This is the first English translation of the memoirs of Jean-Nicolas Cur�ly. Born in 1774, son of a labourer, Cur�ly rose through the ranks to become a General in Napoleon's Light Cavalry. Although Cur�ly did not fight in many of the most famous battles of the First Republic and the Napoleonic Wars, this reflects the role of the light cavalry; scouting ahead of the army, conducting reconnaissance to the flanks and launching raids. He did, however, take part in all Napoleon's great campaigns, including Austerlitz, Heilsberg, Essling, Raab, Wagram, Beresina, Wachau, Leipzig, Craonne and Laon, and served as an aide de camp to many of the French army's most famous light cavalry generals. Cur�ly's memoirs give a unique and detailed glimpse into the day-to-day life of the light cavalry from someone who, although of lowly birth and with no education, became an exceptional General. He was a hussar at 19 years, second lieutenant at 32, squadron commander at 35, Colonel at 38 and General at 40\. He became Cavalier of the L�gion d'Honneur in 1806, and was wounded five times in his career. His account describes in great detail the many actions he was involved in and the many exceptional scrapes he escaped. However, his narrative does not only describe combat but also the lengths he went to for the welfare of his men and horses, particularly during the retreat from Moscow which he survived with a hundred men and nearly all his officers still battleworthy. Stretching from Cur�ly's enrolment with the Hussars in 1793 to Waterloo, capitulation of Paris and the disbandment of the army, this book is a 'must have' for anyone with an interest in the Napoleonic Wars.

For almost 200 years, the British perception of the Battle of Waterloo was that it was a great British victory gained over the French tyrant Napoleon which was achieved in spite of, rather than because of, the allied contingents in the Duke of Wellington's army. Eyewitness accounts by British soldiers, encouraged by the doubts expressed in Wellington's despatches, denigrated and vilified the courage and prowess of these allies. But in the last twenty years modern historians, with better access to the accounts and archives of the allied nations, have tried to put the record straight, and their efforts have been rewarded by changing attitudes and a greater understanding of the significant part the allies played. Andrew Field, in this the latest of his series of pioneering books on Waterloo, makes a powerful contribution to this continuing debate by analyzing in forensic detail the records of these allied forces throughout the campaign. In his balanced, nonpartisan reassessment he describes the make-up of these forces, their training and experience, and their military capability. Included are graphic accounts of their actions and performance on the battlefield. His work is essential reading for all students of the Waterloo campaign.

This volume of French eyewitness accounts of Waterloo, published for the first time in full in English, completes Andrew Field's pioneering work on the French experience in this decisive battle. These vivid recollections add a new dimension to our understanding of what happened on 18 June 1815. Readers will now be in a position to come to their own conclusions and they can compare the French accounts with those of soldiers from the allied armies, in particular the British, which have largely determined our assumptions about the battle for the last 200 years. They will also gain a heightened insight into the trauma that the French eyewitnesses went through on the battlefield and afterwards as they tried to explain and come to terms their loss. This second volume features graphic descriptions of the battle as it was remembered by men of the 2nd and 6th corps, cavalry, artillery and Imperial Guard and medical services of Napoleon's army. Their words give us not only a telling inside view their actions during that extraordinary day, but they also record in graphic detail what they saw and show us how they reacted to Napoleon's historic defeat.

The story of the Battle of Waterloo - of the ultimate defeat of Napoleon and the French, the triumph of Wellington, Bl cher and their allied armies - is most often told from the viewpoint of the victors, not the vanquished. Even after 200 years of intensive research and the publication of hundreds of books and articles on the battle, the French perspective and many of the primary French sources are under-represented in the written record. So it is high time this weakness in the literature - and in our understanding of the battle - was addressed, and that is the purpose of Andrew Field's thought-provoking new study. He has tracked down over ninety first-hand French accounts, many of which have never been previously published in English, and he has combined them with accounts from the other participants in order to create a graphic new narrative of one of the world's decisive battles. Virtually all of the hitherto unpublished testimony provides fascinating new detail on the battle and many of the accounts are vivid, revealing and exciting. .

This, the fourth volume in Andrew Field's highly praised study of the Waterloo campaign from the French perspective, depicts in vivid detail the often neglected final phase the rout and retreat of Napoleon's army. The text is based exclusively on French eyewitness accounts which give an inside view of the immediate aftermath of the battle and carry the story through to the army's disbandment in late 1815\. Many French officers and soldiers wrote more about the retreat than they did about the catastrophe of Waterloo itself. Their recollections give a fascinating insight to the psyche of the French soldier. They also provide a first-hand record of their experiences and the range of their reactions, from those who deserted the colours and made their way home, to those who continued to serve faithfully when all was lost. Napoleon s own flight from Waterloo is an essential part of the narrative, but the main emphasis is on the fate of the beaten French army as it was experienced by eyewitnesses who lived through the last days of the campaign.

In this the third volume of his four-volume history exploring the French perspective of the Waterloo campaign, Andrew Field concentrates on an often neglected aspect of Napoleon's final offensive - the French victory over the Prussians at Ligny, Marshal Grouchy's pursuit of the Prussians and the battle at Wavre. The story of this side of the campaign is as full of controversy and interest as the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo which he has examined in such a penetrating and original way in his previous studies. Napoleon in his memoirs accused Grouchy, like Marshal Ney, of a series of failures in command that led to the French defeat, and many subsequent historians have taken the same line. This is one of the long-standing controversies that Andrew Field explores in fascinating detail. Grouchy's extensive description of his operations forms the backbone of the narrative, supplemented by other French sources and those of Prussian eyewitnesses.

Andrew Field, who has published four best-selling books on the Battle of Waterloo, has established himself as one of the leading experts on the French perspective of the campaign. Using selected extracts from French eyewitness accounts that haven't been published before in English, he has added a new dimension to our understanding of what happened on the battlefield on 18 June 1815\. Now he takes his pioneering work a step further by publishing these accounts, with all their vivid and personal detail, in full. For the first time readers will be in a position to make their own interpretations of them and compare them to the recollections of soldiers from the allied armies, in particular the British, which have largely determined our assumptions about the battle for the last 200 years. They will also gain a heightened insight into the trauma that the French eyewitnesses went through as they tried to explain how the French lost a battle they claim they had been on the point of winning. This, the first of two volumes of the French accounts, features Napoleon's own description of the battle, those of his immediate household and the Imperial headquarters, and those of members of 1st Corps. Napoleon's own version of events, one of the first to be published in France, was used as the basis of many subsequent histories that ignore or gloss over his many dubious claims. His account of his actions and his view of what happened on that decisive day, and those of his close associates, make fascinating reading.