Books: Best Books/Links on The Napoleonic Era

[grognard]

Digby Smith's Napoleonic Wars Databook is a must have. It lists virtually every battle, not just the ones napoleon commanded with OBs and casualties.

[Consul]

I would also highly recommend Pieter Geyl's book Napoleon: For and Against.

Consul
Sapere aude

[alanp]

I found Napoleon and His Collaborators by Isser Woloch to be excellent. Not as much on his battles if that's your main interest, but great for learning how and with whom he got the power he had.

[outline]

The best $40 you can spend on the subject

1. Napoleon's Battles: A History of His Campaigns ($26 amazon delivered )
by Henry, Lachouque

2. The Napoleonic Source Book ($14 amazon delivered)
by Philip J. Haythornthwaite

[Cap. Teancum]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Roadblock]

There's Tons of Good Stuff

Alistair Horne's Age of Napoleon is new in paperback and is a great overview of the period and the Napoleonic legacy in nineteenth century Europe. The others off the top of my head I remember the titles not the authors. The book, Three Napoleonic Battles, looks at Napoleon's changing generalship through time, Austerlitz, Freiland, and Waterloo. It is a standard text for course work in Revolutionary France. The Russian historian of the revolutionary/Napoleonic era Zaprowski (I think I spelled that right) wrote the excellent Moscow 1812 and uses alot of previously overlooked Russian archive sources. There is also a great book I read last summer by a historian that teaches at the war college at Leavenworth; Robert Epstein Naopeon's Last Victory and the Emergence of Modern Warfare. This is an excellent look at organizational issues, e.g. organization of corps by Napoleon and his opponents, campaign planning at the stategic and tactical level

[johnbryan]

Here's one for our side of the Atlantic that will undoubtedly be of interest to Canadians, Americans and British.

http://www.militaryheritage.com/1812.htm

[Cambronnne]

I found the following quite good:

"Napoleon and Austerlitz" by Scott Bowden

"La Grande Armee" by Georges Blonde (can often be found at borders)

"The Iron Marshall" by John Gallagher (Bio of Davout)

[Cap. Teancum]

Welcome to the forums mate and thanks for your very first post being on the Napoleonic Era. Hope you'll stick around and share with us your thoughts on the ongoing discussions and that you might start new ones if you feal like it.

[Cambronnne]

Welcome to the forums mate and thanks for your very first post being on the Napoleonic Era. Hope you'll stick around and share with us your thoughts on the ongoing discussions and that you might start new ones if you feal like it.

Thank you.
I have been lurking for a while and have finally gotten around to posting something.

[Cap. Teancum]

Like the saying goes, better late than never.

[Cambronnne]

I will add a few more.

Also good:

The Anatomy of Glory by Henri Lachouque (Napoleon and his Guard)

The Rise of Napoleon, and the second volme

The Reign of Napoleon.

Unfortunately, the book is packed away due to a recent move so I cannot give you the author's name.

[Cap. Teancum]

Ok, I've been making coments on this thread but failed to add any contribution to the cause. I'm now reading "The rise of General Bonaparte" by Spencer Wilkinson it's a 1930's book. I've just started reading it, but I'm enjoying it a lot.
I already have another book lined up, "Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812" by Eugene Tarlé it's a 1940's book.

[Cambronnne]

Ok, I've been making coments on this thread but failed to add any contribution to the cause. I'm now reading "The rise of General Bonaparte" by Spencer Wilkinson it's a 1930's book. I've just started reading it, but I'm enjoying it a lot.
I already have another book lined up, "Napoleon's Invasion of Russia, 1812" by Eugene Tarlé it's a 1940's book.

How "readable" is the book?
My point is that I have Petre's book on the 1813 campaign, which was written in the early 1900s, and just never got into the flow of the book.
I have often wondered if it was because the style of writing was different at that time, than it is now.
As a result of my experience with that book, I have always been reluctant to try the older ones.

[Cap. Teancum]

The Rise of General Bonaparte is a very "readable" book. He tries very hard to keep the text simple and avoids to use too much technical terms. Plus, he got some maps going to help creating a visual image of what might have happened.
So far, I'm enjoying the book and although I know some english, it's not my native language.