Book Description
Unique documentation from a rare Napoleonic first-hand accountThis book-the first hand experiences of an ordinary British soldier of the Napoleonic era-is a Leonaur original. It has never been available in book form before and as part of an obscure collection of manuscript material, out of print for almost a century, it is unlikely to be familiar to most modern readers. This is the well-written account of Daniel Nicol, a Scot and soldier of the Gordon Highlanders. Nicol provides us with fascinating details about his transportation through the Mediterranean and the complex activities of the Royal Navy. He then takes us on a thrilling journey through the little reported 1801 campaign in Egypt, from the opposed landing at Aboukir to the gallant action of his regiment at Mandorra-where the battle is described in detail. After intense campaigning in the desert, Nicol's narrative turns to the campaign in Spain where he fought at the battle of Talavera. The final part of this book covers the author's capture and imprisonment by the French and provides invaluable insights into the experiences of a prisoner of war in the Napoleonic epoch. A rare find! ... Read more

Book Description
By 1807 Napoleon--well aware of the strategic importance of the Scandinavian nations--was convinced that he must incorporate both Denmark and Norway into his Continental System, either by aggressive diplomacy or by naked force. Having claimed neutrality to sustain its trading links, Scandinavia found itself pitted between two power-hungry nations: Britain and France. This book details the Scandinavian armies involved in the Napoleonic Wars, beginning with the siege of Copenhagen in 1807, to the fall of Denmark and the invasion of Norway in 1813. The text is accompanied by colour plates detailing the uniforms and equipment of the Scandinavian armies. ... Read more

Book Description
ENSIGN BELL IN THE PENINSULAR WAR - THE EXPERIENCES OF A YOUNG BRITISH SOLDIER WITH THE 34TH REGIMENT 'THE CUMBERLAND GENTLEMEN' IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS.This book is one of the least known accounts of life on the battlefield and on campaign during the Peninsular War. If its obscurity was in some way a reflection of its quality this might be understandable, but George Bell's account is so well written it surely deserves to be among the best known and most highly regarded Napoleonic period memoirs. Written with youthful enthusiasm and humour, Bell takes us to war against the French in the company of his irrepressible Irish soldiers, Biddy Skiddy the camp follower and the wildly eccentric Maurice Quill, the surgeon. Packed full of dialogue and incident this is a highly entertaining narrative and invaluable Napoleonic memoir. ... Read more

Book Description

Stories of surgeons battling against contagion, infection, and bleeding, often operating in appalling conditions, and achieving some remarkable results

Based on the author's exhaustive research, this is the first dedicated account of surgery during the Napoleonic Wars, before anaesthetic and antiseptic. Includes background and nature of the patients, the experience of wounding, and the training of surgeons, with extensive and many unique illustrations.

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Book Description
MORE ENGAGING THAN A NOVEL - A CAVALRYMAN'S LIFE IN THE NAPOLEONIC WARS AND BATTLES FOR INDIA.Trooper Farmer's military career was packed with adventure and incident.Through his words the reader experiences life in the British Light Cavalry on campaign in Spain against the French.During one sharpaction Farmer is taken prisoner and we follow him through captivity until his release at the First Restoration.Napoleon's return puts him back in the saddle once again to go to war on the bloody field of Waterloo.Although he had already experienced enough action for a lifetime Farmer was then dispatched to India to play his part in the early days of the conquest of the sub-continent.A gripping military memoir! ... Read more

Book Description
Between 1775 and 1800 the navies of England, France and the young United States undertook major improvements in their methods of message signaling. This booklet examines the work of Royal Navy officers that resulted in a first rate code book and a method of superencipherment. Fortunately for the British, this new tool was available for use in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

A simple superencipherment was used not to protect messages from an enemy but to keep messages private between an admiral and his captains. Admiral Sir Home Popham was the author of the series of code books adopted by the Royal Navy. Selected pages from his code books are reproduced here.

There is disagreement on which flags were flown in Lord Nelson's famous message, "England expects every man to do his duty". Which code book was used? Was this message superenciphered? These questions are examined. ... Read more

Book Description
A journey through the world of Napoleonic miniatures and dioramas in 74 colour pages. Painting figures, horses, artillery pieces, and much more. Includes a poster of the hussar regiments. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

EXCELLENT Napoleonic Miniatures book
Excellent book for the Napoleonic Modeller. Has many pictures of 54mm Andrea Napoleonic Model Figures, also show's how to do conversions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Rare Memoir of a Female Soldier
Very few of the historical women who disguised themselves as men to become soldiers have told their adventures in their own words.Nadezhda Durova was a minor noblewoman who spent seven years in the Russian cavalry during the Napoleonic wars and earned the distinguished cross of St. George.Years later a chance meeting introduced her to Pushkin, who read her service journals and encouraged her to publish with the praise, "Charming!Vivid, original, beautiful style."

A key moment in Durova's life happens during infancy.Her father, an army officer, brings his family to camp.Shocked to see his wife abusing the baby girl, he keeps Nadezhda with the regiment and orders his soldiers to raise her.Soon her favorite toy is an unloaded gun.

After her father's retirement, when Napoleon's ambitions turn to Eastern Europe, Durova needs little excuse to run away on her horse and join the army.She reaches the front just in time for the disastrous Prussian campaign.Her worried family asks friends to seek her whereabouts.Soon rumors of an amazon reach the tsar.

Durova has little praise for her own performance at the front. In a fit of exhaustion she even sleeps through a town's evacuation.Her superiors give better reports that result in a decoration from the tsar for saving the life of an officer during battle.During a direct interview Alexander I allows her to remain in the army using his name as a pseudonym.He then places her in an elite unit.

Life in the hussars is less than ideal.Unable to grow the Russian officer's expected mustache, Durova gets passed over for promotion by superiors who think she is a boy. Not everyone considers this a disadvantage-particularly the colonel's infatuated daughter.Durova's talent for amusing anecdotes shines as she describes how she extracts herself from this predicament.

Durova sees action again during the 1812 campaign.Wounded in the battle of Borodino outside Moscow, she has the good fortune to go home before Napoleon's death march retreat.

This narrative has both the freshness and the failings of journal writing.Pushkin appears to have lent some editorial assistance.Individual episodes shine but frequent interruptions disturb the flow.Readers are advised to consider that Durova is a creature of her era, occasionally exhibiting prejudices not accepted in the present age.

Although famous in her native Russia, Durova is little known to the English speaking world.Mary Fleming Zirin's translation brings an original story to a new audience.This volume reproduces the entire memoir with additional documentary evidence of Durova's military career and a well-researched introduction. ... Read more

Book Description
32 illustrations ,9 maps ,6 x 9 A superb evocation of life in Napoleons armies A classic account of the Peninsular War and the 1812 invasion of Russia These superb memoirs, never before published in English, are some of the finest to have emerged from the Napoleonic Wars. They recount the adventures of a man who, by the time he was twenty-five, 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 was ordered to take part in the invasion of Russia. Crossing the Niemen 3,000 strong, his regiment and was completely destroyed in the epic retreat from Moscow.

Brandts exciting memoirs paint a startling picture of life on campaign, and the brutal face of the Napoleonic battlefield and make for gripping reading.

Jonathan North is a specialist in Napoleonic history, concentrating on Eastern Europe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

From Saragossa to Moscow
Poles fought gallantly for France, and indirectly for their lost himeland, throughout the French Revoltionary and Napoleonic Wars.The most reliable of Napoleon's foreign troops, they marched the length and breadth of Europeand established a combat reputation second to none.Heinrich vonBrandt was one of these, being commissioned into the Grande Armee as asous-lieutenant shortly after Prussia's defeat in 1806.He quickly wasassigned to the famous Legion of the Vistula, humped his pack, and wentinto Spain, seeing his first action in the famous second Siege ofSaragossa.Brandt's fascinating narrative is lively, accurate, andblunt, telling in vivid detail the horrors of war and the lighter momentsof garrison duty.He fought his war in Spain assigned to Suchet's Armyof Aragon, seeing much action.When Napoleon starting gathering the hugearmy that invaded Russia in 1812, The Vistula Legion was one of the unitspulled out of Spain to go into Russia.His description of the marchesacross Europe, the thorough preparation for the Grande Armee's invasion,and the trek to Moscow is fascinating-one can literally not put the bookdown.The best feature of the narrative, however, is Brandt's candiddescription of some of the notable personalities of the period, includingNapoleon, Marshal Davout, and Marshal Suchet, all of whom he met andtalked.He was praised by Suchet, interviewed for his commission byDavout, and saw Napoleon more than once, describing both he and Davout ashaving terrible tempers when provoked.His description of the terribleretreat from Moscow and the brilliant battle at the River berezina on theway out of Russian are fascinating.This is one of the best soldiermemoirs I have ever read.It is as colorful as those by Charles Parquinand Baron Marbot, and very accurate.This book belongs on the book shelfof every Napoleonic historian and enthusiast. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

A handy reference of the "Whos" in Napoleon's time.
A handy reference, of the "whos" of the French Revolution and Napoleonic eras, I find myself reaching for again and again.A must companion for Haythornthwaite's Napoleonic Encyclopedia, or for yourlibrary in general.

Excellent shelf companion to 'Napoleonic Source Book'
Haythornthwaite's 'Naploleonic Source Book' contains a small biographicalsection which I had always wished to see expanded. This is it! I have beenable to find entries for even the most obscure bit-part players. The authorhas even given spaces for significant historians and artists of the period(not necessarily living during that period either!) I think this is animaginative and necessary inclusion. Readers interested in the War of 1812will not, I think, be disappointed, as there is a generous spread ofentries for participants from both sides of that conflict. ... Read more

Book Description
The adventures of a soldier of the 95th (rifles) in the Peninsular & Waterloo campaigns of the Napoleonic wars ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The adventure of a soldier of the 95th riflesin the Peninsular & Waterloo Campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars
This was the best book of all the books I have read by soldiers of the 95th Rifles. ... Read more

Book Description
HUSSAR IN WINTER - A CAVALRYMAN'S EXPERIENCE OF A HARSH CAMPAIGNAlexander Gordon witnessed the Peninsular War against Napoleon's French Army from the saddle of a light cavalry mount. His was a campaign of patrols and piquets, scouting and skirmishing. Caught up in the gruelling winter campaign that was the retreat to Corunna, where the pressures of the constantly pursuing French were made worse by the privations of short rations, appalling weather and difficult terrain, Gordon tells a story of fighting withdrawal, but never of defeat. These pages also bring to life the fury and action of the Napoleonic cavalry charge that was the ambition of every horse soldier. Hussar in Winter is an essential Napoleonic memoir for anyone interested in the British Cavalry ... Read more

Book Description
The Politics of Religion in Napoleonic Italy explores the intense cultural conflict created by French rule in Italy at the start of the nineteenth century. Napoleon's desire for cultural conformity struck at the heart of Italian religious life. Yet the reforms imposed by French rule created resentment and resistance across Italy, finally leading to Napoleon's famous quarrel with Pope Pious VII.
In this fascinating study, Mike Broers traces the events leading up to the ex-communication of Napoleon and the Pope's arrest and exile from Rome. Using previously neglected French and Italian archival sources, this book reveals how the alliance between Church and people grew in the face of alien, imperial rule. It exposes the vital role this union played in preventing Italy from being totally assimilated into the French empire. ... Read more