Product Description

The Napoleonic Wars saw almost two decades of brutal fighting, from the frozen wastelands of Russia to the wildness of the Peninsula; from Egypt's Lower Nile to the bloody battlefield of Waterloo. Fighting took place on an unprecedented scale across Europe, and over the entire period of the wars Napoleon led his Grand Arm¿e and his allies against almost every European nation, and against varying coalitions. This book provides a comprehensive guide to all the major armies of the Napoleonic Wars, of France, Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain and Portugal. Covering the changes experienced by the armies over the period, the author details the organization, infantry, cavalry, and artillery of each. With stunning original artwork of the often glorious uniforms worn into battle, period illustrations or the equipment used, and photographs, this is a beautiful and in-depth study of the armies that fought in the Napoleonic campaigns.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #37123 in Books
• Published on: 2009-06-23
• Released on: 2009-06-23
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 432 pages

Review
"Well, all-in-all this is a great buy for the price, and it is certainly a great alternative to getting at least a dozen other Osprey titles separately. As an easily accesible introductory text, every Napoleonic wargamer’s library should have a copy of this book." - History in Miniature, historyinminiature.wordpress.com (October 2009)

About the Author
Chris McNab is an author and editor specializing in military history and military technology. He has published over 25 books, including Weapons of War: AK47 (Spellmount, 2001), How to Pass the SAS Selection Course (Sidgwick & Jackson, 2002) and Tools of Violence (Osprey, 2008). He has also written extensively for encyclopaedias and has contributed to The Times on the war in Iraq. The author lives in Wales, UK.

Customer Reviews

Armies of the Napoleonic Wars
I wasn't sure about this book at first. It almost appeared as cheesy with all the artwork (original art not period pieces) but then after reading the text, I really enjoyed this book. The fact that the title implies the book is an illustrated history lead me to think the book would depend on the artwork, but that really isn't the case. The text is well written and really helps the reader understand how armies were orgainized during the Napoleonic wars. The French army, for instance, underwent many significant changes under Napoleon's direction. It rose from the ashes of defeat in the mid-eighteenth century to be the foremost land army in Europe, a position is held in the late seventeenth century.

The book goes on to detail each of the major European powers and how their armies were organized and fielded. Each nation did things a bit differently based on several contributing factors, but in the end all the differing styles and politics were blended into a coalition that eventually defeated Napoleon at Waterloo.

This book is a must have for any who has an interest in Napoleon or the Napoleonic era. Napoleon is one of those polarizing figures in history that historians cannot get enough of. His charisma, charm, genius, flaws, failures, all capture the immagination. For this reason books on his age will always come forth. It is the book such as this that takes a unique approach to an aspect of the age and analyzes it with precision, and incorporates it into a concise, readable volume such as this. Military historians will also find value in this book as the art of warfare is presented in a way that illustrates the changes armies made from the mid to late eighteenth century then on into the nineteenth century. For example, Prussia's army was a mere shadow of what Frederick the Great had worked so hard to achieve.

This book would be a welcomed addition to any historian's bookshelf.

One of the best histories on armies of the Napoleonic Wars
This is one of the most affordable books and it is lavishly illustrated books about armies in the Napoleonic Wars. It covers all of the major armies and even a brief description of the minor ones.This one covers the basics of the armies of that period and all of them are well illustrated. In this type of book with this price is realy affordable because I can tell you that illustrated books of this period are usually priced beyound range of the collecter of books on Napoleonic armies or wars.It has all the basics and would go great with any library.