Excerpt from Napoleon's Conquest of Prussia 1806 The majority of the illustrations are reproduced from works in the unique Napoleon collection of Mr. A. M. Broadley of The Knapp, Bridport, from whom Mr. John Lane obtained courteous per mission to utilise them. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
“An impressive source book on the conflict, high on information and data.”—Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research September 7, 1812, is by itself one of the most cataclysmic days in the history of war: 74,000 casualties at the Battle of Borodino. And this was well before the invention of weaspons of mass destruction like machine guns or breech-loading rifles. In this detailed study of one of the most fascinating military campaigns in history, George Nazfiger includes a clear exposition on the power structure in Europe at the time leading up to Napoleon’s fateful decision to attempt what turned out to be impossible: the conquest of Russia. Also featured are complete orders of battle and detailed descriptions of the opposing forces.
At the beginning of 1806, Napoleon could feel rather satisfied with his conquests, although the Russian Bear had been brutally beaten and the Austrian Eagle damaged beyond repair after the carnage of Austerlitz. However lurking to the north were the inheritors of Frederick the Great’s legacy of Rossbach and Leuthen, their sullen neutrality during 1805 had been bought by the price of the annexation of Hanover, the Prince-elector of which sat on the British throne. It would only be a matter of time before the Prussian army tested their might against Napoleon’s legions, young Prussians could be found outside the French embassy in Berlin sharpening their swords against its steps, Queen Luise was a vocal focus for the war party. With the most positive expectations for the campaign, the lumbering Prussian army, led by veterans in their sixties, seventies and even eighties, groped to find Napoleon and his much faster moving corps d’armée. Napoleon’s Marshals and generals were mostly, apart from a few notable exceptions, one bordering on treason, at the top of their professional competency. Few if any however would have expected the campaign to unfold as it did, as Napoleon actively searched for the main Prussian army, he found and destroyed a significant portion of the army at Jena, a single of his corps, under Davout, faced and defeated the majority at Auerstädt. What followed thereafter was the most relentless pursuit of the Napoleonic Wars, combined with a number of capitulations which did not honour to Prussian arms. Prussia was defeated completely, with a scant regard to future relations with this state, Napoleon dismembered the state, imposed war reparations that would have made the French at Compiegne, a century, later blush, allowed his soldiers to pillage on an unheard of scale. Not that he himself was immune to the tendency to take what might allowed, he took amongst other trophies, Frederick the Great’s own sword. Reduced to a second rate power Prussia, occupied by French soldiers, would look to the crumbs that Napoleon might hand out and hope that other powers might topple the mighty Napoleon. As with all of Petre’s books on the Napoleonic period, his work is well written, scrupulously researched and balanced. We have taken the liberty as diacritics appear in Petre’s book to change Blucher to Blücher. Author – Francis Lorraine Petre OBE - (1852–1925) Plans – ALL included – 7 total Portraits and Illustrations – ALL included - 19 total
One of the most colorful characters in the Napoleonic pantheon, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742–1819) is best known as the Prussian general who, along with the Duke of Wellington, defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Throughout his long career, Blücher distinguished himself as a bold commander, but his actions at times appeared erratic and reckless. This magnificent biography by Michael V. Leggiere, an award-winning historian of the Napoleonic Wars, is the first scholarly book in English to explore Blücher’s life and military career—and his impact on Napoleon. Drawing on exhaustive research in European archives, Leggiere eschews the melodrama of earlier biographies and offers instead a richly nuanced portrait of a talented leader who, contrary to popular perception, had a strong grasp of military strategy. Nicknamed “Marshal Forward” by his soldiers, he in fact retreated more often than he attacked. Focusing on the campaigns of 1813, 1814, and 1815, Leggiere evaluates the full effects of Blücher’s operations on his archenemy. In addition to providing military analysis, Leggiere draws extensively from Blücher’s own writings to reveal the man behind the legend. Though tough as nails on the outside, Blücher was a loving family man who deplored the casualties of war. This meticulously written biography, enhanced by detailed maps and other illustrations, fills a large gap in our understanding of a complex man who, for all his flaws and eccentricities, is justly credited with releasing Europe from the yoke of Napoleon’s tyranny.
