MY FAVOURITE BOOKS ABOUT NAPOLEON'S 1812 CAMPAIGN

1812 the year of fire and ice

I have built up my Napoleonic library over many years. Most of the books I bought here in England were highly critical of Napoleon and everything he stood for - no surprises there then. It was only as I read books by American authors in particular that I realized that the same historical events were open to more than one interpretation. Then, as I read and discovered more myself, I saw that Napoleon had been rated one of the greatest geniuses of all time by no less a person than Goethe, who met the French Emperor and received the Legion of Honour from him in person. Heine and Nietszche were other admirers of Napoleon. More recently, a wide perusal of the Net has revealed nuggets of pure joy for the Napoleonic researcher. Abbott's writings were completely new to me when I came across them last year as was the excellent commentaries by Walter Runciman, especially his 1919 volume Drake, Nelson and Napoleon. Runciman who lived from 1847-1937 was likewise brought up to believe in the myth of the Corsican Ogre and yet he came to a completely different assessment of Napoleon after extensive reading in the British archives.

One of the best books about Napoleon and his Grand Army is by John Elting. Swords around a Throne is full of great anecdotes and those little human touches that reveal Napoleon the man. The scholarship of the sadly deceased Elting is superb and there are chapters about every branch of the French Army including information about cantinieres and other vital elements of the non-military participants in glorious pages of history. No fact is too arcane but that Elting has a comment to make about it. There are many references to 1812 scattered throughout the volume and they are all well worth reading.

For the political element of the Franco-Russian struggle and particularly the personal relationship between Napoleon and Tsar Alexander, Curtis Cate's book The War of the Two Emperors is invaluable. Alan Palmer's Russia in War and Peace  is also useful and had excellent illustrations particularly contemporary Russian ones.

My favourite writing of all however, are eye-witness accounts of the horrors of this Russian epic. I have already mentioned the memoirs of Bourgogne and Coignet. One superb trilogy that utilizes  scores of such first-hand witnesses is that by Paul Britten Austin.  Although Austin is no real fan of Napoleon, the sheer effort of putting dozens of different perspectives into one continuous narrative is extremely impressive and I enjoyed reading his volumes considerably.

What first got me interested in the Russian campaign was  reading Anthony Brett-James' 1812 eyewitness accounts (1966). Sadly, this seems to be out of print now but if you can find a second-hand copy it will be well worth the trouble. Similarly, Boris Uxkull's Arms and the Woman gives an excellent Russian view on this campaign. I found my copy by accident in a second-hand book store in Doncaster, England- I had never heard of it before. I enjoyed reading it back in 1987 and more recently in 2005. Amazingly, Amazon have a dozen versions of this volume, one for as little as two dollars.

I cannot finish without mentioning the very recent work of my friend, that excellent French historian Jean-Claude Damamme whose Les Aigles en Hiver (The Eagles in Winter) came out last year, published by Plon. As yet, it is unavailable in English. How I regret that my French is so poor!  Other excellent books by Monsieur Damamme are available. If you want an account of Waterloo that has regard to history and not propaganda - do take a look.

C. John Tarttelin M.A. History

Author of The Real Napoleon - The Untold Story

A Souladream Production

THE END OF AN ERA- WATERLOO SUNSET

The Battle of Waterloo began late on the morning of June 18th 1815. The ground had been saturated by torrential rains that followed the eruption of the volcano Tambora in April of that year. The decade 1810-1820 was the coldest of the C19th due to an unprecedented amount of volcanic eruptions in quick succession and there was probably a lot of residual dust in the atmosphere even before Tambora exploded with far greater force than the Krakatoan eruption of 1883.

The Prussian Army was seen to the east in the early afternoon and Napoleon had to send all his reserves to fend them off while he tackled Wellington to his front. The Young Guard enacted prodigies of valour at Placenoit and 7,000 Prussians became casualties before overwhelming their French counterparts. Meanwhile Grouchy, far away with 33,000 vital supporting troops did not heed advice and march to the sound of the guns - an old military maxim. Napoleon had failed to warn him in time. At the Battle of Ligny on the 16th, Napoleon's last victory,  the Prussians had retreated in disorder but they were not routed. The expected help on their right from Wellington had not materialized and Gneisenau was all for heading off back to Prussia tout de suite. There was no sign of Blucher who had been ridden down by French cavalry and was lain trapped beneath his horse. Had the French soldiers captured or killed Blucher there would have been no Waterloo as Wellington would never had stood without the promised aid of a Prussian corps.

Although the remnants of the Young Guard were still fighting at Placenoit late in the evening of the 18th, it was all over in the centre around 8pm after a second Prussian corps had arrived and when elements of the 'Middle' regiments of the  French Imperial Guard were repulsed by the British soldiers who had been given time to regroup by the arrival of their allies. There was no massacre of the Old Guard - the two elite regiments of chasseurs and fusiliers escaped in good order as David Chandler makes clear in his impressive account of Napoleon's campaigns.

In the painting above we see Napoleon at the climactic moment of the battle when he realizes that all is lost. Such was the panic amongst the retreating French soldiers that the Emperor had to abandon his coach - it was captured by the Prussian cavalry who set off in pursuit. The stolid British troops were too exhausted to pursue and most of their cavalry had been destroyed earlier in the battle in repulsing the initial attack of d'Erlon's corps. Too excited to reign in their mounts they plunged headlong into the French lines and many were caught by Pire's lancers who had been observing the approaching Prussians.

C.  John Tarttelin M.A. History 

Author of The Real Napoleon - The Untold Story

A Souladream Production