The Napoleonic Wars (4) The fall of the French empire 1813–1815

by Fremont-Barnes, Gregory

• ISBN13: 9781841764313
• ISBN10: 1841764310
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-10-18
• Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Summary

This volume covers Napoleon's gradual fall from power, beginning in the spring of 1813, when France prepared to face the vengeance of Russia and Prussia. quickly raising new armies composed of inexperienced conscripts and invalided veterans, and with a critical shortage of cavalry, Napoleon resolved to preserve his empire in Germany, where he initially managed to achieve some hard-fought victories. When at last Austria threw in her lot with the Allies and the epic Battle of Leipzig followed, Napoleon was forced to retreat across the Rhine, there to resist the onslaught on home soil. The pressure against him proved too great, and with Paris lost and his marshals refusing to fight on, no option remained but abdication. Yet his last battle, and one of the most decisive in military history, was still to come: Waterloo.

Author Biography

Gregory Fremont-Barnes holds degrees in history from the University of California, Berkeley (BA), the University of Chicago (MA) and the University of Oxford (D. Phil.). Since 1993 he has lectured in British and American history in Japan, principally at Kobe University. He is the author of The French Revolutionary Wars (2001) and The Peninsular War (2002) and numerous articles on British diplomatic and military history.

Table of Contents

Introduction	7	(4)
Chronology	11	(4)
Background to war
Origins of Prussian and Russian hostility	15	(6)
Warring sides
Opposing forces	21	(7)
Outbreak
A bid for revenge	28	(5)
The fighting
The `War of German Liberation' and the invasion of France	33	(27)
Portrait of a soldier
Captain Cavalie Mercer, Royal Horse Artillery	60	(4)
The world around war
London: splendor and squalor	64	(8)
Portrait of a civilian
Lord Castlereagh, British Foreign Secretary	72	(4)
How the war ended
Denouement at Waterloo	76	(7)
Conclusion and consequences
Europe restored and the Napoleonic legacy	83	(10)
Further reading	93	(1)
Index	94