Product Description

No other soldier has provoked as much anger or as much fervour as Napoleon Bonaparte. Was he a monster, driven on by an endless, ruinous quest for military adventure – or was he a social and political visionary, brought down by petty reactionaries clinging to their privileges? Charles Esdaile’s major new work reframes our understanding of Napoleon. Napoleon’s Wars looks beyond the insatiable greed for glory to create a new, genuinely international context for Napoleon’s career. The battles themselves Esdaile sees as almost side-effects, the consequences of rulers being willing to take the immense risks of fighting or supporting Napoleon – risks that could result in the extinction of entire countries and regimes.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #44614 in Books
• Published on: 2008-08-28
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 656 pages

Review
'Splendid ... a joy to read' --Andrew Roberts, Literary Review

Review
'His masterly account of the Napoleonic wars ... makes the familiar story fresh'

Review
'Napoleon's contradictions dominate every page, his character and policies are skilfully analysed ... written in a lucid and engaging style that keeps the pages turning. Napoleon's Wars will be a standard text for students and general readers for years to come'

Customer Reviews

A useful addition to a crowded field
Napoleon's story has been told again and again and there is a veritable industry set around the Napoleonic wars, but this book aims to be different. It doesn't go over old ground recording every detail of Napoleon's campaigns and battles (indeed there are none of the usual maps and diagrams of the famous battles) but seeks to show the effect Napoleon had on Europe at the time and the consequences of his actions. There are some lovely colour plates and some useful maps of various bits of Europe, but ironically by taking this less obvious path the author loses some of the impact of the period and some passages drag a little. On the whole though this is still a readable book but better informed students of the period will have to put it in it's appropriate place in the Napoleonic library.

Excellent
A superb book. The author shows an understanding of the period that is unrivalled in any other general history of the Napoleonic wars. International relations, rather than military developments, are the focus of the work and even those with a longstanding interest in this era will emerge enlightened. It is, moreover, writen in an engaging, accessible and often entertaining style.