A highly original and critical introduction to the revolutionary and napoleonic conflicts. It illuminates the less well-known areas of the subject, such as the changing atttitude of the French people towards Napoleon, as well as providing a balanced account of the campaigns of Wellington and Napoleon. Based on current historiography, this book discusses the expansion of France, the extent to which Napoleon was responsible for this success, and the events leading up to his subsequent exile. It also provides a clear examination of each of the coalitions which fought against France.

Written by an experienced author and expert in the field, Wars of the French Revolution and Napoleon, 1792-1815 provides a thorough re-examination of the crucial period in the history of France for students of history and military studies. Based on extensive research, and including twenty detailed maps, this study is unique in its focus on the wars of both the French Revolution and Napoleon. Owen Connelly expertly analyzes them both to provide a broader context for warfare. Examining the causes of the wars, and how the practices of warfare during this period were to influence mode of combat throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, Connelly also establishes trends discernable in the First and Second World Wars and examines key issues including: * the impact of the population explosion on armies and war * the legacy of the ancient regime impact on revolutionary armies * the impact of the Revolution on leadership, strategy, organization and weaponry * Was Napoleon’s leadership style unique, or could another have played his role? * contributions from the governments of the early Revolution, the Terror, the Directory and the Napoleonic regime * What did twenty-three successive years of war accomplish? * Was this era a turning point in the history of warfare?

The French declaration of war on Austria on 20 April 1792 committed the nation to more than twenty years of war. Faced with a coalition of European powers, the revolutionaries called upon the citizenry to form a truly national army. The result was an unprecedented tightening of the bond between war and nation. That the conflict would have consequences for the very foundations of French society was inevitable given its sheer scale, duration, and geographical extent (the whole of continental Europe and beyond in the campaigns in Saint-Domingue and Egypt); its far-reaching impact on civilian society and commerce; and its forcible involvement of hundreds of thousands of young Frenchmen. The theme of this book is the first-hand experience of French military and civilians during these conflicts, seen through their eyes and using their testimony, as well as an assessment of the place of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic conflicts in the evolution of the art of warfare, and the elements of modernity which made them the first example of 'total war'.

No other soldier has provoked as much argument as Napoleon Bonaparte. Was Napoleon a monster, driven on by an endless, ruinous quest for military glory - or was he a social and political visionary brought down by the petty, reactionary kings and emperors, clinging to their privileges? Napoleon's Wars is a book which has no doubt about Napoleon's insatiable greed for military glory, but it is interested in far more than that. Charles Esdaile is profoundly interested in a pan-European context- what was it that made the countries of Europe fight each other, for so long and with such devastating results. The battles themselves he sees as almost side-effects; the consequence of rulers being willing to take the immense risks of fighting or supporting Napoleon - risks which resulted in the extinction of entire countries. This is history on the grandest and most ambitious scale- a superb reassessment of a tumultuous era.

An account of the battles and campaigns of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, following the battles of the French Republic and rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. By detailing each campaign front separately, the reader is able to study a chosen area of operations in isolation while also assessing its impact upon the wider campaign.

Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, this book investigates the everyday human experience of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars by French military and civilians, the impact of these wars on the French nation and society, and the rise of a new kind of war in the West at the turn of the nineteenth century.