Product Description

This book will provide a careful analysis of the preparation of the French troops from manual regulations to the training ground, as well a study of the changing quality of command and control within the army. Initially this ensured that the French infantry were virtually unstoppable and for several years they enjoyed blistering triumphs at Austerlitz and Jena. Paddy Griffiths explores the role of the French infantry at the apex of their powers and their role in these key battles. However, he also provides a detailed explanation of their eventual decline until their final defeat at Waterloo providing a critical overview of French Napoleonic Infantry tactics.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #47382 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: .0" h x .0" w x .0" l, .0 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 64 pages

Customer Reviews

A very useful study
This is a very good introduction to the tactics employed by the French Army during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Griffith writes engagingly and manages to hold the attention for what can be a very complicated and involved subject. The illustrations for this volume are marvellous and I certainly came away with a better understanding of how the French manoeuvred in battle. This is an excellent volume to familiarise yourself with this subject and will doubtless inspire many readers to pick up something more sophisticated. Highly recommended.

Nice introduction...
Paddy Griffith is an undoubted authority when it comes to re-evaluating the historical battlefield. Examining the tactical evolutions employed and their impact on combat, he has looked at how wars have been fought over the last two hundred years in previous publications. In this volume, he attempts to describe how French practises developed from the shambolic improvisations of 1792-3 to the "corupt gigantism" of the later Empire.

Using the timeline of the wars as his framework, he progresses through in a readable enough fashion (as always; Griffith's seeming distaste for Bonaparte aside), but says little new.

The plates by Peter Dennis are excellent in conveying the sheer scope of the manoeuvres described, and serve as a useful corrective to TV and film imagery of Napoleonic battles.

The book, as with most Ospreys, suffers from the restrictions of the format - there is simply too much to say for the space available, so becomes simply a "primer" for further reading. A guarded recommendation.