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Books > Humanities > History > European history > 1750 to 1900
The second volume shines a light on the cultural and social changes
that took place during the epoch of European Restorations, when the
death of the Napoleonic empire existed as a crucial moment for
contemporaries. Expanding the transnational approach of Volume I,
the chapters focus on the transmutation of ordinary experiences of
war into folklore and popular culture, the emergence of grassroots
radical politics and conspiracies on the Left and Right, and the
relationship between literacy and religion, with new cases included
from Spain, Norway and Russia. A wide-ranging and impressive work,
this book completes a collection on the history of the European
Restorations.
Europe's Restorations were characterised by their evolving
dialectics. The chapters in this first volume address the key
questions and controversies of Napoleonic history from a national
and international perspective. From the re-ordering of the European
world through the tools of intervention, occupation and diplomacy,
to the creation of new constitutional monarchies across France,
Scandinavia and Germany the volume outlines the processes that
realigned national priorities and the accompanying dynamics of
social and political identity. In a structure that makes sense of
what Luigi Mascilli Migliorini describes as the 'fiendishly
complex' process of reconstructing order in post-Napoleonic Europe,
this collection of essays brings together experts in the field to
set a new precedent for transnational research frameworks in the
study of the European Restorations.
The Battle of Waterloo has been studied and dissected so
extensively that one might assume little more on the subject could
be discovered. Now historian Peter HofschrOEer brings forward a
long-repressed commentary written by Carl von Clausewitz, the
author of On War.Clausewitz, the Western world's most renowned
military theorist, participated in the Waterloo campaign as a
senior staff officer in the Prussian army. His appraisal, offered
here in an up-to-date and readable translation, criticized the Duke
of Wellington's actions. Lord Liverpool sent his translation of the
manuscript to Wellington, who pronounced it a "lying work." The
translated commentary was quickly buried in Wellington's private
papers, where it languished for a century and a half. Now published
for the first time in English, HofschrOEer brings Clausewitz's
critique back into view with thorough annotation and contextual
explanation. Peter HofschrOEer, long recognized as a leading
scholar of the Napoleonic Wars, shows how the Duke prevented the
account's publication during his lifetime-a manipulation of history
so successful that almost two centuries passed before Clausewitz's
work reemerged, finally permitting a reappraisal of key events in
the campaign. In addition to translating and annotating
Clausewitz's critique, HofschrOEer also includes an order of battle
and an extensive bibliography.
This book presents fresh analyses of unpublished, published and
significant primary source material relevant to the medical aspects
on the Eastern campaign of 1854-1856 - commonly called the Crimean
War. The aim has been to produce an account based on robust
evidence. The project began with no preconceptions but came to
seriously question the contributions made by the talented and
well-connected Florence Nightingale and the suitably-qualified
Sanitary Commissioners. The latter had been sent by the government
to investigate matters on the spot. This may prove an unexpected
and possibly unsympathetic conclusion for some of Nightingale's
many admirers. Rigorously weighing the evidence, it is
unmistakeably clear that there is very little proof that
Nightingale and the Sanitary Commissioners significantly influenced
the improvement in the health of the main Army in the Crimea. The
principal problems were at the front, not in Turkey, and it was
there that matters were gradually rectified, with the health of the
troops beginning to improve during the early weeks of 1855. The
historiography of the campaign has tended to concentrate on the
catastrophic deterioration in the health of the Army during the
first winter and the perceived incompetence of the heads of
department. The contributions made by Nightingale and the Sanitary
Commissioners have been greatly over-emphasised. As a consequence,
the medical aspects of the war have been inaccurately portrayed in
both academic works and popular culture. The author's analyses
should alter existing preconceptions or prejudices about what
happened in Crimea and Turkey during those fateful war years. The
'Victory over Disease' took place in the Crimea, and not at Scutari
- and this was not due to the contributions of any one person, or
even a group of individuals. Rather it represented the involvement
of many people in many walks of life who worked, possibly
unwittingly, for a common purpose, and with such a gratifying
result.
Although an army's success is often measured in battle outcomes,
its victories depend on strengths that may be less obvious on the
field. In Sickness, Suffering, and the Sword, military historian
Andrew Bamford assesses the effectiveness of the British Army in
sustained campaigning during the Napoleonic Wars. In the process,
he offers a fresh and controversial look at Britain's military
system, showing that success or failure on campaign rested on the
day-to-day experiences of regimental units rather than the army as
a whole.Bamford draws his title from the words of Captain Moyle
Sherer, who during the winter of 1816-1817 wrote an account of his
service during the Peninsular War: "My regiment has never been very
roughly handled in the field. . . But, alas! What between sickness,
suffering, and the sword, few, very few of those men are now in
existence." Bamford argues that those daily scourges of such
often-ignored factors as noncombat deaths and equine strength and
losses determined outcomes on the battlefield. In the nineteenth
century, the British Army was a collection of regiments rather than
a single unified body, and the regimental system bore the
responsibility of supplying manpower on that field. Between 1808
and 1815, when Britain was fighting a global conflict far greater
than its military capabilities, the system nearly collapsed. Only a
few advantages narrowly outweighed the army's increasing inability
to meet manpower requirements. This book examines those critical
dynamics in Britain's major early-nineteenth-century campaigns: the
Peninsular War (1808-1814), the Walcheren Expedition (1809), the
American War (1812-1815), and the growing commitments in northern
Europe from 1813 on. Drawn from primary documents, Bamford's
statistical analysis compares the vast disparities between
regiments and different theatres of war and complements recent
studies of health and sickness in the British Army.
A dedicated career soldier and excellent division and corps
commander, Dominique Vandamme was a thorn in the side of
practically every officer he served. Outspoken to a fault, he even
criticized Napoleon, whom he never forgave for not appointing him
marshal. His military prowess so impressed the emperor, however,
that he returned Vandamme to command time and again.In this first
book-length study of Vandamme in English, John G. Gallaher traces
the career of one of Napoleon's most successful midrank officers.
He describes Vandamme's rise from a provincial youth with neither
fortune nor influence to an officer of the highest rank in the
French army. Gallaher thus offers a rare look at a Napoleonic
general who served for twenty-five years during the wars of the
French Revolution and Napoleonic Empire. This was a time when a
general could lose his head if he lost a battle. Despite Vandamme's
contentious nature, Gallaher shows, Napoleon needed his skills as a
commander, and Vandamme needed Napoleon to further his career.
Gallaher draws on a wealth of archival sources in France-notably
the Vandamme Papers in Lille-to draw a full portrait of the
general. He also reveals new information on such military events as
the Silesian campaign of 1807 and the disaster at Kulm in 1813.
Gallaher presents Vandamme in the context of the Napoleonic command
system, revealing how he related to both subordinates and
superiors. Napoleon's Enfant Terrible depicts an officer who was
his own worst enemy but who was instrumental in winning an empire.
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On War, Volume I
(Paperback)
Carl Von Clausewitz; Translated by Colonel J. J. Graham; Introduction by Colonel F M Maude
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R564
Discovery Miles 5 640
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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The lives and careers of Sir Charles Stewart and his brother Lord
Castlereagh take in a grand stage, from Britain and Ireland to the
kingdoms and empires of western and central Europe. Throughout his
life Stewart played a key role in shaping Europe: his is a Regency
drama beyond anything imagined by Jane Austen: warfare, diplomacy,
affairs, royal scandal, a romantic and brilliant marriage, and a
brother's suicide. Stewart was at the heart of some of history's
greatest events which took him from the bloodiest actions of the
Napoleonic Wars to the palaces of Europe's ruling dynasties. For an
all too brief period, Stewart blazed across the battlefields and
chancelleries of Europe, enjoying a meteoric rise to the highest
positions and influence, in a career indelibly linked to his
brother's and one which is virtually unique. Stewart even found
time to enjoy his share of scandal, from affairs and parties in
Vienna to running a spy network which aimed to charge a Princess of
Wales with adultery. Reider Payne's book is international in its
scope and ambitions: with Stewart's military and diplomatic theatre
of operations including Portugal, Spain, Prussia, Saxony, France,
Austria and the Austrian territories in Italy. Stewart sat at the
heart of the intrigues and social circles of Regency England, and
his life story offers an unrivalled viewpoint into the competing
claims and demands of Europe's courts.
The Mediterranean was one of Napoleon's greatest spheres of
influence. With territory in Spain, Italy and, of course, France,
Napoleon's regime dominated the Great Sea for much of the early
nineteenth century. The 'Napoleonic Mediterranean' was composed of
almost the entirety of the western, European lands bordering its
northern shores, however tenuously many of those shores were held.
The disastrous attempt to conquer Egypt in 1798-99, and the rapid
loss of Malta to the British, sealed its eastward and southern
limits. None of Napoleon's Mediterranean possessions were easily
held; they were volatile societies which showed determined
resistance to the new state forged by the French Revolution. In
this book, acclaimed historian and biographer of Napoleon, Michael
Broers looks at the similarities and differences between Napoleon's
Mediterranean imperial possessions. He considers the process of
political, military and legal administration as well as the
challenges faced by Napoleon's Prefects in overcoming hostility in
the local population. With chapters covering a range of imperial
territories, this book is a unique and valuable addition to the
historical literature on Napoleonic Europe and the process and
practice of imperialism.
William Clarke of Prestonpans, Scotland, joined the 2nd Royal North
British Dragoons, the Scots Greys, in 1803\. Clarke had risen to
the rank of sergeant by the time the regiment was ordered to
Belgium on the news that Napoleon had escaped from Elba. Forming
part of what became known as the Union Brigade, the Scots Greys
played a key role in Napoleon s defeat at Waterloo. The John
Rylands Library, Manchester, recently acquired William Clarke s
600-page, hand-written memoir describing his enlistment and
military career, the highlight of which was the Waterloo campaign,
which he describes in unusual detail in the vernacular of the day,
presented and annotated by the renowned historian Garth Glover.
Thanks to this rare discovery, the reader can follow the movements
of the Scots Greys at every stage of the action throughout the
three days from Quatre-Bras to that climatic encounter on the Mont
St Jean. Clarke naturally portrays the charge of the Union Brigade
in dramatic and heroic terms, but he claims that the man who led
the charge, Major General William Ponsonby, was killed by a musket
ball and not cut down by French cavalry, as is usually stated, for
recklessly charging too far. After the battle, Clarke was part of
the Burial Party. He then graphically describes the sad scene as he
does the trail of the defeated French army as the pursuing
Prussians cut a merciless path on their way to Paris. A Scots Grey
at Waterloo provides the reader with an exceptionally in-depth
account of the actions of the cavalry at Waterloo that will mark
this memoir out as one of the most significant to have been
published in the last 200 years.
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On War
(Paperback)
Carl Von Clausewitz
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R631
Discovery Miles 6 310
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Ships in 18 - 22 working days
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