Napoleon And Russia (ISBN 1852854588)

Excellent Modern Work on Napoleon's Campaign against Russia and Subsequent Campaigns until Elba:
With many fine works available on Napoleon and his campaigns available (second only to World War II), one must ask what does another one have to offer? The answer in this instance is very fine writing, good organization, helpful maps, and a scholarly and even-handed presentation of history. The errors are negligible, and when author Adams inserts his opinions or conclusions, they are so consistent with the evidence that the reader readily accepts them as almost a restatement of what the reader was thinking. A writer can hardly do better than that. The cast of characters is immense but the deftly handled by the author in the text. A newcomer to the Napoleonic Era might enjoy an appendix giving brief profiles of the marshals, heads of state, generals and other important personages, and the author might consider putting that in a second edition. And all too often writers limit themselves to the campaign of 1812 rather than looking at the events leading to that campaign and the campaigns of 1813 and 1814 that followed. Not Adams, and his story is good to the last drop. The campaign of 1813 brought the Russians with their allies to the gates of Paris and Napoleon finally ran out of miracles and the French out of options. I particularly enjoyed reading a British author who did not stress British participation and influence during this time as is so common. And it must be stressed that all of the armies of the time acted more or less the same in foreign or occupied territory -- this was not a battle between good and evil but a conflict by competing parties for European hegemony. In this respect it was not the first of such conflicts, and not nearly the last. Adams is even-handed, discussing the bad with the good for all sides. The author treats Napoleon with some sympathy rather depicting him as a power-mad orge. His portrait in undoubtedly more accurate and certainly more compelling than had he taken a non-scholarly position. Napoleon was hands down the greatest military general in the 18th and 19th centuries, but no military genius can go forever. His mistakes began to mount as he became older, and by 1814 was only able to summon up flashes of his former brillance. Fortunately for us, Adams maintains his brillance throughout. In conclusion, if you are new to the Napoleonic Era, you can hardly do better than this book. If you are an old hand you will be pleasantly surprised and pick up nuggets and perspectives within the author's splendid prose that you might have overlooked or forgotten. It's like visiting an old friend with a fine bottle of wine and finding both the friend and wine are better than you remembered. Unfortunately I can't go higher than five stars.

Excellent & Refreashing Account:
Michael Adam's new book; "Napoleon and Russia" is an excellent account about the uneasy relationship between Napoleon and Russia from the 1790's through to 1815. It's a great historical account covering the many battles and people involved during this period of time. We not only get to read about Napoleon and Alexander I, but also of the many Napoleonic Marshals and Russian commanders like Ney, Murat, Davout, Suvorov, Kutuzov and Barclay de Tolly who fought some of the greatest battles of the Napoleonic period. The book is refreshing in it's accounts of the many battles fought between France and Russia, offering gripping descriptions of the fighting at Austerlitz, Eylau, Friedland, Borodino, Lutzen, Bautzen, Dresden and Leipzig. For once we have an author who places greater emphasis on these battles rather than Trafalgar, the Peninsular campaign and Waterloo. I found the book very easy to read, thrilling almost in its style. I was gripped by the story till the very end. As the previous review has mentioned (Amazon.co.uk), Adam's appears to sometimes go a little easy on Napoleon but in doing so he offers valid reasons for accepting a particular version of events. It's a nice change to read an account of Napoleon without him being blamed for every disaster or being described as an insatiable glory hunting ogre. The author offers valid reasons for accepting one account or reason for Napoleon's actions over another and he is convincing in most cases. Having said that, the author doesn't let Napoleon off the hook for his mistakes and Adam's ensures that he brings those to the reader's attention. The book appears to be a fair and balanced account of the period of relationship between France and Russia during the time of Napoleon's reign. Overall the book is a great historical account, well researched, refreshing in its approach and easy to read. The book has 560 pages of narrative with a number of maps, which are reasonable and allow the reader to follow the course of the battle described. What I found to be a bonus in this book was the bibliographical essay at the end, which gave me a few good ideas on books that I should also consider buying for my library. I would have no hesitation in recommending this book to any Napoleonic buff or anyone interested in military or general European history, it's a damn good book.

One of the best books on the Napoleonic period now in print:
Beautifully written, precisely edited and thoroughly researched. Mr. Adams has achieved what no other British writer has done to date - rendered a completely neutral and fair assessment of the wars precipitated by the French Revolution and the reaction to it by the old monarchies of Europe. As one of the other reviewers mentions, it is an absolutely refreshing experience to read the history and see all sides given a fair and frank analysis of motivations and actions. Adams repeatedly provides intriguing and useful insights to the thought processes of Napoleon and Alexander I. My only disappointment is that I've yet to find an English author willing to censure the British attacks on Denmark (a completely neutral and largely powerless nation). The naval action of Copenhagen in 1801 and the bombardment of that city and confiscation of the Danish fleet in 1807 were nothing less than heinous acts of bald-faced aggression which resulted in the deaths of many innocents. I was pleased, however, that Adams correctly points out that Napoleon had long abandoned his plans to invade England by the time the battle of Trafalgar was fought and that battle was in no wise pivotal to modern history as many claim. I highly recommend this book as one of the best written histories of the period - period!

Never Boring:
The author does a wonderful job reconstructing the relationship between Napoleon and Russia. It is interesting to see the re-evaluation of the role of Alexander I in both this work and Rites of Peace, by Adam Zamoyski. Since the fall of Napoleon there has been this myth that has arisen concerning the role played by England and Russia in achieving Napoleon's fall. It is also interesting to see the mythos that surrounds Alexander I being finally corrected. The one criticism is the author states that Sweden's King Gustav IV was assassinated, rather he fell in a Coup d'etat and then abdicated. Great Read