking up with the British. The battle would end with the French suffering nearly 60% casualties, the end of Napoleon's reign, and the restructuring of the European map. Simply put, the next 200 years of European history can be traced back to the result of the battle that day in 1815.

The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0140165592
Total Pages : 209 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (41 download)

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Book Synopsis The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier by : Jakob Walter

Download or read book The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier written by Jakob Walter and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1993-02-01 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eighteen-year-old German stonemason Jakob Walter served in the Grand Army of Napoleon between 1806 and 1813. His diary intimately records his trials: the long, grueling marches in Prussia and Poland, the disastrous Russian campaign, and the demoralizing defeat in a war few supported or understood. It is at once a compelling chronicle of a young soldier's loss of innocence and an eloquent and moving portrait of the profound effects of all wars on the men who fight them. Also included are letters home from the Russian front, previously unpublished in English, as well as period engravings and maps from the Russian/Soviet and East European collections of the New York Public Library. "Vivid and gruesome … but also a story of human fortitude. … It reminds us that the troops Napoleon drove so mercilessly were actually more victims than victors—a side of Napoleon that should not be forgotten." —Chicago Tribune