The Burning of Moscow

The Burning of Moscow PDF Author: Alexander Mikaberidze
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 147383449X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
As soon as Napoleon and his Grand Army entered Moscow, on 14 September 1812, the capital erupted in flames that eventually engulfed and destroyed two thirds of the city. The fiery devastation had a profound effect on the Grand Army, but for thirty-five days Napoleon stayed, making increasingly desperate efforts to achieve peace with Russia. Then, in October, almost surrounded by the Russians and with winter fast approaching, he abandoned the capital and embarked on the long, bitter retreat that destroyed his army. The month-long stay in Moscow was a pivotal moment in the war of 1812 the moment when the initiative swung towards the Tsar's armies and spelled doom for the invading Grand Army yet it has rarely been studied in the same depth as the other key events of the campaign.Alexander Mikaberidze, in this third volume of his in-depth reassessment of the war between the French and Russian empires, emphasizes the importance of the Moscow fire and shows how Russian intransigence sealed the fate of the French army. He uses a vast array of French, German, Polish and Russian memoirs, letters and diaries as well as archival material in order to tell the dramatic story of the Moscow fire. Not only does he provide a comprehensive account of events, looking at them from both the French and Russian points of view, but he explores the Russians' motives for leaving, then burning their capital. Using extensive eyewitness accounts, he paints a vivid picture of the harsh reality of life in the remains of the occupied city and describes military operations around Moscow at this turning point in the campaign.

The Burning of Moscow

The Burning of Moscow PDF Author: Alexander Mikaberidze
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 147383449X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

Get Book Here

Book Description
As soon as Napoleon and his Grand Army entered Moscow, on 14 September 1812, the capital erupted in flames that eventually engulfed and destroyed two thirds of the city. The fiery devastation had a profound effect on the Grand Army, but for thirty-five days Napoleon stayed, making increasingly desperate efforts to achieve peace with Russia. Then, in October, almost surrounded by the Russians and with winter fast approaching, he abandoned the capital and embarked on the long, bitter retreat that destroyed his army. The month-long stay in Moscow was a pivotal moment in the war of 1812 the moment when the initiative swung towards the Tsar's armies and spelled doom for the invading Grand Army yet it has rarely been studied in the same depth as the other key events of the campaign.Alexander Mikaberidze, in this third volume of his in-depth reassessment of the war between the French and Russian empires, emphasizes the importance of the Moscow fire and shows how Russian intransigence sealed the fate of the French army. He uses a vast array of French, German, Polish and Russian memoirs, letters and diaries as well as archival material in order to tell the dramatic story of the Moscow fire. Not only does he provide a comprehensive account of events, looking at them from both the French and Russian points of view, but he explores the Russians' motives for leaving, then burning their capital. Using extensive eyewitness accounts, he paints a vivid picture of the harsh reality of life in the remains of the occupied city and describes military operations around Moscow at this turning point in the campaign.

Napoleon

Napoleon PDF Author: Andrew Roberts
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698176286
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 1034

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Book Description
The definitive biography of the great soldier-statesman by the New York Times bestselling author of The Storm of War—winner of the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography and the Grand Prix of the Fondation Napoleon Austerlitz, Borodino, Waterloo: his battles are among the greatest in history, but Napoleon Bonaparte was far more than a military genius and astute leader of men. Like George Washington and his own hero Julius Caesar, he was one of the greatest soldier-statesmen of all times. Andrew Roberts’s Napoleon is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon’s thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife Josephine. Like Churchill, he understood the strategic importance of telling his own story, and his memoirs, dictated from exile on St. Helena, became the single bestselling book of the nineteenth century. An award-winning historian, Roberts traveled to fifty-three of Napoleon’s sixty battle sites, discovered crucial new documents in archives, and even made the long trip by boat to St. Helena. He is as acute in his understanding of politics as he is of military history. Here at last is a biography worthy of its subject: magisterial, insightful, beautifully written, by one of our foremost historians.

The Hundred Days (Vol. Book 19) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels)

The Hundred Days (Vol. Book 19) (Aubrey/Maturin Novels) PDF Author: Patrick O'Brian
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN: 0393088510
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 318

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Book Description
"One of the best novelists since Jane Austen…The Hundred Days may be the best installment yet." —Philadelphia Inquirer Napoleon, escaped from Elba, pursues his enemies across Europe like a vengeful phoenix. If he can corner the British and Prussians before their Russian and Austrian allies arrive, his genius will lead the French armies to triumph at Waterloo. In the Balkans, preparing a thrust northwards into Central Europe to block the Russians and Austrians, a horde of Muslim mercenaries is gathering. They are inclined toward Napoleon because of his conversion to Islam during the Egyptian campaign, but they will not move without a shipment of gold ingots from Sheik Ibn Hazm which, according to British intelligence, is on its way via camel caravan to the coast of North Africa. It is this gold that Jack Aubrey and Stephen Maturin must at all costs intercept. The fate of Europe hinges on their desperate mission.

The Fall of Napoleon

The Fall of Napoleon PDF Author: David Hamilton-Williams
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781860199851
Category : Betrayal
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
However great his military campaigns, how often he was victorious on the battlefield, Napoleon was destined to be deposed by political connivance and personal betrayal. This important study of the cause and effects of Napoleon's removal from power tracks his illustrious career through to his downfall and, while doing so, charts the clandestine diplomatic intrigue linking Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia in the quest for the Emperor's death.

Fighting Napoleon

Fighting Napoleon PDF Author: Gareth Glover
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
ISBN: 1473886864
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
“These lively and entertaining memoirs provide an intriguing counterpoint to Wellington’s better-known operations in the Iberian Peninsula” (Julian Stockwin, author of the Thomas Kydd series). It is often forgotten that Britain’s struggle against Napoleon ranged across the continents, and the extensive operations of the Royal Navy and the British Army in the Mediterranean were key battlegrounds in this prolonged war of attrition. Even when Napoleon considered himself the master of Europe, he was unable to control the Mediterranean. Lt. John Hildebrand arrived in the Mediterranean as part of the garrison of Malta in 1810. He was then involved in the defense of the island of Sicily; the campaign to capture the Ionian Islands; the siege of Ragusa; and the Occupation of Corfu. With the war ending in 1814, John and his regiment returned home, only to be sent to Belgium when Napoleon escaped from Elba in 1815. The regiment was not involved at Waterloo, but was at Hal, where it guarded Wellington’s flank during the battle. He then marched to Paris with the army. “Napoleonic students will enjoy this refreshingly different slant on Napoleonic warfare.” —Stuart Asquith, author of Stuart Asquith’s Wargaming 18th Century Battles “Essential reading for military historians and collectors of Napoleonic War era artifacts and militaria.” —The Armourer Incorporating Classic Arms & Militaria

Imperial City

Imperial City PDF Author: Susan Vandiver Nicassio
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226579743
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
In 1798, the armies of the French Revolution tried to transform Rome from the capital of the Papal States to a Jacobin Republic. For the next two decades, Rome was the subject of power struggles between the forces of the Empire and the Papacy, while Romans endured the unsuccessful efforts of Napoleon’s best and brightest to pull the ancient city into the modern world. Against this historical backdrop, Nicassio weaves together an absorbing social, cultural, and political history of Rome and its people. Based on primary sources and incorporating two centuries of Italian, French, and international research, her work reveals what life was like for Romans in the age of Napoleon. “A remarkable book that wonderfully vivifies an understudied era in the history of Rome. . . . This book will engage anyone interested in early modern cities, the relationship between religion and daily life, and the history of the city of Rome.”—Journal of Modern History “An engaging account of Tosca’s Rome. . . . Nicassio provides a fluent introduction to her subject.”—History Today “Meticulously researched, drawing on a host of original manuscripts, memoirs, personal letters, and secondary sources, enabling [Nicassio] to bring her story to life.”—History

Citizen Emperor

Citizen Emperor PDF Author: Philip Dwyer
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300190662
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 817

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Book Description
In this second volume of Philip Dwyer’s authoritative biography on one of history’s most enthralling leaders, Napoleon, now 30, takes his position as head of the French state after the 1799 coup. Dwyer explores the young leader’s reign, complete with mistakes, wrong turns, and pitfalls, and reveals the great lengths to which Napoleon goes in the effort to fashion his image as legitimate and patriarchal ruler of the new nation. Concealing his defeats, exaggerating his victories, never hesitating to blame others for his own failings, Napoleon is ruthless in his ambition for power. Following Napoleon from Paris to his successful campaigns in Italy and Austria, to the disastrous invasion of Russia, and finally to the war against the Sixth Coalition that would end his reign in Europe, the book looks not only at these events but at the character of the man behind them. Dwyer reveals Napoleon’s darker sides—his brooding obsessions and propensity for violence—as well as his passionate nature: his loves, his ability to inspire, and his capacity for realizing his visionary ideas. In an insightful analysis of Napoleon as one of the first truly modern politicians, the author discusses how the persuasive and forward-thinking leader skillfully fashioned the image of himself that persists in legends that surround him to this day.

Napoleon's Master

Napoleon's Master PDF Author: David Lawday
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312372972
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 432

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Book Description
Born into the high aristocracy, where rank meant more than wealth, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord was to become one of the great politicians of all time. His early career in politics was marked with turmoil: a liberal who saw the need to curb the powers of the monarchy, Talleyrand fled from France when the violence of the revolution turned extreme in 1792, first to England and then to the United States. It was not until his return to France after the dust had settled in 1796 that his star would begin to rise in earnest. First, he was appointed Foreign Minister. In this position, he aligned himself with the charismatic general who would become Emperor of France: Napoleon Bonaparte. In the course of the next three decades, Talleyrand would prove himself perhaps the most adept politician of all time: his political pliability allowed him to survive the fall of Bonaparte and the consequent second Bourbon restoration. He was in the shadow of power in Europe through more upheaval than perhaps any other person of his generation. Napoleon’s Master is a riveting portrait of an eternally fascinating man.

What If?

What If? PDF Author: Robert Blumetti
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595301398
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 166

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Book Description
Blumetti has used his extensive knowledge of history to explore alternative histories. He has not stretched the imagination, but rather tried to explode alternative outcomes that actually could have happened. In 1769 Napoleon's parents almost fled Corsica to the American colonies, by way of England, but decided to remain on their island. But what would have happened if they had settled in New York, just a few months before Napoleon was born? Blumetti also explores what might have happened if the Germans had attacked Moscow, instead of Stalingrad, in 1942, or what if the Japanese had entered the Second World War in 1940, instead of 1941. What if the Allies, in World War One, were victorious in 1916, or if Bismarck had united Germany and Austria in 1866? These and other counter factorial histories are explored in What If?: Alternative Historical Time Lines.

Napoleon and Europe

Napoleon and Europe PDF Author: Philip G. Dwyer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317882717
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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Book Description
Two hundred years ago, Napoleon was at the apogee of his power in Europe. This broad ranging reassessment explores the key themes presented by his extraordinary career: from his rise to power and the foundation of the imperial state, to the final defeat of his grand vision following the doomed invasion of Russia. It was a period of almost uninterrupted war in Europe, the consquences of victory or failure repeatedly transforming the political map. But Napoleon’s impact reached much deeper than this, achieving the ultimate destruction of the ancien regime and feudalism in Europe, and leaving a political and juridical legacy that persists today.