The Campaigns of Napoleon

In this “ engrossing, ” (The New Yorker) vivid, and intensively researched volume, esteemed Napoleon scholar David Chandler outlines the military strategy that led the famous French emperor to his greatest victories— and to his ultimate downfall.

Napoleonic war was nothing if not complex— an ever-shifting kaleidoscope of moves and intentions, which by themselves went a long way towards baffling and dazing his conventionally minded opponents into that state of disconcerting moral disequilibrium which so often resulted in their catastrophic defeat.

The Campaigns of Napoleon is a masterful analysis and insightful critique of Napoleon's art of war as he himself developed and perfected it in the major military campaigns of his career. Napoleon disavowed any suggestion that he worked from formula (“ Je n'ai jamais eu un plan d'opé rations”), but military historian David Chandler demonstrates this was at best only a half-truth. To be sure, every operation Napoleon conducted contained unique improvisatory features. But there were from the first to the last certain basic principles of strategic maneuver and battlefield planning that he almost invariably put into practice. To clarify these underlying methods, as well as the style of Napoleon's fabulous intellect, Chandler examines in detail each campaign mounted and personally conducted by Napoleon, analyzing the strategies employed, revealing wherever possible the probable sources of his subject's military ideas.

“ Writing clearly and vividly, [Chandler] turns dozens of persons besides Napoleon from mere wooden soldiers into three- dimensional characters” (The Boston Globe) and this definitive work is “ a fine book for the historian, the student, and the intelligent reader” (The New York Review of Books).

Contents

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

EXPLANATORY KEY TO MAPS

LIST OF MAPS

PREFACE

AUTHOR'S NOTE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

PART ONE. APPRENTICESHIP TO ARMS

Napoleon's military education and formative experiences prior to 1796

INTRODUCTION: FIRST EMERGENCE

1. PREPARATION

2. TOULON

3. BRIGADIER GENERAL OF ARTILLERY

4. THE "SWORD" OF PAUL BARRAS

PART TWO. IN SEARCH OF A REPUTATION

The Campaign in North Italy, April 1796 to April 1797

5. COMMANDER IN CHIEF

6. THE DEFEAT OF PIEDMONT

7. THE BRIDGE OF LODI

8. THE ACHIEVEMENT IN PERIL -- MANTUA

9. CALDIERO AND ARCOLA

10. RIVOLI

11. ADVANCE TO LEOBEN

12. THE MEASURE OF SUCCESS

PART THREE. NAPOLEON'S ART OF WAR

A study of Napoleon's philosophy of war, an analysis of his strategic and battle methods -- and the sources of his ideas

INTRODUCTION: THE MASTER'S WORDS

13. DOCTRINAL INHERITANCE

14. THE INGREDIENTS OF NAPOLEONIC WAR

15. STRATEGIC CONCEPTS

16. GRAND TACTICS ON THE BATTLEFIELD

17. THE EMBRYONIC SYSTEM: CASTIGLIONE

PART FOUR. ORIENTAL INTERLUDE: THE SIX ACRES OF LAND

The Campaign in Egypt and Syria, May 19, 1798 to October 9, 1799

INTRODUCTION: THE SANDS OF MARABOUT

18. ORIENTAL OPPORTUNITIES

19. MEDITERRANEAN CHASE

20. THE PYRAMIDS LOOK DOWN

21. EXPEDITION TO SYRIA

22. THE BALANCE SHEET OF FAILURE

PART FIVE. TOWARD THE SUMMIT: THE CONSPIRATOR AND PEACEMAKER

The coup d'é tat of Brumaire and the Italian Campaign of 1800

23. THE RIPENED FRUIT

24. FIRST CONSUL

25. PLANS OF CAMPAIGN

26. THE PASSAGE OF THE ALPS

27. MARENGO

28. PEACE RESTORED

PART SIX. THE WORKS OF PEACE AND THE ROAD TO WAR

Napoleon's reconstruction of France and the renewed struggle with England to the formation of the Third Coalition. The creation of La Grande Armé e

29. RULER AND LAWGIVER

30. THE CAMP OF BOULOGNE

31. PROSPECTS OF WIDER WAR

32. LA GRANDE ARMÉ E

33. IMPERIAL HEADQUARTERS

PART SEVEN. FROM THE RHINE TO THE DANUBE

Napoleon's destruction of the Third Coalition

INTRODUCTION: THE EVE OF AUSTERLITZ

34. PLANS AND PREPARATIONS

35. STRATEGIC TRIUMPH -- ULM

36. THE WARRIORS OF HOLY RUSSIA

37. THE BATTLE OF THE THREE EMPERORS -- AUSTERLITZ

38. THE INGREDIENTS OF SUCCESS

PART EIGHT. ROSSBACH AVENGED

The Campaign of 1806 against Prussia

39. HOHENZOLLERN HYPOCRITE

40. PLANS FOR WAR

41. "LE BATAILLON CARRÉ"

42. JENA -- AUERSTADT

43. THE TRIUMPH ANALYZED

PART NINE. WINTER WAR

Napoleon's Campaigns in East Prussia and Poland, October 1806 to February 1807

44. THE ADVANCE TO WARSAW

45. MEN AND MAT201; RIEL

46. THE MANEUVER ON THE NAREW

47. INTERLUDE IN WARSAW

48. THE TRAP THAT FAILED -- IONKOVO

49. THE BATTLE OF EYLAU

50. CONCLUSIONS: THE FIRST CHECK

VOLUME II

PART TEN. SPRING RECOVERY

The renewed Campaign against Russia, culminating in the Battle of Friedland and the Treaty of Tilsit

51. RECONSTRUCTION

52. THE BATTLE OF HEILSBERG

53. THE BATTLE OF FRIEDLAND

54. THE MEETING OF THE EMPERORS

PART ELEVEN. PENINSULAR INTRIGUES

The Campaigns in Portugal and Spain, 1807-1809

55. THE ROAD TO LISBON

56. AN ENGINEERED CRISIS

57. BAILEN AND VIMIERO

58. HARD BARGAINING AT ERFURT

59. IMPERIAL INTERVENTION

60. THE PURSUIT OF MOORE

61. INCOMPLETE ACHIEVEMENT

PART TWELVE. HAPSBURGS RESURGENT: THE LAST SUCCESS

The Danube Campaign of 1809, culminating in the Battle of Wagram and the Peace of Schö nbrunn

62. THE NEW CHALLENGE

63. CRISIS ON THE DANUBE

64. ASPERN-ESSLING

65. THE SECOND ATTEMPT: WAGRAM

66. THE ILLUSION OF SUCCESS

PART THIRTEEN. THE ROAD TO MOSCOW

The first part of Napoleon's Russian Campaign, June 22 to September 15, 1812

67. THE BREAKDOWN OF THE FRANCO-RUSSIAN ENTENTE

68. WAR PLANS AND PREPARATIONS

69. THE INVASION OF RUSSIA

70. BORODINO

PART FOURTEEN. RETREAT

The second part of Napoleon's Russian Campaign, September 16, 1812 to January 1813

71. PRECARIOUS POSITION

72. COLLAPSE OF AN ARMY

73. THE BEREZINA

74. BACK TO THE ELBE

75. FAILURE OF A GIANT

PART FIFTEEN. TWILIGHT: THE STRUGGLE OF THE NATIONS

Napoleon's attempts to hold Germany and destroy the Allies, culminating in the heavy defeat sustained at the Battle of Leipzig

76. NEW ARMIES

77. LÜ TZEN AND BAUTZEN

78. THE ARMISTICE

79. DRESDEN

80. THE BATTLE OF THE NATIONS

81. BACK TO THE NATURAL FRONTIERS

PART SIXTEEN. "LA PATRIE EN DANGER"

The Campaign of 1814, culminating in Napoleon's abdication

82. PLAYING FOR TIME

83. A PARLOUS OPENING

84. RAPID RECOVERY

85. THE ECLIPSE OF SCHWARZENBERG

86. CHECK IN THE NORTH -- LAON

87. THE LAST GAMBLE: ARCIS AND ABDICATION

PART SEVENTEEN. THE CAMPAIGN OF THE HUNDRED DAYS

Napoleon's return from exile and the events leading to his final abdication

INTRODUCTION: MEETING AT LE CAILLOU

88. RETURN OF THE EMPEROR

89. A POUNDING FOR BLÜ CHER

90. THE ERRORS OF MARSHAL NEY

91. THE FINAL MOVES

92. WATERLOO

93. POSTSCRIPT

APPENDICES

A. ORDER OF BATTLE OF THE ARMY OF ITALY, APRIL 12, 1796

B. EXAMPLES OF NAPOLEON'S CHIEF Manoeuvres sur les Derriè res

C. THE STRENGTH AND POSITIONS OF L'Armé e de Ré serve, JUNE 14, 1800

D. THE FORMATIONS OF La Grande Armé e, AUGUST 29, 1805

E. THE ORGANIZATION OF L'Armé e d'Espagne IN NOVEMBER 1808

F. THE FORMATIONS OF THE RE-FORMED Grande Armé e ON MARCH 30, 1809

G. ORGANIZATION OF La Grande Armé e FOR THE CAMPAIGN OF 1812

H. ORGANIZATION OF L'Armé du Nord FOR THE CAMPAIGN OF 1815

I. SUMMARY OF SELECTED BATTLES

J. THE IMPERIAL NOBILITY

REFERENCES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GLOSSARY OF MILITARY TERMS

INDEXES