This long awaited new volume from Leggiere is one of the few English language works to tackle the 1814 campaign.

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Product Description

Crushing defeats in Russia (1812) and Germany (1813) caused the collapse of Napoleon’s empire and brought his enemies to the Rhine River at the close of 1813. With a depleted and exhausted army, Napoleon attempted to direct the defense of his frontier from the Alps to the North Sea from Paris while he mobilized France. The new Prometheus watched helplessly as his marshals conducted a headlong retreat from the Rhine to the Marne in less than one month. The breakdown of the French command structure and overwhelming Allied superiority placed the French marshals charged with defending the Rhine in an impossible situation. Although Napoleon needed to use their scant forces to make a desperate stand on the Rhine and away from the administrative apparatus that fed his war machine, the marshals believed they had to trade land for time - the exact opposite of what Napoleon needed to maintain his crown.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #582083 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 704 pages

Review
'In writing this book, Michael Leggiere not only updates the standard French and German military accounts written a century ago … but also builds on more recent diplomatic and political studies, for instance those by Henry Kissinger and Paul Schroeder. The text is detailed, but clearly written, and is supported by twenty-five excellent maps, and by fifteen portraits of military and political leaders.' Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research

About the Author
Dr Michael V. Leggiere is an Associate Professor of History at Louisiana State University in Shreveport. He received his PhD from Florida State University in April 1997 after studying at the Institute of the French Revolution and Napoleon under the direction of D. D. Howard. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Strategy and Policy for the United States Naval War College’s Distance Education program, where he teaches strategy and policy during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras. His book, Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813 (2002), the first volume of the Campaigns and Commanders series, won the Société Napoléonienne Internationale’s 2002 Literary Award. Dr Leggiere has published numerous essays on various aspects of Napoleonic history, Prussian military history, and the German Wars of Liberation. His article, “From Berlin to Leipzig: Napoleon’s Gamble in North Germany, 1813,” which appeared in the January 2003 volume of the Journal of Military History, won the Society for Military History’s 2004 Moncado Prize for Excellence in the Writing of Military History. In 2005 he received la Société Napoléonienne Internationale Legion of Merit Award for Outstanding Contributions to Napoleonic Sciences.