A Boy Soldier in Napoleon's Army
A Boy Soldier in Napoleon's Army

Author: Thomas Cardoza

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-11-30

Total Pages: 214

ISBN-13: 9781979883627

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In 1800, Jacques Chevillet enlisted in Napoleon's French Army. He was 14 years old. Assigned to a light cavalry regiment, Chevillet learned to ride, to fight, and to mix it up with his comrades in duels and barracks pranks. He fought his first duel at age 15 over a girl. In the next decade, Chevillet travelled through France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Italy, Croatia, and Hungary. He fought in three major battles as well as many skirmishes and patrol actions and received wounds from bullets, sabers, and artillery. He stole food from his colonel, looted farm houses, fell in love, spent more than his share of time in military prisons, and eventually he even grew up, receiving a battlefield promotion to sergeant in 1809. Despite serving in the army of one of history's great authoritarians, Chevillet kept a fierce independent streak, and he refused to obey orders that he felt violated his personal liberty. In this, he was representative of a generation that served Napoleon, but came of age in the heady times of the French Revolution, and who still believed in "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" even as they rode to victory in the Emperor's conquest of Europe. Chevillet's military career came to end at the Battle of Wagram on July 5, 1809, when he lost his right arm to an Austrian howitzer shell. Wagram was the largest battle in the world up to that time, and one of the bloodiest. Afterwards, Chevillet met Napoleon in person (the only time he ever spoke to the Emperor), received a pension, and returned to France, where he wrote these memoirs in 1810-1811. They are as far as we can tell the very first memoirs of the Napoleonic Wars to be written down, and one of only a few by private soldiers. They represent a rare, detailed, and vivid glimpse into the daily life of the common soldier.

Child Soldiers in the Age of Fractured States
Child Soldiers in the Age of Fractured States

Author: Scott Gates

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2010-01-31

Total Pages: 321

ISBN-13: 0822973596

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Current global estimates of children engaged in warfare range from 200,000 to 300,000. Children's roles in conflict range from armed and active participants to spies, cooks, messengers, and sex slaves. Child Soldiers in the Age of Fractured States examines the factors that contribute to the use of children in war, the effects of war upon children, and the perpetual cycle of warfare that engulfs many of the world's poorest nations. The contributors seek to eliminate myths of historic or culture-based violence, and instead look to common traits of chronic poverty and vulnerable populations. Individual essays examine topics such as: the legal and ethical aspects of child soldiering; internal UN debates over enforcement of child protection policies; economic factors; increased access to small arms; displaced populations; resource endowments; forced government conscription; rebel-enforced quota systems; motivational techniques employed in recruiting children; and the role of girls in conflict. The contributors also offer viable policies to reduce the recruitment of child soldiers such as the protection of refugee camps by outside forces, "naming and shaming," and criminal prosecution by international tribunals. Finally, they focus on ways to reintegrate former child soldiers into civil society in the aftermath of war.

DIARY OF A NAPOLEONIC FOOT SOLDIER
DIARY OF A NAPOLEONIC FOOT SOLDIER

Author: Jakob Walter

Publisher: Doubleday

Published: 2012-05-09

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 0307817563

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A grunt’s-eye report from the battlefield in the spirit of The Red Badge of Courage and All Quiet on the Western Front—the only known account by a common soldier of the campaigns of Napoleon’s Grand Army between 1806 and 1813. When eighteen-year-old German stonemason Jakob Walter was conscripted into the Grand Army of Napoleon, he had no idea of the trials that lay ahead. The long, grueling marches in Prussia and Poland sacrificed countless men to Bonaparte’s grand designs. And the disastrous Russian campaign tested human endurance on an epic scale. Demoralized by defeat in a war few supported or understood, deprived of ammunition and leadership, driven past reason by starvation and bitter cold, men often turned on one another, killing fellow soldiers for bread or an able horse. Though there are numerous surviving accounts of the Napoleonic Wars written by officers, Walter’s is the only known memoir by a draftee, and as such is a unique and fascinating document—a compelling chronicle of a young soldier’s loss of innocence as well as an eloquent and moving portrait of the profound effects of war on the men who fight it. Professor Marc Raeff has added an Introduction to the memoirs as well as six letters home from the Russian front, previously unpublished in English, from German conscripts who served concurrently with Walter. The volume is illustrated with engravings and maps, contemporary with the manuscript, from the Russian/Soviet and East European collections of the New York Public Library. Honest, heartfelt, deeply personal yet objective, The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier is more than an informative and absorbing historical document—it is a timeless and unforgettable account of the horrors of war.

Forging Napoleon's Grande Armée
Forging Napoleon's Grande Armée

Author: Michael J Hughes

Publisher: NYU Press

Published: 2012-05-07

Total Pages: 299

ISBN-13: 0814724116

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“A fascinating study exploring the motivation of French soldiers during the Napoleonic Era, and the process through which they became Napoleon’s men.”—Frederick C. Schneid, author of Napoleon’s Conquest of Europe The men who fought in Napoleon’s Grande Armée built a new empire that changed the world. Remarkably, the same men raised arms during the French Revolution for liberté, égalité, and fraternité. In just over a decade, these freedom fighters, who had once struggled to overthrow tyrants, rallied to the side of a man who wanted to dominate Europe. What was behind this drastic change of heart? In this ground-breaking study, Michael J. Hughes shows how Napoleonic military culture shaped the motivation of Napoleon’s soldiers. Relying on extensive archival research and blending cultural and military history, Hughes demonstrates that the Napoleonic regime incorporated elements from both the Old Regime and French Revolutionary military culture to craft a new military culture, characterized by loyalty to both Napoleon and the preservation of French hegemony in Europe. Underscoring this new, hybrid military culture were five sources of motivation: honor, patriotism, a martial and virile masculinity, devotion to Napoleon, and coercion. Forging Napoleon’s Grande Armée vividly illustrates how this many-pronged culture gave Napoleon’s soldiers reasons to fight. “Hughes offers a tight and well-grounded exposition and analysis of French military culture in the Napoleonic period in which military honour is presented as a dynamic element.” —Journal of European Studies “Hughes’s book not only contributes to our understanding of the military success of Napoleon’s army, but also elegantly employs cultural history methods to better understand army operations and sustained troop motivations.” —Julia Osman, History: Reviews of New Book

Innocent Soldier
Innocent Soldier

Author: Josef Holub

Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

Published: 2011-01-01

Total Pages: 202

ISBN-13: 0545355699

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The critically acclaimed 2006 Mildred L. Batchelder Award-winning story of two boys caught up in an unwinnable war--now in paperback with After Words bonus features.Adam is a farmhand conscripted by Napoleon's army, which is gathering strength for its campaign against Russia. Sergeant Krauter makes Adam the victim of his most sadistic urges. But when an aristocratic young lieutenant spots Adam and requisitions him as his personal valet, Adam's life seems to take a turn for the better. As Adam and Lieutenant Konrad Klara draw closer to Moscow, they encounter a panoply of wartime horrors. AN INNOCENT SOLDIER--both poignant and funny--explores the importance of friendship in persevering against overwhelming odds.

French Soldier in Egypt 1798–1801
French Soldier in Egypt 1798–1801

Author: Terry Crowdy

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2012-08-20

Total Pages: 159

ISBN-13: 1782002111

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This book concentrates on the dramatic experiences of Napoleon's Army of the Orient in Egypt and the Holy Land. The fighting of the Mamelukes and Turks are covered in depth, detailing desert combat, siege warfare, cavalry skirmishes and the suppression of uprisings. It examines the French treatment of prisoners as well as the fate of captured Frenchmen, and describes caring for the wounded, outbreaks of bubonic plague, and the terrible retreat from Acre in 1799, in accounts by the men who were there. The experiences of infantry, cavalry and sea soldiers of Napoleon's Army of the Orient are brought vividly back to life.

Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte

Author:

Publisher: Pelangi ePublishing Sdn Bhd

Published: 2012-11-01

Total Pages: 33

ISBN-13: 9674310746

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This book is suitable for children age 9 and above. Napoleon Bonaparte was the first emperor of France. He was a very successful military general and he led his army into many victorious battles. This is the story of how a lawyer's son rose to become a powerful emperor.

Intrepid Women
Intrepid Women

Author: Thomas Cardoza

Publisher: Indiana University Press

Published: 2010-04-05

Total Pages: 313

ISBN-13: 025335451X

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"Based on previously unpublished French archival records as well as published primary sources from France, its enemies, and its allies from the early 1700s until the Great War, Intrepid women is the first serious ... study of a previously ignored aspect women's and military history. Thomas Cardoza shows that these women were far more numerous and far more important to French logistics and morale than previously recognized, and suggests that their suppression was both premature and ultimately counterproductive. He also paints ... a complete picture of these women's daily lives: social origins, recruitment, business dealings, behavior on the battlefield, marriage and family life, retirement, and death"--Jacket.

A Soldier for Napoleon
A Soldier for Napoleon

Author: John H Gill

Publisher: Frontline Books

Published: 2016-11-30

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 1473882699

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‘Fills a very noticeable gap in the history of the Napoleonic Wars by providing a good description of what it was like to be a member of the Royal Bavarian Army.’ HistoryNet The letters and diaries of Lieutenant Franz Joseph Hausmann are here placed in the context of the military events of the period by renowned historian John Gill. They stem from Hausmann’s first campaign in 1805 in the war against Austria, followed by the 1806 and 1807 campaigns in Prussia and Poland. In 1809 he was in action against the Tyrolean insurrection and he also fought at Abensberg and Zniam. He was only twenty-three when he embarked on the ill-fated 1812 invasion of Russia and served as part of the Bavarian corps that was shattered in this cataclysmic campaign. He survived to describe the 1813 campaign and the 1814 campaign in France when the Bavarians switched sides and fought against Napoleon. With additional commentary by John Gill on the Bavarian Army and its campaigns and battles, this book is an important, authoritative addition to the works on the Napoleonic Wars.