Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Tyson Recommends: Napoleonic Wars


"History as a laboratory rich in a hundred thousand experiments in economics, religion, literature, science, and government – history as our roots and our illumination, as the road by which we came and the only light that can clarify the present and guide us into the future." "It is, as Napoleon said on St. Helena, “the only true philosophy and the only true psychology.”

 - Will Durant

by Roy Adkins

Nelson's Trafalgar  is a brutally vivid, gunport level account of the 1805 clash between Britain’s Royal Navy under the command of Horatio Nelson and Napoleon’s forces off the coast of Spain.

by Allesandro Barbero, Translated by John Cullen

This account by the Italian historian stands apart from previous histories by giving voice to all the nationalities that took part in the titanic and bloody struggle, invoking the memories of British, French, and Prussian soldiers.

by David A. Bell

Bell exposes the surprising parallels between Napoleon's day and our own -- including the way that ambition "wars of liberation," such as the one in Iraq, can degenerate into a gruesome guerrilla conflict.

 by Charles Esdaile

Historian Charles Esdaile argues that the chief motivating factor for Napoleon was his insatiable desire for fame and portrays Europe’s infighting as the consequence of rulers who were willing to take the immense risks of either fighting or supporting Napoleon.

by Michel Franceschi, Ben Weider, Translated by Jonathan M. House

The authors argue that the caricature of the megalomaniac conqueror who bled Europe white to satisfy his delirious ambitions and insatiable love for war is groundless.

 by Gerard Gengembre, Pierre-Jean Chalencon, and David Chanteranne

Lavishly illustrated, this volume includes rare and previously unpublished material, not only on Napoleon's military victories but also on his innovations in government, banking, universal education, a well organized code of law, public museums, and an efficient civil service.

 by Alastair Horne

The Battle of Austerlitz was Napoleon's crowing victory. It was also the beginning of his downfall. Historian Alistair Horne chronicles the rise and fall of Napoleon, drawing parallels with other great leaders of the modern era.

 by Dominic Lieven

A fresh examination of Russian military archives only open to Western researchers since 1991, Lieven provides the first-ever history of the longest military campaign in European history told from the Russian perspective.
 by Noel  Mostert

 This narrative ranges from the Mediterranean to the West Indies, Egypt to Scandinavia, showing how land versus sea was the key to the outcome of the Napoleonic Wars.

by Jonathon Riley
A major general in the British army uses three campaigns - Napoleon's first campaign in Italy, the conquest of Prussia in 1806, and the Battle of the Nations in 1813 - to analyze Napoleon’s generalship.


Tyson

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