Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813 (Cambridge Military Histories) (Volume 1), by Michael V. Leggiere
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Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813 (Cambridge Military Histories) (Volume 1), by Michael V. Leggiere
Best Ebook Online Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813 (Cambridge Military Histories) (Volume 1), by Michael V. Leggiere
This is the first comprehensive history of the campaign that determined control of Germany following Napoleon's catastrophic defeat in Russia. Michael V. Leggiere reveals how, in the spring of 1813, Prussia, the weakest of the great powers, led the struggle against Napoleon as a war of national liberation. Using German, French, British, Russian, Austrian and Swedish sources, he provides a panoramic history that covers the full sweep of the battle for Germany from the mobilization of the belligerents, strategy, and operations to coalition warfare, diplomacy, and civil-military relations. He shows how Russian war weariness conflicted with Prussian impetuosity, resulting in the crisis that almost ended the Sixth Coalition in early June. In a single campaign, Napoleon drove the Russo-Prussian army from the banks of the Saale to the banks of the Oder. The Russo-Prussian alliance was perilously close to imploding, only to be saved at the eleventh-hour by an armistice.
Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813 (Cambridge Military Histories) (Volume 1), by Michael V. Leggiere - Amazon Sales Rank: #508939 in Books
- Published on: 2015-05-12
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.98" h x .87" w x 5.98" l, 2.24 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 498 pages
Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813 (Cambridge Military Histories) (Volume 1), by Michael V. Leggiere Review "This is by far the best study in English of the spring campaign of 1813 which played a crucial part in the final defeat of Napoleon. Based on an impressive array of archival and published sources in many languages, Michael Leggiere traces the desperate Prussian struggle against the new French armies raised by Napoleon after the disaster of 1812, and their equally decisive efforts to keep their exhausted Russian allies in the war. It is unlikely that Leggiere's account will ever be surpassed." Rory Muir, author of Wellington: The Path to Victory, 1769-1814"The 1813 campaign has been rather neglected in recent decades, above all because it was the traditional stamping-ground of German nationalist historians preaching the virtues and achievements of Prussia and its army. It is high time for a detailed new military history rooted in sources not previously available which seeks to provide a balanced view of the Prussian war effort. Michael Leggiere does this with remarkable skill and the result is a readable and fascinating account of Prussia's remarkable achievement." Dominic Lieven, author of Russia Against Napoleon: The Battle for Europe, 1807 to 1814"I wish I had had this book in front of me while writing Citizen Emperor. This is a significant contribution to military history and sets Napoleon's loss of the German campaign in a context that has not been seen before in the English language. Leggiere is the preeminent military historian for the Napoleonic Wars." Philip Dwyer, author of Citizen Emperor: Napoleon in Power, 1799-1815"With this first of two volumes on the 1813 Campaign, Michael Leggiere surely secures his position as a preeminent historian of Napoleonic warfare. In Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany, Leggiere uses profound archival research from across Europe to unearth the machinations and thought-processes within the disjointed allied command, and at Napoleon's headquarters. Leggiere reminds us of the complexity of war, and the inherent difficulty of maintaining alliances; and highlights parallels with the better known difficulties in the Anglo-American alliance during the Second World War." Huw Davies, author of Wellington's Wars: The Making of a Military Genius"This is military history at its most instructive and fascinating. Leggiere skilfully links the dynamics of operational military history to the opportunities and strains of coalition warfare, showing how the Sixth Coalition faced major difficulties from the outset. This approach offers a valuable perspective in which to consider Napoleonic warfare." Jeremy Black, author of The War of 1812 in the Age of Napoleon
About the Author Michael V. Leggiere earned his PhD from Florida State University in 1997 after completing work at FSU's Institute on Napoleon and the French Revolution. His first book, Napoleon and Berlin: The Franco-Prussian War in North Germany, 1813 (2002) won the La Société Napoléonienne Internationale 2002 Literary Award. His article, 'From Berlin to Leipzig: Napoleon's Gamble in North Germany, 1813', which appeared in the January 2003 volume of The Journal of Military History, won the Society for Military History's 2004 Moncado Prize for excellence in military history. Dr Leggiere's second book, The Fall of Napoleon: The Allied Invasion of France, 1813-1814 (Cambridge University Press, 2007) won the La Société Napoléonienne Internationale 2008 Literary Award. Dr Leggiere's third book, Blücher: Scourge of Napoleon, was published in February 2014. Dr Leggiere has conducted extensive archival research in Paris, Vienna, and Berlin in 1994, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2004, and 2009 and topographic research in Germany, France, and Poland in 1998, 2002, and 2013. He is an active member of the Society for Military History, and serves on the Board of Directors of the Consortium on the Revolutionary Era. In 2005 he received the La Société Napoléonienne Internationale Legion of Merit Award for Outstanding Contributions to Napoleonic Studies.
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Most helpful customer reviews
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful. A pastrami sandwich By Joseph Key The last we heard from Mr. Leggiere was in 2007 when he published THE FALL OF NAPOLEON, one of the most unusual books of history I'd ever seen. It was volume 1 of a history on the 1814 campaign. Thus I was pleasantly surprised that instead of finishing the 1814 campaign he had moved forward to the 1813 campaign with a volume on the 1813 spring campaign. I have always felt that given it's importance the 1813 campaign had been given short shrift. The only worthwhile modern account was Nafziger's published in the late 90's, which I personally found somewhat lacking, falling in the something is better than nothing category. So I was excited when I saw that Mr. Leggiere was taking the campaign on.For want of a better term I consider Mr. Leggiere an academic historian who specializes in the Napoleonic Wars. An analogy is in order. Think of a good pastrami sandwich which has mounds of meat between two slices of bread. For your average military historian the meat is an account of battles, tactics and strategy. Armies and their makeup, and the leaders who led them and the soldier who fought. The politics and diplomatic events are the bread surrounding the meat. To Mr. Leggiere and others like him the meat is the diplomacy and politics of the period while the fighting is the bread. I find the politics and diplomacy of this period fascinating, though at times a bit tedious as you can't wait for the action to start. Diplomacy is often like watching sausage being made.The focus of this book is Prussia and it's attempt to lead the struggle for german liberation from the Napoleonic yoke, after Napoleon's disastrous failure in Russia gave his enemy's an opening they never thought would occur. His hero is Gerhard Scharnhorst the architect of the rebuilt Prussian army after the disaster of 1806. Scharnhorst was instrumental in cementing the alliance with Russia that was essential if Prussian was going to have an opportunity to defeat Napoleon.Despite it's focus on Prussia and german liberation Napoleon is given his due and almost equal time. This book is indeed an interesting addition to study of this campaign but not what I hoped would become the standard work on it. The book gets only four stars from me because it comes up short on the military end.For example one of the standard components of most military history's are a couple of chapters comparing the opposing forces early on. This book dispenses with that, which is rather shocking since both sides had to rebuild their armies from scratch. Napoleon lost his grand army in Russia and had to totally rebuild it in the early months of the year. Prussia's army had to be rebuilt almost from scratch after the strictures put on it by Napoleon after the Treaty of Tilsit. None of this is covered in the book. A word also must be said about the books maps, first on the positive side. There are six maps bunched together in the books front. Normally this is a big no-no for me, but unlike other authors that do this Mr. Leggiere has a note in the text indicating to the reader which of the maps in the front he needs to refer to. These six maps are there because they are referred to throughout the text. There are also many other well done maps spread through the text. But this is the other area where Mr. Leggiere falls short by having the military aspects the bread rather than the meat. The two great battles of Lutzen and Bautzen are each covered with two maps apiece of an operational nature showing the whole battlefields. Mr. Leggiere provides a good operational account of these battles but more military oriented readers may like to see more tactical details.This is the first of three volumes on the 1813 campaign, forget what you hear about this being a two volume work as a note in the next volume indicates that a third volume will be necessary, but I will deal with that in my review of the next volume.By the way this is not the first book published on the spring campaign this year. Earlier this year James Arnold privately published a book on the same campaign. Though covering the same subject the two books actually complement each other. Being a traditional military historian Mr. Arnold deals in more detail with the military stuff than does Mr. Leggiere. As that book is not listed on Amazon's sight I will not go into more detail on it until it appears. Mr. Leggiere has still written a very good account of this campaign. If not the last word it will do until such a book arrives.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful. Prussia rising By Robbo This a review of both volumes of Michael Leggiere's work.Marketed as the first comprehensive history of the 1813 campaign in Germany, these volumes certainly live up to that claim. Leggiere, a professor of history at the University of North Texas has presented us with the most detailed account of that campaign yet written in English: one which is unlikely to be bettered in its depth of study, and is likely to become the standard work on the subject. The sub-title, the Franco-Prussian War of 1813, is somewhat misleading as these volumes describe the campaign of the Sixth Coalition against Napoleon in Germany during 1813, and in which Prussia depended heavily on the support of initially the Russian Army, and after the armistice of June to August, the intervention of Austria on the side of Russia and Prussia. In reality Prussia was a junior partner, although, as Leggiere suggests, the Prussians were the more energetic of the four allies, and it was Blucher’s manoeuvre that enabled the coalition to concentrate against and defeat Napoleon at Leipzig, the beginning of the end for the French emperor.Highly readable and extensive in its scope, and while addressing the contribution of each nation and all of the armies involved this history has a distinctly Prussian flavour. Although Leggiere provides us with an holistic study of the campaign in which he takes us into the minds and actions of all the participants, he emphasises the role of the Prussians and their desire for liberation from the French yoke, a view made evident in the Introduction and Chapters 1 and 2 of Volume 1. There we are led through the politics and machinations of the Prussian dilemma from the catastrophic defeat of 1806 to when they eventually joined the Russians in the war against Napoleon in March 1813. One has some sympathy for the Prussian king, Frederick William, as he sought to maintain the existence of his country in the face of dissent advocating a popular uprising that had little chance of success, calls for a treaty with Russia, and threats from Napoleon whose troops garrisoned the key forts throughout the country.The campaign is divided into two volumes. The first, and smaller, deals with the spring campaign to June 1813, when the Russian and Prussian forces were in retreat only to be reprieved by the Austrian initiated armistice, which makes a convenient break in the story. The second volume, and twice the length of the first, continues the story with the Austrian intervention on the side of the Allies and the autumn battles that led to Napoleon’s defeat at Leipzig and his retreat to the French frontier. In writing them Legiere has made a substantial and important contribution to our understanding of the events, both military and political, that resulted in the expulsion of the ‘Little Corporal’ from central Europe.Employing a wide range of sources from all participants, and liberally scattered with extensive quotes, these thoroughly researched volumes provide a detailed and keen insight into both the complex and internally divided alliance, that nonetheless stuck together, and the manoeuvres and battles employing what Leggiere defines as ‘ the guiding principles that fundamentally helped destroy Napoleon’s empire: the ruthless application of all forces to a single objective, the interplay of the individual armies, the strategic utilisation of cavalry, and the exploitation of victory through pursuit.’ This is a magisterial work that takes us into the minds of the guiding hands of the coalition and the generals and senior staff officers, such that we gain an insight into their thinking and explains why certain decisions, actions or manoeuvres were taken, as we follow the armies on their marches and counter-marches, and through all the battles and skirmishes that were waged, not just the main events. The detail is breathtaking, but not to the extent of certain works that get down into the weeds of recalling the actions of individual regiments, battalions and companies. Rather it is set largely at the strategic and operational level that allows the reader to understand the whole campaign politically and militarily, the interactions of the various armies, corps and divisions on both sides, why the campaign played out as it did, and delves into the tactical level when describing the battles in a vivid and clear manner. His political and operational analysis is balanced and instructive, and Leggiere wraps up each volume with a conclusion or ‘Assessment‘ that are models of their kind, tying together and evaluating the events covered in the previous chapters. As a serious campaign study, Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany provides a benchmark for others to emulate.The only criticism is with the maps. They do not adequately support this monumental piece of work, and if one is to follow Legiere’s fascinating narrative the reader would be wise to invest in one of those large book of road maps of central Europe, such as printed by Phillips, or at least a large scale map. Volume 1 is especially poor in this regard, and while Volume 2 has a better range and scale of maps they are too infrequent to follow many of the manoeuvres that frustrated Napoleon. On the other hand the notes at the end of each chapter are extensive, citing not only the sources but adding additional and interesting information on the topic under discussion.These volumes may not appeal to the general reader, but they will be appreciated by those with a strong interest in the Napoleonic Wars, or those undertaking research They are a rich source of information, and offer a valuable perspective on the campaign based on sound archival research and analysis.
10 of 13 people found the following review helpful. I enjoyed the book By Cambronne First, I enjoyed the book. It was informative and well written.The book provided insight into the 1813 campaign that I felt had been overlooked in other books.It provides an excellent analysis of the first half the 1813 campaign.Second, and the reason I don't give it 5 stars, is the book is written from a Prussian perspective.The French are barely discussed until page 122 (of the kindle version).I was hoping for a little more discussion of the rebuilding of the French army, but the author focused on the creation of the Coalition armies almost exclusively.I felt the title was a little misleading and that it more properly should have been named "The Prussian struggle for Germany".Nevertheless, I would highly recommend the book.
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Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813 (Cambridge Military Histories) (Volume 1), by Michael V. Leggiere
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Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813 (Cambridge Military Histories) (Volume 1), by Michael V. Leggiere
Napoleon and the Struggle for Germany: The Franco-Prussian War of 1813 (Cambridge Military Histories) (Volume 1), by Michael V. Leggiere
