A German Conscript with Napoleon PDF Download

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English philology
Languages : en
Pages : 638

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Author: Jakob Walter
Publisher: Doubleday
ISBN: 0307817563
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 195

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Book Description
A grunt’s-eye report from the battlefield in the spirit of The Red Badge of Courage and All Quiet on the Western Front—the only known account by a common soldier of the campaigns of Napoleon’s Grand Army between 1806 and 1813. When eighteen-year-old German stonemason Jakob Walter was conscripted into the Grand Army of Napoleon, he had no idea of the trials that lay ahead. The long, grueling marches in Prussia and Poland sacrificed countless men to Bonaparte’s grand designs. And the disastrous Russian campaign tested human endurance on an epic scale. Demoralized by defeat in a war few supported or understood, deprived of ammunition and leadership, driven past reason by starvation and bitter cold, men often turned on one another, killing fellow soldiers for bread or an able horse. Though there are numerous surviving accounts of the Napoleonic Wars written by officers, Walter’s is the only known memoir by a draftee, and as such is a unique and fascinating document—a compelling chronicle of a young soldier’s loss of innocence as well as an eloquent and moving portrait of the profound effects of war on the men who fight it. Professor Marc Raeff has added an Introduction to the memoirs as well as six letters home from the Russian front, previously unpublished in English, from German conscripts who served concurrently with Walter. The volume is illustrated with engravings and maps, contemporary with the manuscript, from the Russian/Soviet and East European collections of the New York Public Library. Honest, heartfelt, deeply personal yet objective, The Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier is more than an informative and absorbing historical document—it is a timeless and unforgettable account of the horrors of war.

Author: Alan I. Forrest
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0195059379
Category : Electronic books
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Between the outbreak of war with Austria in 1792 and Napoleon's final debacle in 1814, France remained almost continously at war, recruiting in the process some two to three million frenchmen--a level of recruitment unknown to previous generations and widely resented as an attack on the liberties of rural communities. Forrest challenges the notion of a nation heroically rushing to arms by examining the massive rates of desertion and avoidance of service as well as their consequences on French society--on military campaigns and the morale of armies, on political opinion at home, on the social fabric of local villages, and on the Napoleonic dream of bringing about a coherent and centralized state.

Author: Desmond Seward
Publisher: Thistle Publishing
ISBN: 9781909609723
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler were two of history's greatest dictators. In this ground-breaking study, Desmond Seward finds striking parallels between their careers and their roles in shaping the destiny of modern Europe. He also shows how Carl von Clausewitz's classic treatise On War - a penetrating analysis of the Napoleonic campaigns read and re-read by Hitler- provides a crucial link between the two men. Napoleon and Hitler demonstrates in an entirely new way how history can repeat itself - and gives new and unexpected insights into these two terrible giants of modern times. "A careful study, clearly written, easy to read. He takes us through the careers of both men in turn, side by side, noting the similarities as he goes along. I am reminded of Plutarch's 'parallel lives' of the great Greeks and Romans... His interesting book deserves to be read both by those who would 'demonise' Hitler and those who are dazzled by Napoleon." Hugh Trevor-Roper - Sunday Telegraph 'Desmond Seward is right to draw attention to their similarities, and to their differences. We should study both: both are among the possibilities inherent in our civilisation.' Independent 'Solid historical biography with a compelling historical slant.' Booklist 'A clever and cohesive look at megalomania in action.' Kirkus Review

Author: Frank E. Melvin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781258000967
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 248

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Author: Peter Hofschröer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1849083002
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 65

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Book Description
Written by an expert on the Prussian army of the Napoleonic era, this is a fascinating insight into the 18th-century evolution of the Prussian forces into the war-winning troops of the final battles against Napoleon. Using contemporary materials including drill regulations, instructions, staff and regimental histories and after-action reports, this book provides a compelling history of Prussian tactics from 1792 until 1815. It includes studies of the professional Prussian army during the Revolutionary Wars and the mass mobilization of a conscript army that fought during the Wars of Liberation and Waterloo. Following on from the success of Osprey's other Elite Tactics volumes, this is a must-have for serious students of Napoleonic warfare, armchair generals, and wargamers alike.

Author: Jakob Walter
Publisher: Military History from Primary
ISBN: 9781781591451
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This is the contemporary account of Jakob Walter, a Westphalian conscript in Napoleon's Grande Armée. Walter took part in the Emperor's campaigns against Prussia, Austria and finally, the disastrous Russian campaign of 1812. This is what it really meant to "march with the Emperor". This volume is illustrated throughout with the watercolors produced by Albrecht Adam, another German who served in the ranks of Napoleon's armies, who witnessed many of the same scenes as Jakob Walter. Together the text and illustrations provide a powerful primary insight in to the events of 1812 as witnessed by the men who were there. This book is part of the 'Military History From Primary Sources' series, a new military history range compiled and edited by Emmy Award winning author and historian Bob Carruthers. The series draws on primary sources and contemporary documents to provide a new insight into the true nature of warfare. The series consultant is David Mcwhinnie, creator of the award winning PBS series 'Battlefield'.

Author: Boyd Bruce
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472843665
Category : Games & Activities
Languages : en
Pages : 65

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Book Description
From the late Revolutionary Wars and Egyptian campaign, to the battles of Austerlitz, Borodino, Leipzig, and Waterloo, Absolute Emperor is a mass battle wargame that provides all the rules needed to play during this period of grand armies and sweeping campaigns. Players' armies are composed of multiple corps, with command and control being of the utmost importance, all influenced by the elan of your general. Do you follow in the footsteps of Napoleon and be crowned the Absolute Emperor or stand against tyranny as Wellington and Blücher?

Author: David Avrom Bell
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN: 9780618349654
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 444

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Book Description
The author maintains that modern attitudes toward total war were conceived during the Napoleonic era; and argues that all the elements of total war were evident including conscription, unconditional surrender, disregard for basic rules of war, mobilization of civilians, and guerrilla warfare.

Author: Rick McPeak
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 0801465893
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
In 1812, Napoleon launched his fateful invasion of Russia. Five decades later, Leo Tolstoy published War and Peace, a fictional representation of the era that is one of the most celebrated novels in world literature. The novel contains a coherent (though much disputed) philosophy of history and portrays the history and military strategy of its time in a manner that offers lessons for the soldiers of today. To mark the two hundredth anniversary of the French invasion of Russia and acknowledge the importance of Tolstoy's novel for our historical memory of its central events, Rick McPeak and Donna Tussing Orwin have assembled a distinguished group of scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds-literary criticism, history, social science, and philosophy-to provide fresh readings of the novel. The essays in Tolstoy On War focus primarily on the novel's depictions of war and history, and the range of responses suggests that these remain inexhaustible topics of debate. The result is a volume that opens fruitful new avenues of understanding War and Peace while providing a range of perspectives and interpretations without parallel in the vast literature on the novel.