..". a most illuminating and readable general survey.... This book is well organized, well produced, and well written. It belongs among the ten most useful books on this period to the historian and... to the general reader." American Historical Review

"This splendid volume fills a gap in the vast outpouring of literature on the military aspects of the era of the French Revolution and Napoleon by combining a description of the major changes and trends of warfare with a comparative discussion of the French military establishment and the armies of its major opponents.... As another contribution to synthetic history, it is a very successful exercise." Military Affairs

..". a splendid little study which will be of considerable interest both to the general student and specialist.... it] fills a definite need for a survey of the military developments of the period and one can learn a great deal from a close reading of it." History

"A clear, lively, and well-produced survey that relies upon the best scholarship of several languages.... " Library Journal

In a comprehensive study of a crucial era in warfare from the last decades of the ancient regime to Napoleon s defeat at Waterloo Rothenberg describes the organization, training methods, equipment, tactics, and strategy of France and its adversaries. He also explores staff systems, logistics, fortifications, medical services, and insurgency and counterinsurgency."

A leading expert examines one of Napoleon's most decisive but least analysed victories In early July 1809 Napoleon crossed the Danube with 187,000 men to confront the Austrian Archduke Charles and an army of 145,000 men. The fighting that followed dwarfed in intensity and scale any previous Napoleonic battlefield, perhaps any in history: casualties on each side were over 30,000. The Austrians fought with great determination, but eventually the Emperor won a narrow victory. Wagram was decisive in that it compelled Austria to make peace. It also heralded a new, altogether greater order of warfare, anticipating the massed manpower and weight of fire deployed much later in the battles of the American Civil War and then at Verdun and on the Somme.