Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Pages: 264
•
Trim: 6¾ x 9½
978-0-7425-5317-0 • Hardback • June 2006 • $136.00 • (£105.00)
978-0-7425-5318-7 • Paperback • June 2006 • $49.00 • (£38.00)
978-1-4422-1009-7 • eBook • June 2006 • $46.50 • (£36.00)
Owen Connelly is McKissick Dial Professor of History at the University of South Carolina. He is the author of On War and Leadership, Napoleon's Satellite Kingdoms, and The French Revolution and Napoleonic Era. He is a member of the Institute for Advanced Studies, Princeton University and past president of the Society for French Historical Studies. He served as an infantry officer in the Korean War and as an instructor at the U.S. Army Florida Ranger Camp.
Chapter 1: Young Bonaparte: Character, Education, and Early Triumphs
Chapter 2: The Scrambler Emerges: The First Italian Campaign, 1796–1797
Chapter 3: Flirting with Oblivion: Egypt, 1798–1799
Chapter 4: Over the Alps: The Second Italian Campaign, 1800
Chapter 5: The Scrambler on the Danube: The Ulm-Austerlitz Campaign, 1805
Chapter 6: Overkill in the East: The Jena-Auerstadt-Friedland Campaign, 1806–1807
Chapter 7: The "Affair of Spain": The Peninsular War, 1808–1813
Chapter 8: The Wagram Campaign: The Austrian War, 1809
Chapter 9: The Fattening: Compromises with the Old Order European Empire, 1809–1812
Chapter 10: Heat, Ice, Snow, and Disaster: The Russian Campaign, 1812
Chapter 11: The Kill: From Lutzen to Elba, 1813–1814
Chapter 12: The Glorious Irrelevance: The Waterloo Campaign, 1815
Connelly's summaries of the action are clear and concise; his description of the social and political context in which Napoleon fought is exquisite; his portrayal of the personalities of Napoleon's marshals is lively and insightful; and his portrait of Napoleon's ambition and drive to win is superb.
— Military Review
A thoroughly stimulating and enjoyable volume. Connelly examines all the campaigns with exemplary conciseness, and the same is to be said of his treatment of the battles. . . . Whether this book entertains or (occasionally) infuriates, it makes a reader think.
— Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research
This is a concise, clear, authoritative account presented in a felicitous literary style. Of the many works on Napoleon's thirty-year career, this is the best brief account.
— Canadian Military History
Readers will find this book useful to have in their library. Connelly gently but surely draws the readers into questioning whether or not Napoleon ever had a strategic aim.
— Journal of the Royal Artillery
Owen Connelly, one of the leading American historians of the French Revolution–Napoleonic Era, has that rare gift of being able to take complex and complicated information and produce a tight, smooth-flowing narrative. What is unique about this study is that it is both scholarly, based upon excellent research with good maps and a fine bibliography, and also written in a language [students] will appreciate and understand. Highly recommended.
— Choice Reviews
Owen Connelly has written a magnificent book. . . . The text moves right along, does not bog down in favorite emperor stories, and offers the most plausible explanation of Napoleon's many-sided military character that it has been my pleasure to read. . . . Students at all levels . . . will sit entwined with the fast-moving text. . . . This is a great book. All historians would do well to read it. (Previous Edition Praise)
— American Historical Review
A valuable supplementary text for courses on the French Revolution and Napoleonic Era, Modern European History, European Military History, Modern Warfare, and Military Strategy
The best concise introduction to the Napoleonic Wars for students of military and European history
Controversially, the author argues that many of Napoleon's major victories began with strategic or tactical blunders and that he was often saved by his improvisational genius
Each chapter examines a specific campaign in detail and includes numerous, clear battlefield maps that provide an invaluable visual resource for understanding the course of each campaign
New features
This third edition has a fully revised introduction and conclusion and expands on individual campaigns, especially the war in Spain and Waterloo