Napoleonic History

The Napoleon Options: Alternate Decisions of the Napoleonic Wars, edited by Jonathan North. This is a collection of essays by noted historians making suppositions about what might have happened during the Napoleonic wars had things been slightly different. What if the Russians had heavily outflanked the French at Borodino? What if Wellington had not been in command at Vimiero? What if Nelson had not found the French fleet at the Nile? These alternate histories shed a light on what might have been.

1815 The Waterloo Campaign : Wellington, His German Allies and the Battles of Ligny and Quatre Bras, by Peter Hofschroer. This is an excellent reassesment of the final hundred days leading up to the battle of Waterloo. Contains 16 pages of b/w photos and 36 maps. Previously unpublished eyewitness accounts and battle reports German, British, and Dutch archive material published for the first time.

1812: Napoleon in Moscow, by Britten Paul Austin is a good description of Napoleon and the turning point in the campaign that became the seed of his eventual downfall.

Anatomy of Glory: Napoleon and His Guard A Study in Leadership, by Henry Lachouque, Anne S. K. Brown and John R. Elting is a good analysis of leadership style as practiced by Napoleon.

The Military Maxims of Napoleon, by William E. Cairnes is good for anyone interested in military history or power politics. Reading this book helps us to understand that war is only the final extremity of diplomacy.

Secret Service: British Agents in France, 1792-1815, by Elizabeth Sparrow is a fascinating account of British spying on France during the crucial Napoleonic period.