In this detailed study Kevin Kiley looks at artillery in use throughout the Napoleonic period. He examines Napoleons own artillery as well as that employed by his enemies, and he evaluates the gunners contribution to warfare in the period. By looking at particular battles in detail, Kevin Kiley shows just how the effective employment of artillery could tip the scales of victory.
The Napoleonic Wars gripped Europe, and beyond, for over ten years at the beginning of the Nineteenth century. Hundreds of battles were fought between the armies of France (and its allies) and all those powers that wished to see Napoleon Bonaparte stopped in his tracks and an end to the French Empire. The battles and sieges of the Napoleonic Wars, which cost the lives of between 3 and 6 million men, made unprecedented use of large guns, and every participating army possessed a range of artillery. With the wars covering such a long period of time, and with so many armies involved, the subject of Napoleonic artillery is a complicated one, and no work has attempted to examine all the weapons involved in a single, detailed volume. Until now. The product of years of research, this book presents most of what is known about the artillery pieces of the Napoleonic Wars. Including numerous drawings, contemporary illustrations and modern photographs of surviving guns, it will be an invaluable addition to the library of historians, modellers, wargamers and re-enactors.
At the end of the Royalist regime, the artillery arm of the French Army was, as Napoleon was later to declare, "the finest and best composed corps in Europe." Designed by the great master of artillery, Jean Baptiste de Gribeauval, the equipment consisted of some of the best pieces in Europe. This book examines the equipment and performance of Napoleon's artillery in the Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802), Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) and Waterloo campaign (1815). The organization of the Imperial Army is also covered, including the key French failure to develop "Shrapnel" or "spherical case shot" - a weapon used against them to great effect by the British.
Following on from the first volume covering British Napoleonic Artillery, this volume concentrates on the heavy weapons of siege and coastal defences. This book covers the main equipments used; the 24 pounder siege gun and a variety of mortars. Mortars varied from 4- or 5-inch versions up to a13 inch calibre and were considered to be extremely effective because they used an exploding shell to destroy fortifications or personnel. Also covered in detail is the specialist bomb vessel, which was used to attack fortifications in a similar fashion; siege techniques; and the tactical use of siege and coastal artillery.
From the top-selling author on the subject, Philip Haythornthwaite, comes the ultimate authoritative work on the weapons and equipment of the Napoleonic wars. Infantry and cavalry weapons and tactics, artillery and engineers, staff and supplies, uniforms and equipment, and living conditions are brought to life with startlingly vivid period reproductions. Detailed battle plans explain infantry formations, troop deployments, and skirmishes. Among the breathtaking images included: British squares resisting the French cavalry at Waterloo and the raising of the siege of Thionville, with the French infantry routing the Hungarians. British drill exercises and troop formations are outlined in full. Unsurpassed as the basic illustrated guide, this is ideal for historians, modelers, wargamers, and reenactors. 196 pages, 150 b/w illus., 7 1/4 x 9 3/4. NEW IN PAPERBACK.
The Austrian artillery of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars was a creation of the renowned Lichtenstein system of the early 1750s. This weight system produced a series of weapons of 3-, 6- and 12-pdr. calibre along with 7- and 10-pdr. howitzers. In the 1780s they were joined by Cavalry artillery guns with their Wurst seats. In 1811 Austria also began the establishment of rocket troops based upon the British invention, whilst their heavy and siege pieces remained the 12 -,18- and 24-pdrs throughout the period. This book describes the system as well as its operational use during the Napoleonic Wars.
As a young gunner, Napoleon Bonaparte was trained in one of Europe's finest artillery arms. Both the technological sophistication of their weaponry and the skill of their gunners was largely the result of the adoption of the system devised by one man, Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval. Gribeauval's standardised system of parts and calibres allowed a degree of uniformity and sophistication in the French artillery that was unmatched throughout Europe, and allowed Napoleon to inherit and develop an arm that could dominate the battlefield. This volume covers the field artillery pieces of the system: the 4-, 8- and 12-pdr guns; light 1-pdr guns and mountain guns; and later innovations such as the 6-pdr gun.
The best single-volume reference book on the regiments of Napoleon's army, with details of unit organization and history plus biographies of 200 regimental officers.
Austerlitz, Wagram, Borodino, Trafalgar, Leipzig, Waterloo: these are the places most closely associated with the era of the Napoleonic Wars. But how did this period of nearly continuous conflict affect the world beyond Europe? The immensity of the fighting waged by France against England, Prussia, Austria, and Russia, and the immediate consequences of the tremors that spread throughout the world. In this ambitious and far-ranging work, Alexander Mikaberidze argues that the Napoleonic Wars can only be fully understood in an international perspective. France struggled for dominance not only on the plains of Europe but also in the Americas, West and South Africa, Ottoman Empire, Iran, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mediterranean Sea, and the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. Taking specific regions in turn, Mikaberidze discusses major political-military events around the world and situates geopolitical decision-making within its long- and short-term contexts. From the British expeditions to Argentina and South Africa to the Franco-Russian maneuvering in the Ottoman Empire, the effects of the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars would shape international affairs well into the next century. In Egypt, the wars led to the rise of Mehmed Ali and the emergence of a powerful state; in North America, the period transformed and enlarged the newly established United States; and in South America, the Spanish colonial empire witnessed the start of national-liberation movements that ultimately ended imperial control. Skillfully narrated and deeply researched, here at last is the global history of the period, one that expands our view of the Napoleonic Wars and their role in laying the foundations of the modern world.
The Napoleonic Wars saw almost two decades of brutal fighting, from the frozen wastelands of Russia to the wilderness of the Peninsula, and from Egypt to the bloody battlefield of Waterloo. Fighting took place on an unprecedented scale across Europe, and over the entire period of the wars Napoleon led his Grand Armée and his allies against almost every European nation, and against varying coalitions. This book provides a comprehensive guide to all the major armies of the Napoleonic Wars, of France, Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain and Portugal. Covering the changes experienced by the armies over the period, the author details the organization, infantry, cavalry, and artillery of each. With stunning original artwork of the often glorious uniforms worn into battle, period illustrations of the equipment used, and photographs, this is a beautiful and in-depth study of the armies that fought in the Napoleonic campaigns.
