Product Description

There is a mass of literature on Napoleon and his times, yet there are but a handful of scholarly works that seek to cover the Napoleonic Wars in their entirety, and fewer still that place the conflict in any broader frameworks. This new study redresses the balance. Drawing on recent findings and applying a "total" history approach, it covers the causes and effects of the conflict and its place in the evolution of modern warfare.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1537753 in Books
• Published on: 1997-10-31
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 324 pages

Review
"Although this clear and reliable book seems to have a fine career as an undergraduate text, it is more than that...Advanced readers already familiar with most of the topics discussed will appreciate the wide range of new and older materials used in the book's compilation..."--Social History

"This is a compact, stimulating, and at times surprisingly polemical account."--The International History Review


"This is a compact, stimulating, and at times surprisingly polemical account."--The International History Review

About the Author
David Gates is the Deputy Director of the Center for Defence and International Security Studies at the University of Lancaster.

Customer Reviews

A first attempt at this period of Europe's development
The stated intent of this book is to give an overall view of an enormous conflict; enormous in geographical extent, in time and in its impact in the short and long term on a relatively long period in the continued development of Europe from an originally geographical phenomenon towards a political entity. This stated intent is more important than the rest of the book and should be useful for later authors.
A major blemish and departure from that intent is the author's fascination with the minutae of battle and battle field. Tedious reading at best, unless the reader has first class knowledge of the landscape in question two hundred years ago and an excellent map, and in the context of this book pointless.
A question that the author did not touch on, nor has as far as I know anyone else done so, is why Napoleon chose to strike at Moscow rather than at St.Petersburg. Moscow had great historical, emotional and religious importance but St.Petersburg was the center of government and the residence city of the head of state, the Czar. Louis XIV dictum "L'état, c'est moi" applied in full. A "coup de main" encircling St.Petersburg and thus severing the head from the body might have been successful and much less costly.

Shallow, quickie-type overview of the Wars
It had some good points, particularly economic ramifications of the wars, but was too broad to be of serious use. Perhaps as a high-school classroom text it would be of more use