Reading Recommendations for Napoleonic Campaigns and Warfare ?

[FranzVonG]

Pardon my ignorance but what about Cahndler's book is wrong or is there somewhere that has a outline of his errors?

The problem with Chandler (and with many historians unfortunately) is that he had a strong and clear idea of what warfare was in the napoleonic age, and disregarded every fact or study that said the contrary. So, many statements that you can find in his books are usually more based on his conceptions than what really happened on the battlefield. Wrong OOBs, wrong maps (!!), wrong comments on armies strenght, misconceptions on Napoleon's tactics and "systems", and so on. Mind that, even with these, "The Campaigns of Napoleon" is still one of the few complete history about the napoleonic age, so it's something that, sooner or later (better later), every scholar must read.
As I said, this kind of things are quite frequent among historians so it would not be so terrible, if Chandler had not become the "guru" of most of the english napoleonic scholars.

Imho, for the beginner, the Osprey Campaigns Series (the post-Chandler ones better than the first), Scott Bowden's books and Nazfiger's "Imperial Bayonets" are the way to go, followed by "The Battle Tactics of Napoleon and his Enemies" by Nosworthy.

[antiochus]

Don't get me wrong he may be as wrong as has been posted but without any back up of facts I'm left to wonder. It's a bit like John Toland and his Pacific War books.He got almost all of his " inside " the Japanese government history wrong even though he is still quoted religiously. It's just like the book " The Battle " historians either hate it or love it according to their tastes.

[Count Miloradovich]

Are there any good books about Italian campaign

[D3m0]

Are there any good books about Italian campaign

There were many Italian campaigns, which one exactly?

[Count Miloradovich]

There were many Italian campaigns, which one exactly?

1796

[D3m0]

1796

The Road to Rivoli, by Martin Boycott Brown.

[FranzVonG]

1796

In Italian:

- Mauro Minola, Napoleone in Piemonte.
The war between the French Republic and the Kingdom of Sardinia, probably the only book (or one of the few) that focus on the skirmishes and battles fought on the Alps and in the piedmontese plains in 1792-1796.
I'm always surprised to see how much credit has been given to some of the german states in their "tiny" efforts for/against Napoleon, and no mention is given to the piedmontese army, that fought nearly alone (the Austrians were not really useful allies in that war) against Nappy and the Army of Italy. This book finally describes how the piedmonteses performed, from the Battle of the Authion to the siege of Cosseria.

In English:

I must have a book somewhere, but I cannot find it anywhere now. "Napoleon's Campaigns in Italy" or somwthing like that...
Btw, if you search in google you can find dozens of decent articles about that war, even if usually quite brief and with little details on the early phases of the war.
I'll have to write that book myself  

[Count von Csollich]

Maybe it's already been posted but has anyone already read the new book on Austerlitz 1805 by Robert Goetz, by Greenhill Books?... I mention this because I've read many, very general books on the era and this is quite different, as it gives not only a fine introduction on the preceeding events which led to Austerlitz but also tells the battle on a hour by hour basis, clarifying many things for myself...

As I'm not an expert on this particular battle maybe someone of you guys can state if this is really a well-researched book or not?

[nix]

A couple of good books on the subject of napoleonic warfare which haven't been mentioned:

The Art of Warfare in the Age of Napoleon by Gunther E. Rothenberg

Mammoth Book of Soldiers at War : Firsthand Accounts of Warfare from the Age of Napoleon by Jon E. Lewis also more recently:

Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age 1789-1815 by Michael Pavkovic, Iain Dickie, Kevin F. Kiley, and Frederick C. Schneid

Fighting Techniques of the Napoleonic Age 1792-1815: Equipment, Combat Skills, and Tactics by Robert B. Bruce, Iain Dickie, and Kevin Kiley


As for the Peninsular War there is always the classic accounts by William Napier in 6 volumes (an eyewitness to the war) or Charles Oman's 7 volume magnum opus from the 1900s (still in print and available from Greenhill books), but the best recent accounts in English are those of Charles Esdaile and those of Ian Fletcher.

There are of course loads of books on specific battles, particular campaigns and the different armies of the period and their uniforms as a browse on amazon will confirm! I particularly liked the books by Elting and the recent one by C.E.Franklin:


Napoleonic Uniforms 4 Volumes  by John R. Elting based on paintings by Kopel (v.expensive!)

British Napoleonic Uniforms: A Complete Illustrated Guide to Uniforms, Facings and Lace: A Complete Illustrated Guide to Uniforms and Braids - Hardcover (12 May 2009) by C.E. Franklin (bit of a bargin this one)

there are countless osprey publications for individual units but the recent compilations are reasonably priced:

An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Uniforms of the Napoleonic Wars: Detailed Information on the Unifroms of the Austrian, British, French, Prussian and ... with Additional Material on the Minor Forces - Hardcover (26 May 2006) by Digby Smith

Armies of the Napoleonic Wars: An Illustrated History (General Military) by Chris McNab (Hardcover - 10 Jun 2009)

And what happened to the poor bloody wounded?......Three graphic accounts by medical practicioners

Men of Steel: Surgery in the Napoleonic Wars by Michael Crumplin

A Surgical Artist at War: The Paintings and Sketches of Sir Charles Bell 1809-1815 - Paperback (Jun 2005) by M K H Crumplin and P Starling

Larrey:Surgeon to Napoleon's Imperial Guard. Robert G Richardson


Then there are the amazing battle paintings of Francois Lejeune which are filled with detail he had seen as an eyewitnes to many of the famous battles (he was aide de camp to Berthier): crossing of the Rhine 1795, Lodi 1796, Battle of the Pyramids 1798, Battle of Mount Tabour in Syria 1798, Aboukir 1799,  Marengo 1800, Austerlitz 1805, Semoiserra 1808, seige of Saragossa 1808, Barrosa (Chiclana) 1811 , Ambushes of french convoys by spanish guerillas, Borodino 1812... The paintings are in the collection at Versailles but are often reproduced and images can be seen on line at http://www.photo.rmn.fr then look up Lejeune Louis Francois (1775-1848)....

Lejeune also wrote a memoir which recounts many of the incidents which he had portraid. It is still in print in 2 paperback volumes published by leonaur:

Lejeune: the Napoleonic Wars Through the Experiences of an Officer of Berthier's Staff
by Louis-Francois, Lejeune  

well you did ask

[little soldier]

Anybody read 'Russia against Napoleon' by Lieven? It appears to give a Russian point of view towards the Napoleonic Wars.

[D3m0]

Anybody read 'Russia against Napoleon' by Lieven? It appears to give a Russian point of view towards the Napoleonic Wars.

Yes, highly recommended. Especially because the book emphasizes Economics, Domestic and Foreign Policy, things which are so heavily bound to military matters and yet often not considered in military history.

Here's a podcast in which Lieven talks about his book:
http://richmedia.lse.ac.uk/publicLecturesAndEvents/20091008_1830_theTsarLiberatesEuropeRussiaAgainstNapoleon1807-1814.mp3

[mccourt]

A couple of books I enjoyed

The Iron Marshal: Biography of Louis N. Davout by J. G. Gallaher

Swords around a Throne: Napoleon's Grande Armee by John R. Elting

Rifles: Six Years with Wellington's Legendary Sharpshooters by Mark Urban

Imperial Sunset: The Fall of Napoleon, 1813-14 by R.F. Delderfield

Napoleons Viceroy by Carola Oman

Napoleons Conquest of Prussia 1806 - F. L. Petre

The Road to Rivoli by Martin Boycott Brown

Wellington's Smallest Victory: The Duke, the Model Maker and the Secret of Waterloo by Peter Hofschroer

Tom

[GunnerJim]

Many of you may not know the efforts by Google and the Bill Gates foundation to preserve works of the past by electric scanning and then having those books on line for reference.  France has a wonderful site at:
http://www.jeux-histoire.fr/bibliographie.html#1805
with works in English and in French.  One of the finest works of the period is that of BRESSONNENT covering the campaign of 1806.  He not only covers the whole campaign well, he places almost every individual regiment on the battlefield telling you why or how it ended up there.  A marvelous incite to the way Napoleonic battles came about.  Most of these works are just locked up today and we could never see them.  Thanks to Bill and Google, we can read and re-read.  Downloads are free in pdf format.  Napier's works are here.  Every campaign from 1796 to 1815.

[nix]

  what a brilliant site thanks for the reference to it! Wellington's dispatches, many campaign histories by the generals who fought them, Even the infantry regulations 1791 are there!

[D3m0]

Some more related Google scans:
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=125893