Download or read book 1812 Napoleon s Fatal March on Moscow written by Adam Zamoyski and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2012-11-29 with total page 677 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Adam Zamoyski’s bestselling account of Napoleon’s invasion of Russia and his catastrophic retreat from Moscow, events that had a profound effect on European history.
Download or read book 1812 written by Paul Britten Austen and published by Frontline Books. This book was released on 2012-12-03 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the gates of Moscow, Napoleon's Grand Army prepares to enter in triumphal procession. But what it finds is a city abandoned by its inhabitants save only the men who emerge to fan the flames as incendiary fuses hidden throughout the empty buildings of Moscow set the city alight. For three days Moscow burned, while looters dodged the fires to plunder and pillage. And so begins 1812: Napoleon in Moscow, Paul Britten Austin's atmospheric second volume in his acclaimed trilogy on Napoleons catastrophic invasion of Russia. After the fires died down the army settled in the ruins of Moscow; for five weeks Napoleon waited at the Kremlin, expecting his 'brother the Tsar' in St Petersburg to capitulate and make peace, while in fact the Russian Army was gathering its strength. At the same time Murat's cavalry, the advance guard, was encamped in dreadful conditions three days' march away at Winkowo, where it was being starved to death. When Napoleon eventually realized the futility of his plans and prepared to leave Moscow, his advance guard was surprised by a Russian attack. The most astounding exodus in modern times ensued. 1812: Napoleon in Moscow follows on from the brilliant 1812: The March on Moscow, which took Napoleon's army across Europe to the great city. Paul Britten Austin brings this next phase of the epic campaign to life with characteristic verve. Drawing on hundreds of eyewitness accounts by French and allied soldiers of Napoleon's army, this brilliant study recreates this disastrous military campaign in all its death and glory.
Download or read book Napoleon 1812 written by Nigel Nicolson and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 1985 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Borodino 1812 written by Philip Haythornthwaite and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-09-20 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A highly illustrated account of the battle of Borodino, the most crucial action in Napoleon's 1812 campaign in Russia. The battle of Borodino was one of the greatest encounters in European history, and one of the largest and most sanguinary in the Napoleonic Wars. Following the breakdown of relations between Russia and France, Napoleon assembled a vast Grande Armée drawn from the many states within the French sphere of influence. They crossed the river Neimen and entered Russian territory in June 1812 with the aim of inflicting a sharp defeat on the Tsar's forces and bringing the Russians back into line. In a bloody battle of head-on attacks and desperate counter-attacks in the village of Borodino on 7 September 1812, both sides lost about a third of their men, with the Russians forced to withdraw and abandon Moscow to the French. However, the Grande Armée was harassed by Russian troops all the way back and was destroyed by the retreat. The greatest army Napoleon had ever commanded was reduced to a shadow of frozen, starving fugitives. This title covers the events of Napoleon's disastrous Russian campaign of 1812 in its entirety, with the set-piece battle of Borodino proving the focal point of the book.
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 407 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 Outpost of Empire written by Charles J. Esdaile and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-03-18 with total page 522 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Napoleon’s forces invaded Spain in 1808, but two years went by before they overran the southern region of Andalucía. Situated at the farthest frontier of Napoleon’s “outer empire,” Andalucía remained under French control only briefly—for two-and-a-half years—and never experienced the normal functions of French rule. In this groundbreaking examination of the Peninsular War, Charles J. Esdaile moves beyond traditional military history to examine the French occupation of Andalucía and the origins and results of the region’s complex and chaotic response. Disillusioned by the Spanish provisional government and largely unprotected, Andalucía scarcely fired a shot in its defense when Joseph Bonaparte’s army invaded the region in 1810. The subsequent French occupation, however, broke down in the face of multiple difficulties, the most important of which were geography and the continued presence in the region of substantial forces of regular troops. Drawing on British, French, and Spanish sources that are all but unknown, Esdaile describes the social, cultural, geographical, political, and military conditions that combined to make Andalucía particularly resistant to French rule. Esdaile’s study is a significant contribution to the new field sometimes known as occupation studies, which focuses on the ways a victorious army attempts to reconcile a conquered populace to the new political order. Combining military history with political and social history, Outpost of Empire delineates what we now call the cultural terrain of war. This is history that moves from battles between armies to battles for hearts and minds.
Download or read book Memoirs of an Aide de Camp of Napoleon 1800 1812 written by Philip De Segur and published by Nonsuch Publishing, Limited. This book was released on 2005 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a highly personal account of the author’s experiences in the army of Napoleon. The account starts with the author at the age of 19, and without having chosen a career, being inspired to join the cavalry after seeing a regiment of dragoons marching in Paris in 1800. The narrative traces the author’s remarkable rise through the ranks and his experiences under the command of Napoleon. The focus of the book is on military encounters, recording de Ségur’s involvement in the key battles that were to make France the dominant power of Europe in the early 19th century. Yet it is the personal details, such as Napoleon’s reaction to the tomb of Frederick the Great, discussions between Napoleon and his officers, and the author’s experiences away from the battlefield, which make this work a compelling and unique narrative of such an important period in European history.
Download or read book The Battle of the Berezina written by Alexander Mikaberidze and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2010-08-19 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The full story of Napoleon’s legendary escape from Russia under seemingly impossible odds is recounted in this thrillingly vivid military history. In the winter of 1812, Napoleon's army retreated from Moscow under appalling conditions, hunted by three separate Russian armies. By late November, Napoleon had reached the banks of the River Berezina—the last natural obstacle between his army and the safety of the Polish frontier. But instead of finding the river frozen solid enough to march his men across, an unseasonable thaw had turned the Berezina into an icy torrent. Having already ordered the burning of his bridging equipment, Napoleon's predicament was serious enough: but with the army of Admiral Chichagov holding the opposite bank, and those of Kutusov and Wittgenstein closing fast, it was critical. In a gripping narrative that draws on contemporary sources—including letters, diaries and memoirs—Alexander Mikaberidze describes how Napoleon rose from the pit of despair to execute one of the greatest escapes in military history.
Download or read book The Russian Campaign 1812 written by M. De Fezensac and published by University of Georgia Press. This book was released on 2009-08-01 with total page 164 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Russian Campaign, 1812 chronicles the events of Napoleon's Russian campaign through the journal of the Duke of Fezensac. A professional soldier and officer, Fezensac kept his journal for family and close friends. It was first published in France in 1849 and won the high praise of literary critic Sainte-Beuve who said, "The impression that it leaves on the mind is ineffaceable." Fezensac was familiar with both the inner circle of men under Napoleon's direct command as well as the common soldier in the field. Rather than writing a sweeping account of the massive campaign, Fezensac concentrated on telling a very personal account of what it was like to be part of the long retreat from Moscow. Lee B. Kennett's idiomatic and careful translation embodies the freshness and immediacy of the original.
Download or read book 1812 written by Richard K. Riehn and published by McGraw-Hill Companies. This book was released on 1990 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A military history and reassessment of Napoleon's Russian campaign.
Download or read book Polish Eyewitnesses to Napoleon s 1812 Campaign written by Marek Tadeusz Lalowski and published by Pen and Sword Military. This book was released on 2020-12-14 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The drama of Napoleon’s ill-fated invasion of Russia is captured through the letters and diaries of Polish soldiers who fought with the French. Napoleon’s invasion of Russia cost hundreds of thousands lives and changed the course of history. Europe had never seen an army like the one gathering in Poland in 1812—half a million men in brilliant uniforms and shimmering helmets. Six months later, it was the ghost of an army, frozen and horrified, retreating home. This illuminating volume tells the story of this epic military disaster from the viewpoint of the tens of thousands of Polish soldiers who took part. Some of them were patriots eager to regain independence for their country. Others were charmed by the glory of Napoleonic warfare or were professional soldiers who were simply doing their jobs. They all tell an unrivaled tale of ruthless battles, burning villages, numbing hunger, and biting cold. By the end the great army had been reduced to a pitiless mob and the Polish soldiers, who had set out with such hope, recalled it with horror.
Download or read book With Napoleon s Guard in Russia written by Louis Joseph Vionnet and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2012-01-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Major Louis Joseph Vionnet's memoirs of Napoleon's disastrous 1812 campaign in Russia are readable, detailed, and full of personal anecdote and vivid glimpses into the life of the nineteenth-century soldier. His account concentrates in particular on the retreat from Moscow, but he was present at all the major actions and followed the entire course of the campaign from the opening moves in July 1812 to being chased through Prussia by bands of Cossacks in early 1813. He was present at the destruction of Smolensk, toured the battlefield of Borodino and witnessed the great fire in Moscow. Vionnet was a major in the Fusiliers-Grenadiers, a regiment of veterans in the Imperial Guard, and his account provides a wonderful insight into the élan, morale and cohesion of this elite fighting force. Jonathan North has translated Vionnet's memoirs for the first time for this English edition. In addition to providing detailed explanatory notes, he quotes from the accounts left by five other soldiers from the same regiment, and these extracts allow the reader to follow the ups and downs of the unit as a whole. Louis Joseph Vionnet, Vicomte de Maringoné, was born in Longueville in 1769, the son of a peasant and a lace maker. He joined the artillery in 1793 and was promoted to captain in the line in 1794. He fought in Italy in 1796, in the line infantry in 1798 and the Guard grenadiers in 1806, and campaigned in Prussia, Poland and Spain. In 1809, he joined the Fusiliers of the Guard, fought again in Spain in 1811 and then, with the rank of major, he took part in the 1812 Russian campaign, which he survived. He retired in the 1830s and died in 1834.
Download or read book Napoleon s Army in Russia written by Albrecht Adam and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1812 Napoleon's magnificent army invaded Russia. Among the half a million men who crossed the border was Albrecht Adam, a former baker, a soldier and, most importantly for us, a military artist of considerable talent. As the army plunged ever deeper into a devastated Russia Adam sketched and painted. In all he produced 77 colour plates of the campaign and they are as fresh and dramatic as the day they were produced. They show troops passing along dusty roads, bewildered civilians, battles and their bloody aftermath, burning towns and unchecked destruction. The memoirs which accompany the plates form a candid text describing the war Adam witnessed. Attached to IV Corps, composed largely of Italians, he was present at all the major actions and saw the conquerors march triumphantly into Moscow. But, from then on, the invading army's fate was sealed and the disastrous outcome of the war meant that the year 1812 would become legendary as one of the darkest chapters in history.
Download or read book Russia Against Napoleon written by Dominic Lieven and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2009-10-01 with total page 952 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A compulsive page-turner ... a triumph of brilliant storytelling ... an instant classic that is an awesome, remarkable and exuberant achievement' Simon Sebag Montefiore Winner of the Wolfson History Prize and shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize In the summer of 1812 Napoleon, the master of Europe, marched into Russia with the largest army ever assembled, confident that he would sweep everything before him. Yet less than two years later his empire lay in ruins, and Russia had triumphed. This is the first history to explore in depth Russia's crucial role in the Napoleonic Wars, re-creating the epic battle between two empires as never before. Dominic Lieven writes with great panache and insight to describe from the Russians' viewpoint how they went from retreat, defeat and the burning of Moscow to becoming the new liberators of Europe; the consequences of which could not have been more important. Ultimately this book shows, memorably and brilliantly, Russia embarking on its strange, central role in Europe's existence, as both threat and protector - a role that continues, in all its complexity, into our own lifetimes.
Download or read book Napoleon in Russia written by Alan Warwick Palmer and published by Running PressBook Pub. This book was released on 2003 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Napoleon is a torrent which as yet we are unable to stem,” said Field-Marshal Prince Mikhail Kutuzov in September 1812, and then he predicted, “Moscow will be the sponge that will suck him dry.” Three months earlier, on June 24, 1812, Napoleon had made his fateful crossing of the Niemen River into Lithuania with an army of 500,000 men, which by December would be depleted by war, the weather, starvation, and disease to a mere 10,000. Sucked dry, indeed. The final six months of 1812 made of Napoleon’s boldest imperial dream his most disastrous military campaign, which historian and biographer Alan Palmer recounts here with narrative immediacy, colorful detail, analytic skill, and striking insight. He follows the French forces in their long, dusty haul from Vilna to Vitebsk to Viasma; from the frightful slaughter at Borodino to Moscow’s deserted, burning streets—and then the horrors of the grueling winter retreat. But Palmer also looks beyond the savagery of blizzards and battles to bring to his vast canvas an overall picture of a campaign that tragically cost Napoleon nearly half a million men and shaped the greatest catastrophe of his career. Illustrations and maps are included.
Download or read book Napoleon Against Russia written by Digby Smith and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 266 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[The author's] new account of the great, grim events of 1812 is based on the diaries and letters of soldiers who survived, many of which have not been published in English before. They describe ... the deadly effect of Napoleon's faulty decisions on the lives of his men, to say nothing of the innumerable Russian military and civilian casualties his campaign caused. The introductory chapter examines the background to the invasion and the immense preparations that were made under Napoleon's orders ... The author also covers the campaigns on the northern and southern flanks that are often overshadowed by the events in the centre"--Jacket.
Download or read book The War of the Two Emperors written by Curtis Cate and published by Random House (NY). This book was released on 1985 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers incisive portraits on the indecisive Tsar Alexander I and the brilliant but vain napoleon, their calamitous confrontation, the dissolution of the great French army.
