Book Description
The Battle of Waterloo is one of the most decisive encounters in history. Wellington's victory marked the end of the career of one of the greatest leaders of all time, Napoleon Bonaparte: it also signalled a crucial change in the balance of power in Europe that was to have critical consequences for the rest of the world. Yet the story of Napoleon's return from Elba and his dramatic seizure of power - even if for a mere 'hundred days' - is more than just the dry bones of history; it is a great adventure story. The author provides a blow-by-blow account of the battle itself and examines key aspects such as the organisation of both the French and the Allied armies, their tactics, strategy, and weaponry, and their commanders' personalities. AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN USA AND CANADA ONLY.
Customer Reviews:
An overview of the battle which ended Napleon's career........2004-06-15
This is a great book for the novice historian since it explains the battle with maps and explanations of all three sides (British, French, and Prussian). Not only is the battle explained, but brief biographies of all the major players in this drama are also included. One can get an idea of why this battle was waged the way it was because of all these descriptions. Chandler is very fair to all sides in this battle as he describes the conduct of the campaign. One of the previous reviewers attributes him being British as taking the British perspective, but I don't believe this to be true. Chandler describes the battle from all perspectives.
This is a great introductory book of the battle. It is a summary, but not an in depth story of the battle. The pictures, maps, short biographies, make this a very good read of the Waterloo battle.
An introduction to Waterloo for beginners.......2002-09-25
I rate this book highly because it does its job, which is an introduction and background to the Battle of Waterloo for people who are new to this part of history and might want a good general background and understanding without going too deeply into the area. Very easy to read with lots of pictures. Don't expect a big heavy tome though, it really is a beginner's guide and a good one too. A very good starting point and easily digested. The only criticism I had was that the illustrations don't include the date, so a picture in the book is often not contemporary at all but painted decades after the Battle. There are many contemporary illustrations but many aren't and it is impossible to tell as dates aren't given. Since often contemporary pictures and illustrations tell us much, I found it bad historical practice that dates weren't given. However, a good starting point for the novice researcher.
A quick dash through 100 days.......2001-08-04
While many tout this book as "lightweight" or "lacking" I find it to be superb. A book is not always meant to be an exhaustive comprehensive massive tome. David G Chandler has proven he can do that in his "The Campaigns of Napoleon" work. His piece about Waterloo is a wonderful quick overview of the 100 days campaign with indeed a focus on the British. Unlike Chandler's famous "The Campaigns of Napoleon", this book expresses Chandler's opinions about what was important about Waterloo and its long term effects, which in essence is his summation of the long term effects of the Napoleonic Era since Waterloo marked the end of it. Where as in his larger works Chandler has no time to express himself, in this short overview of Waterloo he does, making the book very engaging. His opinion about the importance of Lingy and Quatre Bras, deserves special note. Not a "must" have, but definatly a success in what it was intended to do.
Good overview but.................2001-02-25
I must admit I enjoyed reading this book when I first obtained it, but upon revisiting it my opinion has somewhat waned. The reason being is that I have since read Peter Hofschroer's work which was an excellent example of painstaking research and detail. Chandler's work now seems lightweight.
Chandler's book is good if you are looking for an overview of the events leading up Waterloo, Napoleonic tactics and strategy and the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo. The book makes lavish use of maps and prints which are very clear and a delight to the eye , but unfortunately it falls short in providing a very accurate and detailed account of the battles.
This is certainly a good buy if all you are seeking is an overview, but if you are familiar with the Battle of Waterloo you maybe looking for something more substantial. ( This review refers to a hard cover 1981 edition )
Another Chandler Masterpiece.......2000-08-06
Once again David G. Chandler, one of the most prolific Napoleonic authors, has provided us with an excellent book. Although published in 1980, the recent republishing by Osprey has given people the opportunity to purchase it rather take it out of the library. I first read this book about six years ago when I took it out and this was the first major work I had read on Waterloo. Since then I have purchased a copy and reread it. I find this to be an invaluable resource on the Battle of Waterloo and provides the layman with an easily readable account of the battle. I have also read Hofschroer's new series on the battle and although I believe he has provided us with an interesting look at a overlooked subject--German involvement in the battle--it is still just that. Chandler's in my mind remains the ultimate guide to the battle. Call it what you may, Chandler writes a book from the victor's perspective, mainly the British perspective of the battle. Chandler after all is British and has every right to portray the British as the victors, they WON the battle for the Allies.
Average customer rating:
- "The first unbiased book on Waterloo in English"
|
Waterloo Lectures (Napoleonic Library)
Charles C. Chesney
Manufacturer: Greenhill Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Belgium
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| France
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| England
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Napoleonic Wars
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Napoleon
| Napoleonic Wars
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Waterloo
| Napoleonic Wars
| Military
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1853672882 |
Customer Reviews:
"The first unbiased book on Waterloo in English".......1999-03-16
This was how Lettow-Vorbeck, author of the German General Staff described this work. He was perhaps being a little unfair, but Chesney's analysis of the Waterloo Campaign is renowned for its balance and objectivity and is a "must" for all Waterloo fans.
Amazon.com
Alan Schom doesn't think very highly of Napoleon, but he nevertheless has written an engrossing account of the little Corsican's escape from Elba, return to power, and defeat at Waterloo. (This period actually lasted a bit longer than 100 days, but who's counting?) Bonaparte, in Schom's view, was a despot who placed nepotistic interests ahead of national ones. He was plainly not good for the country he ruled, according to the author. But his military skills were exceptional, and he may have carried off a victory on the Belgian fields if his underlings hadn't bungled their duties. Schom breaks no new historical ground with One Hundred Days, but he tells his tale well.
Book Description
On February 26, 1815, Napoleon, exiled Emperor of France--now dressed in a simple green uniform as Colonel of the Grenadiers--stepped aboard the brig L'Inconstant to the wildly enthusiastic cheers of his Elban subjects. Three days later, having barely avoided a British warship and a French naval vessel loyal to the Crown, the L'Inconstant traded the white flag of Elba for the French Tricolor as the rocky coast of the Cap d'Antibes came into view. With his return to French soil, accompanied only by a small force of one thousand men, Napoleon had set into motion the momentous events that would, over the next one hundred days, propel Europe once again into total war, ending only with the routing at Waterloo of the seemingly invincible Grande Armee, and Napoleon's final exile on St. Helena. In One Hundred Days, Alan Schom offers us an epic tale of intrigue, high drama, and ultimate tragedy. By turns harrowing and exhilarating--and always charged with an undercurrent of impending doom--One Hundred Days is nothing less than the definitive account of Napoleon's final campaign, told with the characteristic panache of one of our premier narrative historians. Landing unopposed near Cannes, Napoleon and his tiny army began their march through a hostile countryside impoverished by years of war, famine, and conscription. But gradually, thanks mainly to the Emperor's legendary charisma, thousands of men joined his ranks, swelling the force to nearly 20,000 soldiers. By the time these impressive columns reached Paris, Louis XVIII had fled the city and only crowds and parades remained to greet Napoleon's seemingly inevitable return to power. But fate was against him this time: the allies, stunned by what appeared to be a remarkable reversal of fortune, were already on the move. All roads now led to Waterloo. Besides being a lively and detailed look at Napoleon's final months as one of the most feared--and revered--men in Europe, One Hundred Days also offers vivid portraits of the many complex and fascinating personalities who surrounded him. Schom has mined a rich trove of little-known diaries, memoirs, military dispatches, and letters to allow this diverse cast of characters, whenever possible, to speak for themselves. He brings to life in compelling fashion all of Napoleon's generals, his enemies, his ministers, even the common soldiers who fought in the apocalyptic showdown in Belgium. And, of course, there is the omnipresent, titanic figure of Napoleon himself, readying the invasion, mustering troops, and, amid the frenzy and confusion of the final battle, coming to the agonizing realization that all was over. "We have taken Napoleon's hat," wrote Metternich to his daughter a few days after Waterloo, "It is to be hoped that we will now end in capturing the man himself." Within a month, the defeated Emperor was aboard the English frigate Bellerophon bound for exile, and thus dropped, in Marshal Ney's words, "the final curtain of the Napoleonade." More than an account of one of the formative events in modern European history, this book adds a human dimension to a story that has, over the years, assumed mythic proportions.
Customer Reviews:
Napoleon hater go at it again.......2004-08-21
I found this book to be very readable and once again, I also found it to be another one of Alan Schom's anti-Napoleon treatment. I am bit amazed that someone of Mr. Schom's talent as a writer and historian would be wasted on such bias effort. I would like to ask Mr. Schom if Napoleon have done anything good or decent in his life since he really like to paint this French Emperor and one of history's greatest military commanders as little better then petty dictator with delusion of grandeur with a Hitler complex.
Mr. Schom would probably find a greater acceptence among Napoleonic readers if he would be more fair in his assessments of the facts and characters. When you are too bias against your subject, then its pretty clear to any reader that you got a grudge against it.
The book overall, doesn't add anything new to anyone who is well read on the subject of Waterloo campaign. For experience readers, this book will end up in your local used book store. For casual readers, there are many anti-Napoleonic traps that author insert to make claims that Napoleon was nothing more then an early 19th century misanthrope.
PS: I believed HMS Bellerophon was a ship of a line, not a frigate.
Good Intro to the Waterloo Campaign.......2003-04-15
If you do not know much about Napoleon, esp. the Waterloo campaign, this is a great book for its simplicity in the events leading up to (and including) the battle of Waterloo.
Historical Page-Turner.......2001-01-09
Schom is no great fan of Napolean, as his recent biography of the little Corsican demonstrates. However, I thought in reading this book that he provided a fairly even-handed, readable description of a fascinating period in European history. Most readers are familiar with the basic facts: In 1815, the deposed Napolean Bonaparte escaped from his island exile of Elba, and set sail for the shores of his beloved France. The king sent the army to recapture him, but upon encountering their former leader the troops rallied to his cause, and he ultimately marched into Belgium as the rest of Europe looked on in horror at this menace whom they thought was out of their hair forever. An alliance of troops, under the command of Lord Wellington, met up with Napolean on the great battlefield of Waterloo, leading to Bonaparte's final great defeat.
This book provides a very readable account of these 4 months, and effectively demonstrated how close Napolean actually was to pulling off one more great victory. He points out the damaging mistakes by Napolean's inferior generals, leading to his flank being disrupted by General Blucher at a crucial point in the battle. We all know how the story ends, and yet the story was oddly suspenseful in Schom's hands nonetheless. He also paints a very vivid, sometimes unflattering portrait of Napolean, who was not the same man who boldly grasped the crown from the Pope in Notre Dame and proclaimed himself Emperor over 10 years earlier. Napolean was physically weaker, had a slight drool, and lacked the dynamic force of his younger days during the final 100 day campaign.
All in all, while Schom's critical attitude towards Bonaparte has sometimes been open to attack, I thought this was a very entertaining historical narrative for the casual history buff like myself.
Schom succinctly portrays the notables of Napoleonic France........1999-03-05
I attacked One Hundred Days like Wellington attacked the French. Unlike a biography I read of Boney years ago, Schom marvelously and succinctly described the background and characters of a constellation of lesser notables who surrounded the Emperor. In doing so he made understandable the mood of France as Napoleon made his spectacular come back attempt before bowing out of European history. This book filled an enormous gap in my understanding of France as a European power and as a nation at the beginning of the 19th century. My daughter could hardly have made a better choice of gifts for my birthday.
'One Hundred Days'-A book too far!.......1998-10-21
Alan Schom's book, while on the face of it an informative guide to the Waterloo Campaign, is at best misguided and at worst completely untrue. Although he paints an interesting view as to the relationships between Napoleon and his brothers many of his other comments are contradicted by all other books on the subject. He says in his passage on the trial of Marshal Ney that this was one of the most hated men in the army, and yet every other authority describes Ney as the darling of the men, described as the 'Bravest of the Brave'.His view that Napoleon was certain to be defeated is also seriously flawed. Both Austria and Russia were more concerned with neutralising each other than with fighting Napoleon. David Hamilton-Williams in his book 'The Fall Of Napoleon' has hard evidence that these countries would have made peace with Napoleon had he won Waterloo. This book is fatally flawed in that it seems unable to give any credit to anyone who rallied to Napoleon in the campaign which he so nearly won against all the odds.
Average customer rating:
|
In the year of Waterloo
Oliver Vernon Caine
Manufacturer: W.J. Gage
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
| Classics
| Comic
| Contemporary
| Literary
ASIN: B00087PXJI |
Customer Reviews:
Amazing Psychological Profile of Napoleon.......2004-09-12
Michael John Thornton's account of Napoleon is so "in depth" as to Napoleon's feelings and mannerisms, that although it is hypnotic reading ,one feels it must be more historic fiction than historic(since it was not a biography)....(e.g. the descrption of his stature,his snuff box ,his wanting to surrender and sit incognito to hear what the English common folk thought of him, a strong leader.....
Book Description
The slave revolution that two hundred years ago created the state of Haiti alarmed and excited public opinion on both sides of the Atlantic. Its repercussions ranged from the world commodity markets to the imagination of poets, from the council chambers of the great powers to slave quarters in Virginia and Brazil and most points in between. Sharing attention with such tumultuous events as the French Revolution and the Napoleonic War, Haiti's fifteen-year struggle for racial equality, slave emancipation, and colonial independence challenged notions about racial hierarchy that were gaining legitimacy in an Atlantic world dominated by Europeans and the slave trade. The Impact of the Haitian Revolution in the Atlantic World explores the multifarious influence—from economic to ideological to psychological—that a revolt on a small Caribbean island had on the continents surrounding it.
Fifteen international scholars, including eminent historians David Brion Davis, Seymour Drescher, and Robin Blackburn, explicate such diverse ramifications as the spawning of slave resistance and the stimulation of slavery's expansion, the opening of economic frontiers, and the formation of black and white diasporas. Seeking to disentangle the effects of the Haitian Revolutionfrom those of the French Revolution, they demonstrate that its impact was ambiguous, complex, and contradictory.
Customer Reviews:
A Good Starting Point.......2004-01-08
Like most of the recent work of David Geggus, this book provides a good frame work and introduction for a much-needed academic study of the Haitian Revolution and it's world-wide impact.
Great Book.......2003-02-21
This is a great book about the Haitian Revolution it is different essay about this revolution impact on other nations in the Atlantic World. It not only gives various historians thoughts and ideas but a more rounder view of what this revolution really did for the atlantic world.
Book Description
The Haitian Revolution of 1789-1803 transformed the Caribbean's wealthiest colony into the first independent state in Latin America. In Haitian Revolutionary Studies, David Patrick Geggus sheds new light on this tremendous upheaval by marshaling an unprecedented range of evidence drawn from archival research in a half-dozen countries. Together with a narrative overview, Geggus's thirteen fine-grained essays explore central issues and little-studied aspects of the conflict including new historiography and sources, the origins of the black rebellion, relations between slaves and free people of color, international repercussions, and the naming of the new state.
Average customer rating:
- The past comes to life in this historical opus.
|
Hellenistic Science and Culture in the Last Three Centuries b.c.
George Sarton
Manufacturer: Dover Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Greece
| Europe
| History
| Subjects
| Books
Social History
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
History of Science
| History & Philosophy
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
Scientists
| Specific Groups
| Biographies & Memoirs
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0486277402 |
Book Description
Noted scholar's brilliant recapitulation of major intellectual achievements of Western civilization in the three centuries immediately preceding the birth of Christ. Focus is on Greek astronomy, physics, technology, anatomy, other sciences; philosophy, religion, language, sculpture, painting and literature also discussed. "Master of his subject and superb literary craftsman." — Times Literary Supplement.
Customer Reviews:
The past comes to life in this historical opus........1997-06-02
This book, as is true of Dr. Sarton's other works, is written in a highly personalized style chuck full of anecdotes and personal musings of the author who has indeed done his homework. Briefly, he takes us on a three hundred year journey through philosophy, language and letters, religion, culture, medicine, science and technology. The timeline of the book begins with the disintegration Alexandrian empire and ends with a discussion of Orientalism and the Parthian empire. The enormous caste of characters of this book include men and women of learning. From recollections of Alexander through Zenon, each individual is well described and neatly framed in this great historical opus. While Dr. Sarton says he "wrote the book for men of science, interested in the origins of their knowlege," I think it may be read with great profit by anyone interested in history. For as Dr. Sarton said "The whole past and world are alive in my heart, and I shall do my best to communicate their presence to my readers".........He does
Average customer rating:
|
Scottish Wild Plants: Their History Ecology and Conservation (Discovering Historic Scotland)
Phil Lusby , and
Jenny Wright
Manufacturer: HMSO Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Gardening & Horticulture
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Flowers
| Plants
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Plants
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Botany
| Biological Sciences
| Science
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Conservation
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Trees
| Field Guides
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
Flowers
| Field Guides
| Outdoors & Nature
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0114958025 |
Books:
- Women and Gender in Medieval Europe: An Encyclopedia (Routledge Encyclopedias of the Middle Ages)
- Women During the Civil War: An Encyclopedia
- World Flags: An Introduction to Prominent World Symbols (Pocket Tutor - Waterford Press)
- 500 More Little-Known Facts in Mormon History
- A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades - The 1910s (A Cultural History of the United States Through the Decades)
- A history of Cambridge University Press. Volume 2: scholarship and commerce, 1698-1872.(Review) (book review): An article from: The Australian Library Journal
- A Journey through Persia, Armenia, and Asia Minor, to Constantinople, in the years 1808 and 1809: In which is included, some account of the proceedings ... Jones ... to the court of the King of Persia
- A physician's counsels to his professional brethren. By a practising physician.
- Acadian Redemption: From Beausoleil Brossard to the Queen's Royal Proclamation
- Africa South of the Sahara 2002 (Africa South of the Sahara)
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Secret of the Soul: Using Out-of-Body Experiences to Understand Our True Nature
- The Cairo Trilogy: Palace Walk, Palace of Desire, Sugar Street
- The Cat Who Went Underground
- Seeds of Evil
- Playboy: Helmut Newton
- Quantitative Chemical Analysis
- The Lessons of Terror: A History of Warfare Against Civilians
- Cultivating Delight: A Natural History of My Garden
- Riding the Dog: My Father's Journey Home--A Memoir
- Bamboos of Bhutan
Leipzig 1813: The Battle of the Nations (Praeger Illustrated Military History)
The Napoleonic Wars (Smithsonian History of Warfare) (Smithsonian History of Warfare)
The Battle: A New History of Waterloo
The Waterloo Companion: The Complete Guide to History's Most Famous Land Battle
One Hundred Days: Napoleon's Road to Waterloo
