The End of Empire

The End of Empire PDF

Author: George F. Nafziger

Publisher:

Published: 2019-06-15

Total Pages: 768

ISBN-13: 9781911628385

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Having suffered a massive reversal of fortunes in Russia Napoleon found himself confronted, in Germany, by the combined forces of Russia, Prussia, and Austria. After the disaster of Leipzig Napoleon’s German allies fell away and he was forced to fall back, beyond the borders of France. Offered a negotiated peace on the basis of a return to the pre-1792 borders, Napoleon chose to continue to fight, trusting in his star. He was, however, desperate for troops and short of horses and cash. Cornered and threatened by three armies invading from the north, northeast, and east, every chance to stop the Allies had to be taken and there was desperate battle after desperate battle. Of all his campaigns, Napoleon’s 1814 campaign was one of his most brilliant. Eventually, after several terrible defeats, the Allies refused to engage him in battle when he confronted them. Instead they pushed their other two armies forward, slowly driving him back as he rushed to block the advance of the other armies on Paris. This strategy proved successful and eventually Napoleon was obliged to abdicate when his marshals refused to fight further.

Napoleon 1814

Napoleon 1814 PDF

Author: Andrew Uffindell

Publisher: Pen & Sword Military

Published: 2015-04-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781473842564

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In 1814, after two successive years of defeat in Russia and central Europe, Napoleon was faced with the ultimate disaster - an Allied invasion of France itself. The conduct of the intense, fast-moving campaign that followed has been widely hailed as one of his greatest feats as a commander, yet it has rarely been described fully and objectively. Andrew Uffindell, in this gripping and original study, reconstructs the campaign, reassesses Napoleon's military leadership and provides a masterly account of a campaign that helped shape modern Europe.Using numerous eyewitness accounts, Napoleon 1814 records the swift succession of clashes in graphic detail, leading up to the final battle outside Paris, the biggest and bloodiest of the entire campaign, and then the extraordinary drama of Napoleon's abdication. It shows for the first time how the course of the campaign was repeatedly determined by the weather and the terrain. The author also covers events off the battlefield, and examines a strangely neglected aspect of the campaign: the devastating impact on the civilian population. He provides a vivid and moving portrayal of a society traumatized by the brutal experience of war, as ordinary people struggled to survive and confront the moral dilemmas posed by enemy occupation.

Vienna, 1814

Vienna, 1814 PDF

Author: David King

Publisher: Crown

Published: 2008-03-11

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0307407365

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“Reads like a novel. A fast-paced page-turner, it has everything: sex, wit, humor, and adventures. But it is an impressively researched and important story.” —David Fromkin, author of Europe’s Last Summer Vienna, 1814 is an evocative and brilliantly researched account of the most audacious and extravagant peace conference in modern European history. With the feared Napoleon Bonaparte presumably defeated and exiled to the small island of Elba, heads of some 216 states gathered in Vienna to begin piecing together the ruins of his toppled empire. Major questions loomed: What would be done with France? How were the newly liberated territories to be divided? What type of restitution would be offered to families of the deceased? But this unprecedented gathering of kings, dignitaries, and diplomatic leaders unfurled a seemingly endless stream of personal vendettas, long-simmering feuds, and romantic entanglements that threatened to undermine the crucial work at hand, even as their hard-fought policy decisions shaped the destiny of Europe and led to the longest sustained peace the continent would ever see. Beyond the diplomatic wrangling, however, the Congress of Vienna served as a backdrop for the most spectacular Vanity Fair of its time. Highlighted by such celebrated figures as the elegant but incredibly vain Prince Metternich of Austria, the unflappable and devious Prince Talleyrand of France, and the volatile Tsar Alexander of Russia, as well as appearances by Ludwig van Beethoven and Emilia Bigottini, the sheer star power of the Vienna congress outshone nearly everything else in the public eye. An early incarnation of the cult of celebrity, the congress devolved into a series of debauched parties that continually delayed the progress of peace, until word arrived that Napoleon had escaped, abruptly halting the revelry and shrouding the continent in panic once again. Vienna, 1814 beautifully illuminates the intricate social and political intrigue of this history-defining congress–a glorified party that seemingly valued frivolity over substance but nonetheless managed to drastically reconfigure Europe’s balance of power and usher in the modern age.

Napoleon Against Great Odds

Napoleon Against Great Odds PDF

Author: Ralph Ashby

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2010-06-02

Total Pages: 246

ISBN-13: 0313381917

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This revisionist history offers a fresh analysis of Napoleon and the French army as they defended their empire against the massive Coalition invasion of 1814. French defeat in 1814 is too often shrugged off as the result of obvious and understandable factors. Napoleon Against Great Odds: The Emperor and the Defenders of France, 1814 challenges the widely accepted notion that war-weariness and internal political opposition to Napoleon were the decisive and direct causes of French defeat. At least as important, it argues, were material shortages, diplomatic missteps, and even faulty strategic planning on Napoleon's part. The book not only traces the narrative of Napoleon's 1814 Campaign in France, but explores the formation of the French army tasked with defending France against the Coalition invasion. Diplomatic, political, and social factors are taken into account and the issue of war-weariness is analyzed carefully and critically. Each branch and arm of the French forces is examined, as are military mobilization under difficult circumstances and partisan and guerilla warfare. Designed to encourage fresh debate about the 1814 campaign, the book offers thought-provoking reading for scholars and general readers alike.

Napoleon's Mercenaries

Napoleon's Mercenaries PDF

Author: Guy Dempsey

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2016-02-29

Total Pages: 462

ISBN-13: 1784380199

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This superb and comprehensive book details the foreign units which formed such an important part of Napoleon's forces. It examines each non-French unit in turn, giving an overview of the unit's origins, its organizational and combat history, its uniforms and standards, and details of the unit's eventual fate. Colourful accounts, taken from contemporary reports and memoirs, emphasize the qualities of the unit and throw light on what life was like for many of the foreign soldiers recruited into the Grande Armée. In total more than 100 different foreign units that served in the French Army are investigated in detail in this ambitious publication. Some foreign units fought and flourished throughout the Consulate and Empire, whilst others lasted for just a few months. Covers Polish, German, Swiss, Italian, Spanish, and other units in the French Army and presents a combat history and details uniforms for each regiment. Napoleon's Mercenaries is the best single-volume study of this aspect of Napoleon s army and a vital reference for every Napoleonic enthusiast. Little can be found on the foreign units that were an integral part of the French army ... For a long time a gap has existed, but now Napoleon s Mercenaries fills this gap. Robert Burnham, Napoleonic Series

1814, the Campaign for France

1814, the Campaign for France PDF

Author: François Guy Hourtoulle

Publisher:

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9782915239560

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Montmirail, Champaubert, Reims, Laon, Craonne, Montereau, Paris... Each of these names is synonymous of tumultuous victories and heroic fighting. Each is them is also a sign of the genius of Napoleon as a military leader, and a testimony of the sacrifice accepted by the men which followed him on the battlefields. In this new book, the Authors survey the whole campaign of France, stating facts and explaining the opponents' views. And, in the now famous third part of the book, they introduce us to the main actors of the drama: marshalls and generals, but also the obscure, ordinary NCOs and privates of Napoleon's army. And, as usual in this series, the intricately detailed color plates by André Jouineau render the richness and diversity of the uniforms of all armies involved in the Emperor's most dashing campaign.

The Escape From Elba

The Escape From Elba PDF

Author: Norman Mackenze

Publisher: Pen and Sword

Published: 2007-09-20

Total Pages: 317

ISBN-13: 1844156044

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The year is 1814. The Allies have driven Napoleon's once-mighty armies back to Paris. Trapped, forced to abdicate after two decades of triumphant rule, the Emperor takes leave of his comrades-in-arms and sets sail for his new domain - the tiny, poverty-stricken, pestilential island of Elba. Yet within ten months Napoleon will enter Paris once again, at the heels of the fleeing Bourbon king, flushed with victory and cheered by the masses. The Escape From Elba tells the heroic story of Napoleon's exile and phoenix-like return. In this classic account, now republished in paperback, Norman MacKenzie chronicles this extraordinary year: the tense last hours of Napoleon's empire, his humiliating exile, his midnight escape and his whirlwind march over snowbound mountains to Grenoble where, in a dramatic confrontation with the French army, he became a reigning prince again. Described in vivid detail are Napoleon's adventures as the head of Elba. He brought society, splendour, organization and political intrigue to this run-down backwater. And he displayed on this small stage the many sides of his charismatic.

Napoleon and His Empire

Napoleon and His Empire PDF

Author: Philip Dwyer

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Published: 2007-02-15

Total Pages: 264

ISBN-13: 9780230008069

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Napoleon and His Empire brings together some of the world's leading Napoleonic historians, and is born out of a reflection on the Empire two hundred years after its foundation in May 1804. It provides a timely overview of current trends in research and historiography. It not only revisits traditional themes like Napoleon's revolutionary credentials, the plebiscite for the Empire and the Continental System, but also looks at new research on questions of citizenship, gender, education and local government.

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