Download or read book In the Legions of Napoleon written by Henrich von Brandt and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 374 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Legions of Napoleon recounts the adventures of an intrepid Polish soldier who fought for Napoleon the length and breadth of Europe. By the time he was twenty-five, Heinrich von Brandt had marched from Madrid to Moscow and had been severely wounded on three separate occasions. From 1808 to 1812 he was caught up in Napoleons attempt to subjugate Spain, fighting in battles, sieges including the siege of Saragossa and hunting and being hunted by merciless bands of guerrillas. In 1812 his unit took part in the crossing of the Niemen and the epic retreat from Moscow.In his extraordinary memoirs Brandt describes in great detail the actions in which he fought, the type of officers and men he served with, and the grueling campaigns in which they participated. He also gives fascinating insight into the minds of his comrades and superiors. This book is a must for every Napoleonic historian, enthusiast, and anyone who likes a good story of high adventure.

Download or read book Spanish Carlism and Polish Nationalism written by Marek Jan Chodakiewicz and published by Transaction Publishers. This book was released on with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: While both Spain and Poland developed genteel cultures grounded in Catholic religion, and experienced periods of growth followed by long decline, it is also the case that large differences in political economy and military structures also existed. Thus while Spain merely declined in power, Poland was partitioned by three powerful and rapacious neighbors. The Catholic and conservative elements that have been strong in both Poland and Spain have often been portrayed as obscure nativist and racist and even fascist. The purpose of this volume is to move beyond the simplistic vision this created about both countries into a more balanced and careful appraisal of tradition and development. Puncturing this stereotype, Eugene Genovese wryly notes that "as every schoolboy knows, Europe's Catholic Right has consisted of reactionaries who began in the service of residual feudal landowners and ended in support of big capital's exploitation and oppression of the masses. Still, the totalitarian horrors of the twentieth century proved prescient....the warnings of the Catholic traditionalist Right about the consequences of radical democracy and cultural nihilism. These splendid essays, as readable as they are scholarly, launch a long overdue assessment of vital political events." Ewa Thompson, professor of Slavic Studies at Rice University, writes. "The fall of Communism facilitated growth of research in areas previously difficult to access. One such area is Polish interest in Spain, the history of the Catholic Right in Europe. This pioneering volume explores both narratives and succeeds in showing that they are related. The similarities have to do with the symmetrical positions of Poland and Spain asfrontiers of Europe against invasions from Islam. The present collection of papers explores recent history developing against this background."

Download or read book Witnessing the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in German Central Europe written by L. James and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-10-31 with total page 375 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, this volume argues that although the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars are often understood as laying the foundations for total war, many eyewitnesses continued to draw upon older interpretative frameworks to make sense of the armed struggle and attendant political and social upheaval.

Download or read book The Burning of Moscow written by Alexander Mikaberidze and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-02-11 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As soon as Napoleon and his Grand Army entered Moscow, on 14 September 1812, the capital erupted in flames that eventually engulfed and destroyed two thirds of the city. The fiery devastation had a profound effect on the Grand Army, but for thirty-five days Napoleon stayed, making increasingly desperate efforts to achieve peace with Russia. Then, in October, almost surrounded by the Russians and with winter fast approaching, he abandoned the capital and embarked on the long, bitter retreat that destroyed his army. The month-long stay in Moscow was a pivotal moment in the war of 1812 _ the moment when the initiative swung towards the Tsar's armies and spelled doom for the invading Grand Army _ yet it has rarely been studied in the same depth as the other key events of the campaign.??Alexander Mikaberidze, in this third volume of his in-depth reassessment of the war between the French and Russian empires, emphasizes the importance of the Moscow fire and shows how Russian intransigence sealed the fate of the French army. He uses a vast array of French, German, Polish and Russian memoirs, letters and diaries as well as archival material in order to tell the dramatic story of the Moscow fire. Not only does he provide a comprehensive account of events, looking at them from both the French and Russian points of view, but he explores the Russians' motives for leaving, then burning their capital. Using extensive eyewitness accounts, he paints a vivid picture of the harsh reality of life in the remains of the occupied city and describes military operations around Moscow at this turning point in the campaign.

Download or read book Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars Artillery in Siege Fortress and Navy 1792 1815 written by Kevin F. Kiley and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2015-06-30 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Filled with statistical information on the guns, ammunition, and carriages, used by the armies . . . places the reader on the ground with the gunners.”—The Napoleon Series Napoleon was an artilleryman before he was an emperor. He understood the power and effectiveness of cannon and their ability to pulverize defenses, reduce fortresses and destroy attacks. In return, the guns won Napoleon battles. This impressive study chronicles the story of the guns and men during the twenty-three years of almost continuous warfare from 1792–1815: from the battlefields of continental Europe to the almost primitive terrain of North America and of the seas, lakes and rivers that connected them. Detailed technical information is accompanied by vivid descriptions which allow the reader to imagine what it must have been liked to maneuver and man the guns in a variety of situations—whether on the march or on the battlefield. Based on years of research into regulations of the period, eyewitness accounts of artillerymen and material culled from official reports, the scope and depth of material will satisfy the serious researcher, while the lively narrative will appeal to the casual reader. “Kiley’s research is impeccable and deserves the highest praise. Moreover, he writes in so entertaining a manner that he informs and educates without effort . . . For the enthusiastic student of the attack and defense of fortified places this is an essential book of reference.”—Fortress Study Group

Download or read book Women in the Peninsular War written by Charles J. Esdaile and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2014-08-07 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the iconography of the Peninsular War of 1808–14, women are well represented—both as heroines, such as Agustina Zaragosa Domenech, and as victims, whether of starvation or of French brutality. In history, however, with its focus on high politics and military operations, they are invisible—a situation that Charles J. Esdaile seeks to address. In Women in the Peninsular War, Esdaile looks beyond the iconography. While a handful of Spanish and Portuguese women became Agustina-like heroines, a multitude became victims, and here both of these groups receive their due. But Esdaile reveals a much more complicated picture in which women are discovered to have experienced, responded to, and participated in the conflict in various ways. While some women fought or otherwise became involved in the struggle against the invaders, others turned collaborator, used the war as a means of effecting dramatic changes in their situation, or simply concentrated on staying alive. Along with Agustina Zaragoza Domenech, then, we meet French sympathizers, campfollowers, pamphleteers, cross-dressers, prostitutes, amorous party girls, and even a few protofeminists. Esdaile examines many social spheres, ranging from the pampered daughters of the nobility, through the cloistered members of Spain’s many convents, to the tough and defiant denizens of the Madrid slums. And we meet not just the women to whom the war came but also the women who came to the war—the many thousands who accompanied the British and French armies to the Iberian peninsula. Thanks to his use of copious original source material, Esdaile rescues one and all from, as E. P. Thompson put it, “the enormous condescension of posterity.” And yet all these women remain firmly in their historical and cultural context, a context that Esdaile shows to have emerged from the Peninsular War hardly changed. Hence the subsequent loss of these women’s story, and the obscurity from which this book has at long last rescued them.

Download or read book The Napoleonic Wars 3 written by Gregory Fremont-Barnes and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-06-06 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Napoleon's occupation of the Iberian peninsula embroiled him in a protracted and costly war against British, Spanish and Portuguese forces ultimately led by one of history's greatest commanders -- the Duke of Wellington. Yet it also introduced a new dimension to warfare, for Napoleon's 'Spanish ulcer' became a bitter seven-year struggle against peoples inflamed by nationalism. Thus, while Wellington achieved successive victories in open battle, a parallel guerrilla war exacted a heavy toll of its own on the invaders. No mere sideshow to the other campaigns of the period, the Peninsular War made a significant contribution to Napoleon's eventual downfall.

Download or read book Popular Resistance in the French Wars written by Charles Esdaile and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-12-14 with total page 245 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the Napoleonic period warfare ceased to be a matter for armies alone, but also became an affair of the people. So, at least, runs the usual claim. In Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany and Russia outraged peasants and townsfolk rose against the French armies and fell upon them without mercy. From these insurrections we get the modern word 'guerrilla', but did armed civilians really play an important a role in the struggle? In this collection of essays a group of specialists on the Napoleonic epoch tease out the question, and arrive at some startling conclusions.

Download or read book Peninsular Eyewitnesses written by Charles Esdaile and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2008-09-30 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Many books have been written about the British struggle against Napoleon in the Peninsula. A few recent studies have given a broader view of the ebb and flow of a long war that had a shattering impact on Spain and Portugal and marked the history of all the nations involved. But none of these books has concentrated on how these momentous events were perceived and understood by the people who experienced them. Charles Esdaile has brought together a vivid selection of contemporary accounts of every aspect of the war to create a panoramic yet minutely detailed picture of those years of turmoil. The story is told through memoirs, letters and eyewitness testimony from all sides. Instead of generals and statesmen, we mostly hear from less-well-known figures - junior officers and ordinary soldiers and civilians who recorded their immediate experience of the conflict.

Download or read book Citizen Emperor written by Philip Dwyer and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2013-11-26 with total page 817 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces Napoleon's rise to power, early mistakes, and military campaigns, while considering the emperor's darker side and the lengths to which he went to establish himself as a legitimate ruler.

Download or read book March Of Death written by Christopher Summerville and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2004-01-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the bitter winter of 1808, a small British force found itself outnumbered and outmanouevered by a French army led by none other than the emperor Napoleon. Faced with crushing defeat, the British, commanded by Sir John Moore, turned and began a legendary march through the snow and ice of northern Spain to freedom and escape. Napoleon, swearing that he would drive the British leopard into the sea, pursued and an epic was born.

Download or read book Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars Volume II written by Kevin Kiley and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2015-06-30 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Napoleon was an artilleryman before he was an emperor. He understood the power and effectiveness of cannon and their ability to pulverise defences, reduce fortresses and destroy attacks. In return, the guns won Napoleon battles. This impressive study chronicles the story of the guns and men during the twenty-three years of almost continuous warfare from 1792_1815: from the battlefields of continental Europe to the almost primitive terrain of North America and of the seas, lakes and rivers that connected them. Detailed technical information is accompanied by vivid descriptions which allow the reader to imagine what it must have been liked to manoeuvre and man the guns in a variety of situations _ whether on the march or on the battlefield. Based on years of research into regulations of the period, eyewitness accounts of artillerymen and material culled from official reports, the scope and depth of material will satisfy the serious researcher, while the lively narrative will appeal to the casual reader.

Download or read book Invisible Armies An Epic History of Guerrilla Warfare from Ancient Times to the Present written by Max Boot and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2013-01-15 with total page 616 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New York Times Bestseller A Washington Post Notable Book (Nonfiction) Named one of the Best Books of the Year by Foreign Policy A New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice Selection “Destined to be the classic account of what may be the oldest... hardest form of war.” —John Nagl, Wall Street Journal Invisible Armies presents an entirely original narrative of warfare, which demonstrates that, far from the exception, loosely organized partisan or guerrilla warfare has been the dominant form of military conflict throughout history. New York Times best-selling author and military historian Max Boot traces guerrilla warfare and terrorism from antiquity to the present, narrating nearly thirty centuries of unconventional military conflicts. Filled with dramatic analysis of strategy and tactics, as well as many memorable characters—from Italian nationalist Guiseppe Garibaldi to the “Quiet American,” Edward Lansdale—Invisible Armies is “as readable as a novel” (Michael Korda, Daily Beast) and “a timely reminder to politicians and generals of the hard-earned lessons of history” (Economist).

Download or read book The Battle of Barrosa written by John Grehan and published by Skyhorse. This book was released on 2014-06-03 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the winter of 1810–11, the armies of Napoleon had overrun most of Spain and Joseph Bonaparte sat on the throne in Madrid. But the Spanish Government had found refuge in the fortress-port of Cadiz and the Spaniards refused to admit that they had been conquered. With a British army under Sir Thomas Graham helping to defend Cadiz, the Spanish cause seemed certain to prevail. But then the Spaniards wanted to throw Graham’s force into a reckless battle against the French. If the battle was won, the siege of Cadiz would be lifted; if the battle was lost Cadiz would be rendered defenseless and the Spanish government left at the mercy of the invaders. The opposing forces met on the heights of Barossa in one of the most savage encounters of the Peninsular War. At stake was the very survival of the Spanish nation and the future course of the war against Napoleon. The Battle of Barossa is the first book to examine this crucial campaign in detail and to reveal its true historical importance. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade imprint, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in history--books about World War II, the Third Reich, Hitler and his henchmen, the JFK assassination, conspiracies, the American Civil War, the American Revolution, gladiators, Vikings, ancient Rome, medieval times, the old West, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.

Download or read book Artillery of the Napoleonic Wars A Concise Dictionary 1792 1815 written by Kevin F. Kiley and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2021-03-15 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive military history reference book exploring all aspects of the artillery used during the Napoleonic Wars. Napoleon began his military career as an artillery cadet and artillery played a fundamental part in all his great battles. Until the Napoleonic Wars artillery had been seen merely as a supporting arm to the infantry, but Napoleon changed everything. He massed his guns in huge batteries to blast holes in his opponent’s line. He even used the artillery to charge the enemy, the gunners galloping up to the enemy to open fire at pointblank range. Napoleon’s opponents did not all follow suit, choosing other tactical deployments. As a result, the Napoleonic era, more than any that preceded or followed it, was one of fascinating artillery maneuvers and critical actions that changed the course of many of the key battles. As the Prussian Field Marshal Blucher once observed, “Against Napoleon you needed guns – and lots of them!” The Napoleonic Wars was also a time of innovation, with the introduction of shrapnel shells and military rockets. This book will examine the artillery arms of all sides from ‘muzzle to butt plate’. As well as the significant artillerymen of the period, the scientists, and innovators, military and civilian—individuals such as Robins, Belidor, Gribeauval and his colleagues, Maritz, Liechtenstein and his collaborators, as well as the du Teil brothers – will all be examined, as will the important battles and sieges, significant memoirs and documents, and artillery terms that soon became part of the military lexicon. Written by the renowned historian Kevin F. Kiley, this will be the definitive book on the subject and will cover all aspects of artillery in the Napoleonic Wars. “This is a wonderfully complete induction into the details of Napoleonic Artillery. As well as defining some of the archaic terms associated with the art of gunnery (note; point blank is not what we mostly believe it to be) it provides background to the careers of the key characters in the science. The book contains many excellent technical drawings to explain, sketches and images to inform and data tables in the appendix to which to refer. Overall, it is an indispensable aid to understanding the artillery of the period.” —Michael McCarthy, battlefield guide

Download or read book The Iberian Leech Napoleon s Counterinsurgency Operations In The Peninsula 1807 1810 written by Major Mark A. Reeves and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 137 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By 1807, Napoleon’s victories over his European adversaries were legendary. His Grand Army had defeated the greatest European armies of the period. Each army, in succession, from the Hapsburg Empire to Russia, had been soundly beaten and had not been able to come to grips with how to deal with his lightning style of warfare. Yet, over a six-year period from 1807 to 1813, in the backwater Iberian Peninsula, Napoleon lost both his prestige and more troops than he lost in the infamous wintry campaign in Russia. How did an army of bandits, priests, and commoners along with a small expeditionary force achieve victory over the most powerful armies on the continent? The answer lies in that Napoleon did not only fight a band of insurgents and a small British led coalition army, but he also suffered from a combination of poor morale, weak leadership and a refusal to fully recognize the enemy situation. His overextended lines of communications covered an area that was bleak and poor in resources and he could no longer rely on foraging to feed and supply his troops, many of them suffering from starvation. The Iberian Campaign cost Napoleon over 250,000 troops and drained the French of manpower and resources that could have been used elsewhere. The campaign bankrupt Napoleon’s image of invincibility and sapped his armies’ leadership and experience. Therefore, Napoleon would have to rely on more conscripts and an ever-increasing number of foreign troops to fill his depleted ranks. Napoleon’s generals were entangled in a politico-military quagmire for which they were never prepared and for which they received little guidance. The Peninsular Campaign sucked the lifeblood of Napoleon’s armies and they were never able to fully recover from it.

Download or read book The Ultimate Experience written by Y. Harari and published by Springer. This book was released on 2008-03-07 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For millennia, war was viewed as a supreme test. In the period 1750-1850 war became much more than a test: it became a secular revelation. This new understanding of war as revelation completely transformed Western war culture, revolutionizing politics, the personal experience of war, the status of common soldiers, and the tenets of military theory.