Product Description

No other soldier has provoked as much argument as Napoleon Bonaparte. Was Napoleon a monster, driven on by an endless, ruinous quest for military glory - or was he a social and political visionary brought down by the petty, reactionary kings and emperors, clinging to their privileges? Napoleon’s Wars is a book which has no doubt about Napoleon’s insatiable greed for military glory, but it is interested in far more than that. Charles Esdaile is profoundly interested in a pan-European context: what was it that made the countries of Europe fight each other, for so long and with such devastating results. The battles themselves he sees as almost side-effects; the consequence of rulers being willing to take the immense risks of fighting or supporting Napoleon - risks which resulted in the extinction of entire countries. This is history on the grandest and most ambitious scale: a superb reassessment of a tumultuous era.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #232011 in Books
• Published on: 2007-10-25
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 621 pages

Dominic Sandbrook, Telegraph Books of the Year
'Deft, authoritative, often strikingly counter-intuitive, this is the definitive word on the subject, giving a clear-eyed view of the great dictator - who, whatever Johnny Frenchman might say, was the most awful scoundrel, and ugly to boot'

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.