Book Description
Poised to strike at England in the summer of 1805, Napoleon found himself facing a coalition of European powers determined to limit his territorial ambitions. Still, in less than one hundred days, Napoleon's armies marched from the English Channel to Central Europe, crushing the armies of Austria and Russia-the first step in his conquest of Europe. Schneid demonstrates how this was possible. Napoleon's victory over the Third Coalition was the product of years of diplomatic preparation and the formation of French alliances. He played upon the prevailing conditions of the European state system and the internal politics of the Holy Roman Empire to improve France's strategic position. This war must be understood in the context of the French Revolution and its influence on major and minor European states. In some cases, Napoleonic diplomacy returned to France's traditional and historic relationships; in others, he capitalized upon longstanding competition and animosities to gather allies and create wedges. Schneid approaches the campaign from a broad diplomatic, economic, and military perspective, including not only the French perspective, but the points of view of the other powers involved as well. This telling account reveals that the road to Vienna was paved long before Napoleon's armies marched upon the enemies arrayed against them. ... Read more

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The Battle of Waterloo was justifiably the most celebrated battle of the nineteenth century and remains one of the most famous and significant battles of all time. It contained the classic elements of bravery, suspense and colossal blunders. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Excellent...well written
In the book Mosse provides the reader with a great account of German history.He discussses the power of political symbolism, the arts, public festivals, and sports and as means of promoting nationalism.I found the final few chapter especially interesting. It is here that he talks about the Third Reich.He explains how religion and politics can closely resemble one another.This is a "must read" for anyone interested in WWII.This book is well written from cover to cover.Mosse reminds us that history is "always contemporary". ... Read more

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This book presents ten selections from the most important scholarship on the French Revolution over the past quarter century, introduced and contextualized for student readers.Historians typically categorize the historiography of the French Revolution according to each author's approval or disapproval of the Revolution, political agenda (for example Marxist, liberal, conservative, or feminist), or methodology (for example social, political, or cultural history). This book demonstrates the inadequacy of these categories of analysis for a nuanced understanding of the Revolution and emphasizes the surprising connections between historians typically seen simply as opponents in a debate. In its thorough introduction, The French Revolution: The Essential Readings demonstrates the success of an eclectic, interdisciplinary approach to this central period in modern European history and the larger relevance of the historiography to the humanities more generally. ... Read more

Product Description
Translated from the Russian of A. Mikhailofsky-Danilefsky, a Russian officer who was an aide-de-camp to Tsar Alexander I. Illustrated by plans and maps of the operations of the army. ... Read more

Product Description
A History of England in Six Volumes written and published for educational institutions and schools. Contains many historical maps, genealogical charts, and illustrations. Volume VI contains information from 1732 (The Peace Ministry of Pitt to the Western Front and the end of WWI. Excellent reference text. ... Read more

Book Description
Yermolov is a legend in Russia. A man who rose from obscurity to command armies and conquer provinces, he was the epitome of a military man of action. To his enemies he was a byword for brutality, but, to his homeland, a hero.

His memoirs are as dramatic as his rise to fame and fortune. Disgraced and exiled by the mad Czar Paul he was brought back into service only to witness Russian defeat at the battle of Austerlitz in 1805. Honoured and advanced by his new patron, the dashing Czar Alexander, Yermolov then made rapid progress. He witnessed at firsthand Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812 but went on to see revenge completed when the Russians marched into Paris in April 1814.

When peace was declared in Europe, this hard and capable soldier was sent into the Caucasus to conquer Chechnya, sparking Russia's long and complex struggle to govern this unstable region.

Yermolov was a talented general who captured the spirit of his times in his brilliant and engaging memoirs. His acidic wit, acute powers of observation and grasp of drama make this book stand out as a unique source on the wars which defeated Napoleon and made Russia a superpower.

Contains 5 maps and 20 illustrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Shining Star in a Nest of Vipers
Ravenhall books is clearly becoming one of the leaders in the publication of Napoleonic literature.For this volume, the added plus of having Alexander Mikaberidze involved with publication is an added incentive for having this outstanding memoir in anyone's historical library.

There is a dearth of first-hand information in English on the Russian army of the Napoleonic Wars.Some very important information is finally coming to light, and this volume highlights how valuable that information is in understanding not only the Russian participation in that long conflict, or, more correctly, succession of conflicts between Napoleonic France and her allies, and the Coalitions that continued to rise after each defeat to attempt to 'beat the French,'but in understanding the Russians themselves, no mean feat.

The Russian army was certainly at the forefront of that effort.Defeated badly, if not disastrously, in 1805 and 1807 and outlasting the French in the campaign of 1812, suffereing just as badly as the Grande Armee did, the Russians were at the forefront of the allied effort in 1813-1814.

General Yermelov is one of the most interesting of the Russian commanders and his story not only deserves telling, but is necessary to understanding the Russian effort.Present in every major campaign of the Napoleonic Wars, his memoirs are much more accurate than anything from, for example, Russian General Benningsen, and they also complement very nicely Sir Robert Wilson's accounts of 1807 and 1812, as well as Clausewitz's account of 1812.

The Russian general officer corps could be a treacherous place to exist.Favor from the Tsar was necessary, and Alexander himself could be an 'iffy' proposition.One observer during the period noted that even if Alexander put you on his 'spit' list, you felt bound to thank him for it.Yermelov, a very competent commander and soldier, not only surviced in that nest of vipers, but thrived, and was undoubtedly one of the best of the Russian field commanders.His memoirs deserve to be read and reread for the period.

This volume is highly recommended.Additionally, if Alexander Mikaberidze's name is on a book, I would highly recommend anyone buy it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Blow-hard
This work has some interest as military history, but it would primarily be interesting, in my opinion, to those who would like to read about the relations between the various allied armies (Russian, German, English) in the campaigns of 1812-1815. The author at various points served as liason with the Russian and English armies, and it was interesting to learn about the tensions and rivalries between them, and more importantly, the sovereigns.While the book also relates the purely military aspects of the campaigns, these parts of the book are generally pretty tedious, as the author's main focus is often to point out how he had been right again, or at least, how some other historian had it wrong (he often goes on for pages on a point-by-point critique of another historian's analysis of some particular battle or campaign).In short, the author comes across as a pompous blow-hard, but if you can get past that and are interested in the relations between the various allied armies and their sovereigns, you will probably enjoy this book to some degree.

Important memoir from leading Napoleonic figure
Müffling is best known for his role as Prussian liaison officer in the Duke of Wellington's headquarters during the Waterloo Campaign. As such, he was one of the architects of the allied victory.

This was, however, notMüffling's only achievement. He was for much of his military career a staffofficer with a speciality in cartography. His maps were used throughout the19th century. He later became chief-of-staff of the Prussian Army, then oneof the world's strongest. This made him one of the most powerful men in theworld at that time.

While Müffling's memoirs give an insight into manyevents in this dramatic period of history, one needs to take into accountthe circumspect way he relates certain errors he made. For instance, theDuke of Wellington used Müffling as a conduit for misleading information toBlücher, the commander of the Prussian army, during the Waterloo Campaign.If Müffling had really been alert, Wellington would not have got away withthat so easily. Müffling's account of these events show that his memory wasselective.

As one of the few Prussian accounts of this period that hasbeen translated into English, this work should be read by all peopleinterested in it. ... Read more

Book Description
With one of Wellington's heavy cavalry regiments during the war in Iberia

Samuel Broughton was an assistant surgeon for a regiment of militia before transferring to the 2nd Life Guards. He served with this elite cavalry regiment throughout the campaigns in Portugal, Spain and into the South of France and in the concluding battle for Toulouse. Broughton's take on the campaign as it appears in this collection of his letters-originally published in 1815-reveals a man with a keen eye for the details of the countryside through which he travelled and the habits and cultures of the people he met. This a very personal account of war from an observant and thoughtful medical man who clearly wanted to share his experiences of a journey through wartime. It is rich in period colour making it ideal background reference material of this fascinating episode of the Napoleonic War. ... Read more

Book Description
Alexander Grab explores the impact of Napoleon's domination throughout his empire and the response of the Europeans to his rule. This important book focuses on the developments and the events in the ten states that comprised the Grand Empire: France itself, Belgium, Germany, The Illyrian Provinces, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. Grab discusses Napoleon's exploitation of occupied Europe and particularly his reform policies, and assesses their success in transforming Europe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lively if superficial treatment of the material issues.
Finley combines an essay format with accessible, reader-friendly language and clear, well organized points in which the most important are further embellished with choice quotes, neatly capturing both the main thrust of his material and something of the flavor of the era and its protagonists.
Reference notes blissfully follow each essay chapter.
Also in Finley's favor is his ability to immediately characterize vastly different personalities, from the rigid Reynier, the corrupt and vain Massena, to the absurd royal couple, Ferdinand and Maria Carolina Bourbon.
Finley accomplishes this feat by gleaningbits from his excellent sources, many of which are far superior, in scope and detail, to Finley's own book.

Herein lies the reason for this reviewer's criticism: Finley's breezy and adept writing style could have accommodated the additional text needed to develop a fuller reading of all the pertinent political and military factors that made Calabria the "ulcer" of not only foreign military domination but even for King Murat's long-held desire for Italian unification.
This last observation is itself a critical indicator that Finley's resources, such as R.M.Johnston's extraordinary history of the Napoleonic Empire in Southern Italy, and the eight volume (not ten volume as cited in bibliography) compilation ofMurat's letters, deserved a more astute discussion concerning Napoleon's most mischaracterize associate.
The reader, upon seeing thehopeful sign that Murat's "Lettres" have been included, may be forgiven their subsequent disappointmentthat yet again a scholarsuccumbs to the disease of academic gullibility, an all too crowded, and international, sickroom as it is.
Any understanding of thisCalabrian misery and Italian vulnerability, in which their rights to autonomy would be abused by the likes of a Metternich for decades to come, is dependent upon a legitimate analysis of the dauntingly complex personal and public relationship between Emperor Napoleon and King Murat.
To this end, Finley's reader is advised to put aside this brief collection of essays for the Johnston book, the Murat "Lettres;" also see Cmmdr.Weil's publication of additional correspondence and material on Murat.

If it is any consolation to Finley, this reviewer considers the efforts of exceedingly gullible French historians to be patently embarrassing; they werethe first tofall prey to theidiocies contained in the now sacred tomes of certain"memoiristes."
Beth E.K.William ... Read more